If You Will Have Me

Album: The Future Is Medieval (2011)
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Songfacts®:

  • British indie rock band Kaiser Chiefs' fourth studio album The Future Is Medieval was released through the band's website on June 3, 2011. In effect the world's first bespoke album, fans are able to create their own version of the record by choosing their favorite 10 tracks from the selection of 20 on offer. One-minute excerpts allow them to make their selections and each song is represented by an object. "There's a lyrical significance to every object," frontman Ricky Wilson explained to The Guardian, "although some are more oblique than others."

    After creating their own album, people can then share their version of the record with other fans, and earn £1 each time it is purchased by someone else.
  • Drummer Nick Hodgson was the Kaiser Chiefs' chief songwriter until he quit the band at the end of 2012. He penned this tender tune about his Alzheimer's-stricken father, Kenneth.

    And if you will have me
    I want to be the son that I was
    And if you will have me
    I want to be the boy in the photograph


    Chartered accountant Kenneth Hodgson was a successful businessman until he developed Alzheimer's. His health rapidly deteriorated and he began having epileptic fits brought on by the devastating illness. Kenneth Hodgson died in 2011 soon after the release of The Future Is Medieval, aged just 60.

Comments: 1

  • Rachel from West MidlandsIt is about Nick Hodgson's father having Alzheimer's disease, not Ricky Wilson's father. https://www.theguardian.com/music/2011/jun/03/kaiser-chiefs-the-future-is-medieval
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