Tanita Tikaram: "Good Tradition" (1988)

- Biography

This biography first appeared on the Warner Bros web site to coincide with the release of Lovers In The City in 1995.
Tanita Tikaram: the name is as memorable as her music — distinctive, idiosyncratic, exotic. And it’s that same haunting originality that comes to life on Lovers In The City, the singer and songwriter’s latest release on Reprise Records.

As an eighteen-year-old, fresh out of school, Tanita Tikaram swept into international prominence during the New Waif era of the late Eighties, and has since pulled out far ahead of the pack with a sound and style completely her own. While her emergence might seem like the quintessential bolt from the blue, in point of fact, Tanita’s remarkable musical history stretches back considerably further.

Tanita Tikaram was born in Munster, Germany where her father, an Indian-Fijian British Army officer, was stationed with his Malaysian wife. It was Tanita’s mother who gave her daughter that euphonious first name, for no other reason than its melodious sound.

Melody, along with harmony, lyrics and rhythm, were a central part of the Tikaram household from Tanita’s childhood on. “My brother would do Elvis impersonations,” she recalls, “and I would back him up on the harmonies. I loved The Beatles as well as soul and country music, with all those wonderful tragic tunes and straight-from-the-heart lyrics. I grew up listening to a whole range of women singers in the ’70s, from Karen Carpenter and Linda Ronstadt to Rita Coolidge and Crystal Gayle.”

The Tikaram family relocated to England when Tanita was twelve, settling in suburban Basingstoke. Her sense of isolation in her new environs drove her further into music and by the time she was sixteen, she was writing her own original songs. Characteristically, her lyrical and compositional influences were eclectic and wide-ranging, from Virginia Woolf and West Side Story to the confessional musings of Joni Mitchell and John Lennon.

More on Here: http://www.tanitatikaram.net/

- Lyrics:

There's a good tradition of love and hate staying by the fireside
There's a good tradition of love and hate staying by the fireside

And though the rain may fall - your father's calling you
You still feel safe inside
And though your ma's too proud - your brother's ignoring you
You still feel safe inside

Oh, was this solo?
Was this yesterday?
Was this true for you?
'Cos while all the rest have taken time
This didn't do a lot for you

And the corners laced with memories
Tell you how it used to be
Your mother smiles, the children play, and all the bad things happen miles away

And strong feelings never bother you
You hold your head up while the rest of us try to

Oh, call the stations
Call the people
We all want to know
'Cos while all the rest have taken time
You don't wanna know

Well, there's a good tradition of love and hate staying by the fireside
There's a good tradition of love and hate staying by the fireside

And though the rain may fall - your father's calling you
You still feel safe inside
And though your ma's too proud - your brother's ignoring you
You still feel safe inside

Oh, was this solo?
Was this yesterday?
Was this true for you?
'Cos of all the choices you have made
This didn't do a lot for you

Tanita Tikaram, vocals & guitar
Rod Argent, keyboards
Peter Van Hooke, drums
Rory McFarlane, bass guitar
Paul Brady, mandolin
Helen O'Hara, violin
Phil Todd, saxophone
Pete Beachill, trombone
Noel Langley, trumpet