It’s not often that a songwriter will deny being the author of his own lyrics, even less so when writing the introduction to a whole book of them. But, without giving too much away, that's exactly what Bid, the man of words both behind and in front of unashamedly literate UK post-punk psych sophisticates the Monochrome Set, sets out to do in Strange Young Alien.
If you have followed the past five decades or so of his band's career, you may well have asked yourself what might possess anyone to write lines such as “Every night at sleepy time / I hang my skin out on the line”, from “Eine Symphonie des Grauens”.
You will find a very definite, highly intriguing answer to this question in Bid's book, though most certainly no literal interpretation. There are background stories, to be sure. Amusing and disc urbing ones. Like the disfiguring haircut that set off events to inspire “Letter from Viola”. Or the supermarket worker immortalised as “The Cosmonaut”. Or the curious cases of the stalker and the spy, relating to “Reach for Your Gun” and “Hello, Save Me” respectively. But essentially, the more you learn about Bid's writing process, the more mysterious it gets.
Part I of the book is technically a memoir, from his childhood experience in India and the Himalayas via his adventures in the music business to the near-fatal aneurysm that physically rearranged Bid's brain in 2010. Part II is a helpful compendium of some of the most fundamentally misheard lyrics in pop, from “He's Frank”, “Jet Set Junta” and “The Lighter Side of Dating” all the way to “The Ruling Class”. Most centrally though, Strange Young Alien is a book about the human brain, specifically its being inhabited by “the Creature”, as Bid likes to call his artistic other self that was revealed to him after his stroke.
Getting to know the Creature through his description of this revelation may fundamentally change not just the way you understand Bid's lyrics, but the artistic mind as such. Contrary to appearances, then, this book isn't just one for fans of The Monochrome Set, though they'll doubtless be pleased.
This is not just a lyric book - as well as containing many song lyrics has a short biographical story charting the bands lifespan and Bid's special relationship with his uncontrolled inner artistic demon.
"Clear eyed vision of someone looking at the creative process that inhabits them, from a critical distance.This is clarity with more than a pinch of fun.” Michele Kisrch - Author of ‘Clean’
Bid, real name Ganesh Seshadri, was born in Calcutta to an American mother and an Indian father. He moved to the UK with his parents at the end of the 1960s, dropped out of school at 17 and joined an art school band with Stuart Goddard, also known as Adam Ant, among others. The Monochrome Set formed in 1978 and have released well over 20 albums to date. Bid lives in London.
