Dirt On The Bed

Album: Pompeii (2022)
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • "Dirt On The Bed" is the opening track of Cate le Bon's sixth studio album, Pompeii. The Welsh singer-songwriter worked on the album during the first wave of the COVID-19 in a Cardiff Victorian terrace owned by Super Furry Animals frontman Gruff Rhys. She had first rented the house from her fellow Welsh musician years earlier.

    "I had all these plans to go plans to go to a remote location, like Chile or Norway," Le Bon explained to Uncut magazine. "Because of travel bans, I ended up in a house I used to live in 15 years ago. I knew where the light switches and mirrors were, and I started thinking about all the other stuff stored inside you, without you realizing. That's what 'Dirt On The Bed' is about, returning to a place and having two points of perspective on a period of time."
  • Le Bon performed most instruments on Pompeii herself while alone in Rhys' house. Once lockdown began to ease, she was joined by her longtime collaborator/co-producer Samur Khouja for sessions in Cardiff. "Dirt On The Bed" was the first song they started working on. "It's pretty linear, but it blossoms in a way that becomes more frantic," she told Apple Music, "which was in tune with the lockdown in a literal and metaphorical sense."
  • Le Bon played synthesizer, guitar and bass on the track, and the Welsh musician Stephen "Sweet Baboo" Black played the saxophone. Sweet Baboo has also played with Gruff Rhys and Slow Club, and has released several albums of his own.

Comments

Be the first to comment...

Editor's Picks

The 10 Bands Most Like Spinal Tap

The 10 Bands Most Like Spinal TapSong Writing

Based on criteria like girlfriend tension, stage mishaps and drummer turnover, these are the 10 bands most like Spinal Tap.

Curt Kirkwood of Meat Puppets

Curt Kirkwood of Meat PuppetsSongwriter Interviews

The (Meat)puppetmaster takes us through songs like "Lake Of Fire" and "Backwater," and talks about performing with Kurt Cobain on MTV Unplugged.

N.W.A vs. the World

N.W.A vs. the WorldSong Writing

How the American gangsta rappers made history by getting banned in the UK.

Dennis DeYoung

Dennis DeYoungSongwriter Interviews

Dennis DeYoung explains why "Mr. Roboto" is the defining Styx song, and what the "gathering of angels" represents in "Come Sail Away."

Creedence Clearwater Revival

Creedence Clearwater RevivalFact or Fiction

Is "Have You Ever Seen the Rain" about Vietnam? Was John Fogerty really born on a Bayou? It's the CCR edition of Fact or Fiction.

Gilby Clarke

Gilby ClarkeSongwriter Interviews

The Guns N' Roses rhythm guitarist in the early '90s, Gilby talks about the band's implosion and the side projects it spawned.