Track-by-Track: From Please to Nonetheless

[telys]

I never understood why Neil refers to this son as "rock". There is nothing rock about, maybe the chord change or something but it's far away from rock. I kind of think that Neil has misunderstood what rock is.

And the dancing... they have obviously stopped at some disco or outdoor dancing place in the countryside to pick up some farmer girls

[MikeyC]

1) I've never noticed anything homoerotic about Truck Driver.

How about the title??

[NotInvisible]

I never understood why Neil refers to this son as "rock". There is nothing rock about, maybe the chord change or something but it's far away from rock.

Irony - like Chris saying they invented acid house.

And the dancing... they have obviously stopped at some disco or outdoor dancing place in the countryside to pick up some farmer girls

Yes, those famous roadside dancing places in the countryside, where farmer girls dance with truck-driving mates.

[telys]

And the dancing... they have obviously stopped at some disco or outdoor dancing place in the countryside to pick up some farmer girls

Yes, those famous roadside dancing places in the countryside, where farmer girls dance with truck-driving mates.

So you've heard about them as well. I read somewhere that they were ubiquitous in the 80's.

[Gabby]

I've never noticed anything homoerotic about Truck Driver. To me, it's always just been two chaps larking around

I suppose it depends on your definition of “larking”. Drico nailed it: definitely one from PSBs Tom of Finland range…

Wayne Studer has some good notes on why this song is particularly homo-erotic.

I think what Neil does here conflates two ideas - a truck driver and his mate on its own doesn't necessarily assume homosexuality between them, but there is mileage (pun intended) in the fact that layby's and truck stops (or motorway services as we know them in the UK) are well known for cruising and prostitution. Layby's in particular were (and maybe still are) hotspots for this - I recall when I worked in the UK back around this time, there was one particular local farmer/landowner who made the papers because he wanted the shenanigans on his land beside a particular layby to stop so asked the local council to close the layby completely. I don't think that it was particularly limited to truck drivers stopping there though.

[markus]

Track 101: Hit and Miss
Chronology: Bilingual, Further Listening, Track 4

Was it Oil Imperium or Ports of Call? It sounds like music from early-90s Amiga computer games. Those games had great soundtracks. I recognised the inspiration immediately when I first heard Hit and Miss
They’d probably deny any connection — but then again, they also denied that “Miracles” was inspired by Madonna’s “Frozen.”

[NOBODY75]

Even today, in 2026, I'm still just as angry and amazed that "Hit and Miss" wasn't on Bilingual because, for me, it's a better song than practically the entire album. One of their best melodies for a verse. A wonderful song stupidly relegated to a B-side. I don't know if anyone knows why, and I could explain, when it had much more potential as a single than the A-side.

[Patrick Bateman]

Why does Chris hate it?

[NOBODY75]

I wanted to write that if anyone knew a reason that could explain it... Does Chris hate the song?

[NotInvisible]

Track 101: Hit and Miss
Chronology: Bilingual, Further Listening, Track 4

Was it Oil Imperium or Ports of Call? It sounds like music from early-90s Amiga computer games. Those games had great soundtracks. I recognised the inspiration immediately when I first heard Hit and Miss
They’d probably deny any connection — but then again, they also denied that “Miracles” was inspired by Madonna’s “Frozen.”

They'd probably deny any connection because there isn't one, for the rather obvious reason that neither of them were playing these types of games at the time.

Hit and Miss is a brilliant track, signposting the way forward in a few years' time. Gorgeous chords, and one of Neil's most heartfelt lyrics. Both of the Before b-sides should have been on Bilingual.

[babi7808]

In the early 90s, Chris played a lot of computer games, it's in the Very FL booklet. That inspired those sound samples at the beginning of Young Offender.

[telys]

Hit and Miss is the Release track that Release lacks

[Dog]

I wanted to write that if anyone knew a reason that could explain it... Does Chris hate the song?

No, there’s no proof he hates it. After all, it was a b-side. In Literally, Neil says: “Hit And Miss was never for the album. Chris never liked the song so it was condemned to the b-side.”

[NOBODY75]

I wanted to write that if anyone knew a reason that could explain it... Does Chris hate the song?

No, there’s no proof he hates it. After all, it was a b-side. In Literally, Neil says: “Hit And Miss was never for the album. Chris never liked the song so it was condemned to the b-side.”

Well, if Chris never liked the song, we can understand that he's largely to blame for its exclusion. In my humble opinion, this was his biggest blunder until many years later when they left out "An Open Mind" and "Decide" to include... Well, we already know that

[NOBODY75]

Hit and Miss is the Release track that Release lacks

I completely agree. Although they wouldn't have included it either, just like they didn't include "I Didn't Get Between Two Islands".... Anyway