Recorded: Manorside, Abbey Wood,

20 April / 9 June / 21, 22 July / 13, 19 September / 9, 12 October / 16, 17 November / 22 December 2000 30 (End key dub) March 2001

Mark Tingley:

Lead vocal, Harmony vocals (4), Acoustic guitar, "Castanets"

Nigel Marvin: Lead guitar, Bass, Acoustic guitars
Helen Smith: Keyboards
Don Jeffries: Drums


The most autobiographical song on the entire album.

"Gooseberry" came about after a week's holiday in Southern Spain. A couple of friends, Dave (see "Drink") and Warren and myself went away to have some fun, and one night we went to a bar and met two Irish girls.

Dave was clearly interested in one of them. But when he returned from the toilet, Warren sat in Dave's place and started playing with her hair!

We agreed to meet up with the girls two nights later. Earlier that day, we went for a walk on the seafront. We warned Warren to cover up from the hot midday sun but he didn't take any notice. While Dave and I were swathed in sun cream and hats, Warren braved the heat in his sandals. Secretly Dave and I were hoping that we could have the two girls to ourselves. If only Warren could come out with us, enjoy himself a bit, but leave early in time for us to meet the girls alone.

That evening we waited for Warren to come down to the hotel bar. Earlier he had to lie down with a headache. The sun had taken it's toll and he wasn't looking too good. Would Warren show up? Suddenly a bright red face appeared to greet us, shining like a beacon. We headed off to a chinese restaurant en route to meeting the girls and Dave and I knew that with three guys and two girls, it was going to be a bit of a squeeze.

Suddenly Warren began to break out into a sweat. He became dehydrated, the effects of the sun were beginning to kick in. He made his excuses and left for an early night, his freshly served up food eagerly devoured by his clearly concerned friends (!!?)

Dave and I couldn't believe our luck, and we couldn't stop laughing!! Well Warren had brought it upon himself and we had warned him too. But we arrived at the bar, and they weren't there! Was God punishing us?

Five minutes later they showed up, and everything went according to plan!!!

While Dave and I were having fun, back at the hotel Warren's situation was rapidly deteriorating. He awoke in the middle of the night with his eyes stuck together, ended up going to hospital to have an injection up his bum, then remembered he had no holiday insurance!!! Poor Warren! On top of all that he hadn't scored and looked like a tomato, though earlier he had acted like a gooseberry (Shame I didn't put that in the lyrics!)!!!

The track itself featured Nigel, and a jazz drummer called Don who replaced another drummer I hadn't seen for eleven years (I was that desperate!). Though the ideas were great, Helen's piano tracks were uncharacteristically riddled with mistakes. She had had enough of the album by this point, being her final contribution.

Which meant "Gooseberry" became a nightmare to edit...prolonging the album even further!