[Giada71]

CLACTON ON SEA, 8th April 2005

“We ain’t going to the tooown. We’re going to the City!”
Yes, we’re going to have a look at the magical place where our magic Paul was born, Clacton On Sea.

http://img144.echo.cx/img144/7297/magiccity7bq.jpg

http://img144.echo.cx/img144/8536/magiccityii4ov.jpg

I just got off the train from London. I have a look at the map of the town hanging in the railway station and… something immediately catches my eyes: one of the main roads is…
ROSEMARY Road!!!

http://img144.echo.cx/img144/9613/map3dy.jpg

Clacton is a small town on the South-East coast of England.
I had been told it’s ugly, grey, and sad. And too quiet. But now I’m here it all proves to be different. It’s a friendly place made of colourful semi-detached houses. Along the street I see many young people and young mothers with their babies, and kids coming back from school.

http://img144.echo.cx/img144/3156/arrival5gs.jpg

http://img144.echo.cx/img144/2281/maincrossroad8bx.jpg

Well, it’s also true that there are many elderly and disabled people, but they are looked after…
“through the AGING, the fearing, the strife.”

http://img144.echo.cx/img144/448/throughtheaging1wc.jpg

“Rosemaryyy! Heaven restores you in life.”

Did you say you think that’s a coincidence?
http://img144.echo.cx/img144/1049/rosemarybuild7aq.jpg

http://img144.echo.cx/img144/4931/rosemaryroad1yh.jpg

The funny thing is that the building you see up above was undergoing restoration works…
And on the other side of the road [B][I]Heaven restores you in life! There’s Church Road.

http://img144.echo.cx/img144/8207/heaven9si.jpg

I seize this occasion to publicly thank Minister Chris, working in the protestant church you can see on the left, who was kind enough to offer me a free snack with tea, and then take me to the local music shop, thinking the owner would know Paul Banks. “After all Mark has been in the music business for years, he surely knows all the people in music from Clacton.”
Yeah, Mark is very nice, but, “Who is Paul Banks?”, I didn’t want to hear that from a Clacton musician! [To tell the truth nobody I asked about Paul Banks knew about him. :blink: :( !]
I thank the ‘Sunflower Valley’ guitarist and wish him all the best for his band and activities, and continue my visit, walking immerse in the many banks-like references.

[Giada71]

Does the following remind you of something?

http://img144.echo.cx/img144/6060/lifeboat0ei.jpg
“I’ll bring you when my lifeboat sails through the night…”

Who ever wondered about the detailed sea imagery that Paul owns, can fully understand now.
Just look at the sea! That’s the North Sea. We are facing Norway. Hoping one day we’ll be “sailing to Norway!”
That’s easily something a boy would say to his girlfriend, living in little Clacton. Sailing is escape and freedom. Freedom comes from the sea.

http://img144.echo.cx/img144/4482/sea3zq.jpg,http://img144.echo.cx/img144/7957/seaii2ne.jpg,http://img144.echo.cx/img144/7392/seaiii2ic.jpg

This place is chilly today! In my experience all the sea-towns in the U.K. are always beaten and whipped by a cold wind, that often carries rain or hail. Liverpool, Swansea, Falmouth, Brighton... Clacton makes no exception.
After putting up with a few April showers I find shelter in the Pier, full of machines, slot-machines, and games, and kids and families killing time there (“why can’t we play the other game?”).
The view from the Pier is nice:

http://img144.echo.cx/img144/7674/pierview9ew.jpg,http://img144.echo.cx/img144/6121/pierviewii2ij.jpg,http://img144.echo.cx/img144/3140/pierviewiii2it.jpg,http://img144.echo.cx/img144/8514/pierviewiv4gu.jpg

From the Pier I spot another plain reference to Paul’s lyrics…

http://img144.echo.cx/img144/2834/tourrette0ul.jpg

“I spent a life-span with no cell-mate, the long way back!!”
Obvious, ain’t it?

And you have to know the beaches there are quite SANDY, “why can’t we look the other way?”

