Better to Have a Drink to Think

Album: 2Square (2016)
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Songfacts®:

  • This is the lead single from 2Square, a collaborative album between Vince Clarke (of Depeche Mode, Yazoo and Erasure) and Paul Hartnoll (of Orbital). Vince Clarke told the story of the song to Artist Direct:

    "The idea initially started really with the cut up vocals I was messing about with. And the actual lyrics, there is no actual saying 'You better have a drink to think' on it, it just sounds like it.

    So I was messing about with vocal samples and you know when you hear a lyric that sounds like a record you've been hearing for years and years and years? And you think that you know the lyric but it turns out it's completely wrong. It's a bit like that if you were to play the individual vocal samples of the record it wouldn't make any sense at all, there aren't actually any words there, but it just sounds like there are. And it just felt good. It just felt really good."
  • Clarke came up with the song title after a radio station asked him for a copy of the lyrics. He explained: "It's funny because one of the radio stations in the UK have been playing this and they've got their things that they have to do to get clearances to make sure the lyrics aren't really rude or bad. So I was asked, the radio station urgently needed a copy of the lyrics, and if I really gave them lyrics it would be completely nonsensical. But it sounds like they're 'Better have a drink to think' so, I guess that's what the song is."

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