This may shock and amaze people, but this is happy song! After so many good but dark tunes this is a lovely piece of light relief. An early cut of the album finished here and just 'felt the right place'.

So what's it about? It's very much heavily associated with time at Eccles college, I guess I was something of an outsider being the only one from an all boys school. The song is my first attempts to chat up a really nice girl with red hair on the walk home. In real life I didn't get the girl, but I couldn't let the song finish like that!

Around the same time I had seen the Harrison Ford film Witness, there's a really touching scene where Harrison Ford's character hears the Same Cooke song What A Wonderful World and dances with a local Amish woman. I found the harmonies Sam Cooke used very moving and they strongly influenced the chorus of What I Mean To Say. 

In later years I remember one (now ex) girlfriend constantly liked to have CD's on during erm romantic moments and I only rare had any say in what CD went in the player! At the time the boy band Boyzone were quite popular and one of their albums got stuck on repeat several times. Something kinda clicked in my brain that What I Mean to Say was effectively a boyband song and should have that feel to the harmonies. 

Recording time rolled around and I decided to start this one in secret away from Dan, starting with the cruicial rhythm guitar part and experimenting with a bass part. Finally I played the skeletal new song to Dan.... his response has me in stitches to this day.... 

Dan's jaw dropped open, his eyes went wide in disbelief.

"My god... what on earth... Tony... you've written a John Deacon song!!!"

 

For those who don't get the reference, John Deacon was the bass player in Queen and Dan was referring to You're My Best Friend an quirky yet happy number. 

My response? "Ah yes, but it needs Boyzone to do the backing harmonies"

Dan: "WHAT!!!"

He really didn't know what to make of this song it was so wildly different to everything else he'd heard! But it's a good if cheesy song.

Well we got to work on the harmonies. Admittedly my knowledge of musical harmony is somewhat limited so I asked Dan to write it out for me. Mentally I've not quite 'got' how to sing a harmony line, I keep singing the same as the lead! However I can copy someone else and chatting with Dan it was agreed that it should be my voice to add to the personal nature. So Dan wrote out the harmony and sang it, the final take is me copying him.

This tune was almost Dan's debut on lead electric guitar, he had a go and came up with interesting ideas... but a week or say later stated he wasn't happy. So I stepped in, took his ideas and added a few of my own. I always like the way the lead guitar half answers the lead vocal during the verse, after all I wrote the chord sequence with space for this. Listen closely and one of Dan's harmonies can be heard in the main guitar solo after the chorus. Ontop of that some jazz style chords during the verse are actually Chris!

I always had the intention of putting this song immediately after I Don't Know Why You Went Away as I felt that they contrasted and balanced each other. This extends to the respective lead vocals, on I Don't Kow Why You Went Away I'm very effect laden, thin and low whereas on What I Mean To Say I'm in your face and very natural. 

All in all I like this one, it's unusual for me and adds a little light to what had prior been a dark album.