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recorded it and thought, oh no, actually, I would like to record that again and
maybe change a verse. So the basic songs were there, and all the words were
there, but just some of the arrangements I did change.
BiTS: Before we start talking about the songs, tell me why the name of the
album “Six Foot Ten”.
TBS: That's the width of the boat. The boat is six-foot ten wide and high. So
it was the space we recorded it in. I wanted to bring the narrowboat into it,
but I didn't want to be too twee, if you know what I mean.
BiTS: I wasn't sure if it was your height, but then I realised it was probably
a bit too much [laughs].
TBS: [Laughing] Yeah, I wish. No. I thought it was quite bluesy, and it made
sense. So it's the width of the boat and the space it was recorded in.
BiTS: Let's talk about some of the tracks on the album. I’m a huge fan of
Lead Belly and I know the song ‘The Gallis Pole’ from a long, long way back
and I was wondering where you got your version from because it's slightly
different than the one I know.
TBS: Well, I wrote my own version. I researched it and Gallis Pole,
apparently, used to be an old English folk song called something like ‘The
Prickly Bush’ or something like that. Then it went over to America and Lead
Belly did a version. I think Led Zeppelin did a version, didn't they? So I've
always loved the song. I always liked the sentiment behind it, so I just thought
I wanted a different take on it. The version I did, I had the women at the end
saying, we're not coming to save you. We've come to see you hang
[chuckling]. So you try to bring a little take on it of your own.
BiTS: Do you have a favourite track on the album?
TBS: There's a few. Yeah, I really like the last one ‘Back To The River’. It was
a bit of a meditative jam. It's like seven minutes long. That's not got any
structure to it, in fact, I've played it twice this weekend in gigs and every
time it's different. It's got the same sort of chords and same words. I just like
the flow of that one.
BiTS: I think the whole song is absolutely fabulous, and even though it's