Salome

Album: Grace/Wastelands (2009)
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Songfacts®:

  • This song was inspired by the daughter of Herod who in the Gospels, demanded John The Baptist's head on a platter. Doherty explained to The Sun March 13, 2009: "She came dancing out of the dawn, a half-woken dream, straight out of the fireplace just when you thought the ashes were dead. She demands 'the head of any bastard.' Isadora Duncan (iconic dancer) had to get in there. Do you know how she died? Her scarf got caught in the wheel of a carriage and decapitated her. Horrendous. I wanted to get Christine Keeler (the spy scandal showgirl) in there too, just because I wanted to rhyme her with tequila."
  • This song had been part of the Doherty solo cannon for a number of years before he recorded it. He commented to the NME March 21,2009: "people call this old. The second Libs album was full of songs that should have been on the first, but we didn't have time. Everyone's acting like I'm churning out old ideas."
  • Doherty admitted to the NME February 16, 2010 that he inadvertently stole the tune from Babyshambles guitarist Mik Whitnall. The song is only credited to him because "it just slipped my mind" that Whitnall had a helping hand in it.

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