Paul, my housemate during my second and third years at Uni, was (and possibly still is) a huge Pulp fan. I knew the hits (how could anyone in their teens in the mid-90s have missed Common People?), but listening to Paul's vinyl copy of This Is Hardcore on many a drunken night when it came out in 1998 was a revelation. "I am not Jesus, though I have the same initials / I am the man who stays home and does the dishes," sang Jarvis on what is surely one of his finest songs, 'Dishes'. A song with a guitar solo so brilliant yet so simple even I could play it. A tale of domestic drudgery which moves up a gear to the glorious ending: "And aren't you happy just to be alive? Anything's possible!"
MP3: Pulp - Dishes
