The words to Supergroove’s iconic song Can’t Get Enough will soon be revealed as the lyrics go up for auction on Trade Me.
Dr Karl Steven, former Supergroove frontman, has written down the “accurate” lyrics to raise money for the Ours Not Mines campaign against a proposed new mine on DOC land at Wharekirauponga (close to Whangamata).
Other artists auctioning lyrics include Benee, Che Fu, Fat Freddy’s Drop, Don McGlashan, The Black Seeds, and The Phoenix Foundation.
Photo: Geoff Steven
The hills mean a lot to him, Steven told Music 101.
“I look up at those hills every day, and I've been lucky to live amongst them for the last 10 years. And I feel that as a citizen of those hills, it's the least I can do for them to try and have them not be torn up for the sake of making some money, which is the history of what's happened here in Thames over the last 150 years.”
So why did Steven pick the often misheard, frequently misquoted, and slightly mysterious lyrics to ‘Can’t get Enough?’
“I wrote out the original lyric sheets for the Traction album, for the artwork, and when I did that, I didn't do ‘Can't get Enough’. I just wrote a bunch of letters and nonsense.”
Self-consciousness was the reason, he says.
“If I'm honest, I was a little self-conscious about the dumb lyrics. And it was also because I was rapping so fast, I wanted to preserve the mystery of, ‘what's even in there? Who knows, could be something amazing.’
“But now the curtain is unveiled or whatever and the truth is out.”
Steven was 18 when wrote the lyric the lyric, and the auctioned lyric sheet will be accurate, he says.
“If I can't own those lyrics now, as it were, and stand beside them and say, yes, this was them, then I've got no integrity whatsoever.”
Lyrics to 'Can't Get Enough' by Supergroove Photo: