Between me and Mickey, this was one of the songs that lyrically we disagreed on the most. As usual the music arrived along before the content, in a lovely quick way. Every part we put down seemed to fit and I think the myriad of parts in the verses really knit well together. Amongst this the only word that stuck while putting down a guide melody was “effete” (which I pronounce in my own anglo-saxon way haha, but less about that…). So that’s what I wanted the song to be about – this word.

Mickey thought that the song had a lot of beauty about it musically and so should carry a similar subject matter (it’s not often that he mentions lyrics so when he does I tend to listen). We were really happy with the split in the middle of the song and loved the drive of the last 90 seconds – but the lyrics were still a problem.

I wanted to take the idea of the word effete and develop a song idea around a character who I felt typified the word….

When I was university one of my best friends had a pretty inspirational story. He was 5”11 (this is relevant, not just how I describe people), and a good cross country runner but he came to uni with the ambition of rowing in the boat race. He had never rowed before and along with his build had a disadvantage that was beyond mammoth – a medium sized bloke from Wales versus the might of Olympians built like behemoth.

Now, I don’t like what the boat race is or stands for and I have huge problems with the way Oxford and Cambridge are positioned as a fulcrum in our societies, but suspending that for a minute you have to admire the determination and attitude of my friend. Virtually pausing his degree he had managed by his third year to progress from the ranks of a novice into the reserve boat (sitting amongst experienced international rowers), narrowly missing a place in the race. By that summer he represented the UK at u23 level. A real story of battling against odds, beyond improbable. I was inspired by him and still think back with disbelief to what he achieved.

Around the same time, Lance Armstrong – in a story that seemed beyond myth – had completed his own immeasurable triumph. A person that I know my friend had invested a huge amount of faith and inspiration. The amount of other people that this man must have also inspired to beat not only manacles of the self but also illness or injury is stupendous.

When his story began to unravel I really wondered how you would feel if a portion of your life had been invested in the purity of this story – everyone wanted that story to be true, yet to lift the veneer and see the deceit, the ill treatment of people and the way that he steamrollered himself into the position of an icon, says a lot about our world I think – if this is a fraud, then can anything amazing be real?

The husk of what is left of Lance Armstrong therefore became to me, an important and correct subject for a song – maybe I attach too much importance to it but he really is (to me) to personification of Effetism.

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Effete, makeweight
Nobody cares about you
On your birth date
Wake up: pretend you’ve
Beaten sleep
I guest you’ve finally
Made it to the back teeth

Effete: to weigh less

Maillot jaune scars
But now you’re staring
At a set of new stars
Free Lance from a packed cell
Hematocrit’ll kick you
Where your hope dwells

Effete, weightless
Depress to depress
Shake off to shake off:
The effete

Everyone was gushing but you never did blush
Bawdy implication was it part of the rush?
Acting so ephemeral according to style
You bully and you sully with a national guile
Everything was open but your mouth stayed
You’d been dealing with the feelings of a seminal cut
The single greatest story and I hoped it was true
But the words on the cover said a lot more about you