dnews Special Edition - IT'S OK #5
does it rock? yea baby, yea!

**** Contents ****
Thatch’s Facts
It’s OK - US Disclaimer
Meaning of It’s OK
Forthcoming Media
d:end?

**** Thatch’s Facts ****
This edition certainly has a "pretty as hell" theme to it, with every
article revolving around that phrase. As such we quizzed Jon on it:

S?: The "pretty as hell" line came true when delirious? met a girl in a
breakfast bar in Dallas, Texas [as shown below]. What were you having for
breakfast?
JT: Oatmeal with brown sugar. I need my carbohydrates for training
S?: Were you taken aback by the 'controversy' over the word hell?
JT: A little bit, there are over 120 words in the song but some people only
hear the one.
S?: Actually, there are 141 words in "It’s OK," not counting doubles. Sorry
Jon, you’re just not the sort of geek we’re looking for in a bass player.

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**** It’s OK - US Disclaimer ****
The following appeared in the sleeve of the US Mezzamorphis, where the song
"It’s OK" caused an inconceivable amount of bother over Martin’s (powerful)
use of the word "hell":

Sometimes lyrics that capture a mood or moment in time can be great when
carried by the emotion of music, but can often look hard or even
offensive when printed in black and white. We decided we could not make
an album about heaven without mentioning hell. We hope many of you find
solace in this song and, though you may feel like everything is against
you, "I know you will live to fight another day."

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**** Meaning of It’s OK ****
The following is a direct transcript from what Martin said at Soul Survivor
B 1999 when he and Stu G performed a small acoustic set in one of the tents.
Spurious? extends great thanks to Andy Colborn for this.

"Sometimes when you’re writing a song, you get an idea of what you want to
do, and you’re not quite sure what it really means - I know that doesn’t
make sense, but you can get some words and a little bit of music. Stu came
up with the chorus and I had these words for the verses and things like
that, I didn’t really actually know what it was really all about, I’d
written this line "she’s as pretty as hell" and I knew it was a little bit
odd, but it just came out, and we were travelling in the States, couple of
trips ago, in Texas, and we were having breakfast in this little place in
Dallas. This guy came across the room to us and said "Are you in
delirious?". I don’t know how he knew us - not everyone in America knows
about us, believe it or not - and asked us to meet this young lady who he
was with, who was in his youth group and stuff like that. Anyway, she came
across, and we got chatting to her, and I said "What are you up to?" and she
said, "I’ve just come out of hospital." You know blokes are a bit
insensitive, and I asked "What you were you in hospital for?" and she said,
"I just tried to take my life, actually." So, that was at breakfast time…it
was a nice breakfast.

"But anyway, this song, the song that we were working on, just suddenly came
to meaning, and that line - "she’s as pretty as hell" - that’s exactly what
I’m trying to say in that line, is that I’d met someone who just looked
absolutely terrible, but there was a light inside of her, but she had no
hope left in her life, and she said "I’ve never seen you play," and she’d
just come out of hospital that day, so we gave her some tickets for the gig
that night, and there she was in the front row, and I know that God really
met her that night. So that’s the whole story, the song’s really about
healing and just wanting God to meet people. Hopefully, it’s communicating
in a language that is not churchy enough so that it doesn’t alienate the
everyday person, that’s where we’re coming from. Thankyou."

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**** Forthcoming Media ****
~ Videotech, ITV, Thursday 24th February
~ London Tonight, ITV, Thursday 24th February
Interview and performance
~ VH1, Thursday 24th February
Special interview and acoustic tracks
~ Virgin Megastore - Oxford St London 6.30pm
~ HMV Guildford 25th Feb 4.30pm

The Spurious? crew will be represented at the Oxford Street appearance by
myself, Adam, complete with my fake ginger goatee and fake ginger goatee
crew. Feel free to come up and discuss the finer points of net nerdishness.

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**** d:end? ****
Despite the seeming ‘controversy’ over "It’s OK" when it was released in the
US - so much so that it was almost pulled from the album - it came shining
through and inspired audiences worldwide to the degree that delirious? chose
it as their latest single. It’s made a masterful comeback; can it make that
masterful breakthrough?

Here’s hoping.

[signed]

Adam, Adrian, Mike, Scooby

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