Lily Fontaine (English Teacher) ‘The World’s Biggest Paving Slab’ - Growing Up Marginalised, Becoming a Frontwoman & Surrealism in Lyrics

Lily Fontaine of 2024’s Mercury Prize Winner English Teacher sits down to chat to Jamz about ‘The World’s Biggest Paving Slab’. 

Taken from their album ‘This Could Be Texas’, the lyrics of the song were written by Lily while she was at university, and while originally penned to her hometown Colne (home of the World’s Biggest Paving Slab), looking back, the song has become a metaphor for so many other things. 

In this conversation, Lily and Jamz get into conversation about school, race and culture in small, predominantly white towns, and being creatively inspired by their mums.