How Sad, How Lovely by Connie Converse.

On BBC Radio 4 this afternoon I listened to an excellent programme presented by poet Emily Berry called Dreaming Of Connie Converse. I was pleased that Connie is getting some long overdue recognition. It inspired me to dust off and update this story I wrote about Connie several years ago......... 

The story of Connie Converse is one of the saddest in the history of music. Over 50 years after she disappeared music fans around the world are beginning to realize her importance in the history of modern music. In the summer of 1974 she wrote farewell letters to family and friends saying that she was leaving to start a new life. She waited for the news that Nixon was finally resigning as President and then packed her belongings in her Volkswagen Beetle and drove away, never to be seen again. So who was Connie Converse and why is she so important?. She is important because she was years or decades ahead of her time. Connie Converse was one of the first ever female singer-songwriters and she left a small but brilliant legacy of music behind.

I had never heard of Connie until recently. I discovered her music purely by chance on Youtube while looking for a song by Anne Briggs. I stumbled across Connie and listened to one song which aroused my interest and I ordered a CD called How Sad, How Lovely which is the title of one of her songs. I must say it is a most attractively designed album as well. It contains a nice booklet which includes contributions from her brother and also the man who first recorded her songs.

I'll just tell you briefly what I know about Connie. She was born Elizabeth Eaton Converse in 1924 in  New Hampshire into a strict Baptist family. At School she was quite brilliant and won a scholarship to Mount Holyoake College, but dropped out after two years and moved to New York City where she lived in Greenwich Village which was the centre of the bohemian world in 1950's America. It was here that she acquired the nick-name Connie because she came from Concord.  It was at this time that Connie first began to write poems and songs and accompanying herself on guitar. She came to the attention of Gene Deitch a famous animator who recorded Connie's songs at his home in the mid-50's. She failed to attract any commercial interest apart from one appearance on a TV Show presented by Walter Cronkite. 

In 1961 the year that Bob Dylan arrived in New York she left Greenwich Village and moved to Ann Arbor Michigan. I think that was a shame because a year later the whole world was following the Folk Scene in New York and she could have been part of it and got the attention her music deserved. Over a decade after she dropped out of college Connie returned to academic life and worked her way up to being Managing Editor of 'The Journal Of Conflict Resolution'. Her only music interest was playing for family & friends. By the early 1970's she was suffering with depression and her employer and friends pooled together to send her on a six month sabbatical to England. Connie described this trip as one of the only times in her life she was allowed to have 'unproductive fun'. I wonder where she went in this country and who she met?. Finally in 1974 she made her decision to disappear.

 After I had read the booklet I played the CD and I must say now after listening to it twice I am very impressed indeed. Nine of the eighteen tracks are the recordings she made with Gene Deitch and you can hear little snippets of conversation between the songs. Connie sings in a very formal style. This is the 1950's you must remember, before singers started slurring the words and calling everyone Babe. It is the subject matter of hanging around in bars, playing poker, and being taken home by strangers that makes the songs ahead of their time. White middle-class women didn't sing about these subjects before. Although a lot of the songs sound quite jolly you can sense an underlying sadness below. There is no other singer like Connie Converse. Just on a couple of songs I could hear vague echoes of Dory Previn, another great singer who came along a lot later who I really like as well. A lot of the songs began life as poems and you can hear that in the very poetic imagery of a lot of the songs.

 There is some sort of a happy ending to the story because in 2004 Gene Deitch who had recorded Connie 50 years before was invited onto a radio show, and he played one of her songs. Two listeners of the show Dan Dzula and David Herman were inspired to track down her recordings. Gene Deitch was happy to collaborate. Also, they found a filing cabinet at Connie's brother's house containing further treasures which Connie had left with him, all neatly filed and labelled as if she meant them to be found. The album which I received was finally released. The legend of Connie Converse is finally beginning to grow.

What actually happened to her? I find it hard to believe that she took her own life. If that was true why did she pack her car so meticulously?. I have wondered if she returned to England where she had previously spent a happy six months. We shall probably never know but I am really pleased that her music is finally after 50 years getting the recognition that it deserves.

A Complete Unknown. (My Review)

American audiences have been able to view A Complete Unknown the new biographical film about Bob Dylan for three weeks now, and yesterday it was finally released in Britain. I went to see it last night at the Odeon in Trowbridge, so I thought I would give you my thoughts. The film begins in 1961 with Bob arriving in New York in search of his hero Woody Guthrie. It catches the bohemian atmosphere perfectly with such little details as when Bob reached Greenwich Village there is a poet ranting from a soapbox on a street corner which presumably  would be Allen Ginsberg. Bob tracks down Woody to Greystones Hospital where he also has a fortuitous encounter with Pete Seeger who introduces Bob into the New York folk music scene. I thought Edward Norton who played Pete Seeger was outstanding, especially when I found out that he sang and played the banjo himself. Shortly after his arrival Bob meets Sylvia Russo played by Elle Fanning. Now, I have read that Bob co-operated in the making of the film and approved of Timothee Chalamet playing him, but requested that the name of his real-life girlfriend of the time which was Suze Rotolo not to be used, hence we get Sylvia Russo. It seems a bit strange because all the other major characters keep their real names. 

Many of the famous faces from Greenwich Village are featured, such as Joan Baez, Dave Van Ronk, and Maria Muldaur. I was hoping that Karen Dalton would be mentioned, but she wasn’t, also Dylan knew the Clancy Brothers in Greenwich Village who were a big influence, but they didn’t appear. The mood of the times was captured vividly, with the Cuban Missile Crisis, Kennedy’s assassination and the Civil Rights movement being portrayed. Dylan used all these dramatic events to his advantage by writing songs which tapped into the collective consciousness of the times, but he himself was apolitical. 

