{"id":7279,"date":"2025-12-09T14:34:14","date_gmt":"2025-12-09T14:34:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/roland-gift-on-she-drives-me-crazy-which-is-not-a-song-he-would-save-in-a-shipwreck\/"},"modified":"2025-12-09T14:34:14","modified_gmt":"2025-12-09T14:34:14","slug":"roland-gift-on-she-drives-me-crazy-which-is-not-a-song-he-would-save-in-a-shipwreck","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/roland-gift-on-she-drives-me-crazy-which-is-not-a-song-he-would-save-in-a-shipwreck\/","title":{"rendered":"Roland Gift on \u2018She Drives Me Crazy,\u2019 Which is Not a Song He Would Save in a Shipwreck"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/static.spin.com\/files\/2025\/12\/Roland-Gift-1-c-Linda-Nylind.jpg\" width=\"1200\" height=\"720\" alt=\"Roland Gift. (Credit: Linda Nylind)\"><figcaption>Roland Gift of Fine Young Cannibals.<br \/>\n(Credit: Linda Nylind)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Fine Young Cannibals\u2019 Roland Gift is leaning all the way to the left, so much so that he could be lying down. It\u2019s unclear, as he\u2019s on a video call from his native U.K. and his background is so blurred, he looks like he\u2019s floating horizontally above his sofa. This is not how I expected to encounter Gift, who has been intersecting with my music universe for four decades, an occasion Gift is marking with the hefty compilation <a href=\"https:\/\/store.fineyoungcannibals.net\/\" target=\"_blank\"><em>FYC40<\/em><\/a><em>.<\/em> An 18-song collection of instantly identifiable songs\u2014thanks to his distinct voice\u2014there is also a second collection of a dozen remixes from the likes of Prince Paul and the late Frankie Knuckles. Additionally, Gift just released an original holiday song, <a href=\"https:\/\/rolandgift.lnk.to\/Christmas\" target=\"_blank\">\u201cEverybody Knows It\u2019s Christmas.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<lite-youtube videoid=\"ZSYUN_bLu7c\" style=\"bottom: 0; height: 100%; left: 0; position: absolute; right: 0; top: 0; width: 100%; max-width:100%;\"><\/lite-youtube>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<p>Says Gift about the idea to write a Christmas song: \u201cYou want to write a song with a person\u2019s name in it, like \u2018Johnny Come Home.\u2019 You want to write a song that\u2019s got numbers in it like \u20182-4-6-8 Motorway\u2019 [by Tom Robinson Band]. I\u2019ve got this song called \u201824\/7.\u2019 You want to write a song that\u2019s got a place name. I\u2019m trying to think if I\u2019ve got one of those. That\u2019s probably something I\u2019m yet to do. A Christmas song is one of those, like a song people write for a football team. Somewhere in your subconscious, you\u2019ve got a desire to do that.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>More from Spin:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\n\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.spin.com\/2025\/12\/altin-gun-new-album\/\">Altin G\u00fcn Salutes Ne\u015fet Erta\u015f On New Album<\/a>\n\t\t<\/li>\n<li>\n\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.spin.com\/2025\/12\/how-a-still-defiant-shepard-fairey-turned-punk-rock-attitude-into-30-years-of-activist-art\/\">How a Still-Defiant Shepard Fairey Turned Punk Rock Attitude Into 30 Years of Activist Art<\/a>\n\t\t<\/li>\n<li>\n\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.spin.com\/2025\/12\/repelicans-jon-ehrens-ponders-the-cosmos\/\">Repelican\u2019s Jon Ehrens Ponders the Cosmos<\/a>\n\t\t<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Gift is a slow talker, thinking things out before he lets the words unravel. Initially, it feels like he doesn\u2019t know what his thoughts are. But his is a measured approach, and when he\u2019s done talking, he\u2019s left you with a lot.<\/p>\n<p>What there hasn\u2019t been much of is Fine Young Cannibals albums. The trio only had two. Their 1985 self-titled debut spawned the abovementioned \u201cJohnny Come Home\u201d and an excellent version of Elvis\u2019 \u201cSuspicious Minds.\u201d In 1989, they released <em>The Raw and the Cooked<\/em>, whose standout hit singles, \u201cShe Drives Me Crazy\u201d and \u201cGood Thing\u201d\u2014both <em>Billboard<\/em> Hot 100 No. 1 songs. The multi-platinum album earned three Grammy nominations, but the Fine Young Cannibals didn\u2019t deliver a follow-up, instead leaving an unblemished musical legacy.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1200\" height=\"957\" src=\"https:\/\/static.spin.com\/files\/2025\/12\/Fine-Young-Cannibals-Dave-Hogan-GettyImages-3038806.jpg\" alt=\"Andy Cox, Roland Gift, and David Steele of the Fine Young Cannibals, 1986. (Credit: Dave Hogan\/Hulton Archive\/Getty Images)\" class=\"wp-image-649830\" srcset=\"https:\/\/static.spin.com\/files\/2025\/12\/Fine-Young-Cannibals-Dave-Hogan-GettyImages-3038806.