[Giada71]

No worries, I’ll also look the other way! Keep walking Giada, there’s still so much to discover!
Very close to where the tower is I find this peculiar house garden. It’s a time to be so small! A heaven for children.

http://img144.echo.cx/img144/4967/snowie7er.jpg

And this really is a time to be so small!

http://img144.echo.cx/img144/6121/atimetobesosmall9sk.jpg

This is the Clacton Police Station. I assure you, it really looks like a boat if you see it from the street!

http://img144.echo.cx/img144/3692/police4qd.jpg

It’s so hard to believe Paul lived in Clacton for only 3 years!! Everything speaks about him!
They even dedicated a road to our hero…

:lol: http://img144.echo.cx/img144/4937/saint1hw.jpg


Here is a combination of familiar names:

http://img144.echo.cx/img144/148/rosebank9uq.jpg


When I had the chance to have a word with Paul and I showed my disappointment at the news he lived there for only 3 years, he was fast in adding, “but I went back there to visit my Granny” [!!!] I really wouldn’t be surprised if his Granny’s name was Rosemary.
Paul is such a nice and caring guy. All the more so now that I know he repeatedly came to town for the sole purpose of visiting his elderly relatives.

[Giada71]

In Clacton I have these epiphanies blowing off in my head… Many of the songs I thought had mainly a sexual reference can in fact refer to an old relative, the Granny!! Of course!
I often had a feeling in Interpol songs there were references to pieces of advice given to Paul from older people, for instance- “speak when you’re spoken of! Catch up on your sleep…”.
Now all the songs get crowded with a number of people who are not in his love relationship with his woman. I am now convinced that he had a close relationship with his Granny and she was his inspiration for several songs. Just think about “Obstacle 1"- “her stories are boring and stuff, she’s always calling my bluff”. So difficult to attach that to a love&sex relationship. And have I ever felt the same way at the stories my Grand-parents told me!
This lady had probably problems in walking about, hence the title ‘Obstacle 1’, and that’s why she has to “wait in the van” and her pleasure is “set upon slow release” (maybe drugs, medicines?), “It’s in the way that she walks, her Heaven is never enough, she puts the weight into my little heart”. I imagine Paul comforting his Granny in the hospital, or in a rest-home; going to visit and telling her about his trips abroad (“…you sing songs into my lips…”, “you travel, you travel!”). And that may also be the reason why Paul is so well acquainted with hospital terminology- “When you lost your nurses I found you a doctor in me!”
But don’t mind me. Those above are personal speculations and ravings of mine that can be completely out of track.

Resuming our walk, along the main road, we find some other specialists Paul could turn to for help in specific occasions:

http://img144.echo.cx/img144/3215/specialistphoto4oa.jpg

http://img144.echo.cx/img144/9535/specialisttailor4qh.jpg

And the following ones are shows that were to be performed in Clacton shortly after my visit. You will agree the music taste here is a bit old-fashioned. Check them out!

http://img144.echo.cx/img144/2704/shows0lk.jpg

But, who knows, maybe Paul and his girlfriend are really into good shows and they didn’t want this one to be removed from London (I repeat- this was taken in London):

http://img144.echo.cx/img144/1374/salacious0iu.jpg
“Combat salacious removal”
(That is something I would like to ask Paul the next time I attend an Interpol gig).

Unfortunately all good things must come to an end… I hope you managed to sail to Norway before the cadaverous mob saves its door for the dead man. Because if it already did, you cannot leave!

http://img144.echo.cx/img144/9586/cadaverousmobdoor9lc.jpg

So my journey is over. Too bad. I did enjoy the place, and even went shopping. I wanted to share this with all of you fans. I hope you liked my reportage.

Paul, I know you hate when people analyze you. I apologize, please forgive me. But analyzing comes only too natural sometimes, when you are interested in someone/something, like your wonderful music. It’s good to have the chance to find out more and know you better, and understand how you can create such beauty from everyday life. You influence so many of us without even knowing!

I feel slightly obsessed with Interpol now. Not sure this is entirely healthy, but there’s little I can do, as their lyrics move within my thoughts… Alive.

