🎵 𝐂𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐑𝐄𝐅𝐎𝐋𝐃𝐒 🎵

"Centrefolds" is the last song on the album “Sleeping with ghosts”, a record that mainly deals with past relationships. The album title is about carrying the ghosts of them with you, to the point where sometimes a smell or situation or an item they bought you kind of brings a person back. Brian: "𝙁𝙤𝙧 𝙢𝙚 𝙞𝙩'𝙨 𝙖𝙗𝙤𝙪𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙧𝙚𝙡𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣𝙨𝙝𝙞𝙥 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙝𝙖𝙫𝙚 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝 𝙮𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙢𝙚𝙢𝙤𝙧𝙞𝙚𝙨” (ReadMag, November 25th 2003).

In an interview with X-Ray he said that 'Sleeping with ghosts' was about exorcising the demons of his past and in that way “it became a very therapeutic and cathartic thing for me” (April 2003). On another occasion Brian explained that on the album he looks back on the relationships he had over the past ten years and that “whatever masochism is going on in the songs is nearly always directed towards myself – ‘you’ actually means ‘me’“ (Rock Sound, April 2003).

“Centrefolds” is a track about a washed-up celebrity, a type of character that Brian also uses in “Special needs”. The lyrics are about someone telling this celebrity that their days of fame are over and that this person is the best that they can get now (see quotes below). So it is basically a song about obsession and the role reversal in a relationship.

𝗔 𝗽𝗼𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗯𝗹𝗲 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗽𝗿𝗲𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 is that although the celebrity in question may finally succumb to the narrator, they will never be more than second choice for them. So the speaker basically degrades himself to achieve the love or attention of the adored one. But when we take a closer look we have to realize that there's something mean about the narrator too because they are so obsessed with the washed-up celebrity that they prefer to see them broke but reachable and in their own arms instead of famous and loved by everyone but out of reach for them.

“Come on fallen star / I refuse to let you die" could be about wishes because of the tradition to make a wish whenever you see a shooting star. In scriptural context Balthazar refers to a fallen angel who was banned from heaven and cast down to earth for 4.000 years to wander around drowning in his own misery for being a noble follower of Satan. So “Come on Balthazar / I refuse to let you die” would give a new dimension to the following 'fallen star' line. But it's also possible to see Balthazar and the fallen star as a metaphor for someone who's been at the top but is not anymore now, which brings us back to the washed-up celebrity.

The shared live version of “Centrefolds” was recorded at at Palais Omnisport in Paris on October 18th 2003. The concert was released on DVD in March2004.

Screenshot from "Soulmates never die" DVD.

📌 𝗕𝗥𝗜𝗔𝗡 𝗢𝗡 “𝗖𝗘𝗡𝗧𝗥𝗘𝗙𝗢𝗟𝗗𝗦” 📌
📢 ”Someone telling a washed-up celebrity 'I’m the best you can get now so you’d better be mine.' It’s about obsession, questions of status and self-degradation.”
(Rock Sound, April 2003)

📢 ”This is a track written by Stefan six years ago at the piano. It's about the role reversal in relationships, the lost power, a very desperate form of love, very unclean, impossible.”
(Les Inrockuptibles, March-April 2003)

📢 “When you’re releasing your first couple of records you do think that you’re invincible. As a young artist there’s always this voice in the back of your head telling you you’re shit, that you’re not as good as the next guy. By the time you get to your fourth album that voice has changed. You know you can’t be shit because you’ve just sold X amount of records, but now it’s telling you you’re a has-been. As an artist that’s been on my mind and that’s why it’s crept into songs like ‘Centrefolds’ and ‘Special Needs’, this idea of washed-up celebrity.”
(Rock Sound, April 2003)

📜 𝗟𝗬𝗥𝗜𝗖𝗦
Come on Balthazar
I refuse to let you die
Come on fallen star
I refuse to let you die
'Cause it's wrong
And I've been waiting far too long
And that's wrong
I've been waiting far too long
For you to be
Be mine
All the centrefolds
That you can't afford
They've long since waved their last goodbyes
All the centrefolds
That you can't afford
You've long since faded from their eyes
So be
Be mine

Post by Silke