emily84:

Interviewer: By the way, what does “Ha Ha Wall” mean? Or, which wall does it refer to?

Carl: Ha Ha Wall originally stands for a wall separating a mansion and a garden during the Victorian era, but, in this song, it refers to a wall along the Thames in the Embankment, which is to reinforce a dam against flooding. The government spent a large amount of money to build it several years ago, but it’s something laughed at, because it will be no use when a heavy flood actually happens.

Interviewer: So you say “Ha Ha”?

Carl: Yeah. Peter likes the place … It seems he is thinking about it whenever he brings up the Thames in conversation.

Interviewer: Then when Peter said “If Carl hadn’t been there waiting at the prison gates, I’d be at the bottom of a river by now” right after he was out of prison, he was probably thinking about that place, wasn’t he?

Carl: Yeah maybe … (looks down with a painful expression and remains silent for a while)

Interviewer: … Well, you are on main vocals in songs like Narcissist, Road To Ruin, and What Became of the Likely Lads, and does that mean you were largely responsible for the lyrics for these songs?

Carl: (Nods silently)

Interviewer: When you wrote about this boy in Narcissist who has pictures and posters of stars on the walls and daydreams about them everyday, you were apparently thinking of Peter?

Carl: Why do you have to ask when you already know the answer?

Interviewer: I just wanted to make sure because I don’t want to make a hasty assumption.

Carl: He has tended to sympathized with unfortunate heroines and tragic icons like Billie Holiday and Louise Brooks. I had a feeling well before that he would get into trouble eventually. … You know, it’s hard to talk any more about this song in my present situation. Forgive me with just this for today.

Interviewer: I understand. […] Well then this might be an even more difficult question for you, but this new album has lyrics that expose Peter’s feelings when the relationship between you and him was in trouble, like in Can’t Stand Me Now and Campaign of Hate. What do you feel when you listen to these songs or when you have to play them in the upcoming tour?

Carl: Can’t Stand Me Now is apparently about what you’ve just said, but I was thinking that Campaign of Hate was about the bullying he got when he was transferred from one school to another all around Europe with his father’s job relocation.

Interview: Superficially yes, but I heard that it was also about Peter’s feelings when he was temporarily out of the band last year.

Carl: Hmm … Who told you so?

Interviewer: Peter, just before he went into prison …

Carl: … … (Clams up)

Rockin’on, September 2004