That makes sense. I know you don’t really want to talk about Porcupine Tree right now, but I have to ask you about my favorite song of yours, “Heartattack In A Layby.” Frankly, I think it’s a work of genius, and I wonder what made you write it.
Oh, well thank you. It’s one of my favorites of mine, too. I think that for me, one of the things that’s always been the most heartbreaking about the human condition is the idea of regret. Regret for not having said what you should’ve said at the time or done what you should’ve done. Regret for not following your instincts and married the right person when you had the chance. All of that stuff. I think it’s terribly sad human quality, and “Heartattack In A Layby” is about regret. It’s all about a guy basically dying in a Layby and thinking about the way he’s left home the day before, the night before, the week before, or whenever. That incredibly potent sense of regret for not resolving this argument or row or whatever it was. I just thought it was a really beautiful image. Actually, when I started writing the song, it was about a man who’d been shot and he was lying in a Layby. But the I thought that what’s even more potent, in a way, is this idea that he’s having a heart attack and he doesn’t even realize that he’s dying. It was just that idea, really, and it’s definitely one of my favorite songs of them all, too. I’m glad you like it.
From an interview with SW:
That makes sense. I know you don’t really want to talk about Porcupine Tree right now, but I have to ask you about my favorite song of yours, “Heartattack In A Layby.” Frankly, I think it’s a work of genius, and I wonder what made you write it.
Oh, well thank you. It’s one of my favorites of mine, too. I think that for me, one of the things that’s always been the most heartbreaking about the human condition is the idea of regret. Regret for not having said what you should’ve said at the time or done what you should’ve done. Regret for not following your instincts and married the right person when you had the chance. All of that stuff. I think it’s terribly sad human quality, and “Heartattack In A Layby” is about regret. It’s all about a guy basically dying in a Layby and thinking about the way he’s left home the day before, the night before, the week before, or whenever. That incredibly potent sense of regret for not resolving this argument or row or whatever it was. I just thought it was a really beautiful image. Actually, when I started writing the song, it was about a man who’d been shot and he was lying in a Layby. But the I thought that what’s even more potent, in a way, is this idea that he’s having a heart attack and he doesn’t even realize that he’s dying. It was just that idea, really, and it’s definitely one of my favorite songs of them all, too. I’m glad you like it.