With an extensive solo career spanning dozens of albums, Peter Hammill is certainly more than just the front-man and leader of Van Der Graaf Generator (VdGG). His literate, soul-examining lyrics and his often-anguished vocal delivery make his music perhaps an acquired taste, but his uncompromising artistic vision has shone since his first release, Fool's Mate, back in 1971.
Stylistically, he has forged his own path, touching on progressive rock, punk (before it was even called that), electronic experimentation, intimate singer-songwriter settings, and even opera/musical theatre (with his adaptation of Poe's The Fall of the House of Usher).
Hammill's solo career has coexisted with VdGG's activities. The band was offered a contract by Mercury Records in 1968, that only Hammill signed. When VdGG broke up in 1969 he wanted to record his first solo-album. In the summer of 1969 Hammill had a residency at The Lyceum and played weekly solo-concerts there. Eventually the intended solo-album was released under the VdGG-banner as their first album (The Aerosol Grey Machine). Hammill's first official solo-album was Fool's Mate (1971), containing songs from the early (1967/68) VdGG-days.
When VdGG broke up again in August 1972, Hammill resumed his solo-career. Songs that were intended for VdGG, now ended up on his solo-albums, notably "(In The) Black Room (Including 'The Tower')" (on Chameleon in the Shadow of the Night) and "A Louse Is Not A Home" (on The Silent Corner and the Empty Stage). This to some extent makes it difficult to separate Hammill's solo work during the 1970s from his work with the band (for the majority of both his solo-songs and the band's songs he is credited as the sole songwriter, and some of his solo albums feature all the members of Van der Graaf Generator). In general, however, solo Hammill is concerned with more personal matters, while the band's songs deal with broader themes.
Hammill's Nadir's Big Chance (1975} was a great change from the preceding album, In Camera. Whilst In Camera is characterized by extremely intense and complex songs and even has some musique concrete on it, Nadir's Big Chance is notable for its anticipation of punk rock. In a 1977 radio interview, John Lydon of the Sex Pistols played two tracks from the album and expressed his admiration for Hammill in glowing terms: "Peter Hammill's great. A true original. I've just liked him for years. If you listen to him, his solo albums, I'm damn sure David Bowie copied a lot out of that geezer. The credit he deserves, just has not been given to him. I love all his stuff"
Over (1977) contains very personal songs about the break-up of a long-term relationship.
Hammill's first solo-album after the 1978 break-up of Van der Graaf was The Future Now. With the next albums, pH7 and A Black Box, the sound got more compact, more new wave. On those albums, Hammill played the drums himself. What followed was 'the K-group'. In later years Hammill would sometimes refer to the band as a "beat group". The K-group consisted of Hammill himself on guitars and piano, with John Ellis on lead guitar, Nic Potter on bass, and Guy Evans on drums and percussion. They recorded the albums Enter K and Patience.
Hammill's early records, like the VdGG albums, were released on Charisma Records. He parted company with them after pH7 (1979), and then released albums on a number of small labels. A Black Box came out on S-Type, a label run by Hammill and his manager Gail Colson. Enter K and Patience appeared on Naive, Skin and Margin on Foundry and In A Foreign Town, Out of Water and Room Temperature: Live on Enigma Records. In 1992 he formed his own label, Fie!, on which all his albums since Fireships have been released. The label's logo is the Greek letter phi (Φ), a pun on PH-I. Ever since the 1970s he has also had his own home recording studio, appropriately called Sofa Sound (his website was later named after the studio).
Musically, Hammill's work ranges from short simple riff-based songs to highly complex lengthy pieces. Mainly because of his refusal to make anything resembling middle-of-the-road music, and the general absence of any smooth or glamorous sounds in his music, there is much debate amongst his admirers whether Hammill is to be considered a part of the so-called progressive rock scene. In many interviews however Hammill himself has stated that he does not want to be put in the progressive rock music label, or any music label at all.
His output is prolific. Many different styles of music appear in his work, among them artful complexity (for instance Chameleon in the Shadow of the Night), avant-garde electronic experiments (Loops & Reels), opera (The Fall of the House of Usher), solo keyboard accompaniment (And Close As This), solo guitar accompaniment (Clutch), improvisation (Spur of the Moment), film music (Sonix), band recordings (Enter K), and slow, melancholic balladry (None of the Above).
Hammill survived a heart attack in December 2003, less than 48 hours after having finished the recording of Incoherence. In 2005, Hammill announced the reformation of Van der Graaf Generator. In 2004 they had recorded a new album, Present, which was released in April 2005, and from May until November 2005 played a series of well received concerts.
