| Klub Apartman Karađorđeva 43 Belgrade, Serbia |
"From an early age I was humming endlessly in the back of the car. I remember my mum asking me what I was humming and saying, 'I don't know. I made it up.' At 10 I wrote a song called Digital Watch. 'Walking down the street/ Wanna know the time/ Look at my wrist/ I've got a digital watch, a digital watch!' My first proper song was Nobody Wins When Somebody Dies. Like Bono, I hadn't discovered irony yet; I was in Derry listening to Sting and Peter Gabriel. It was post-punky, very average, but it had verses, a chorus, a beginning, an end and a nice A minor, F, C, E chord progression, all of which was a triumph. Everything you write at that age you think is the best song ever written; you have to think that to have any impetus. I was so certain of my own genius I made a compilation tape of all my earliest songs. There are side notes like: 'Used church organ here,' and 'Recorded spring '85.' It's almost unlistenable, but I admire the fact that I took the time. Looking back, it took me six years to write a genuinely good song."
Neil Hannon, The Divine Comedy
