From the man once embarrassingly dubbed ‘Shakespeare for clubbers’, a book should be an exciting prospect.
Unfortunately, Skinner devotees hoping for a collection of poetry or a Bob Dylan Chronicles-style life story may have to wait. Few details about the contents of his new book – The Story of the Streets – are known, except that it will at least in part be comprised of childhood photographs.
"I wasnt going to have photos in my book coz i thought it was a bit silly but the wife said i had to," Skinner wrote on his Twitter page.
"Mum gave me a stack of photo album. got a bit emotional. where i'm starting school and that."
Skinner also posted said photos to his blog, along with the caption: “my first day at school. and strong emotions for me because my little girl starts nursery this week. circle of life shit. lion king and that.”
Due out on 29 March on Bantam Press, the memoir of The Street’s extraordinary early success up to its somewhat subdued end last year is the result of a collaboration with journalist Ben Thompson – a man previously behind the memoir of Russell Brand, reports Contact Music. The 352 page book has been priced £11.77 on Amazon.
For more than ten years Mike Skinner was the most poetic of British music stars, filling his garage/rap project The Streets with lyrics that put his pop chart peers to shame. Full of wit and poignancy, he used every of his six studio albums to explore a new writing direction, occasionally producing some of the finest British music of the decade.
Here’s some our favourite Mike Skinner lines:
The sea of black, the beaming heat on their faces,
Then a figure emerges from the wastage.
Eyes transfixed with a piercing gaze,
One hand clutching a sword raised to the sky,
They wonder how, they wonder why.
The sky turns white. It all becomes clear.
They felt lifted from their fears.
- Turn The Page
Skinner announces himself on track 1 album 1 as a gladiator sent to save British music.
Then the girl in the cafe taps me on the shoulder,
I realise: five years went by I'm older.
Memories smoulder, winters are colder,
But that same piano loops over and over and over.
The road shines and the rain washes away,
The same Chinese takeaway selling shit in a tray.
- Weak Become Heroes
Mike reflects on how our fleeting youth can contrast painfully with an unchanging environment.
I shut the door behind me, huddled up in my coat,
Condensation floating off my breath, squinted out the sun.
My jeans feel a bit tight, think I washed them a bit too high;
I was gonna be late, so I picked up my pace to run.
- Empty Cans
Skinner feels the first tentative sense of recovery after the end of a love affair.
For billions of years,
Since the outset of time,
Every single one of your ancestors survived.
Every single person on your Mum and Dad's side
Successfully looked after and passed onto you life.
What are the chances of that, like?
- One The Edge Of The Cliff
Mike’s message to anyone contemplating giving up on life.