Between 2005 and 2007 Hammill has overseen the remastering of almost all of his pre-Fie! releases, and has also started similar work on his more recent catalogue. The last of the Charisma remasters was released in September 2007.
Hammill's solo-career did not end because of the VdGG-reunion. He released his new album Singularity in December 2006. It was the first solo-album he completed after his heart attack, and for a large part it deals with matters of life and (sudden) death.
In 2007 several gigs by Van der Graaf Generator as a trio (minus David Jackson) have taken place in Britain and the rest of Europe, and their new album Trisector was released in March 2008. Hammill's new solo album, Thin Air came out 8th June 2009. Hammill and the band are touring extensively in USA, Japan and Europe these days.
Just Good Friends
Peter Hammill Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
sluggish city daylight in the afternoon...
here's that special silence,
just before you walk out of the hotel room.
Each time we're so close I assume
that we'll never be again.
Oh, how long can we pretend
that we're just good friends?
A casual affair is all that you can spare
from your emotional change;
a calendar of meetings, strangers on the street
the best we ever arrange.
Now I just can't stand all the pain,
all the constant make and mend:
how long must we pretend
that we're just good friends?
I gave you my devotion,
hiding nothing up my sleeve.
If I walked clean out of your life
would you even notice me leave?
So much tangled-up emotion,
should I stay or should I go?
If I walked clean out of your life
how long would it take you to know?
Are we such good friends?
You used to say "I love you",
you used to say "You make me feel alive and young".
Now we're just a habit,
a flavour, once a month, to titillate your tongue.
Oh, how sordid this has become
as the means approach the end –
oh, how long can we pretend
that we're still good friends?
I gave you my devotion,
hiding nothing up my sleeve.
If I walked clean out of your life
would you even notice me leave?
So much tangled-up emotion,
should I stay or should I go?
If I walked clean out of your life
how long would it take you to know?
Are we such good friends?
Are we still good friends?
The lyrics of Peter Hammill's song "Just Good Friends" talk about a couple who seem to be caught in a "casual affair" that leaves them both emotionally empty. The song seems to be narrated by one of the partners who finds the situation deeply unsatisfying and is wondering whether to stay or leave.
The first verse describes a particular moment of intimacy between the two partners as they prepare to leave a hotel room. The singer seems to be acutely aware that this moment might be their last and wonders how long they can continue pretending that they are "just good friends." The next verse describes the routine of their relationship, which seems to be limited to occasional meetings and encounters in public places. The singer has grown tired of the "constant make and mend" and wants something more substantial.
Line by Line Meaning
Drawing back the curtains,
sluggish city daylight in the afternoon...
It's a lazy afternoon in the city as the curtains are drawn back to reveal the quietness of the hotel room.
here's that special silence,
just before you walk out of the hotel room.
There's a unique quietness in the atmosphere just as the person is about to leave the room.
Each time we're so close I assume
that we'll never be again.
Every moment they are close, the singer assumes they will never have another chance again.
Oh, how long can we pretend
that we're just good friends?
The singer questions how long they can maintain the ruse of being just friends when there's more to their relationship.
A casual affair is all that you can spare
from your emotional change;
a calendar of meetings, strangers on the street
the best we ever arrange.
The person can only offer a casual relationship because of their emotional instability and busy schedule filled with strangers.
Now I just can't stand all the pain,
all the constant make and mend:
how long must we pretend
that we're just good friends?
The singer can no longer endure the pain of pretending to be just friends instead of what they truly are.
I gave you my devotion,
hiding nothing up my sleeve.
The person gave their all and was completely honest in their relationship.
If I walked clean out of your life
would you even notice me leave?
The singer wonders if they are even significant enough to be missed if they were to walk away from the person's life.
So much tangled-up emotion,
should I stay or should I go?
There are lots of complicated emotions at play, causing the singer to question whether they should stay or leave.
If I walked clean out of your life
how long would it take you to know?
The person wonders how long it would take the other person to realize they're gone.
Are we such good friends?
The singer queries whether they are still good friends, insinuating that they have advanced beyond that stage.
You used to say "I love you",
you used to say "You make me feel alive and young".
The other person was once vocal about their love for the singer and how much they made them feel alive.
Now we're just a habit,
a flavour, once a month, to titillate your tongue.
Now they are just seen as a routine or habit, like a flavor that's used once a month just to add some excitement.
Oh, how sordid this has become
as the means approach the end –
oh, how long can we pretend
that we're still good friends?
The relationship has become dirty because it seems like they're exploiting one another as the end draws closer, and the singer reiterates how long they can pretend to be just friends.
Are we still good friends?
The singer repeats the question, questioning the legitimacy of the current arrangement between them.
Contributed by Colin P. Suggest a correction in the comments below.