“On the show “Cheers” there were the guys, Cliff and Norm and Woody, they were having a conversation and the big guy was saying, “I’m going to get the sack.” His boss had come into the toilet and he’d overheard him saying how they were going to get rid of all the driftwood in the company. I was doing the dishes and was thinking about this and just sang the first line of the chorus. I ran upstairs, got the tape out, set it up, but I screwed up the recording of it and thought I’d lost the sense of it. Luckily the tape was running and I could hear myself singing it later on.”Fran Healy (464)

“”Slide Show” is about songs and about how those three songs in particular remind me of points in my life. Songs are like bookmarks in a book of your life and whenever you hear it again it takes you right back to that page. “Design for Life” reminds me of going up to Dougie’s house and sitting when we were on the dole. We were listening to that song, that album. “Wonderwall” reminds me of writing “To Reach You” and being back in Glasgow in that horrible, cold flat. That’s what those songs to do to me. The only thing I could think of when you close your eyes is a slideshow.”Fran Healy (465)

“It’s about my ex-girlfriend. She was working, doing her A-Levels at college. And, as soon as she got a bit of time off, she went and got this f***ing job at a hospice. I never got to see her. I was like, ‘COME ON, I WANNA…’ So, all I wanna do is rock? All I wanna do is f***. As time goes by, the meaning’s changed but, even then, it was about far more than shagging. It goes: ‘If this was any other day/I’d turn and walk the other way/Today I’ll stay.’ You know how people walk out if they’re not getting enough? But that frustration didn’t really seem to matter to me. Still, in the end, she left me! Girls of that generation — all they wanted were rugby players with rippling muscles. It’s about so many things now. All I wanna do is be with these three guys, in this van. Rock being the word that rhymes with sock. It could be anything — all I wanna do is crochet. All I wanna do is be an athlete. All I wanna do is feel passionate about something. All I wanna do is smoke, actually… have you got a cigarette? Cheers.”Fran Healy (873)

“I think the important line is “Standing in the middle of town,” which is about standing in the busiest point of your town and everything’s so fucking busy, and then you go, “That’s it, I’m going, I’m leaving, I’m gonna let go of whatever.” And then there’s that whole thing about your mum – because in the same way that a song comes through you, you come through them and mothers see things before you do. So there’s this whole thing that you’re just doing something that’s maybe already come around and it’s just coming around again. Like, all that’s happening with the band. It’s amazing, but my mum’s not amazed by it. She’s not surprised. It’s not that she saw that coming, but she saw something. She saw it. Whatever it may be.”Fran Healy (874)

“That song was written in Israel and Madrid. Whenever I went to radio interviews and people asked what the song is about, “is it because you’re so miserable?” They thought there was some metaphor behind the song but it’s a literal song. It’s very much that I went on holiday to get some sunshine but it just rained the entire time. That’s what happened all the holidays I’ve ever been on, it just rains.”Fran Healy (1040)