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Midge Ure has updated his autobiography, first published last year and now includes the stories behind Band Aid 20 and Live 8. "If I WAS..." is an amusing, honest and interesting read and contains numerous references to Bob and Paula. Midge was a close friend of Paula before he met Bob and remembers her with great affection. He talks about her intelligence and her sense of humour, and her lack of culinary skills. He recalls the time at a dinner party when she cooked grilled trout with breadcrumbs, only to discover that they were covered in apple crumble mix!
"She doted on those kids and she was a very good mother. That is the way I choose to remember Paula"
Stories galore about Bob of course, like the time the lead singer of the Skrewdriver jumped up on stage during a gig and punched Bob on the face and he finished "Looking after number one" with blood pouring down his face. Bob also thought originally that "Do they think its Christmas " sounded like "Z Cars" (Does anyone remember that? I do).
I love his take on Bob's guitar skills.
" Bob's not the best guitar player in the world because he's got no timing at all. You could see that if you watched the Boomtown Rats. When he jumped up in the air he was supposed to hit the floor just as the song finished, but generally he either landed five seconds before it ended or three seconds after the band finished" (We wont see him on strictly come dancing then!) I think Bob's playing and timing has much improved since then.
He tells of the time at the original Band Aid concert at Wembley, how Freddy Mercury held his (Midge's ) hand and asked him if he was the pretty boy from the Boomtown Rats. No, I'm the pretty boy fron Ultravox came the reply before exiting quickly.
Did you know that Bob and Midge also set each other up for "This is Your Life" on TV?
Another good quote " As for Bob, he's changed a lot in the last twenty years. Although he'll probablyhate me for saying it, he's actually learned diplomacy" Maybe a debatable point?
A really good read. Midge comes over as very human, a caring modest man, who always wanted to become a musician. I hope I have whetted your appetite
"If I WAS... by Midge Ure, by Virgin Books Ltd ISBN 0 7535 1077 4
It's one of the items on my list for next pay day. It would be interesting to read about LiveAid from Midge's point of view, see a different perspective. I'm sure it's an interesting read all round.
i'll have to add it to the wishlist but having just bought 5 p.g.wodehouse jeeves and wooster books, and loads more waiting in the wishlist alongside various stephen fry/hugh laurie stuff, i could have a long wait