He's Frank (Slight Return)

Album: I Think We're Gonna Need A Bigger Boat (2009)
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Songfacts®:

  • Brighton Port Authority is an alias of English DJ/musician Norman Cook, a man with more aliases than an Al Queda leader and an artist with decidedly more chart success than any of Bin Laden's colleagues. Among the other names Cook has also recorded under are Beats International, Freak Power, Fatboy Slim and as a member of the Housemartins, plain Norman Cook.
  • This is a collaboration with Rock legend Iggy Pop, who stayed at Cook's house to record the collaboration. The Brighton musician explained to The London Paper: "He [Pop] was great to work with – a real sweetie. We met in Miami, partying. He then came round the house and had a cup of tea. Iggy offstage is a very gentle and polite man. He stayed with us in Brighton for a few days to record. I told Woody [Cook's son], 'This is Iggy, he's from America.' I didn't tell him the stories. Iggy would tell these over a glass of wine after we'd finished in the studio."
  • This is a cover of a 1979 song by the English post-punk band The Monochrome Set.
  • This song also appears on the soundtrack album for the TV series Heroes.
  • The "Slight Return" in the title is a play on Jimi Hendrix' "Voodoo Child (Slight Return)."
  • Iggy fronted for several years a TV ad campaign for UK insurance company Swiftcover featuring both the rocker himself and a puppet of him. It was the video for this song, which gave the advertising company the idea. Cook told Q magazine: "My brother-in-law, Zoe's brother, Nick Ball, came up with the idea of making a puppet of Iggy for the video. Sadly the single didn't do that well, so not many people saw it. But an advertising company did see it and used the idea for insurance adverts."

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