My mum grew up a southerner, living in Maidstone, Kent, but moved up north to Scunthorpe, Lincolnshire, after marrying my dad. Poor girl.
We’d go down to Maidstone to visit my grandparents, Arthur and Lily, a couple of times a year, and during those stays we’d often visit my mum’s brother, Colin and his family. For reasons unbeknownst to me, he and my mum had a bit of a falling out, and these family visits simply stopped. As sad as it is, I don’t remember my mum speaking of her brother again. As far as I knew, my uncle Colin and auntie Doreen had just the two daughters, roughly the same age as my sister and me, but it turns out that they'd later welcomed two sons to their family unit. Sadly, due to the lack of contact, I had no way of knowing that these two cousins existed.
Three or four years ago, I happened to connect with one of them via an impromptu Facebook discovery, and we did some serious catching up. Turns out he’s a pretty spectacular person - smart, accomplished, artistic, and a real sensitive soul; so, completely different to me...
It was quite exciting to discover this person who I seemed to really relate to and admire, but while I was grateful that I'd been afforded the opportunity to finally get to know him a bit, I also felt a tinge of sadness thinking of all the family celebrations we'd missed out on as kids.
Now, my grandfather, Arthur, was a man of many talents - a vaudeville performer turned hairdresser and dance instructor, by all accounts. A svelte, quiet man, he had a sort of lovely theatrical air about him and a wry, mischievious sense of humour. He was also prone to a little good-natured teasing. I remember how he'd hold out a bag of sweets to me, and then quickly close his hand around the bag as I'd attempt to grab one. When he'd finally allowed me to grab a sweet, he’d turn all generous, holding out the bag again, saying, “Go on…take two if you want one!”
When I was writing this song - based on the aforementioned fractured family dynamics - the chorus was the last part of the song to come together, and the “Take two if you want one” line just seemed to fall in there naturally; couldn’t believe my luck, really. It’s too good a phrase not to repurpose, isn’t it? Thanks, grandad!
(Thanks also, to the lovely and talented Ed Woltil, who not only played beautifully on the song with me, but put together this delightful lyric video too.)