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/static.spin.com\/files\/2025\/12\/Fine-Young-Cannibals-Dave-Hogan-GettyImages-3038806-340x271.jpg 340w, https:\/\/static.spin.com\/files\/2025\/12\/Fine-Young-Cannibals-Dave-Hogan-GettyImages-3038806-768x612.jpg 768w, https:\/\/static.spin.com\/files\/2025\/12\/Fine-Young-Cannibals-Dave-Hogan-GettyImages-3038806-498x397.jpg 498w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\"><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Andy Cox, Roland Gift, and David Steele of the Fine Young Cannibals, 1986. (Credit: Dave Hogan\/Hulton Archive\/Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Gift has performed a few shows this past year under the Fine Young Cannibals banner, including opening for Belinda Carlisle in the U.K. But much of his time has been taken up by drama: He writes and stars in the radio drama <em>The Punk\u2019s Progress<\/em>, and the musical drama <em>Return to Vegas<\/em>. He might be projecting with the latter as he reveals he doesn\u2019t want to tour North America with nine-hour drives in between performances, but, he says, \u201cIn my heart, I would prefer a residency at Las Vegas.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019ve got fewer years ahead of me than I have behind,\u201d he continues, \u201cI\u2019m very conscious of that. It\u2019s very tempting to go on the road, especially when people say, \u2018We\u2019d really like to see you.\u2019 But to be out on the road all the time would be hell. I\u2019d hate that. I like it when it feels like an event rather than a job. I only want to do things nowadays that I really like doing and there\u2019s other things I want to do.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Hope springs eternal, however, as the appeal of the international chart-topping \u201cShe Drives Me Crazy\u201d is everlasting\u2014even if it\u2019s not Gift\u2019s favorite from the FYC catalog as he reveals when he takes SPIN through \u201cthe Why &amp; the How\u201d of the memorable song.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<lite-youtube videoid=\"UtvmTu4zAMg\" style=\"bottom: 0; height: 100%; left: 0; position: absolute; right: 0; top: 0; width: 100%; max-width:100%;\"><\/lite-youtube>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-second-album-struggles\"><strong>SECOND ALBUM STRUGGLES<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>\u201cWith the first album, we had nothing to lose. With this next album, there was a lot of expectation. That, and also wanting to do something really good, we probably put a lot of pressure on ourselves that needn\u2019t have been there.<\/p>\n<p>Even with the first album, we\u2019d had \u2018Johnny\u2019 out, and we\u2019d had a second single, \u2018Blue,\u2019 which didn\u2019t do very well at all. Then we did \u2018Suspicious Minds,\u2019 which got us out of the hole. But I remember going into a shop in Birmingham to try on some trousers, and I could overhear the shop assistant say, \u2018Oh, is that guy from that group?\u2019 And one of them goes, \u2018Yeah.\u2019 And then the other one goes, \u2018Yeah, one-hit wonders.\u2019 There was pressure to be more than a one-hit wonder. All those got in the way of the album coming out sooner.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-the-words\"><strong>THE WORDS<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>\u201cI remember people saying to me, \u2018Come on Roland, come up with the lyrics.\u2019 I was happy to do that, but life had changed a lot for me, and you have to find out what it is you have to say. You\u2019re not just pleasing yourself. You\u2019re trying to please the people you\u2019re with as well, which can be a tricky thing. Groups are like marriages. Sometimes it goes smoothly and sometimes it doesn\u2019t.<\/p>\n<p>Whenever I write songs, I don\u2019t really know what it\u2019s going to be about, or what\u2019s coming. I\u2019ve sat down with people, and we\u2019ve picked a subject, and we tried to write. We\u2019ll spend the afternoon talking about politics and stuff, and we\u2019re going to do a song about that. Then it comes out as a little love song. So I never know what\u2019s going to come. But that\u2019s what I like about writing. That song came along, and we were grateful that it was there, but it wasn\u2019t in any way planned. It felt more like, \u2018Shit, we\u2019re here. We are spending money. We better make it worthwhile.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1200\" height=\"1200\" src=\"https:\/\/static.spin.com\/files\/2025\/12\/FineYoungCannibals-Graham-Tucker.jpg\" alt=\"  (Credit: Graham Tucker\/Redferns)\" class=\"wp-image-649832\" srcset=\"https:\/\/static.spin.com\/files\/2025\/12\/FineYoungCannibals-Graham-Tucker.