Razorlight are marking 20 years since their No1 hit America by heading back on tour to celebrate their self-titled second album. To get fans in the mood, the band have released an early demo of the song, called Lost In America, which offers a different perspective.
Nostalgia and Songwriting Memories
Drummer Andy Burrows, who co-wrote America, reflected on the band's feelings about the milestone: "I'm retro-futro," he mused, a little miffed by the word he'd invented. "I'm embarrassed to say that I do get a bit nostalgic because I'm always like, 'look at that picture from so and so....Johnny is more forward facing.'"
Johnny Borrell agreed: "Look, 20 years and the song is still alive. When does that ever happen? That's just incredible."
Burrows also recalled the song's origins, saying: "I thought I remembered everything about how we wrote America. But I forgot about us listening to a song in a bar by Billy Joel - Moving Out and saying, 'let's write a song like that'."
From Demo to No1
At first, the band tried to sell America to other acts until they realised it was meant for them. Borrell explained: "My plan was based on when Prince wrote Nothing Compares 2 U and no one knew it was a Prince song until it became this big hit (for Sinéad O'Connor). I was like: 'Wouldn't it be so cool if we wrote this song and found some amazing artist to do it?'"
Back then, Razorlight were in good company in a pre-streaming scene dominated by acts like the Arctic Monkeys, The Kooks and The Libertines. Legend has it Johnny was almost a member of the Libertines, and the bands were always a little competitive over who was the coolest…or not.
Burrows recalled: "One night when Pete Doherty and Carlos (Carl Barat) turned up at our hotel. Everyone was passing around the guitar playing songs like Patti Smith or something really cool and I played Daniel by Elton John, and Carlos after about two bars, goes, 'what the f*** is that?' And I thought, oh, s**t."
Live Plans and Tour Dates
With two versions of America now available, the question remains which one they will play live on tour. "Good question," replied Andy. "I remember going to watch Europe (the rock band) at festival and they played The Final Countdown at the start and the end of their set. To be fair, no one knows any other songs. Can we play America twice on tour? It's not The Final Countdown by Europe, but we could do both versions."
The idea excites Johnny: "You have to figure out which order you do them in, it'd be great."
Razorlight tour the UK this winter, kicking off at O2 Academy, Glasgow on November 27.
