The morning after their meeting with Alan Cairnduff, Jim and Charlie wheeled an amp to John Milarky's house to talk about fleshing out Johnny And The Self Abusers. Milarky played them his first composition, Pablo Picasso, which Jim remembered as being frightenly good.

It became one of the centerpieces of the band's set, and was even used as encore material during the Life In A Day and Real To Real cacophony tours.

Pablo Picasso was written about Milarky's brother; a blonde, leather clad motorbike fanatic. It also drew inspiration from a Jonathan Richman composition called Pablo Picasso, performed by John Cale (Helen Of Troy, Island 9350, November 1975):

Well some people try to pick up girls,
And get called assholes,
This never happened to Pablo Picasso,
He could walk down your street,
And girls could not resist his stare and
So Pablo Picasso was never called an asshole.

Well the girls would turn the color,
Of the avacado when he would drive,
Down their street in his El Dorado,
He could walk down you street,
And girls could not resist his stare,
Pablo Picasso never got called an asshole.

Milarky didn't feel the same way about his brother:

Leather freak, leather freak, stay away from me
Because all the girls think you're a fucking asshole.

The lyrics have never been published.

Demo Version (3:32) Producer: Simple Minds and Brian Young

Demo Version (3:32) Producer: Simple Minds and Brian Young