SM: Hello Neil Finn.
NF: Hello there. How are you Simon?
SM: I'm very well, thank-you. Thanks for turning up!
NF: Oh! Well, it's not very far from my hotel actually, and I...
SM: I know, but it was quite a long way from your hotel er, from Bradford, which is where you came from last night.
NF: I left my body in Bradford.
SM: And there's a question actually. I've got so many, so many questions have come in for you, in fact I'm going to have to get rid of some now otherwise I can't read that one. Andrew and Ruth Willit, third row last night in Bradford until the second half when, "we were so close to you" that she felt a bit strange, wants to know, "whose horse was it that ate your trousers?" Now I don't understand that, but a number of people have said, "can you ask him about the horse and the trousers?"
NF: Nice obscure reference.
SM: Yeah, do you think you can help us at all?
NF: Erm, yes actually. A horse did eat my trousers - it was at a wedding in New Zealand. I went to a wedding and the rain stopped for about five minutes the whole day and we went for a walk in a paddock and a rather aggressive horse came up to me and started chewing on my trousers, and you know, those are the kind of images that flash into your mind when you're on your own in a dark recess of your house writing songs, and they come in random order, not necessarily having anything to do with the rest of the song.
SM: Have you written a song about that?
NF: It's in a song, yeah.
SM: Oh, it's in it?
NF: It's a line in a song.
SM: Oh I see, just that.
NF: There's a few trainspotters out there.
SM: I've got an e-mail from a guy called Eamonn Murray. He's in San Francisco, and I think he's listening on the radio on web site.
NF: Right.
SM: He says, he went to the new movie A-N-T-Z in San Francisco last week and was surprised to hear a familiar voice singing a great version of Johnny Nash's "I Can See Clearly Now" and it was none other than Neil Finn. Can you ask him about the song, and is it going to be released. If not, sing it!
NF: Erm, well yeah. Well that was a very, that was a, that happened very spontaneously really. I found out that they wanted me to do it on a Wednesday, went in on Thursday and recorded it and then left them with it, so I can't even say I've really heard the way it turned out, so...
SM: Or seen the movie?
NF: I haven't seem the movie, although there is apparently a screening coming up in the next few days. It's doing really well. It's an amazing movie, it's animated feature with Woody Allen's playing the voice of the main character, and Sharon Stone's the...
SM: Oh, that's ANTZ?
NF: ...the other one, and it's really very cool.
SM: It was ANTZ, not A-N-T-Z? I thought it was some ANZAC reference, but...
NF: No, no. You could well be forgiven for thinking that, and actually the ironic think is that when we were in Split Enz, we all had animals, equivalents. My brother was the bull, the keyboard player was the horse and I was actually the ant. So...
SM: What a peculiar co-incidence. Anyway, you're not going to be singing that, are you? What are you going to do first?
NF: I'm going to do a song called "Fall At Your Feet".
SM: I think we've heard that one.
NF: Yeah, but I'm enjoying...
SM: But we'd like to hear it again!
NF: ...but I'm enjoying stripping it back to the way it was written.

FALL AT YOUR FEET (live)

SM: How fantastic was that? It was alright for you listening at home having a good time, I had Jude singing harmonies to that, which was not quite as attractive as it should have been! Neil, that was absolutely fantastic.
NF: Thank-you.
SM: Thank-you, and I've got so many adoring e-mails, I'm just going to have to print them off and hand them to you.
NF: Right, well I don't actually stick my head into the Internet very much because I find that I might get claustrophobic, because they know far too much!
SM: They do!
NF: They do.
SM: Okay, can you hang around for a bit?
NF: Yeah.
SM: Excellent, cos you're booked for three, so that's just as well!
NF: Oh yeah, well, I'm up for three.
SM: Excellent, talk to you later.

(...)

