“”I want all the world to see, to see you laughing, and you’re laughing at me. I can take it all from you again, again, again.” In my mind I was speaking to my ex-wife and the British press at the time.”Francis Rossi (414)

“”Matchstick Men” was basically about my ex-wife. I’d just got married, and I thought, Oh, this is a mistake, what have I done?”Francis Rossi (550)

“I remember there was a program on in England about kids that were sent to boarding school. I know some people have had a great time at boarding school, but there was this little boy who’d gone at four years old. He was very eloquent and articulate, and he was talking about the loneliness of being there. He said, “Everyone talks of a god they know, but now I’ve got a god of my own, and I’m fine.” He was probably about seven years old. I remember thinking, That’s a great line: “Now I have a god of my own.” People should just have a god of their own without trying to sell it to somebody else. That’s basically what that song was about.”Francis Rossi (550)

“It was something that was going on in my life. The euphemism, dirty water, means “I can’t get into this with you,” whatever it was.”Francis Rossi (550)

“This again was about somebody’s wife who had offered me “It sounds so good, just once or twice.” It was about this meeting with this woman who had offered herself to me. Wish I’d gone there, now that I think about it.”Francis Rossi (550)

“I was doing a ‘tax year’, flitting around Europe. I’d spent quite a bit of time in Germany and it was then suggested we all go and hole up on the island of Jersey. There wasn’t a lot to do on the island really. I started the song off with Bob Young and we just talked about being bored, living on an island, waiting for someone to come out, sneak a bit of ‘Nikki Lauda’ [powder (cocaine) – Ed] on the island because it was bad news there. That song reflected the time spent on Jersey.”Rick Parfitt (1260)