When we write, we write, in a funny way, to each other. That hasn’t changed, and we had a lot to say…once you set the song up it starts to absorb your history from you, and the meaning arrives without you even intending it to half the time.
My partner in life is Carl Barat; that’s why we are still up on stage despite many conflicts that led us to drugs and alcohol. We were very close to destruction; now we are no longer that young and have changed. I’ve been through a lot and I am full of weaknesses. But I like to share my perception of the world through the lyrics of the songs…What keeps us together is music, everything else is rubbish.
‘We could do anything. You know individually, together, apart, to each other…I love Peter and I think Peter loves me.’
I remember playing with Dirty Pretty Things at an old theatre, like the inside of a chocolate box, in Paris, probably towards the end of everything. Peter was in the city, and we still weren’t properly talking to each other, but like a lot of estranged ‘couples’, we were texting. He texted to say he wanted to come to the show and, naturally, I panicked, scanning our set list to see what Libertines songs we were doing. ‘I Get Along’ was in the running order, and all through the show I was searching the crowd for him, while giving it all I had. He’d never seen us before and I was incredibly nervous. I wanted to make an impression. He was up in the Royal Box, which was exactly the place where I should have thought to look for him, of course. When it came to the last song, we announced that we would love Peter to join us to play ‘I Get Along’. The place went absolutely mental, and then there was a long, unwinding moment when it transpired that Peter had left the venue five minutes before which was both embarrassing and confusing.
To hold you, to heal you, to kill you.
Yes & roll over you in Teesdale St.
…
You’re the model of my love, hardened in the fire, so soft to touch, so warm to the blade, you hurt me & I hear you cry out in pain.
“He’s a psychopath. He’s pulled a knife on me so many times. I’ve had to call the police about it.“ – Peter Doherty (NME 2002)
What was the one thing that you wanted to say to each other face to face in the four weeks?
Peter (without hesitation): I love you… I love you whether you like it or not.
Can’t Stand Me Now was written by Doherty and Barat on a songwriting retreat to Paris to try to reclaim their splintered partnership, as Peter explained, “Biggles has asked me to go away to Paris, just the two of us. We’re going tomorrow. Do some writing.” Thornton and Sargent detailed the session when they wrote, “In the Hotel France Albion in Montmartre they completed two new songs: “Can’t Stand Me Now” and “The Saga.” As Alex Hannaford (writes in his book) Peter Doherty: Last of the Rock Romantics, “The band had been playing ‘Can’t Stand Me Now’—the Pete penned paean to his and Carl’s soured relationship. And that night on stage at Brixton, whether it was due to love lost between them, paranoia from drug use or simply tiredness, Pete took offence at how emphatic Carl had been while singing the words to the song. “It had taken six, seven years for him to say it, to say the truth,” Pete afterwards told the Guardian. “He sang it to me and I thought, you’re right. We’ve used each other, got here, but underneath it all, you’re not my mate. So I kicked his amp over, smashed up his guitar and cut myself up.” To counter Carl’s rendition, Peter recorded a brilliant acoustic version with one of the most infamous lines cleverly added…"I’ve read every review/they all prefer you.” When Carl was asked about the meaning behind the song he was famously quoted (as saying), “‘Can’t Stand Me Now’ was the most self-explanatory song in pop.” Libertines’ bassist John Hassall told Q Magazine in 2008, “The song that stands out is Can’t Stand Me Now. Maybe the only thing Pete and Carl could honestly sing about was the situation, what they felt about each other. Almost a sort of therapy in itself.
After I got the sack so many times from so many different places, and I’d lost everything which didn’t mean anything, all I had left was the strongest thing. Which was my friend. And songs. And a life together.
Carl is happy now. We have the music, the band, and we need each other. The only way to return to those old days is if one day he shows up and tells me “I’ve gotten divorced, my children don’t want to see me, let’s go suffer in the basement.”
suchasinistergame 