Chords for Ian Hunter interview BBC Breakfast 11 October 2012 Mott The Hoople

[A] _ Now it's well over four decades since a scruffy looking bunch from Herefordshire joined forces
_ with a corkscrew-haired singer to form the British rock band Mot the Hoople.
Is that fair?
[N] Corkscrew-haired singer?
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
He's still got the hair.
_ _ Despite selling out concerts, the band struggled commercially until David Bowie came along
with the song All the Young Dudes.
After that, the band had hit after hit and though they've now broken up, their frontman
Ian Hunter has kept on rocking as a solo artist.
Ian's here, as you've seen.
Very good morning [D] to you.
Good morning.
Nice to see you here.
We're [F#] going to have a look back at [E] some of the early days.
Do you mind?
No, no, not at all.
On we go. _ _
[C#] _ _ _ _ _ [G#] _ _ _
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[G#] _ _ [F#] _ _ _ _ [C#] _ _
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_ _ _ _ _ _ [C#] _ _
_ [F#] _ _ _ _ _ _ _
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_ [F#] _ _ _ _ [G#] _ [C#] _ _
_ _ [Fm] _ _ _ _ [A#m] _ _
_ [C#] _ _ [Fm] That revolution scar, what a drag!
Two [G#] minutes! _ _ _
_ Slag!
[D#m] I drunk a lot of wine, I'm feeling fine
[F] I got away so [A#m] damn [C#] glad
_ [F#] _ _ _ _ [C#] _
_ _ [G#] _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
I [C#] _ _ _ [Fm] _ think [A#m] I'm good
_ _ [C#] I'm getting [G#m] on the road
_ [B] _ [F#] _ _
_ [E] And Ian's with us now, [N] very good morning to you Ian
Thanks for having me
Is it ok for me to say that you're not the average looking 73 year old? _
I think you mean that in a good way
_ It's only three and a quarter
It's a rock and roll 73 year old look
Well, my daughter says you know, just because you're that age you don't have to go and dress in flat caps and tweed jackets
Or have the hair cut for example
Well the hair cut, _ Susie Bronson cuts my hair and I haven't seen Susie in about a year
So every time it sort of goes out a bit I just chop a bit off
Oh you do it yourself?
Yeah Why not?
Well I can't find Susie
Well if she's out there watching we'll try and get you back together again
_ Now tell us a little bit about the new album, it's called When I'm President
_ So what would you do when you're president _ then?
Over there, you know, I _ think the Monopolies Commission needs looking at, you know
Because everything, you know, you can't have five banks and one record company and stuff like that
Over there meaning where you live most of your time in America?
Yeah, yeah, I live in Connecticut
But that seems to be where they made the mistake with corporate
_ It's just squeezed it to the point where, you know, like with record people
They would like to have two records _ on the radio
So then _ either pick one or pick the other
There should be 5,000 records on the radio, you know
So yeah, I'd go for the Monopolies Commission first _
_ _ And Monopolies had quite an impact on a lot of other bands, didn't they?
I mean you're one of those bands, you're kind of like a band's band in a way, weren't you?
Yeah
You had a moment in time when you were very popular more generally
But lots of bands subsequently, people like The Clash, said you were a big influence
It was quite by fluke but we never _ seemed to be in our own time
We were either a bit behind or a bit ahead
And in the case of Clash we'd done an album called Brain Capers
And that became like the forerunner of all the, you know, I don't think
_ _ I wouldn't want to be responsible for a lot of that stuff
But apparently that was the forerunner of punk
[E] And Oasis too have said you're an influence, is that right?
Yeah, a [Gm] lot of bands say that and then you look at them
And I don't hear it, you know, I don't really hear it
I just hear what Motte did, [E] you know
And have you met any of these people?
Have you had sort of encounters with those who've_
Oh yeah, yeah, yeah
Mick out of The Clash used to come to every gig we ever did, you know
And _ he liked the way, we would let fans in the back door if they couldn't afford to come in the front
And stuff like that, so when Clash started, you know, that's what they did
They did the same sort of thing
It was very much a time of like Bowie and being second and from Mars and all the rest of it
We weren't like that at all, I mean we were just in with, it was the gang together
And the gang meaning your fans as well as the bands
Yeah, they were up on stage, they ruined mics, they_
Yeah, and it was great
And they were like, Mick was one of the lieutenants because it was quite an army
So we had to then have lieutenants because they were nicking bikes and nicking cars to get to gigs, you know
Because nobody had any money Right
And _ [A#] slowly it built, it built _ a loyalty thing
If we stunk, they considered they stunk as well
So we used to get off, we used to get away with a lot of stuff that a lot of bands [N] didn't, you know
Can we talk a bit about David Bowie and his influence?
Because he was like a sort of, I don't know, was he like a fairy godfather for you in a way?
He was great
You had [E] your success and then [F#] he kind of, how did that come about?
The offer of doing some of his songs
We were in converted gas tanks in [E] Switzerland _
[G#m] And we were selling out everywhere over here but we, _ BBC and radio was close to us
Because we'd had a couple of stiff singles, it wasn't happening
_ And so we decided to split up
And when we got back to London, Pete Watts, the bass player for Mott, rang up David for a gig
Because David was just starting to [F#] make a move
_ [E] And David turned out to be a fan and said you can't split up
And he offered us Suffragette City, _ which we didn't think would do it
It's okay, you know
But then he sat us down in Regent Street
Can I just check, do you regret that decision now?
No, not at all, he's an average rocker
But then when he played his dudes it was like, ye gods, why are you giving this away?
And this is a hit
And I'm a peculiar singer, it was a song I could handle
I knew straight away
It's [N] a fabulous thing when you're behind a hit and nobody else has ever heard it
_ And you just knew that was a big one, you know Brilliant
So the new album, it's called When I'm President, that's the single track as well isn't it?
Yeah
And it's out, I can tell you
Look, it's out now
And the UK tour starts tomorrow
_ Are you ready for it?
Yeah, yeah, I'm running around like an idiot
Are you ready for it?
No, no, I'm not
_ Jet lagged out my mind
I was up all night before I came here
Oh, well thank you very much for coming to see us
Oh, you're very welcome Thank you
Glad to see you this morning
Time now is 8.58
The First World War was a conflict unlike any that had come before
Becoming known as the war to end all wars
Later today the Prime Minister will set out plans for commemorating the centenary of its outbreak
Which will take place of course in 2014
But how should we mark the occasion?
Our correspondent Robert Hall is in Belgium at Menin Gate
One of the main memorials
And he joins us now Morning Robert
_ Good _ [Dm] morning you two
Yes, the Belgian town of Ypres
The memories of the First World War run deep here
And [Am] so they [D] should because the town was virtually destroyed between 1914 [F] and 1918