According to Fish himself the song was specifically about touring Europe in a band, and everyone making the assumption that he must be sleeping around, 'coz thats what people in groups do'..Hence the double meaning of Charting the Single - having a hit record, but also mapping out the Batchelor life. The lyrics are parodying the cliche.
When I first worked out the lyrics as an impressionable 16 year old I was so impressed, Wow, I thought. Every line is a play on words! This guy's a genius!
Older and wiser now I can't decide wherever they are indeed the product of Genius or actually rather contrived and embarrassing...(I'm torn in this way when it comes to most early Marillion songs) Whatever, I can't think of another song like it. and at the time it blew my mind!
Eons ago I had a very poor quality bootleg that had the original demos of this song and it was quite different, more upbeat and frivolous sounding, which perhaps suited the lyrics more than the final recorded version.
According to Fish himself the song was specifically about touring Europe in a band, and everyone making the assumption that he must be sleeping around, 'coz thats what people in groups do'..Hence the double meaning of Charting the Single - having a hit record, but also mapping out the Batchelor life. The lyrics are parodying the cliche.
When I first worked out the lyrics as an impressionable 16 year old I was so impressed, Wow, I thought. Every line is a play on words! This guy's a genius!
Older and wiser now I can't decide wherever they are indeed the product of Genius or actually rather contrived and embarrassing...(I'm torn in this way when it comes to most early Marillion songs) Whatever, I can't think of another song like it. and at the time it blew my mind!
Eons ago I had a very poor quality bootleg that had the original demos of this song and it was quite different, more upbeat and frivolous sounding, which perhaps suited the lyrics more than the final recorded version.