The bar was modern-looking and not friendly at all. It was in January , about three in the afternoon. They all dress the same — same cars, same coats, everything. That day in Rotterdam, I just happened to walk into one of those places that exist the world over. But as soon as she sang it, the song made absolute sense, because instead of me banging a table, it suddenly became this calm, scything, scissoring attack on the bar and the people in it.
Rotterdam was one of those songs. It was just a lovely song. Paul had written this sweet, very happy melody — but then it had these very biting lyrics. It originally started off as a love letter to Rotterdam that then became annoyed and turned into quite a cynical song. I wonder what it would have been like if Paul had found that bar really charming.
The lyrics always made me laugh. We once did a festival in Stockholm and in the afternoon, we walked out into the festival grounds. But we have played it in Liverpool.
The Rotterdam video had a circus theme, and it was filmed on a stretch of disused motorway where they road-tested vehicles.
All day, I walked up and down, miming and holding a petrol can, with jugglers and unicyclists behind me.
