Another Rainbow

"It's very rare that I write a song about, or indeed for, anybody specific. In the past, it's been suggested that I often have and, certainly, I've been amazed to read why I wrote various songs including, for example 'The Lady In Red'. Who was it for? To suggest that you write a song for somebody means that you are making it a gift, a present, for somebody who obviously inspired you to write the song or about whom you were thinking. I have heard so many disparate theories about why I wrote that song (The Lady In Red) and others, but 'Another Rainbow', is - as you suggested - a bit closer to home. I'm actually, out of friendship and honour, not going to reveal who it's about, but it's about a close friend. I suppose I'm the kind of songwriter who believes that what you should be trying to do is put music out there that others can relate to and say 'That's exactly how I feel about my friend' or whatever. I think the moment you get intensely personal you make it almost impossible for other people to connect with; it's nothing to do with their lives. So it's always really important for me to make sure that the songs that I write are connected to other people's lives - otherwise you've missed the point. On this occasion, a boyhood friend, really, who like so many boyhood friends sit there dreaming that they're going to change the world and they're going to blaze a trail to the stars and they're going to do this that and the other and become hugely rich and hugely successful without putting much work into it, hopefully! That's what you dream about when you're in university, I can tell you! And if there's any university students out there reading this - keep on dreaming because, you know, if you don't have a dream, you won't go anywhere. As far as I was concerned, I wanted to get to the stars - but getting halfway there isn't bad. You know, have a dream; see what happens. There's no point saying 'I could have been' with your grandchildren at your knee. So, with 'Another Rainbow' it's a situation where my friend went off into different areas and he didn't have that one thing that he could really concentrate on, as I did - which, for me, was music. For him, he became, as I suggested, a jack of all trades but king of none. I hope he's not been too offended by that, but this man is so skilled at so many things, brilliant at so many things, but not one thing could actually really classify him as a great... A,B,C. It's not supposed to be feeling sorry for anybody or anything like that - it's not even supposed to reveal that somebody has not been as successful as they might have been. It's just a very affectionate view as two friends who find themselves, all these years later, still very close friends and just reminiscing about the past and how their lives could have been if they'd changed or done certain, different things in the past. But I think the bond of friendship is what we're talking about here. And, just to summarise about the gold at the end of the rainbow - I know an awful lot of unhappy rich people... That's never the answer; 'Let's go and make lots of money', as I suggested earlier in 'Love & Time', happiness is one of those very, very deceitful things and very hard to find - like a butterfly, just drifting around; every so often it lands on your particular patch - and grab it and hold onto it for as long as you can."