Johnny Marr Talks Writing New Song for Upcoming Blondie Album

Johnny Marr says he’s adding another Blondie song to his list of penned works.

In a conversation on The Line-Up With Shaun Keaveny podcast, the former Smiths guitarist revealed he has been working on a follow-up tune to “My Monster.” The song appeared on Blondie’s 2017 album, Pollinator.

“I’ve written another new one for the new current record that they’re recording,” he shared. “I don’t know whether it will end up on the album, you never know. But they seemed to really like it.”

He describes writing music for Blondie’s last album as “a new level of wow for me because they are my lyrics, Debbie’s singing.” He says frontwoman Debbie Harry asked for another song. “‘My Monster’ I wrote specifically for Blondie, and then you know, it went well.”

He went on to write another song, called “Spectral Eyes,” specifically for the band that they never recorded. “I did it myself,” he explained. “It was on the B-side of a seven-inch single.”

Listen to the last Marr-penned Blondie song, “My Monster,” below.

While few concrete details about the upcoming release have been announced, it was recently confirmed that Sex Pistols’ co-founder and bassist Glen Matlock will join Blondie on the album. He is currently filling the shoes of Blondie’s Leigh Foxx, who suffered a back injury while on tour this year.

“Glen has just been great,” said member Chris Stein in a recent interview. “Unlike Pollinator, we’re mostly keeping this album in-house. It’s just the band and Glen playing on it. He’s fitted right in.”

The band recently released Blondie: Against The Odds 1974-1982, a collection of rarities, demos, remixes, out-takes, basement recordings, and more from the course of the band’s career.

A review of the anthology from American Songwriter read, “Like most quality box sets, there are wordy essays and detailed liner notes, track-by-track commentary, and tons of rare photos and ephemera splayed out over a lavish 144-page booklet plus another 120-page discography, all housed in a classy package. It’s hard to imagine any fan, at least of Blondie’s initial rush of stardom, wanting any more.”

Photo by Andy Cotterill / Courtesy of The Oriel