Sunday Music: "Black Coffee In Bed" - Squeeze vs. Bilal & Nikki Jean
September 14, 2025·0 comments·zg
You know 'Black Coffee in Bed' by Squeeze - one of the most melancholiest of melancholy breakup songs probably ever. Squeeze were masters at this. It’s Brits channeling Muscle Shoals rhythms while crafting Larkin-like stories that feel as literary as they are musically informed.
You can’t tell me “Now she's gone / And I'm back on the beat / A stain on my notebook / Says nothing to me,” isn’t somehow channeling “The first day after a death, the new absence / Is always the same; we should be careful / Of each other, we should be kind / While there is still time”.
The song has a whole life to it. There’s a life inside of it. It’s complete. You’ll recognize it. I’ve always appreciated it.
In the Questlove Supreme interview with Bilal, there’s a point towards the end where Sugar Steve (Steve Mandel, legendary studio guy), brings up how Bilal was one of the first artists who ever gave him free rein in the studio. It was a big deal for him. It’s still a big deal to him today, 20+ years later.
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