There's A Beast And We All Feed It

Album: Shangri La (2013)
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Songfacts®:

  • This brief slice of slapback Rockabilly finds Bugg wishing to live life to the max and having someone to hold close when times get tough. The short Skiffle invokes the spirit of Sun Studios in Memphis where Bugg first demoed it.
  • The song introduces Bugg's second album, Shangri La, which was produced by Rick Rubin, the bearded genius who steered Johnny Cash's Indian summer. Bugg told NME about recording with the legendary producer in Malibu. "I was a bit sceptical about working with Rick Rubin," he admitted. "By the time I got there enough people had bullied my ears about how big he is. I didn't want to know. I wanted to meet him for myself. Shangri La, the studio is a beautiful place, cut off from civilization. And Rick Rubin was a really chilled-out guy."

    "I sat on his settee and there was this nice breeze just coming in from the window," Bugg continued. "He just got his guitar out and said, 'play us a few songs,' so I did and I thought, 'That's brilliant, he just really likes listening to music.' I did a few ideas for him and he said, 'Try and work on that, try and think of a new bit for that one for when I see you next week.' So I had all these great tips to go away with. I loved it."
  • Coup de Main magazine asked Bugg if the lyric "They sing but they don't feel it" is a reflection of what he's seen in the music industry over the past few years? He replied: "It's not necessarily music, it can be interpreted in many ways. It could mean about a corporation and businesses, but it could also account for the music industry. I was just trying to say that sometimes no matter how much we don't want to help something grow or expand because it's eating up everything, sometimes we can't help it, and sometimes we do it without even knowing."

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