Banned from the radio after Princess Diana died: how Levellers made What a Beautiful Day
‘Its release seemed timely as the Tories had just left office. But then Diana died and all cheerful songs were taken straight off the radio. Boom! It disappeared’
Banned from the radio after Princess Diana died: how Levellers made What a Beautiful Day
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Mark Chadwick, vocals/guitar/songwriter
John Lennon once said that everything he wrote was two songs in one. I’ve always stood by that. So you can take What a Beautiful Day at face value, like: “Oh, he’s having a lovely day.” But the song is essentially about revolution and bringing down the government.
When I wrote it in late 1996, it was a time of change politically. It was pretty much the end of the Tories. Tony Blair hadn’t quite got in, but you knew he was going to. I wasn’t a Blair supporter, but he was better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick. There was a tangible optimism. Apartheid had ended. The cold war was no longer an issue, so you didn’t feel like you were about to be nuked.
What a Beautiful Day has some subversive lyrics. The song was written around Bonfire Night, so the first verse’s opening line came straight to me: “It was on the fifth of November …” I live in Lewes, where we have one of the country’s last fire festivals, and every year we burn political effigies. It’s very controversial and the police hate it. The references to Audrey Hepburn and Errol Flynn came from my love of old movies, and I’d just been on holiday to Cuba – that’s how Che Guevara got in there.
I’d often go to our Brighton studio, the Metway, set up a couple of monitors in an empty room and just bash away on an acoustic guitar. But for this, I probably wrote the music and lyrics in five minutes. I thought it was too easy – I like fighting for songs a bit – and almost too catchy. I didn’t think there was anyone else in the building, but then a head popped round the door and it was a guy who worked in our office upstairs. “That’s a hit,” he said, but I told him: “No it’s not. It can’t be. I’ve written it too quickly. And I don’t like it that much. It’s a bit too obvious for me.” These days I don’t dislike the song at all – we named our festival after it, for goodness sakes.
When we recorded What a Beautiful Day, the biggest challenge was trying not to make it sound too glib or throwaway. We did it live in the room, because we’re a band, and we make one noise together, so it’s about capturing that energy. We play the song even faster now live.
When I wrote it, it was a better time. Definitely better than now – I’ve never lived through such dark times. When I talk to people my age, we’re like: “We weren’t prepared for this. We thought things would improve.” Not: “Oh my God, the world is run by Satan’s occult members.” Everything we thought in our stoned paranoia turned out to be true.
Jeremy Cunningham, bass
Mark brought in What a Beautiful Day pretty much fully formed. All I did was to say: “Put the chorus at the start.” Which was a good suggestion. When we came back to it later in the album sessions, he said: “Nah, it sounds like a shit Oasis B-side to me – I’m not that interested.” But he did it anyway.
Charlie Heather, our drummer, played a kind of 70s stomp-style beat, so I knew I had to do a walking bassline. Jon Sevink’s violin part sounds like a call to arms. I always loved his playing, from the first time we ever got in a rehearsal room. Back then, he had a shit fiddle with a pickup cannibalised from an old Fender Strat we had knocking about in a squat – but by the time of What a Beautiful Day, he had a much better instrument.
A lot of Levellers songs are reacting against horrible things that we’re angry about, but this one is really life-affirming and full of positivity. My favourite line is: “Nothing is impossible in my all-powerful mind.” To me, it’s all about actualising things and the endless possibilities that are out there.
I thought What a Beautiful Day was a cheesy title. I wanted it to be called The King of All Time, which is a line from the song. That actually was the title, right until the last moment. We finished the album, I did all the artwork, then I went on holiday and when I came back, I saw it had come out as What a Beautiful Day. I was like: “You fuckers!” But it was the right move.
The release started off as good timing, because the Tories had left office. But then Princess Diana died in that terrible car crash and What a Beautiful Day – along with every other cheerful-sounding song – was taken straight off the radio. It got to No 13, and it was going up, when suddenly, boom, all radio play was cut and it disappeared.
I still think What a Beautiful Day is relevant. But I don’t think we need a revolution. We just need to be a bit nicer to each other. That would be a revolution in itself.
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