British singer-songwriter Richard Hawley has this to say about his new single, Valentine: ‘The chorus is one of the oldest pieces of music I’ve ever written. I could never get anything else to go with it. But I picked up the guitar in the studio and started singing the chorus and then I made up the verse on the spot. I don’t like being over prepared, I like to keep that Sun Studio vibe where the red light comes on and it’s like, C’mon son, what have you got?’ ‘It’s quite tragic that song, it’s like a kind of Yorkshire Shakespearian tragedy. It’s about somebody who’s made themselves really hard after heartbreak. I’ve been through that. I was there once in my early twenties before I met our lass, you make yourself into something you’re not. The song is about a tender moment where you face the truth’. [read about some of Richard Hawley's favourite cultural things right now]

SPONSOR