In the late 1970s and early 1980s, my mate Tim Etchells and I were the core of a very obscure, short-lived post-punk band called Karl’s Empty Body. We had no musical training and performed live only once, at a friend’s birthday party in our home village in Derbyshire. We recorded our rather amateurish music onto cassettes, and never made it onto vinyl… until some 40 years later, in 2023. Bob Stanley and Pete Wiggs from Saint Etienne came across an old recording of ours on YouTube and invited us to sign a contract with Ace Records so that they could include the song – ‘Small Hours’ – on their compilation album, ‘Winter of Discontent,’ which also features The Fall, Scritti Politti and The Mekons. You never know, do you?

From the sleeve notes:

Here’s a link to the Ace Records website:

Various Artists (Saint Etienne) – Winter Of Discontent – Ace Records

… and a link to the song on YouTube:

(757) Karl’s Empty Body- (Small Hours) – YouTube

… and the lyrics, as far as I can make them out/remember them, written by me and sung by Tim Etchells:

You walk into your favourite bar and find her waiting there
Hankering for action like a wide-eyed Robespierre
There are no foolish promises, no complicated plans
Just the jazz, the talk, a cigarette, the rows of empty cans

The light begins to fade beyond the blinds behind the bar
You take her by the folded hands and you lead her to the car
Ice-cool small-town drinking boys are lurking in the dark
Early morning headlamps sweep the streets where mongrels bark

You walk her to her door
You stop and stand and stare
Too young to matter much, too old to care
Too young to matter much, too old to care

Too young to matter much, too old to care
The nights she comes to town with a ribbon in her hair
The nights she comes to town with a ribbon in her hair
The nights she comes to town with a ribbon in her hair