“I met this chap at a friend’s house and he had Aids. He was telling me about his boyfriend’s mother who didn’t like him because she thought her son was going to die as well. But he was so kind about her, it was incredible. In the song I talk about him going to the mirror and looking at his hair and fixing himself, just his positiveness. Just watching and listening to him I could write all those words in my head.”Joan Armatrading (200)

“That was someone I know; he was not rich, but from good parents, and she was from a poor family. Very different backgrounds, and all his friends were saying, “Forget her. How are you going to make this work? She’s from a council estate, you’re in your posh little house, it’s not going to work”.”Joan Armatrading (201)

“People thought that was a gay song but it’s about a guy and his fiancee.”Joan Armatrading (202)

“This chap that I knew was telling me about someone he knew, this woman who was in a situation of being almost a prisoner to this guy. He would shower her with all kinds. But he wouldn’t allow her to go out and have her own life and be her own person. He was very controlling of her.”Joan Armatrading (202)

“”Barefoot And Pregnant” was just… yeah to keep a woman like that so she doesn’t leave, a lot of blokes are like that. To give her maybe lots of things but not company. I was talking to my agent about – I think it was men/women relationships, and he said that. I’d never heard that phrase before.”Joan Armatrading (582)

“This is me and a friend of mine talking about someone that we both knew who was with this lady. All the woman wanted was for him to say, “I love you,” just show the feelings he had for her by words and by touch. But if she said, “I really like tennis,” he’d go buy her the most expensive racket or expensive lessons. He’d never say or show in the way she wanted. It was always in this physical, material way.”Joan Armatrading (203)

“I know I missed my parents terribly when I wasn’t with them. I don’t think about it but I wouldn’t be surprised if that played a big part in shaping who I am, for sure. As a youngster, not having your parents for a while is not nice. It’s not something I dwell on. I was always a loner person anyway; I’m no different now than when I was a youngster. I’m used to spending time on my own. That’s where “Me, Myself, I” came from.”Joan Armatrading (203)

“I’m very comfortable being on my own, I have no problems with it. I think quite a lot of people have a problem with being on their own, and I think it’s quite a healthy thing to enjoy being by yourself. That’s really what I was saying. Sometimes being on your own is quite an empowering thing.”Joan Armatrading (1057)

“The opening line (“I am not in love but I’m open to persuasion”) is really about me. I don’t usually talk about this song.”Joan Armatrading (204)

“And again it was somebody trying to persuade me to be with them, and that’s as much as I’m saying about that song.”Joan Armatrading (1057)

“That’s the only song I’ve written on tour. It’s actually about two chaps on tour who were in my band. One of them was little and one was big and they were always arguing, always doing what it says in the song, but you kind of had the feeling that they loved it. Just getting at each other: you’d think, “Get a room already.” They weren’t gay. Like a little terrier, that just gets any big dog.”Joan Armatrading (204)

“A woman musician I know, I was at her house and the day before she had found a letter in her bed – from another woman to her bloke. Something like that is very strong. I wanted to write about it. On the other hand I didn’t want to write it too obviously like her thing because, well, she was so really upset.”Joan Armatrading (582)

“It’s just about a bloke and his girlfriend. Well, it could be a gay song, and it probably applies to gay people more than heterosexuals. When you see someone really happy with someone else you want them to be with you, and maybe get a little of that happiness.”Joan Armatrading (582)