Grant Nicholas, singer, songwriter, guitarist

I wrote Buck Rogers in a drunken state in my flat in Camden, London. I’d broken up with my long-term girlfriend but was hoping that we’d get back together, which is why the chorus goes: “I think we’re gonna make it.” A friend had told me she was dating a guy who’d just done a car advert, which must have been in my head when I wrote: “He’s got a brand new car. Looks like a Jaguar.” The second verse, about us starting again in a house in Devon and drinking “cider from a lemon”, was probably inspired by playing gigs in little clubs down there when Feeder were starting out – and by my teenage years in Wales, when we mixed cider with lemonade. They were throwaway lyrics to get a song going. I never intended keeping them.

Some time after that, I was asked if I’d be interested in co-writing songs with a band who were working with producer Gil Norton, the sort of thing which happened a lot in those days. Gil was top of my list of dream producers for our third album, Echo Park, because I loved his work with Pixies, but he was in demand and out of reach. Taking up the offer was a way of meeting him.

We had a few drinks in my local, went back to my flat and I played him some songs. As soon as Gil heard my old rough demo of Buck Rogers, he said: “That’s a hit.” The record company said the same thing. I tried to tell all of them: “It’s not finished!” But everyone insisted changes would ruin it.

When we recorded it with Gil, he kept the “It’s got a CD player … player … player” effect from my original demo, because he thought it made a great hook. We repeated it for “lemon … lemon … lemon”. Jon Lee loved the song more than I did, but he was never happy with his drums and replaced them at the last minute. He played all the parts in one or two takes because he was a great drummer, and just gave it a bit more energy.

Even at that stage, I thought the song would end up as a B-side at best. I would have been quite happy to leave it off the album – but it’s probably just as well I left it on! I must have written more than 300 songs but Buck Rogers is the one everybody knows and loves. It’s popular with cover bands and people sing it at karaoke. I went through a period of refusing to play it live, but I’ve made my peace with the song now. My wife finds the whole thing hilarious. She was the girlfriend who inspired it, and we did “make it”. We’ve now been together for more than 30 years.

Gil Norton, producer

My wife was a big Feeder fan. I didn’t know them so much but I did really like their song High. Then, when I was working with an American band called SR-71, Grant’s name came up as a potential collaborator. We met and he played me Buck Rogers assuming it was a throwaway song that he was going to give to another band and never hear again. But I said: “You can’t give that away! You should keep it for yourself.”

We started recording in the Kinks’ studio, Konk, near where we both lived in London, but there were electrical problems so we relocated to Great Linford Manor, near Milton Keynes. The vocals on Buck Rogers will be a very early take. I liked to get a guide vocal down and work from that, because you get a more honest, innocent take on the lyrics. I don’t remember Jon redoing the drums but I’m not saying it didn’t happen. He was the band’s grounding influence. Whenever there were any doubts, he’d be the person going: “Don’t worry. This is great.”

Grant actually tried changing the words – especially the lines about the house in Devon and the cider lemonade – but I thought it was great imagery so convinced him to leave them well alone. Sometimes you don’t need to be Shakespeare – you just need to tell a story. Buck Rogers is seen as lightweight but if you listen closely, it’s actually quite a deep, emotional song. The best songs strike something within you, even if you don’t know what it is.

• A deluxe reissue of Feeder’s album Comfort in Sound is out now on BMG. Feeder play Bristol Beacon on 9 October and O2 Academy Birmingham on 11 October