If Johnny Borrell had his way, Razorlight would never have recorded their biggest hit. In 2005, Borrell and the band’s newest recruit, drummer Andy Burrows, had been working on a song that was then called “Lost in America”, a Billy Joel-inspired track they’d started writing on tour in Ohio. Borrell liked it, but felt the rhythm wasn’t quite Razorlight.
So he had an idea. “I was a little ahead of myself. I thought, ‘We’ll give it to some artist, they can have a hit with it, and then years later they’ll find out that we’ve written it, and it’ll be super cool.’” Except there were no takers. “We gave it to the publishers, and they found nobody.”
Instead, the demo – which has just been given a special release to celebrate its 20th anniversary – lay dormant for months while Razorlight rode the success of their 2004 debut album, Up All Night, and its hits like “Golden Touch” and “Somewhere Else”. Then one day in the studio, Borrell dug out the song and decided to add a reverb-y riff as an intro, channeling John Frusciante of Red Hot Chili Peppers. It was the riff from the first song he had ever written. “Again, I was ahead of myself,” he smiles.
Razorlight performing on CD:UK in 2005 (Photo: Justin Goff/Getty)
