Dave Stewart on new album “The Way It Was Back Then” and his Eurythmics guitar parts

Dave Stewart, the British guitarist best known for Eurythmics with Annie Lennox, has spoken to Guitar World about his new album, “The Way It Was Back Then”, the follow-up to last year’s “Dave Does Dylan”. The 74-year-old gave the interview from his home in the Bahamas.

Stewart says the songs were written and performed on the spot, with lyrics made up as he went. The only other musician is his engineer Jesse Samler, who plays drums; both play guitar and bass. He walks through tracks such as “Your Wishes”, “Makes Me Happy (and Sad)” and “Black Cat”, which moves from acoustic guitar to a distorted electric solo. The lyrics look back at his youth, which he discussed openly: his parents’ split, a broken knee that ended his football hopes, running away to London at 17 and years of drug use.

Eurythmics formed in 1980, and “Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)” topped the Billboard Hot 100 in 1983. Stewart says the synth-pop label frustrated him, since the records were full of guitar: a Gretsch on “Here Comes the Rain Again”, a Guild F-412 on “Thorn in My Side”. His favourite part is on “When Tomorrow Comes”, especially live.

He also recalled working out the “Would I Lie to You?” riff in his Paris kitchen, and said he remains on good terms with Annie Lennox.