Colin in Wonderland

'It's a wonderful, wonderful life', croons Colin Vearncombe - better known as Black - in, er, 'Wonderful life'. But, we wondered, what's wonderful to Colin? John Aislewood discovered the lighter shade of Black.

Wonderful Colin
'I have me moments! I'm a fairly decent bloke I reckon. I'll tell you what though, I wish I was quicker to defend myself, and I wish I didn't get so upset when I acquire a bad review. I'd be even more wonderful then.'

Wonderful Liverpool
'There's something about the place which is quite inspirational. I'm quite protective of it, even though there are a lot of bad things that go on there and like any big city it's got the best and worst kinds of people. It's a dying industrial city, but I reckon it'll bounce back like Glasgow has, there's a bit of a renaissance there now. Liverpool's not wonderful in the sense I get nostalgic for it, but when I'm in London I tend to be a bit lost, there's nothing to do. I don't get the desire to look round the Tower of London, or art galleries. In Liverpool, I can sit down and do nothing, or go see family and friends. It's where my roots are."

Wonderful Squeeze
'I met Squeeze for the first time the other week and although they've been in the business for ages, they're not jaded about it at all. In fact, though this might surprise you, most of the people at Black's record company (A&M) are quite wonderful.'

Wonderful places
"There are quite a lot. I went to Eire when I was three and I'd really like to go back. I'd also like to go to Belfast. Liverpool's got really strong links with Ireland. I'd hop off to Paris, see Portugal (the only country in Europe we've not been at war with), Italy, The Great Wall of China, Italy, Russia. I think Australia would be a wonderful place because I haven't met an Australian I've disliked, they've got a rough edge to them, a bit like the Irish, the Scots and Liverpudlians."

Wonderful humour
"Northern humour s wonderful and it's so misunderstood especially when it's written down. So when the Crucial Three (Mac of the Bunnymen, Julian Cope, and Pete Wylie), slag each other off it didn't count, 'cos they all knew each other. The humour's very 'all right y'bastard'."

Wonderful eats
"I'm very big on eating out, preferably with friends, but business meals are OK because someone else usually pays. I'm not a connoisseur, but I do like to try a number of different things. Chinese, Italian, Greek, Indonesian or Thai. I've not had African or Japanese yet, but there must be so much to choose from. The higher brow food like French is difficult to get right, you've got to be in France really. I like a drop of wine too."

Wonderful dancing
"I like the night clubs where you can get away from the music, but not too far so as you can't see the people. I used to be a bit of a dancer myself, but it gets less and less as you get older - I start te feel a bit self conscious. It also depends on how hot it is, if it's boiling there's no way I'm strutting my stuff. I wonder how wonderful an alien would think it all is if he came down and saw all this bumping and grinding."

Wonderful film
"Catch 22. I thought that was wonderful. I've read the book once, and that's even better. The light bits are lighter and the dark bits are darker. I must read it again soon."

Wonderful Swiss
"Dieter Meier, from Yello. There's this plaque in a Central European station which says that Dieter Meier will stand beside it at 4 pm in the afternoon one day in 1994. He's a heir to a lager fortune or something, but I don't even resent that, in fact it makes the records better."

Wonderful women
"Men must have women around them. You can always tell the true worth of a gentleman by way they conduct themselves in the company of women. You can always tell if someone's behaving in a way that's not natural to them, like not swearing and all that kind of rubbish. To test this theory I'd have Annie Lennox a very strong and forthright woman, Julie Walters because she's totally off the wall, and Pamela Stephenson who acts like a woman is not supposed to. I certainly wouldn't have Thatcher - I don't think I could listen to that voice for long. She's probably got some redeeming qualities, though I can't think of one."

Wonderful jogging
"Jogging really is wonderful, but no one will ever come with me! At one point I was up to eight miles a day, every other day (the rest of the day was to let the body regenerate itself), but I strained a ligament and started getting sloppy and slothful. I've tried to get it going again recently though. It's great for clearing the system and emptying the mind. I get a lot of ideas for songs while running, especially if I play the guitar for an hour beforehand, it takes your mind off the pain your body's going through. You feel so good after you've done it and had a bath."

Wonderful Dynamo
"I used to play football in Sefton Park in Liverpool. It started off with Black when it was a duo, Teardrop Explodes, Wah!, It's Immaterial, Lotus Eaters, Pale Fountains and the Bunnymen and that was every Monday night. It was wonderful. Mac used to always play in shades and had to go centre forward and Peter Coyle of the Lotus Eaters was so fast I just used to watch him. I was a midfield dynamo, attempting to spray passes around and I'd always hurt myself trying to do spectacular things I'd seen in the World Cup."

Wonderful basketball
"I was dead keen I was, even though I wasn't small enough to be fast or tall enough to do the baskets. I went for a trial with Merseyside, but it was an old boys' network and you don't want that do you? Basketball's a great game to play but awful to watch!"

Wonderful toilets
"If you go see Everton or Liverpool be careful who you stand in front of because the toilets are so far away they use a rolled up newspaper. That's why I'm an armchair Liverpool fan. Er, that's not very wonderful is it?"

Wonderful Sam Fox
"Have you seen Sunday Sport? There's tits on every page! I don't understand this British obsession with big tits. Sam Fox is a real turn off and is there a Dickinson woman? I suppose it's wonderful to see people achieving on the back of something so unusual... ha ha, that didn't come out quite right did it? It's hard to imagine a bloke being so successful because he's got big gonads."

Wonderful things
"A credit card. I use it more and more. I just don't seem to have enough cash. I also need a pen and paper. I lie in bed and have all these wonderful ideas and if there's not a pen and paper near I can't be arsed to get up. Of course I've forgotten them all in the morning!"

Wonderful records
"'Roy Orbison's Greatest Hits', anything melodramatic or 'Duke of Earl' by Gene Chandler, but it's a bit short and you have to get up to put it on again.

Wonderful Dennises
"Dennis Skinner, my favourite MP. I do like him, Dennis Hopper, he's brilliant. I haven't seen Blue Velvet, so don't tell me how it finishes! He plays phychos and druggies with great relish, like a hamburger!"

Wonderful shoes
"I think people underestimate shoes. They change the way you feel. If you get a pair of new shoes, you're supposed to wear them alternative days so they get broken in gently, but you're so chuffed at having a pair of new shoes you don't. When you have to finally surrender them, it's like losing a friend."

Wonderful life
"Ah, good one. Sun, sea, sand, sex and cerebral stimulation. It sounds a bit pot, but it's the fun, love and money thing. There has to be the right degree of pain, 'cos there's only beauty in the world because there's ugliness and I'd never write another song again if I was happy."