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Apart from a brief tenure as a junior reporter for the Middlesex Advertiser & Country Gazette, Nick Lowe has spent most of the last 60 years in the same job: pop musician. In that time, he's operated under numerous guises (Basher, Jesus Of Cool, Nick The Knife), fashioned radio hits, produced some of the most important records of the latter part of the 20th century, and written at least one standard, "(What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love And Understanding," that will still probably be played 100 years from now. "Yes, that one may hang around for a while, though I've got mixed feelings about it," says Lowe chuckling. "But my legacy — such as it is — isn't something 1 lose any sleep over."
Self-effacement has long been Lowe's default setting. "I used to be frustrated that Nick did not lay more claim to his talents," says his friend Elvis Costello, "but now I realise it was a smart thing to do. You don't write songs like "Endless Sleep," "The Beast In Me" or "I'm A Mess" without sensing the depths that extend beneath us all, but whether it's wise to point them out, is beyond me. I think that's how you drown."
The son of a Royal Air Force officer father and a songstress mother, Lowe grew up abroad — living in Jordan and Cyprus — but remains, as he puts it, "a true product of the British middle class." It may have influenced his standing in the pantheon ("if Nick had been American," says Costello, "he would have been spoken about in hushed and mythic tones. He's right up there with Dan Penn, Jim Ford and Charlie Rich") but hasn't compromised the affection of music fans and fellow musicians. "I heard 'Cruel To Be Kind' on the radio when I was maybe 11 or 12 years old and bought the single," says Wilco mainman and Lowe collaborator Jeff Tweedy, "It feels he's just been this constant, distinct musical presence in my life."
In September, Lowe will continue his journey with new album, Indoor Safari, his first long-player in over a decade. At 75, it may also prove to be Lowe's swan song, or perhaps just another marker in a long, chimerical career.
"There's an energy to Nick that comes across in all of his music that's full of whimsy and irony, but also sincerity," says Tweedy. "He is one of those rare guys that's figured out how to be himself on purpose. That's a hard thing to do."
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