One of my other childhood dreams which have remained with me to this day is a place called The Memory House. It is a place where I imagined all the people I had forgotten about go to live until the time comes for little Simon to recall them and draw them back into his dream world.
I decided to pilfer this memory and turn the Memory House from a retirement home into a hellish dance club where the poor memories made manifest are forced to dance until they are recalled. The Envoys point this place out to Dora and she is treated as a visiting superstar. The crowd are naturally delighted to see her because the very act of her remembering them will free those crushed inside (one of whom will impact greatly upon the story in part two).
From a music perspective, the chance combination of a bassline and a drumloop proved to be the genesis of the track. I grew up with the Glam Rock generation of the 1970s. Bowie, Roxy Music, Slade, Gary Glitter (say what you like about the man but the music was fantastic), The Sweet, Mud, etc were all big favourites of mine and thought it might be fun to update the Glam beat with contemporary sounds.
At the end of the track, the crush is released and Dora spots a face in the crowd more familiar than most; her elder brother Dominic.
Duppity-do, duppity-do - This was probably the easiest track for me to write words to. Massively immediate, and designed to annoy hobbits of all ages :D
Plus the fact that it meshes nicely with one of my favourite ideas: how real is the stuff in your head, anyway?
There is a dancefloor in your head
Just like the one that lives in mine
It holds the living and the dead
With room for those who've slipped your mind
We want to crush culture
Truth is its disguise
We want to crush culture
The in-between of lies
It's wall to wall with stolen faces
And we're the keepers of the zoo
Your body isn't only crushed here
But what you see is up to you
We are not good, we do not lie
We're only here to introduce