Jarvis Cocker has admitted the identity of the ‘loaded’ student he wrote about in his band Pulp’s 1995 hit Common People is a complete ‘mystery’.
The singer, 58, famously told the story of how a wealthy girl ‘came from Greece with a thirst for knowledge’ and ‘studied sculpture at Saint Martin’s College’ in the track.
Making the confession on Radio 4’s This Cultural Life, he said: ‘We went to the pub and she just came out with that she wanted to live in Hackney with common people.
You what? Jarvis Cocker has admitted the identity of the ‘loaded’ student he wrote about in his band Pulp’s 1995 hit Common People is a complete ‘mystery’ (pictured in May 2022)
‘In 2011 we played at St Martin’s and someone showed me a picture on their phone and said, “Is that the girl you wrote the song about?” I went, “Yeah, I think it is.”
‘Unfortunately, I didn’t ask them for the picture and I can’t remember who showed it to me so it’s still a mystery.’
The Sheffield-native also took the opportunity to shut down rumours of the subject being Danae Stratou, whose husband is the former Greek finance minister Yanis Varoufakis.
Talented: The singer, 58, famously told the story of how a wealthy girl ‘came from Greece with a thirst for knowledge’ and ‘studied sculpture at Saint Martin’s College’ in the track
She attended the prestigious university at the same time as Jarvis, however he insisted it couldn’t have been her because of her blonde hair.
He explained: ‘It wasn’t her because she had blonde hair and the girl had dark hair.’
Jarvis previously admitted he found fame unsatisfying at the height of Pulp’s popularity in the 1990s.
The frontman told The Times: ‘It was a very strange time for me because I’d achieved my lifetime’s ambition and then found that it didn’t satisfy me.’
The star said instead that fame reminded him of ‘pornography’, he explained: ‘[It] reminded me of pornography. Of how pornography takes an amazing thing — love between two people expressed physically — and kind of grosses it out.’
The BRIT Award nominee, whose lyrics often conveyed his lust and discussed sexual politics, also revealed how he learned about sex from his Conservative parish councillor mother.
He said he eavesdropped on her conversations while she was chatting with her friends after school.
Denying: The Sheffield-native also shut down rumours of the subject being Danae Stratou, whose husband is the former Greek finance minister Yanis Varoufakis (pictured in 2019)
