Singer-songwriter James Blunt sensationally revealed on The Chris Moyles Show on Radio X this morning that he will change his name to ‘whatever the public wants’ should the re-release of his debut album, Back To Bedlam, reach number one 20 years after its original release. See transcript below.
Key
James Blunt – JB
Chris Moyles – CM
Dominic Byrne – DB
Pippa Taylor – PT
CM: “And then the album, it was just a phenomenon. What was the first song from it?”
JB: “‘High’ was the first single. And you know, we did a thing called a soft release, because the label said, ‘We’re going to whack it out, and then we count the first week’s sales,’ and I thought, ‘God, don’t count the first week’s sales, because I don’t know many people. It’s just my mum, and my dad, and my sisters, they’re the only people who are going to buy it in the first week. Can we think about second week sales?’ So, you know, who my mum and dad might have told, so then buy it in the second week. So we put out ‘High,’ and that got a bit of radio visibility, all over Radio X at that stage – this is my natural home!”
CM: “Absolutely!”
JB: “And then we put ‘Wisemen’ out, and the album got into the top 20, and then came the killer, ‘You’re Beautiful,’ in 2005 at that stage, and the rest is a terrible, terrible history!”
DB: “But it stayed in the charts for like forever, didn’t it?”
JB: “Stuck at number one. And so, we are re-releasing it here, 20 years on,
the new album, and in fact, the label are going to launch a campaign get it back to number one after 20 years. How do you do that? How do you get it back to number one at 20 years’ old? So, what they’ve made me sign up to do is if it reaches number one, I have signed up to changing my name to whatever the public want – they can change my name.”
CM: “Oh no!”
JB: “And this is not just an act of desperation, it’s a genuine thing. I swear on my life and the life of my one fan – Brian from Glasgow – I will change my name should it hit number one.”
CM: “Are we talking about the album here?”
JB: “The album.”
CM: “The album’s going to get re-released, and if the album goes to number one, you will change your name.”
JB: “Yeah. I swear on Brian’s life and my life. To whatever the public want – and of course the public are going to kind, they’re not going to go for anything that rhymes with Blunt are they?”
DB: “No!”
JB: “James cucking funt.”
PT: “Ooh.”
CM: “Oh, thank God you’ve only had one vodka!”
JB: “But you know, as long as it’s not, you know, Blunty McBluntface.”
CM: “You know now that is what it’s going to be!”
