AN AUDIENCE WITH...

EDWYN COLLINS

INSTANT KARMA

Ahead of his last ever tour, the Orange Juice originator talks quiffs, mountains, Morrissey, and his debt to George Formby

Interview by SAM RICHARDS

Edwyn Colllins: “I’m pushing my luck!”

FENELLA LORIMAR

“I was a monster! Nowadays I’m a nicer person”

EDWYN Collins is in a particularly buoyant mood. Twenty years ago, a pair of cerebral haemorrhages completely robbed him of the power of speech – a cruel blow for this most loquacious of lyricists. Last week, during rehearsals for his upcoming Testimonial Tour at his home studio in Helmsdale, Scotland, he finally cracked the relearning of one of his wordiest and most eloquently vituperative songs.

“You know ‘The Campaign For Real Rock’? I mastered it!” he says proudly of the 1994 solo number, notable for rhyming “summer festival” with “truly detestable”. “The lyrics are fucking difficult: ‘Your gorgeous hippy dreams are dying/ Your frazzled brains are putrefying…’ What was that about? When I was writing that song, I was so furious with the situation. I was a monster! Nowadays I’m a nicer person, I think. I like everybody.”

While he’s excited about his final tour, he has no regrets about calling it a day after that. “I’m an old fart!” he reasons. “Back in the punk days, any bands over 30, we called them dinosaurs. And on the road, I’ve never been prolific. Some of that has been due to lack of interest! But I went all around the world after “A Girl Like You” and I was knackered, exhausted. I didn’t realise that I wasn’t well. It was the beginning of the issues that ended up with my stroke. Now, after that, there’s an additional challenge. So I’m pushing my luck.” Not for the first time today while answering your questions, he grins broadly. “Go out on a high!”