The Great Escape was written a long, long time ago. I feel it dates back to 1992, which (at the time of writing) makes it 32 years old. As it was so long ago, I cannot remember as much about the writing process as I would the more recent songs. However, some memories still remain although they are sketchy.
At the time, I had just taught myself to play Wish You Were Here by Pink Floyd on the guitar. Anyone who plays guitar will recognise the technique used which is basically playing an open G chord, but then making slight adjustments to play other chords such as C, Em, Am and D but retaining the G chord shape on the top three strings. Oasis used the same trick in Wonderwall.
I started playing around with a chord progression and melody, but wanted it sound sound a little darker, so after playing the opening major G chord, I then slipped down to the dark sounding Dm7, which changed the key before another key change to Bm, then D which brought it back into the original key.
It sounded a little odd, but quite nice so I went with it.
I recently read a book. I cannot remember what it was but all I know is there was a Missionary in it who was travelling around having adventures. I quite liked the imagery of this and so that informed the verse lyrics.
I may have also just experienced a relationship breakup (this happened a lot when I was a young man), so that could have been the inspiration for the chorus sections.
I was in a band at the time and we did record a basic demo, and I think we may have played it live a few times, but ultimately abandoned it as it did not fit alongside the rest of the songs.
Thirty years later, the song was still in my mind and I could remember and still play it as if it was thirty years ago.
I always assume that if a song is that memorable and has that staying power, then it must be pretty good, which is why I decided to record it properly.
Recording it was a challenge because my voice has changed so much over the years and when it was written, I could sing effortlessly over a big range, so the song was written for my young voice. I had to change the key and push myself to deliver the high bits when the song changes key for the final chorus. I think I just about pulled it off though.
Apart from that, the song was really easy to record and I did not change one lyric or melody line from the original version.
A good friend of mine told me that this is his favourite song on the album which surprises me as I always think the newer stuff is written to a higher standard, but at the end of the day you cannot argue with taste.
Photography by Kevin Petch
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