Dear Stephen,

it was actually my best friend´s idea that I should write you a letter. He had read a blog entry I´d written about „Memory & Desire“ which I´ve been listening to over and over again since I received it in the mail (yes – an actual cd, with a booklet, artwork and liner notes!!). So my friend Lucky says to me „Glam, you´ve been listening to this guy ever since he did that Kiss-song, you should write him a letter.“
To which I said: „I have actually written the guy a letter or two and, believe it or not – he even wrote back, and it meant a lot.“ (I was 16ish then, a small town gay boy looking ways to express himself, and one of the easiest ways to distinguish oneself from the people who threw their liverwurstsandwiches at me on the school bus was through the music you listened to. And watching a very kitschy Shirley MacLaine tv-show over and over again which later would save me, while I was making money to leave for Berlin working in a factory with a bunch of real cruel ugy guys – I kept reciting that Shirley-Stuff and sang „The Ups and Downs“ in my mind to distance myself from a reality where I had to put rubber sealings on industrial sinks while creepy guys made dirty jokes and spoke of vaginas all day (that line could work in a song).
It was in the days, when music didn´t come from Itunes but you had to actually leave your home to go buy it. Before that, of course, you´d have to find a record store that would have your favourite music in stock. When you were lucky, the guy in the shop knew your taste and would automatically order what he knew you´d buy. In that way I was lucky – the latest record, special limited edition, 12 inch, whatever, would find its way into rural Lower Saxony.
I´d first heard that Kiss-song in a small town club, which in those times was called a „disco“. I usually listened to stuff like The Smiths and The Cure (in a time when only the cool bands had a „The“ in front of their names, unlike today, where every band has to have it fom The Arctic Monkeys, The Killerz, The Pidgeon Detectives to The Farting Rainbow Ballerinas or The Sane Britneyz (okay, i made those two up.) So, a song like that Kiss-song that was danceable was a strange choice for me to like. But I did. So I bought the album and LOVED it. The musicality, the beautiful witty funny moving lyrics, the unique unmistakeable voice – it was my Dorothy Parker musical before I´d heard of her. A look into the life of someone on a faraway planet, elegance, a sense of bohemia, chic rebellion. I loved the singles and their b-sides, I still know most of all lyrics by heart. With 16 as a gay small town boy, you really LISTEN to music and your music was a mixture of escapism and self-finding for me. „Because we love you“ blew me away. To this day, for me, „Sunday Supplement“ is one of the best songs ever composed and written. I felt personally offended that the record wasn´t a hit. Well, maybe it wasn´t a hit, but to this day it´s a classic.
Listening to „Memory and Desire“, surprisingly wasn´t like travelling back in time – I had never stopped listening to your music, whenever I made a mix-tape, mix-cd or playlist, there´s usually something from Stephen Duffy on it, or from The Lilac Time, so I didn´t get a feeling of nostalgia. What I got was a voyage through a treasure chest of music that still works as beautifully as when it was first released. Music and lyrics that are meaningful and full of poetry.

So, this letter is to say Thanks. I probably wouldn´t have written it if it hadn´t been for the liner notes on „Memory and Desire“ which brought back the memory of a very accessible popstarfolkstar that half a lifetime ago found the time to send autographs and newsletters, when it was still through the mail and it cost money to do that.

I´m looking forward to watch the film on DVD! One thing that really touched me from the images I saw on Youtube and read in the CD-booklet was that it doesn´t matter how famous or popular you get with what you do, it´s that you keep doing it, if it´s the thing you feel good about. Creativity, or creating is a force beyond success, beyond understanding. If you´ve got to do it, you´ve got to do it. And I´m glad, that you´re doing it. Or: in terms of recognition – I´m glad for your art. You are recognized.

Thanks again, Stephen. Keep going!

Cheers,

Glam

(And thanks to Lucky for the idea!)