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/static.spin.com\/files\/2025\/12\/FineYoungCannibals-Graham-Tucker-340x340.jpg 340w, https:\/\/static.spin.com\/files\/2025\/12\/FineYoungCannibals-Graham-Tucker-768x768.jpg 768w, https:\/\/static.spin.com\/files\/2025\/12\/FineYoungCannibals-Graham-Tucker-498x498.jpg 498w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\"><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">  (Credit: Graham Tucker\/Redferns)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-falsetto\"><strong>FALSETTO<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s the first song that I\u2019d sung falsetto on. When I lived in Hull, which is a town in North England, we used to go to this pub called the Polar Bear. It was great, best pub in town. It had all different kinds of people and different rooms. There was one room called The Snug. The other parts of the pub were more rough and ready, but this was where people would get dressed up to go into. There was a fireplace and there was carpet. There was this guy who was very flamboyant. He said to me before I was leaving for London, \u201cCan you sing falsetto?\u201d I never had but I said, \u201cYeah.\u201d And he said, \u201cYou\u2019ll be alright then.\u201d He was a strange guy. He wore a purple fedora, and he\u2019d lost half his jaw, but he used to do the lights in the big theater in town. I always wondered if him saying that came out in \u2018She Drives Me Crazy,\u2019 that he had planted the idea and it would mean that things would be alright.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-david-z\"><strong>DAVID Z<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>\u201cIt took quite a long time for the record to come together. We had what we\u2019d worked on, and when there was nothing to be had, there was nothing to work on, then maybe the studio or the person we\u2019d worked with wasn\u2019t available anymore. There\u2019d been a lot of discussion about who can we get to help. Phil Collins was suggested at one point, and we thought. why not ask if Prince would do it. He didn\u2019t, but [Prince\u2019s engineer] David Z was available. He wanted to do it, and it seemed like a good idea.<\/p>\n<p>We had the shape of it. We had the falsetto. The bones of it were there. The architecture was there. It was the soft furnishings that had to be decided on.<\/p>\n<p>At that point the song was \u201cShe\u2019s My Baby.\u201d David Z was quite happy with that. He thought it swung, but still wanted it to be \u201cShe Drives Me Crazy,\u201d which was a good call. David\u2019s got a version where we cut up words from a magazine, David Bowie style. I don\u2019t remember that happening but I remember us just trying to nut it out.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1200\" height=\"1200\" src=\"https:\/\/static.spin.com\/files\/2025\/12\/FYC40_PShot_3500px-300dpi.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-649834\" srcset=\"https:\/\/static.spin.com\/files\/2025\/12\/FYC40_PShot_3500px-300dpi.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/static.spin.com\/files\/2025\/12\/FYC40_PShot_3500px-300dpi-340x340.jpg 340w, https:\/\/static.spin.com\/files\/2025\/12\/FYC40_PShot_3500px-300dpi-768x768.jpg 768w, https:\/\/static.spin.com\/files\/2025\/12\/FYC40_PShot_3500px-300dpi-498x498.jpg 498w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\"><\/figure>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-paisley-park\"><strong>PAISLEY PARK<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>\u201cWhen you\u2019re in a studio, unless it\u2019s a really eccentric place, modern studios tend to be pretty much the same. Once you\u2019re inside, everything looks pretty similar. Unless you\u2019ve got a view of the outside, you\u2019re just in this room. It could be New York, it could be Minneapolis, it could be Iceland. It could be anywhere. Prince\u2019s guitar was in the studio so that made it different.<\/p>\n<p>It was good when we were working on the other tracks as well and David Z could call people in, like the backing vocalists, and they would come and do it like really well, really quickly. Or somebody to come in and do keyboards, and it was great. Seeing how that talent was just a phone call away, was impressive, and everybody was really nice.<\/p>\n<p>We didn\u2019t meet Prince. But that way nobody\u2019s disappointed either.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-the-birth\"><strong>THE BIRTH<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>\u201cPeople think of us as an \u201980s group, but the album didn\u2019t start to make an impression until we were in the \u201990s. It wasn\u2019t No. 1 here like it was in America. Because we\u2019d done so well in America, we probably didn\u2019t pay as much attention to how we were doing in England.