Gavin' Index

This is a beautiful, romantic dance which has become the classic swing dance of the ballroom. It has a gentle tempo of 30 bars per minute, a time signature of 4/4 and a steady rhythm of Slow-Quick-Quick. The sway is a natural inclination of the body as a result of swing. When reaching to make a step on one foot, the body will naturally incline in order to counterbalance itself. Here the swing will alternate from one side of the body to the other over three steps. The sway pattern of Slow Foxtrot will therefore be straight-right-right, straight-left-left and will then repeat.

"'The Last Song I'll Ever Sing'is about death and AIDS, and is dedicated to Thom McGinty because I knew him very well, and we ended up neighbours. What a gentle man he was." "He was saying, like Mr. Pussy, 'Immortalise Me'. And we are such vain creatures. that's why we paint, sing and that's why primitive man scribbled on the cave walls. We create art as an act of defiance against the fact that we all know we are going to die. I'm definitely driven by that sense of 'write that last song now'. And the desire to write even one song that will live beyond our lives has become a crucial aim for Maurice and I. It's the same with performing. I do every show as though I know I'll never get another chance to perform."

"By doing that, you transcend your awareness of death - for a moment. That really is what art, music is all about, as well as trying to find out who the fuck you are. and that's how it's always been for me, even back as far as the first album with the Virgin Prunes, which was called 'If I Die, I Die'. I've always been aware of that shadow."

Now that you've been well and truly smitten by the Big Man. To find out more on Gavin Friday, go to http://www.gavinfriday.com.

Joe Jackson