SM: ...so you won't fancy answering the calls in the middle of a song?
NF: Well, it would be a first.
SM: It would. It wouldn't work very well though, would it?
NF: Er, possibly not, no. It's multi-tasking that I'm not really good at.
SM: Now very interestingly, Jude is now in your studio and not in my studio, and she does have a disease, which means that when a song's on, she *has* to sing harmonies.
NF: Right.
SM: Or out of tune!
NF: She should be in the Supernaturals competetion, shouldn't she?!
SM: She should really, but she shouldn't really be in your studio, because you'll suddenly find some harmony coming in, which you hadn't really intended!
NF: Oh, we welcome all comers!
SM: Er right, Anna Warrington on e-mail says, "Your songs are more eloquent - she says thanks very much, top songs - and they're more eloquent than most of the so-called great poets that she's having to study." She's reading English at university.
NF: Well it doesn't bode well for her results, does it?!
SM: Er, Stu Bell in Tunbridge Wells says he went to the gig that you did in Perth, in Western Australia, and he says, "Don't fall off the stage this time!"
NF: Ah, yeah...
SM: Did you fall off the stage?!
NF: I actually did, yeah. I was in a state of extreme ecstasy, singing a song with just my acoustic guitar, and I walked towards the front and forgot that it sort of finished just in front of the foot-lights, and walked clean off the edge of the stage...
SM: You weren't doing "Whenever I fall"?
NF: ...and landed on my feet in beautiful fashion, and actually continued with the song, so, I was really lucky I didn't actually break anything.
SM: What were you singing? It wasn't "Fall off the stage"?!
NF: It wasn't, no!
SM: It would have been quite good if it was!
NF: But I have got several... I mention several times in my songs the idea of falling off stage, so it was prophetic.
SM: Now a number of people including this guy - Phil Abbott - says he saw you in Cardiff on Monday which was a fantastic show, and his friends and himself were incredibly impressed with your son - Liam, who seems to do an awful lot with you on stage. What does he do?
NF: He does, yeah. He's evolved into an all-rounder on stage. He plays a bit of guitar, does some drums, bit of shaker, few backing vocals...
SM: And he's only five, so I mean it's quite extraordinary...!
NF: It is amazing, yeah!
SM: So, is it strange touring with your son? Have you done it a lot?
NF: It's amazing touring with my son. Actually it happened quite naturally. I didn't really encourage him or discourage him. He kind of found his own way into it, but yeah, I love it. He actually looks cool too - he's sort of some vague attempt to introduce a bit of credibility into the ranks!
SM: Now, I was going to ask you this question now, because you're about to do "Sinner", which is the new tune - just seemed appropriate - from Jane Addams who's in Sussex. She said that she's read somewhere that once upon a time, you had aspirations to be a priest. Is this true?
NF: I think every Catholic boy at some point goes through that priest fixation-fantasy thing, and er...
SM: That just means fancying a priest, doesn't it?!
NF: Fancying a...? No no, I never fancied priests. I was possibly fancied *by* some priests, but I wasn't aware of it at the time!
SM: So, does "Sinner" come out of the Catholic thing, then?
NF: Er, well it's actually more about innonence than sinfulness, really. It refers to me climbing out of my bedroom window when I was about 11 or 12, naked, and howling at the moon and having a bit of a primal experience. And er, you know, it felt like innocence - it didn't feel like anything shameful.
SM: Okay, and this is the new tune?
NF: Yeah. It's just your average pop song fair!
SM: Okay, this is Neil Finn singing live today.
NF: Alright, this is "Sinner".

SINNER (live)

SM: How about that, eh? A fantastic tune - another fantastic tune! Er, live music today from Neil Finn.. That's the new tune which is "Sinner"?
NF: Yeah.
SM: Can you hang around?
NF: Yeah.
SM: One more in about twenty minutes.

(...)

