“In Quintessence” by Squeeze

"In Quintessence" kicks off East Side Story, Squeeze's 1981 album, and unlike the rest of the record, which Elvis Costello produced, it went to Dave Edmunds. Chris Difford wrote the words and Glenn Tilbrook the music. Difford calls the lyric partly autobiographical, another song of his that mentions masturbation, while Tilbrook says the real-life lad it sketches, a fan of joints and girls back then, is now a very responsible teacher near Liverpool who says it nailed him.

Musically it's a wink at Costello, who had lifted the riff from "Time Is Tight" for his own "Temptation"; Tilbrook reused it for a laugh and stretched it out, and he worked out his solo in the studio bathroom. Difford and Tilbrook share guitars and vocals, with Paul Carrack on keyboards, John Bentley on bass and Gilson Lavis on drums.

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