The Take That superstar shares the story behind his solo song, inspired by a local tragedy and instinctive creative process
Manchester pop sensations Take That are one of the biggest-selling acts in UK chart history. Along with past members Robbie Williams and Jason Orange, the trio of Gary Barlow, Howard Donald and Mark Owen have cemented their places in the country’s cultural fabric – you don’t get to perform at everything from the London 2012 Olympic Games closing ceremony to King Charles III’s Coronation Concert at Windsor Castle otherwise. Seeing himself predominantly as a break dancer when the group formed in 1990, Owen’s role as a co-writer of many of their songs shouldn’t be underestimated.
Those wanting proof need only look at Owen’s solo work, starting with his 1996 debut Green Man. With Take That officially disbanded (they eventually reunited in 2005), Owen found some solace in his own writing. The resulting album, produced by John Leckie and Craig Leon, took in some of the Britpop sound that was dominating the airwaves. It was a fitting style for Owen who swayed from fragile to audacious on singles Child and I Am What I Am. Sandwiched between those two offerings was Clementine, a No 3 hit that remains as compelling as anything he’s released with his band or as a solo artist…
First published in Songwriting Magazine Autumn 2023

Released: 3 February 1997
Artist: Mark Owen
Label: RCA, BMG
Songwriter: Mark Owen
Producer: Craig Leon
UK Chart Position: 3
US Chart Position: –
“One of the first purchases when I bought my flat was a Schimmel piano, and I still have it to this day. And that piano was what I wrote my first record Green Man on. I found it easier to write on piano than I did on Cubase or whatever software it was at that time, I couldn’t quite get my head around that world. So I was sitting at a piano and playing some chords and I just tried to do it by ear.
“After Take That finished, I began writing and I had about 35 songs. They were so basic in production and in sound, literally just piano and voice. I might have attempted to put a drumbeat on some of them, but very rarely because I realised that wasn’t serving me to do it in that way.
“Two records I adored were The Bends by Radiohead and The Stone Roses by The Stone Roses. The Stone Roses I was enjoying because of what was going on around me and the way it made me feel, but Radiohead’s The Bends was the first time that I started to get a little bit of a thing where I would hear a lyric that made me go, ‘Oh, what does that mean?’ Songs like High And Dry and Fake Plastic Trees were really resonating with me at the time.
“[Thom Yorke] was singing in falsetto and he was doing something a little bit different; he wasn’t a traditional singer in this way that you had to do it. There were different things I was hearing: different styles and different ways of expression. Songs don’t all have to be done in the same way. That was quite an interesting thing for me to start looking at.
“I managed to somehow get that cassette tape to [Stone Roses and Radiohead producer] John Leckie. He was probably the only real producer that I knew outside of the Take That world and he’d made two of my favourite records. It was amazing that he said yes. He tells me a story, and I don’t know if it’s true or not, that he went and asked his neighbour, first of all, who I was, but also who Take That was! But he said yes and he brought Craig Leon in and the pair of them brought in musicians that were incredible.
“I had Clem Burke from Blondie on drums, just brilliant people, and I was at Abbey Road bloody Studios. So, I was making a record at Abbey Road Studios. I was crossing that zebra crossing every day with John Leckie and Craig Leon and it was the most amazing time. I was living at Abbey Road, staying in a flat next door. I was sleeping there and got to know all the staff. I never left and soaked it all up. I was so excited and everybody came to visit me at certain times. Rob came, Gary came, Howard came, Jay came.
“Clementine actually comes from a few different areas, as all these things do. It was one of the later songs that I wrote for Green Man but probably one of the songs I have played most over the years.
“I think it’s mainly structured around four chords, there might be a fifth one in there now and again, I can’t remember… but I think it is mainly about the pushes on the chords that give it that sound. The melody came first; the chorus melody was one of the first things that came on that song. I lived in a flat at the time and I would sometimes leave the tape on loop and just sing loudly and move around the room….. a lot of the time instinctually and wildly. It was very liberating.

Mark Owen: “It’s about loss and grief and sadness… I still sing it for Clementine all these years later”
“The story behind the song… there are many layers to the song but starting geographically I used to walk to school in Oldham and I remember hearing a story about a young woman who had passed away. She was there one day and gone the next and it felt quite unexpected. I felt like I used to walk past her house and I might have seen her a few times without knowing her. When I heard that she was no longer with us, it was something that stuck with me. I hadn’t come across that before at that time I don’t think or thought about it in the world around me…death. It’s about loss and grief and sadness.
“So the main character in the song when I think of Clementine lived in this terraced house in the north of England and she was having a tricky time navigating life. I never knew the name of the actual girl in the story but once she became Clementine in the song that was very obviously her name.
“Structure-wise and chordally, the song didn’t change much when we went into the studio. I don’t think it would have had any guitars on my demo though (unless my dad put some on). John and Craig produced it up at Abbey Road Studios into the version that people know with the beautiful harmonic guitars.
“It’s always an important song for me to perform, and I feel the energy when I do it. I connect with the song on many levels and I’m very grateful that it seems to mean so much to many other people too. I still sing it for Clementine all these years later – whoever she is, wherever she is – with all my heart and soul.”
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