SM: Neil Finn playing some live songs into the show from our acoustic lounge. How's it looking in there?
NF: Pretty lounge-y.
SM: Good. That's a very good answer!
NF: It is - beautiful atmosphere, great lighting!
SM: It's a bit neon-y, isn't it, really?!
NF: It's a bit severe actually. Luckily there's no mirrors in here!
SM: Er, and so many messages. I'll just do a couple actually, cos then we'll run out of time. Er, Paul Healey has been on, and he loves the show, loved the stuff that your boy Liam did as well, and he says how about re-issuing Chocolate Cake in the wake of the Clinton antics?
NF: I've got a whole slew of songs written in hindsight now, especially for Bill Clinton. There's "Into Temptation", "Sinner", there's "Truth", lot's of things, yeah. I could provide a soundtrack. I could probably do a compilation and have it out by Christmas!
SM: You could do a whole set, couldn't you?
NF: A White House compilation.
SM: And er, Nigel Richards in Cheshire, says in America apparently you are doing a set of acoustic concerts with the likes of Lou Reed and so on, and what about doing something similar over here?

SM: Is that true?
NF: That's very much speculative rumour milling, at the moment.
SM: These will be the e-mailers and the web surfers.
NF: Yeah, I mean, that's a barely been talked about idea, and already it's on the Internet, and I wouldn't even want to comment on it because the whole thing might not happen yet, but...
SM: Oh okay, so we haven't really helped, have we?
NF: ...I will be doing some acoustic stuff, solo stuff, in Europe in the next few weeks, so anybody who's got a week off, perhaps one of the people that you're going to give the day off to, could come over and check us out over there somewhere solo?
SM: Hey, now this is a knocking-off in the making, isn't it? Actually this is a top prize! "Travel to Europe and see Neil Finn"!
NF: Yeah.
SM: Let's just get the producer's opinion on this. We're making this up... Have we got any...
Producer: It's a good idea.
SM: It is a good idea. Have we got the money?
NF: It's excellent. We've got committment now.
Producer: Er, I'll find the money.
SM: It's a committment. Next week's prize?
Producer: No. But maybe the week after.
SM: Maybe the week after.
NF: We have decorum!
SM: Sounds pretty good to me. And he also says, "Any chance will there ever be a real reunion of Crowded House or Split Enz?" while he's there.
NF: Erm, well there's actually quite often a reunion because we see each other quite a lot and we have a bit of a play in the lounge-rooms...
SM: But in the UK?
NF: Huh?
SM: In the UK?
NF: No, no. Well, in the UK, I mean sometime I'd like to mount the big master, master show you know, with the whole lot all on one bill.
SM: With the symphony orchestra?
NF: Er, well no. We don't need a... we're already a symphony orchestra with all those people. Erm, but because it would just be nice to be able to span the whole career and er, you know, before everybody...
SM: Pegs it!
NF: Carks it!!
SM: You're not *that* old man, come on!!
NF: No!! That's a terrible thing to say, isn't it really? Everyone's looking very healthy actually.
SM: Okay, so that might happen?
NF: It may yeah, but it's very much down the track, yeah. At the moment I'm just sort of into doing what I'm doing - keeping it new, you know?
SM: Okay. Er so, speaking of keeping it new, here's an old one!
NF: Yeah, I've just contradicted myself, but you can do that on radio!
SM: Okay, off you go.
NF: No-one sees you turning red! This is called "Pineapple Head".

PINEAPPLE HEAD (live)

SM: Fantastic. The whole world is in love with Neil Finn. It's true!
NF: Well, it'd be nice if it was true.
SM: Ah, it is true, I tell you!
NF: And have I got enough love for all of those people...
SM: A very touching sentiment. Neil, it's been fantastic having you on, and er, when's "Sinner" out, do you know?
NF: Well actually it's out.
SM: It's out. When was it out, did you know?
NF: It's out this week.
SM: Out on Monday.
NF: In the stores.
SM: Okay.
NF: Packed with interesting B-sides.
SM: And if you're in love with Neil Finn, we will be running a knocking-off not next week but the week after you can travel to Europe and see Neil play live. Sounds like a top prize. Neil, thanks very much indeed for your time.
NF: Ah, you're welcome. See you soon.