<\/p>\n<p>We had a video [for \u2018She Drives Me Crazy\u2019] with Philippe Decoufl\u00e9, a French filmmaker and dancer. The record company felt like there wasn\u2019t enough of us in it, so Pedro [Romhanyi] did some more shots with us in it.<\/p>\n<p>There was nothing smooth about the creation of the song or even the video. It\u2019s like a difficult birth, whereas \u2018Good Thing\u2019 really quickly and easily. \u2018She Drives Me Crazy\u2019 took six months to come together, \u2018Good Thing\u2019 took five minutes. They started playing chords and I started singing. That can affect one\u2019s fondness for a track.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1200\" height=\"902\" src=\"https:\/\/static.spin.com\/files\/2025\/12\/Fine-Young-Cannibals-Dave-Hogan-GettyImages-550413569.jpg\" alt=\"1985. (Credit: Dave Hogan\/Getty Images) \" class=\"wp-image-649833\" srcset=\"https:\/\/static.spin.com\/files\/2025\/12\/Fine-Young-Cannibals-Dave-Hogan-GettyImages-550413569.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/static.spin.com\/files\/2025\/12\/Fine-Young-Cannibals-Dave-Hogan-GettyImages-550413569-340x256.jpg 340w, https:\/\/static.spin.com\/files\/2025\/12\/Fine-Young-Cannibals-Dave-Hogan-GettyImages-550413569-768x577.jpg 768w, https:\/\/static.spin.com\/files\/2025\/12\/Fine-Young-Cannibals-Dave-Hogan-GettyImages-550413569-498x374.jpg 498w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\"><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">1985. (Credit: Dave Hogan\/Getty Images) <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-remixes-covers-syncs\"><strong>REMIXES\/COVERS\/SYNCS<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>\u201cI don\u2019t care for remixes. They\u2019re not my area of interest. I don\u2019t think I would perform any of the remixes. The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=2bpC-W_MGPg\" target=\"_blank\">Dolly [Parton]<\/a> cover was amusing. Not many people cover our songs. I think they can\u2019t hit the falsetto. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=6TdjWdyNtOY\" target=\"_blank\">Tom Jones<\/a> did one with Zucchero. I\u2019m all for that kind of reinterpretation, of people doing it their own way. I feel indifferent about [sync placements] but I was very impressed with the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=-RqxFqnn9qk\" target=\"_blank\">Dua Lipa ad<\/a> for Chanel. It seemed to elevate the song, make it appear like it\u2019s a classic but in a way that it hadn\u2019t been recognized before. There was something very charming about that ad.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-not-the-favorite\"><strong>NOT THE FAVORITE<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>\u201c\u2018She Drives Me Crazy\u2019 is not my favorite song. Sometimes a group\u2019s favorite song is the one the audience likes the least. \u2018I\u2019m Not the Man I Used to Be\u2019 is my favorite FYC song. I have a strange relationship with \u2018She Drives Me Crazy.\u2019 It was one of the songs where I would forget the words sometimes and I don\u2019t normally forget words with songs. It\u2019s great that it\u2019s done so well. I\u2019m very grateful for that. But it\u2019s not the one I would necessarily save if I was in a shipwreck.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><em>Check out t<\/em><em>he Roland Gift store for the 7-inch and CD single: <\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/rolandgift.tmstor.es\/\" target=\"_blank\"><em>https:\/\/rolandgift.tmstor.es<\/em><\/a><em>.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p>To see our running list of the top 100 greatest rock stars of all time, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.spin.com\/2021\/07\/the-greatest-rock-stars-of-all-time\/?utm_source=yahoo&amp;utm_medium=bottomlink&amp;utm_campaign=yahoolink\">click here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;\" class=\"sharethis-inline-share-buttons\" ><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Roland Gift of Fine Young Cannibals. (Credit: Linda Nylind) Fine Young Cannibals\u2019 Roland Gift is leaning all the way to the left, so much so that he could be lying&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3296,4715,24,4716,934,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7279","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-christmas","category-fine-young-cannibals","category-pushly","category-roland-gift","category-the-why-the-how","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7279","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7279"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7279\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7279"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7279"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7279"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}