GENERAL INFO The third track on the Glamoronica EP, originally written in 2005 but abandoned for several years, until its eventual release in 2013. Despite what I might have said about other songs in the past, this is by far Gary’s most popular song in terms of streaming and sales. RECORDING VENUE & DATES Backing track: 27 Maude Terrace, Walthamstow, Dec 22, 2004 - April 20, 2005 Demo vocal: 27 Maude Terrace, Walthamstow, April 29, 2006 OTL version: Players Theatre, Villers Street, London, May 14, 2006 EP vocal: Poplar, East London, June 18 - July 1, 2013 INSPIRATIONS Some of David Bowie’s more introspective work - Sound and Vision is the most obvious example, but it was probably more directly inspired by Never Get Old. WHAT IT’S ABOUT Gary moans about never being able to leave his room, while simultaneously making it clear that he’s not about to leave it any time soon. WHAT IT’S REALLY ABOUT This song was a departure for me. While previous Le Strange songs had also been about a tortured loser who barely ever leaves his bedroom, they’d usually focused on other more madcap elements as well: his obsessive love of triangles, let’s say, or his collection of Nazi fetish memorabilia. There’s a slight detour into schizophrenia here, as evidenced by Gary’s impression that George Alagiah and Peter Sissons are speaking to him through the TV screen, direct from the BBC news room. But otherwise, this is a fairly straightforward tale of a man suffering from the downside of too much introspection. The tendency to stay in slowly becomes a fear of going out, which steadily reinforces itself until it becomes vaguely psychotic, and the idea of leaving the room at all becomes totally absurd. As someone who’s now spent quite a stupid amount of my life hunched over a computer at home obsessed with the intricacies of sound, I can safely say those feelings were not alien to me. I’m not sure I was suffering that much at the time - my career had been dealt a few blows by this point, but I was still basically a gigging comedian with a monthly club to run and my fingers in quite a few creative pies - but I knew I had a tendency to fall into deep trenches of depression if I spent too much time alone, and could probably feel those yearnings stirring. And then decided to explore those fears in the safety of a comedy song format. As you do. Which, for once, might have actually resulted in something vaguely relatable. ALT VERSIONS Weirdly, having already abandoned the album long beforehand (or maybe because of it), I ended up recording live versions of three songs from Glamoronica for the first series of Avalon’s radio show Out To Lunch. In the case of All I Ever Do, this actually resulted in two new versions of the song: the live performance itself, recorded at the Players Theatre on May 14, 2006, and a studio demo recorded at home a fortnight earlier (making it one of only two songs intended for Glamoronica that I actually recorded vocals for at the time). The demo’s pretty good to be honest - arguably even better than the eventual release - and not that different, apart from it’s missing the line about The Truman Show. Which is weird because I know I’d definitely written it by then. Maybe I just didn’t like it. The live version was the last of the series, and therefore the last piece I did for that show. I cringe when I hear it. I didn’t really fit in the show and I’m pretty sure the bulk of the audience hated me (though of course this could be that paranoia I was talking about). Had to change a few words to make sure it was broadcastable on a Saturday lunchtime. So I lose cancer, rapists and piss, but for some reason I managed to insert the word ‘bloody’ right at the end. I hate listening to this, but feel an immense sense of relief when it ends. ANECDOTES & TRIVIA Apparently Stewart Lee used this as either play-out or interval music for one of his shows at the Leicester Square Theatre, but I’m not sure which (presumably the one he did in 2013). THOUGHTS & FEELINGS I’ve always liked this song. It felt monumental at the time - probably because I was so unused to saying how I really felt in public, even in the context of pretending I was someone else - and it was quite a surprise therefore that people actually got it. This was a new, relatable, almost human version of Gary, who might still be a bit of a loony, but at least you understood a little bit more about why. Sadly, I didn’t double down on this and savagely ditched this new persona in favour of something way more bizarre. See Beef Scarecrow for what happened next…