Songs played (live session):
Space / Death II / Live On / Countdown / My Legendary Girlfriend
Two songs recorded during the soundcheck for this session have been released:
This was Pulp's second radio session (the first being for the John Peel Show almost ten years before). Unfortunately, it has never been repeated and the only unofficial recording in circulation is poor quality due to bad reception and tape hiss.
JC = Jarvis Cocker
MR = Mark Radcliffe
MR: There's been boxing on tonight - did you know?
JC: Yeah, we were watching it because we knew we were going to be on after it.
MR: Yeah, the bloke from Australia won.
JC: Just to recap.
MR: Just to recap, that's right, yeah. So sorry to keep you waiting. I see you've got your boxing tank top on down there.
JC: How do you know that? I've not seen you.
MR: I have seen you. I came down and you were rehearsing and I was going to sort of say hello, but you were rehearsing, and I felt a bit nervous coming in the room, you know.
JC: Oh, that's alright then.
MR: Right, we better cut this hadn't we and get on with some fantastic showbiz vibes. What you gonna play first?
JC: It's a song that we brought back with us from a trip into outer space recently.
MR: Right.
JC: And it's called Space.
MR: Right, so just to recap: this is Pulp with a song from outer space called Space, and right, seconds out, take it way, off you go.
(They play Space followed by Death II)
MR: I was just thinking of it: when you're doing that sort of smoochy bit you're a pretty sexy devil aren't you; a real horny devil aren't you really.
JC: That's very nice of you to say so, yeah.
MR: A touch of the Barry Whites really isn't it, you know.
JC: Hmm yeah. But I'm not as meaty as him, I'm afraid.
MR: No. But the last single My Legendary Girlfriend drew sort of comparisons with Barry White. I thought it was more like Isaac Hayes myself - so are you into that stuff then?
JC: Well yeah, it's nice isn't it? You know, with the ladies.
MR: Yeah, absolutely, absolutely. I mean have you got sort of cabaret leanings, are you a bit Las Vegas? Because you do sometimes, I mean you've done things like When I Get to Phoenix and the Lady in Red. Do you like a bit of the cabaret act?
JC: Yeah, I think those songs are quite nice sometimes, you know, when you're in the right mood.
MR: Right, I can't think of a mood I would be in to listen to the Lady in Red personally, but I'm sure you could convince me.
JC: But it makes you laugh, you know, when he's saying, 'I've never seen that dress you're wearing', and all that kind of business.
MR: Yeah, reduces me to tears every time that one. Introduce us to the rest of your entourage then.
(Jarvis introduces the rest of the band)
MR: I mean you are from Sheffield, but not many of you live there now do you - all moved away.
JC: It's terrible you see, it's so depressed as an area...
MR: Yeah.
JC: And everybody's on dole and that, and it's terrible. And we all have to go away.
MR: I can see you work for the tourist office in your spare time.
JC: No, it's a nice place Sheffield, but it's a bit like a skip, you know, it's just full of rubbish.
MR: Yeah.
JC: But personally I like looking through skips, you can find some good stuff there sometimes.
MR: My goodness me, you can. And we should all be looking to recycle kids. Yeah, if you're listening at home recycle and don't buy one.
MR: You've been going for 12 years, haven't you?
JC: You don't have to tell everybody that!
MR: Well, it's interesting, I mean...
JC: I feel like a clapped out old get-down here now.
MR: Do you? I mean you've had two singles out recently My Legendary Girlfriend and the current one Countdown. And I suppose people might be thinking you're a new band and so I thought I'd just destroy that anyway.
JC: That's very nice of you, yeah.
MR: What's this about you being in a Spiderman costume and falling off a second floor windowsill and having to go round doing gigs in a wheel chair.
JC: Well yeah, it's true, it happened about four years ago, I was trying to impress a girl.
MR: Well, I was going to say, was it an accident or was it performance art, you know?
JC: I wish it were performance art: I could have got some nice money; I could have got some nice posh wheelchair for that.
MR: And what's this other thing I read in the NME about you coming back from Paris, in the customs being strip searched, and you had 120 unused condoms on you?
JC: Actually, I've got the johnnies with me here tonight. But there aren't a 120.
MR: I'm not sure that's a Radio 5 word, actually!
JC: No. They're just condoms I'd collected through the years. And I just thought you're going on holiday and you've got to be safe haven't you.
MR: Absolutely.
JC: In this day and age.
Russell in the background: And you've got to be optimistic.
JC: And you've got to be optimistic as well, I suppose. But there weren't a 120, there were a few less than that.
MR: Are there not. I thought, if you're going to be safe you could spread them under your bedroom window, and then if you fell out of the second floor you could just bounce off all the condoms.
JC: Not a bad idea actually.
MR: Right, enough of this chat, I mean as fascinating though it is, we've got little time tonight, so we better bash on. What are you going to play next?
JC: We're going to play a song called Live On.
(They play Live On)