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Marillion - Trilogy (Hotel Hobbies ~ Warm Wet Circles ~ That Time of The Night) Marillion Live in Lorely, 1987 . Fish declared "Clutching At Straws was my self-penned obituary". It's a concept album about a man named "Torch" (descendant of the jester), a writer with chronic doubts of his own ability and a drink problem the size of the Pacific. . Hotel Hobbies "This song is about being on tour and it's really late at night and you're bored, and you hear all these girls wandering down the corridors and you peer through the spy-hole in the door to see what's going on! . The whole album's about a guy called Torch, a successful writer who's trying to change his lifestyle, dry out, and write a new book. He's in a hotel and his last bottle's empty and he's smoked his last cigarette - he's in a bad way" . . Warm Wet Circles "This song's about small, hometown stuff; the dangers of getting trapped in the 9.00 to 5.00 syndrome and then going down to the pub and talking about things you'll never really do, y'know, "I'd love to drive a Cadillac across America or backpack over the Himalayas". And the local hero's the best darts' player and you marry the girl you met in the pub at 16. Torch goes back to his old haunts and sees how he used to be and it scares him. And he watches all the drunks in the bar late at night tracing the circles from their glasses with their fingers - alcoholics always do that!" . . That Time of The Night "It's about paranoia! Torch is shifting against all his vices and feeling paranoid and desperate to be near somebody. The night I started writing this I was in a hotel and I couldn't sleep, and outside the trees were moving and the moon was like flying through the window and sending shapes like crosses over the walls. And it suddenly meant something, y'know, I found myself thinking about religion and death - it was a well hairy night!" ******** The cover for Clutching At Straws was another Mark Wilkinson work. The pictures are both photos of the interior of the Baker's Arms pub in Colchester, with famous characters. All of them had serious problems with substance abuse, many of them citing it as either an aid to their creativity or a crutch to protect themselves from the surreal nature of fame. The people are: front cover, left to right along bar: Robert 'Rabbie' Burns, Dylan Thomas, Truman Capote and Lenny Bruce. * Robert Burns, Scottish national poet, died aged 37 of alcohol poisoning * Dylan Thomas, Welsh poet, died at 39, also died of alcohol poisoning * Truman Capote, author of Breakfast at Tiffany's and In Cold Blood died aged 59, of a combination of alcohol, drugs and pills (probably suicide) * Lenny Bruce died of a heroin overdose aged 40. On the back from left to right: John Lennon, James Dean and Jack Kerouac * John Lennon was both an alcoholic and a junkie. At the time of his death however, he had been clean since '74... He was shot dead by crazed 'fan' Mark Chapman on the 8 December 1980, aged 40. * James Dean died aged 24 in a car crash, but was probably drunk when it happened. He was an alcoholic and also used drugs. * Jack Kerouac, who popularised stream-of-consciousness writing died of alcohol poisoning, (but also used drugs) aged 48. ***** Almost exactly 18 months later, Fish left the band. Co-incidence or planned?