Jarvis Cocker shares the inspiration behind ‘Heavy Weather’ song

The inspiration behind Heavy Weather came from a place of “trying to be neutral” according to Pulp frontman Jarvis Cocker.

Heavy Weather featured on Cocker’s debut album, The Jarvis Cocker Record, his first album release since the oft-forgotten Relaxed Muscle experiment. Cocker has spoken of his desire to retire from music-making, but was struck by the Dion song, Only You Know. It led to the making of his first solo album’s lead single, Don’t Let Him Waste Your Time. In an interview with Daniel Rachel, author of The Art of Noise, Cocker explained the meaning behind several of his debut album songs. The track Heavy Weather, Cocker says, came from a desire to be neutral after leaving England to live in Paris, France.

Cocker explained: “That song, I was trying to become neutral. I was trying to become Switzerland. I’d left England and I was married and I was trying to be a proper person. I was trying to write a song that other people could sing. It’s a kind of vague-ish song. I like the tune of it.”

Despite the neutrality of the song and the reflection on moving to Paris, Cocker is no longer a fan of the song. He suggested the neutrality heard on Heavy Weather is not something he is “very good at” and that there was too large an attempt to be impartial.

He added: “Lyrically I find that song a bit weak now. It’s trying to be too neutral. It’s trying to be too much like this classic song that another person could sing. In the end I don’t think I’m very good at doing that.”

Like many of the songs featured on The Jarvis Cocker Record, Heavy Weather features former Pulp member Steve Mackey on bass guitar. Richard Hawley, Cocker’s friend and longtime Pulp collaborator, also features on the track playing electric, twelve-string guitar.

The Jarvis Cocker Record fared well on the UK Indie Charts, reaching number one on initial release. It also cracked the Top Forty of the UK Album Charts, peaking at thirty-seven. Cocker is set to release More, Pulp’s first album since 2001’s We Love Life, later this year.

A statement from the band reads: “This is the first Pulp album since We Love Life in 2001. Yes. The first Pulp album in twenty-four years. How did that happen? Well, when we started touring again in 2023 we practiced a new song called Hymn of the North during soundcheck and eventually played it at the end of our second night at Hammersmith Odeon. This seemed to open the floodgates. We came up with the rest of the songs on this album during the first half of 2024.

“A couple are revivals of ideas from last century. The music for one song was written by Richard Hawley. The music for another was written by Jason Buckle. The Eno family sing backing vocals on a song. There are string arrangements written by Richard Jones and played by the Elysian Collective.

“The album was recorded over three weeks by James Ford in Walthamstow, London, starting on November 18, 2024. This is the shortest amount of time a Pulp album has ever taken to record. It was obviously ready to happen. These are the facts.

“We hope you enjoy the music. It was written and performed by four human beings from the North of England, aided and abetted by five other human beings from various locations in the British Isles. No A.I. was involved during the process. This album is dedicated to Steve Mackey. This is the best that we can do. Thanks for listening.”