Someone else is going to have to write Nick Lowe’s life story, because it won’t be Nick Lowe.
The singer-songwriter-producer hit the charts in 1979 with “Cruel to Be Kind,” wrote “(What’s So Funny ‘Bout) Peace, Love and Understanding” and produced many of the great post-punk records of the ’70s and ’80s.
He’d likely have some great stories to tell, but Lowe says he’s not going to pen a memoir.
“I don’t think that’s the sort of thing I’d be very interested in doing,” the British musician told CNN in a recent interview.
In that, Lowe is bucking a trend. Memoirs by rockers, including tomes by Patti Smith, Keith Richards, Carrie Brownstein and Lowe’s old colleague Elvis Costello, have become very popular in recent years.
Moreover, Lowe has a terrific story. He spent part of his childhood in the Middle East, where his father served as an RAF squadron leader. He was at the forefront of the pub-rock movement with his band Brinsley Schwarz and he was Stiff Records’ house producer when Costello, Ian Dury and the Damned were making records at that groundbreaking label.
But though he’s amused by his younger self, he has no desire to relive those times.
“It’s a bit like seeing a silly film of yourself a bit drunk at a party and being forced to watch it. You recoil somewhat,” he says. “It’s not a place I like to go back to, reliving the old days, (though) I have a degree of affection for the little twit.”
The story may eventually get out. There is a researcher working on a book, Lowe says, and Lowe’s been happy sharing tales of his childhood with him.
But that might be as far as the cooperation goes.
“Talking about going on tour with (his Brit band) Rockpile or that sort of thing fills me with despair, so he’s probably going to be on his own for the rest of it,” Lowe says.