Twist in My Sobriety

The beginning of the song, "All God's children need traveling shoes" is the title of a book by the writer Maya Angelou. It is the fifth and last book of her autobiography series in which Angelou writes about her dream to return home as a black American woman to Africa and her subsequent emigration to Ghana. Said Tikaram: "I don't know why I used it but it sounded poetic and spiritual too me; the rest of the song is really about not understanding - when you're 18, you've got a very particular emotional relationship with the world, you feel very isolated, and everybody else is so distant and cold. And I think I was singing about not feeling anything or not being moved by things around. I think this is a strong feeling when you're just after adolescence. There is a very good film called Heavenly Creatures by a director from New Zealand, I don't know if you've seen it, it's about two girls that kill their mother... but it's not the murder that matters but their feelings and how you're feeling at that time. But then it passes by." (quote from an interview on Polish television)

In 1989, Liza Minnelli covered the song for her album Visible Results, which was produced by The Pet Shop Boys. Tikaram told Songfacts she is "deeply honored that Liza Minnelli sang that." She admitted that when Minnelli recorded her version, she was younger and didn't "really appreciated who she was." But now she's "a huge fan." Tanita added that she thinks that Minnelli, "understood the song in an American way," as "sobriety has a very specific meaning in America, about recovery... and alcohol." However as a Brit, the word had a different connotation to her, meaning "just to be very serious and sober in your behavior."

Tanita Tikaram is of Malaysian and Indo-Fijian parentage and is the sister of actor Ramon Tikaram. Her debut album Ancient Heart was released when she was 19 and was produced by Rod Argent and Peter Van Hoote. It featured this song and her biggest UK hit "Good Tradition," which peaked at #10. Subsequent releases have failed to meet with similar commercial success.