[LuellaPuella]

Giada, i really enjoyed all of your posts. I truly believe that you have stumbled onto something interesting. When i was looking at all the posts, i made the connections also, and quite frankly, it creeped me out. I must have said 'whoa' :huh: about 15 times while viewing your posts. thanks for posting. i appreciate your analysis ^_^

[nate_tj]

Good Giada71!
u have an entire thesis right there. It interesting how you were seeing the entire world through the eyes of paul's lyrics.
There was a thread about what EVIL meant, and they linked it to a serial killer named Rosemary. That explanation was intriguing, but i wont be too surprised if he really meant Rosemary Road after all. I think Paul's got this nostalgic tinge in his lyrics anyway.

The rest, probably not, but its really fun to watch u link up all the words like Specialist, Salacious with pictures! And may I comment, the pictures are beautiful. Sucha a beautiful hometown, i wish i lived there and grew up with paul :P

[June]

It looks like such a lovely sleepy little seaside town.

[flowerofevil]

Thank you so much Giada for your posts and pictures, lovely!!! There are too many coincidences everywhere... just coincidences, or Paul subconscious made him write all the songs?... I mean, Paul was very young when he left with his family... he couldn´t remember everything... very interesting...
And I agree with you, I´ve always though that 'Obstacle 1' talks about and old person, not a young one, maybe as you said, Paul´s granny? :

THANKS SO MUCH AGAIN!!! :)

[breathe_my_vapors]

I think we have a Sherlock Holmes among us...


Anyways...my question is, if Paul was born there and lived there for 3 years, how could he have possibly get his inspiration from his home town at the age of 3 and remember it throughout the course of his life? :wacko:

[nia]

Giada for presidenté!!!!!
Clacton -on-Sea = a day out for the Saga people.

nice post! although i like Blackpool, theres something extremly kitch about that place. :lol:

[Marcia]

Thank you for all the lovely photos and your interesting analysis.

[tercat]

While he probably didn't consciously pull a lot of that stuff from his early experiences, those things do have a profound effect on who a person is and how he or she sees the world. I think they affect the symbols that live in our subconscious. So, even if Paul is applying those symbols to sex and relationships, drugs, work, fulfillment, identity, whatever... the symbols might have roots in that place (among others).

[stillinterlove]

OH MY IT KINDA CREEPED ME OUT WHILE READING THIS POST.
good job!

[kris*]

this should go into the "you know you're obsessed"-thread...
you didn't go to clacton because of this, did you?? you had something else to do there, right? :unsure:

[Stéph_à_ny]

Wow ! Good Analysis & good investigation! You should be a journalist, or a private detective !

About Paul's inspiration, he may look on pictures from the city.

[MCinCALI]

Wow Giada, you have showed real dedication. Good job on the pictures. It was interesting to see all the connections. Bravo!

[youresocutewhen...]

heh heh.
that is actually quite hilarious.

[jon22406]

My first post, thought Id add to this one as I live here in Clacton (have done almost all my life) and learnt from interpol's faq that Paul came from here. Sorry to be negative, but it's a shit-hole. I'm lucky enough to work and socialise outside of Clacton so avoid the reality of teenage single-mothers, graffiti'd streets and sprawling council estates. I'm not ashamed of coming from here, but it's nothing to be proud of either. Other peoples opinions:

http://www.knowhere.co.uk/3205.html

I think the supposed links between Paul's lyrics/ inspirations and Clacton-on-sea are tenuous at best, and must own up to actually sniggering at most of them. And if anyone is desperate for more pictures I'll save Giada the trouble and stroll down Rosemary Road at the weekend!

[Cherb]

nia, on May 5 2005, 07:01 AM, said:

Clacton -on-Sea = a day out for the Saga people.

And, er, my annual family days out at the seaside. *hmph*
And where we had a caravan that, er, got set on fire. *does digging out of holiday snaps*
And also where we did GCSE coursework on.
And I'm not even joking.

It is what every single Essex town is becoming, which is a bit rubbish, but Jon...at least you get the pier mate - dodgems are best!