Songfacts®:

• Lead singer Kelly Jones wrote this to express his annoyance at the press spreading lies, hence the line, "Why don't you tell it like it is?" >>

  Suggestion credit:
  Kris - Loftus, England
• In an interview with the Metro newspaper April 9, 2001, frontman Kelly Jones was asked about this song. He replied that he was friendly with some journalists, "it's just a song about a couple of people that have been around me, really. It's supposed to be a bit of a sarcastic song but, judging from some of the reviews, it seems some people didn't really get it. I think the fuss about it from some members of the press has been blown out of proportion."
• The English soccer star Wayne Rooney has a tattoo on the inside of his right forearm that reads "Just enough education to perform." A source told the Daily Mirror that the Manchester United forward "absolutely loves the band" and that "Just Enough Education to Perform is his favorite album." The album title also fits Rooney well as he left school with no GCSE's but is said to have a fine football brain.
• Jones told The Guardian October 28, 2008 that he regrets commenting about one journalist in this song as, "every journalist thought it was about them. It took me 10 minutes to write and 10 years to explain."
• Kelly Jones recalled to NME November 6, 2010: "Our relationship with NME started favourably, we were on the front cover all the time. Then a few journalists came on the road, but wrote a different version of events and we got pissed off. In a gnarly way we wrote a narky song called 'Mr Writer;' and things have been a bit frosty ever since."