The Housemartins - hopelessly devoted to them, 1988

"To me, it never mattered whether people got the lyrics or not. I didn’t have that snobbery. I listen to a record purely on the strength of the music and vocals, nothing to do with whether it says something profound or whatever. Like Smokey Robinson – there are all sorts of his songs that I’ve liked and then later on thought, “Jesus, what a good lyricist.” I still love Smokey. He could’ve been singing the alphabet for all I cared, the lyrics are an added bonus. But then, when people say to me, “I don’t like your politics,” I think, “So what?”