'Milk and Alcohol', written in 1978 by Nick Lowe and John 'Gypie' Mayo, reportedly retells Lowe's 1970s experiences drinking one too many Kahlúa-milk drinks at or after a United States concert by bluesman John Lee Hooker. Feelgood's biggest hit and continues to be played by the band. Written by Nick Lowe and Gypie Mayo, and produced by Richard Gottehrer, the song was Dr.

Feelgood that reached number nine in the UK Singles Chart in 1979. One of those songs, that’s a reflection of that time, about sitting around the house at night knowing that death’s coming we’ve recorded it, and it’ll be on the album.' Milk and Alcohol' is a song by the band Dr. On going back into the studio after everything that he’d been through, Wilko has this to say about the 12 tracks that make up ‘Blow Your Mind’ I didn’t really intend to ever use them and, obviously, I didn’t know if I’d ever get back into the studio. The introspection of some of the tracks on the album is more than balanced out by the good time upbeat party feel of the title track, Beauty and I Love The Way You Do that have the urgency of Wilko’s earliest work with Dr Feelgood. But I never thought that I’d be the sort of person to write songs about different sorts of real-life experiences until I got sick”.Īnyone expecting that Wilko’s particular brand of R&B to be softened by such heartfelt lyrics is in for a surprise, if anything his guitar style of ‘the chop’ as he calls it, is even more aggressive. Speaking about the first sets of lyrics that he’d written in three decades Wilko says “ It’s tricky when you get to seventy years old, because what am I supposed to be singing? “I love you, baby, but you done me wrong?” Come on! That’s kind of a problem. Describing the record as ‘The album I never thought I’d get to write’ it deals with the trials and tribulations that he faced in the last five years, songs such as Marijuana and Take It Easy deal very directly with the terminal diagnosis he was given.

Joining Wilko on the album are his long-standing band Norman Watt Roy on bass and Dylan Howe on drums along with producer Dave Eringa who worked with them on the gold-selling album ‘Going Back Home’ with Roger Daltrey. ‘Blow Your Mind’ is Wilko’s first album of new material in 30 years, and is the sound of a man feeling very much alive. With customary humour Wilko said of this late-career resurgence “ Man, there’s nothing like being told you’re dying to make you feel alive”. However, despite the doctors’ worst predictions, he continued to perform with a new lust for life and even made the most successful album of his career ‘Going Back Home’ with the legendary Roger Daltrey.įollowing that album’s remarkable success he announced that thanks to a third opinion from a doctor moonlighting as a rock photographer and life-saving surgery, he was now cancer-free. ‘ I’m supposed to be dead!’ Canvey Island’s Dr Feelgood guitar legend Wilko Johnson was diagnosed in late 2012 with terminal pancreatic cancer. THE FOLLOW UP TO THE TOP 3 GOLD ALBUM ‘GOING BACK HOME’ ‘The album I never thought I’d get to write’ Wilko Johnson HIS FIRST ALBUM OF NEW MATERIAL IN 30 YEARS Pre-order for a signed edition by Wilko and backing band including… – more info HERE (Instore signing session 20th June at 3pm)

Wilko johnson vinyl