Furniture
Robert Nightman's Story
Written by Tim Whelan, Jim Irvin, Hamilton Lee
Published by Survival Music / Chrysalis Music
I'm not much when it comes to conversation Except when I'm pillow talking, Talking blues, Ordering a meal I can't boast a lot of education, But I feel my way around Fists in the air, ear to the ground. Why is the thrill of it hard to explain? Jumping the cars on the mystery train Fancy a whiskey or something to eat? Say boys, I'm free for the rest of the week People think I'm fond of my situation I've been going out with the lights, Dodging the law, Dancing 'til dawn In fact, I'd say I'm a mine of information If you ask me the time, How to play cards, The way to a bar What good is that to anyone? Why is the thrill of it hard to explain? Jumping the cars on the mystery train Fancy a whiskey or something to eat? Say girls, I'm free for the rest of the week This is Robert's story — Robert Nightman's story I'm telling you That bit is fiction, this part is true The one who wants me I don't want, The one I want don't want to know, The one who wants me I don't want The one I want don't want to know.
Commentary
"When The Boom Was On" was an experiment in capturing specific moods that appealed to us at the time. Most of the songs were part jazz-tinged, low-budget film noir with a score by a nascent John Barry figure and part suburban bedsit angst. This is a prime example of that hybrid, with its marimba and guitar arrangement and its lyric about the loneliness of a supposedly romantic, good-time lifestyle. Robert Nightman is, as the song says, entirely fictitious.
Band commentary — She Gets Out the Scrapbook — 1991 inlay (compiled by Jim, Tim, Hami)