Nick Lowe Reflects on His Legacy Song

Q: What do you hope this provides to people, these efforts to perform music virtually like this?

A: I imagine that when people see a musician that they're interested in is sitting at home and not freaking out, not panicking about the situation, I suppose that cheers people up because, you know, the news is so dire.

Q: Let’s talk about “(What’s So Funny ’Bout) Peace, Love and Understanding.” That is one of those anthem-type songs that people will often turn to when things in life may seem bleak. What inspired you to write that song?

A: One day I woke up and the idea for that song came to me, the title came to me. I thought, Well, it's a bit of a mouthful; it doesn't exactly trip off the tongue. But I thought, Well, this is a really good idea. It's the first actual real idea I've had, that I haven't sort of stolen from somebody else.

And I wrote the song, and I was a pretty stupid youth, really, in many ways, but I did one clever thing. The one clever thing I did with that song was to not mess it up in the verses by making it too complicated. I thought to myself, This is a great title. Let the title do all the work for you. I had a pretty good tune for it going on, but the clever thing I did was to keep it fairly bland, almost, you know, in the verses and just let the title do the work.

And it worked pretty well. But, of course, it wasn't until Elvis Costello — it was Elvis who brought it in front of the public, and it caught people's imagination. It's never actually been a hit. But it's been covered by so many people, it's almost like it is a hit song. And, of course, I look forward to a time when a song like that is not required anymore. But it doesn't seem to be happening anytime soon.

Q: How do you feel about that enduring legacy of that song?

British singer-songwriters Elvis Costello (left) and Nick Lowe together in London in 1986.

Estate Of Keith Morris/Redferns/Getty Images

A: Well, it is amazing. I've written quite a lot of songs, and most of them are, frankly, forgettable. But if you do it for long enough and you write enough of them, you're going to hit the jackpot on a few occasions. And I've written a few good ones that have been successful — actual hits and ones that other people have recorded and made them hits. But that song, “Peace, Love and Understanding,” it's almost I feel like I had nothing to do with it. I've heard so many covers, when I hear somebody doing it, I'm not immediately struck by the fact that, Oh, they're doing my song. It's really odd. It really does feel like it's like, uh, “Auld Lang Syne” or “Happy Birthday to You.”

Q: What do you think makes for a great uplifting song?

A: I don't know, Gerry Mulligan — I'm listening to a lot of jazz nowadays, so I'd be more inclined to listen to something like that, something with more integrity than a pop song, perhaps. But then again, James Brown doing “I Feel Good” works just as well.