Up the Junction with Chris Difford

Chris Difford is a man of many faces: a songwriter for the likes of Elvis Costello, a lyricist for Elton John and most notably a founding member of the chart-topping band Squeeze. While the band initially dissolved in 1983 before undergoing various metamorphoses and eventually reuniting in 2007, Chris boasts a consistently successful solo and group career. Sitting down with Chris, I had to know the secret to his success.

Chis famously set Squeeze into motion when he stole 50p from his mum’s purse and placed an advert for a guitarist in the local sweet shop. Teenage Glenn Tilbrook answered the call. Did Chris expect to reach the heights Squeeze came to be known for at that time?

‘Yeah! Absolutely!’ Chris enthused. ‘I mean I wanted to be in a band, I wanted it to be great, I wanted to tour and I didn’t want to do anything else’. Among band members the feeling was mutual: ‘Glenn Tilbrook, Jools Holland, Gilson Lavis – we all wanted the same thing, we all wanted to go out on the road and tour the world and write great songs. Everything came to fruition’.

Squeeze

Squeeze’s early successes took place in south-east London’s Deptford among a music scene that boasted the expertise of bands like Alternative TV and Dire Straits. ‘There definitely used to be more freedom to play locally in pubs and to perform as a band and to make a racket’ Chris reflects. ‘I think these days lots of kids go to places like BIMM in Brighton and music colleges. In a way that’s really amazing for giving people an opportunity to meet other people and learn skills that they would like to carry forward. But we didn’t have that when I was growing up – where we learnt our skills was playing live and I think that’s more important’.

The skills the band developed early in their career have certainly served them well. While Glen thrived instrumentally, Chris is a masterful lyricist. Upon comparing his poetic talents to those of Dolly Parton, Chris’ face visibly brightened. ‘It’s joyous to be put in the same phrase as Dolly Parton, I’ve never heard that before! That’s really quite stunning. I am really just very happy to have been given the gift to be able to write lyrics. Even after all of this time I don’t take it for granted. It’s something that I really love doing’.

His process? ‘I just sit and wait for the songwriter to arrive and when he arrives we write songs. It’s a spiritual thing. It’s like a muscle I learnt to train’.

The lyrics of Squeeze’s most famed tracks are undeniably what brings their charm, ‘Cool For Cats’ and ‘Up the Junction’ having been rattled off in Karaoke bars across the country since their inception. ‘From my point of view’, Chris emphasises, those songs are ‘very much of their time’, citing that ‘the TV shows’ that ‘Cool for Cats’ ‘represents no longer exist’.

While there is certainly something in Chris’s work to thank the zeitgeist for, these tracks embody the talent that has afforded him constant success. As the band reunites to tour this year, Chris looks forward to making ‘each venue turn into home’ and his fans look forward to basking in his light once more.

Word by Kate Bowie 



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