Chords for Magnifier: Nick Lowe

[N] _ _ [E] _ _ Hi everybody, this is Nick [Bb] Lowe and this is [E] Magnifier. _ _ _ _ _
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_ _ _ [E] _ _ _ _ [B] _
[E] Well as regards the [Ab] title of the album, The Old Magic, there isn't really any
[B] hidden meaning [Bb] [Ab] in it.
I just thought it was a snappy title, three words,
generally in my view [Gb] the best album [A] titles.
_ _ It's [G] quite a common expression, The Old Magic, in the UK.
Generally
you hear it a lot in sports commentators, generally [Ab] if there's an old, slightly over the [F] hill player
that they've wheeled out for a match, you know, a football match or [A] something,
the [Gb] commentators will say, well the crowd here is [A] very anxious to hear whether
Simpson [D] has still got the old magic.
_ [E] _
_ _ _ [A] _ _ _ _ _
_ [Bb] _ _ As [G] regards feeling the old [Bb] magic, [F] that is [G] elusive.
I find more and more now that it does take quite a long time to [Bb] come up with [A] the material
and _ [D]
make it [Ab] sound as if [Gb] it hasn't taken much [A] time to come up with it.
And it is elusive and that's why _ I _ generally take [Ab] a lot of time between records,
I'm not _ very prolific.
_ [Gbm] _ _ _ _ _
[D] _ _ [A] _ _ _ [E] _ _ _
[Abm] Has my _ songwriting [Gb] style changed that [A] much over the years?
I [E] still like the [G] same stuff as I always [A] did and I'm [G] very lucky that _ [Abm] I'm in a position to be able [Gb] to do it
and see if [G] I can _ [F] refine [G] it and make it, [A] basically make it simpler.
Simpler, that [Abm] always seems to be it, [Gb] you strip away and strip [G] away until you try and get to [E] the essence of it.
_ _ _ _ You've practiced and rehearsed it, but in your heart you [Gb] know_
Yeah, my basher nickname, yes. _
[A] In a way, yes, I still do bash it out, but I do a [Ab] lot of work before I go to the [Gb] studio to bash it out.
[Ab] I do a lot of not bashing the thing out ahead of time,
because _ my records I make in a fairly, _ _ _ [Abm] by no [Ebm] means retro way,
only [G] retro in so far as I use real musicians and [Ab] record in a [E] real recording studio,
which [Gb] a lot of records [Eb] aren't made like that [E] anymore. _ _
[Bb] _ And I like [Eb] to have a fresh feel about it, [Bb] I would _ describe it as that, [Gb] rather than bashing it out now.
Have [F] a fresh [A] feel about it, and in order to do that [G] you have to do a lot of [D] work ahead of time,
[A] before you get to the studio, so _ there's a bit of [B] both really.
_ [A] _
_ [B] _ _ _ _ _ _ [A] _
_ _ _ [E] _ _ _ _ _
_ I think [A] probably _ [E] _
[A] watching The [Gb] Detectives, I think is probably my favourite,
because that was the [Bb] last [Abm] record I [G] did with Elvis, where [Bb] he sort [Gb] of did what I [F] told him [Gb] to do.
It was pretty early on too, [Bb] we went [Ab] on and did about five or six [Am] other albums,
[G] where [Ab]
I [B] was [G] [A] saying, what would you like to do today [G] Mr Costello?
But watching The Detectives [E] was _ a [Abm] really great version of that song,
which [Gb] sort of came along by accident, I can't [E] claim credit for [B] _
every note of being [E] mine.
_ [A] _
_ _ _ _ _ [B] _ _ _
[Db] _ _ [E] _ _ _ [F] The [Bb] last record I actually [G] produced was with a group [Gb] called The Mavericks,
and [G] they asked me to [Ab] do a track for them, so I'll tell you exactly when it was.
It was for a [Abm] movie called Apollo 13 [Gb] with Tom Hanks, and it was _ pretty good fun.
[B] I didn't really have to do very much, except [Bb] stand at the back of the studio and tell them [Ab] they were great.
While a [B] _ _ whole _ _ army of people did all the [G] work that I remember having to do,
when I was producing records regularly, before I gave [Abm] it up.
Yes, [Ab] my job seemed to [Gb] be to make sure that I had a good suit on.
_ [Gbm] _ _ _ _ _ [B] _ _
I felt [D] in the early 80s that my time had kind of come and [Gb] gone in that [A] respect,
and the way I used to [Gbm] produce records was very much in the old-fashioned way,
where you were kind of a cheerleader really.
[Abm] You'd go into [G] a studio with a bunch of people, a group [Ab] say,
and [Bm] _
[C] you'd just try and [Gbm] get them to [A] _ really go for it, and [Gb] encourage them,
and keep the [G] vibe going, you know, things [Gb] _ flagged.
[A] But then, _ [Db] almost overnight in the 80s, a whole new [G] way of making [A] records [G] started to come along.
It was much more digital [Ab] thing, sitting in front of [A] screens,
_ _ [Ab]
and you _ were supposed to have a result, you know.
There was no such thing as, well, [Bb] the boys weren't [Gb] quite on form that day, you [Bb] know.
[E] We'll have another go, you know, that went [Bb] out of the window.
And although _ there are some fantastic records, of course there are,
it's been a long time since the early 80s,
now there's some fantastic records are [A] made in that way.
[Gb] I just wasn't very interested in it, [Bb] and I wasn't very interested in learning about it either.
So [Gb] I let it go, and now although I do my own records with my fantastic team,
you know, that I work with all the time, _ I [E] tend not to _ [Em] produce other people anymore.
_ [A] _ _
[Am] _ _ _ _ _ [F] _ [E] _ _
_ [D] Obviously it's not harder to [Gb] make music now, it's a lot easier, you can get a result,
[Ab] you know, [B] you can make something that's not a very good song,
sound like a [Eb] pretty good [Ab] record, you know.
_ [E] So pretty good [Bbm] is the new rubbish, you know,
and [Am] so we're living in a sort of [Ab] tsunami of pretty good,
you know, depending on your _ [Am] _
point of view.
So the competition is that much harder, I mean, [Ab] there are still people who are prodigiously [A] talented,
but I think it gets [C] harder to actually find them,
because [A] there are lots of people who, there are more people who aren't talented [G] _ making records,
than there are people who are talented making records,
so it just gets very, very much harder to find the good stuff.
[Am] _ _ [E] _
_ _ _ _ _ [Gb] _ _ _
_ _ _ _ [Gbm] _ _ _ _
_ The [Ab] older you get, the more your quality control gets much more acute,
you know, something that you would have _ _ been [F] very satisfied with at one [A] point,
suddenly doesn't satisfy you anymore, and you're always trying to surprise [Gb] yourself,
and make it, and come up with something that doesn't really [F] sound like you [Gb] paradoxically.
_ _ _ [Gbm] _ _ _ _ _ _ [B] _ _ _ _ _
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