He also used Joan Baez as a stepping stone to fame and fortune, she was the girl on the half-shell, already famous when Bob arrived and gave her the little boy lost act. In all fairness she used him as well and got her hands on his songs. I thought Dan Fogler gave a fine performance as Bob’s manager Albert Grossman. Anyone who has seen the documentary Don’t Look Back will know what Albert was like in real life, shrewd and hard as nails, but quite comical. He gets one of the best lines in the film where Pete Seeger is almost pleading with Bob not to do an electric set at Newport. Albert says to Pete something like, “You wanna give them candles, but Bob’s selling lightbulbs”. 

Another performance I thought was very comical was Muddy Waters son Big Bill Morganfield as blues singer Jesse Moffette who meets Bob on Pete Seeger's TV show and they share a bottle of whiskey. I think Jesse is a fictitious character. I have never heard of him, but it was a very funny scene. Johnny Cash played by Boyd Holbrook also deserves a mention. Although Dylan approved of Timothee Chalamet’s performance Bob himself doesn’t come over as a very nice person in the film, often appearing to be supercilious and insulting to other people. The songs speak for themselves however, nobody in popular music has written words as poetic as Dylan. It can be hard to be humble sometimes when you know you’re the best. Also, you have to have sympathy with Dylan because when he had mined the folk scene for all it was worth he wanted to move on, experiment, and shake up rock music. The traditionalists like Joan Baez & Pete Seeger wanted him to serve up more of the same. He felt pressurised and irritated by this. 

I think Chalamet deserves an Oscar for his performance, not just for the acting, but also for the hard work he must have put in practicing the singing and guitar and harmonica playing. Monica Barbaro as Joan Baez was also excellent. I don’t think I learned anything new from seeing this film, except I didn’t know that Joe Boyd was the sound man at the Newport Folk Festival when Pete thought about putting an axe to the cables. Joe Boyd later moved to the UK and produced some of the greatest albums in British folk-rock. Speaking about Newport I was slightly irritated when someone in the audience shouted out, “Judas”, at Dylan, and Dylan replied, “I don’t believe you, you’re a liar, play it loud”. Any Dylan fan worth their salt knows that this happened at the Free Trade Hall in Manchester.

It would be churlish though to complain about little historical inaccuracies, because I thoroughly enjoyed this film portrait of one of the greatest figures of the last 100 years. I can’t stop wondering though if Bob Dylan really was the voice of a generation, how come people like Trump become President. It doesn’t make sense.

A COMPLETE UNKNOWN | Official Trailer

Blowin In The Wind Scene | A COMPLETE UNKNOWN.

The Testimony Of Patience Kershaw.

If you have read my blog page for a while you probably know that I am a big fan of The Unthanks. Recently I saw their 2009 album Here’s The Tender Coming in the auction on eBay. I put in a bid of £3.99 and it was mine, a bargain! Mojo magazine named it as Folk album of the year in 2009, and I agree that it is a wonderful recording. I was already familiar with many of the songs, but it was still great to add it to my collection. Most of the songs are traditional plus a few cover versions of other artists songs such as Living By The Water written by Anne Briggs and Annachie Gordon which I knew from Nic Jones. The title track is also one of my favourite songs of theirs. The ‘Tender Coming’ refers to a boat which press gangs used to force people into serving in the navy. I don’t want to write a review of the whole album today, but just talk about one song which intrigued me as soon as I saw the title. It is The Testimony Of Patience Kershaw. 

My curiosity immediately wanted to know who Patience Kershaw was. You can find a video of the song below which I hope you will listen to carefully as I did. From the lyrics I deduced that Patience worked underground in a coal mine as a ‘hurrier’ which involved pushing corves loaded with coal along the dark narrow tunnels. (A corve is a type of minecart). In a twelve hour shift she would cover twenty miles.  As well as using her arms and legs to push the corves she also used her head, which resulted in her hair being worn away. The song was written by Frank Higgins based on a statement Patience aged 17 gave when she was called upon to provide testimony to the Ashley’s Mines Commission of 1842. This commission came about after an accident at Huskar Colliery in Silkstone, near Barnsley. A stream overflowed into the ventilation drift after violent thunderstorms causing the death of 26 children; 11 girls aged from 8 to 16 and 15 boys between 9 and 12 years of age. What Patience told the inquiry is quite shocking. This is what she said.

‘My father has been dead about a year; my mother is living and has ten children, five lads and five lasses; the oldest is about thirty, the youngest is four; three lasses go to mill; all the lads are colliers, two getters and three hurriers; one lives at home and does nothing; mother does nought but look after home. All my sisters have been hurriers, but three went to the mill. Alice went because her legs swelled from hurrying in cold water when she was hot. I never went to day-school; I go to Sunday-school, but I cannot read or write; I go to pit at five o'clock in the morning and come out at five in the evening; I get my breakfast of porridge and milk first; I take my dinner with me, a cake, and eat it as I go; I do not stop or rest any time for the purpose; I get nothing else until I get home, and then have potatoes and meat, not every day meat. I hurry in the clothes I have now got on, trousers and ragged jacket; the bald place upon my head is made by thrusting the corves; my legs have never swelled, but sisters' did when they went to mill; I hurry the corves a mile and more underground and back; they weigh 300 cwt.; I hurry 11 a-day; I wear a belt and chain at the workings, to get the corves out; the getters that I work for are naked except their caps; they pull off all their clothes; I see them at work when I go up; sometimes they beat me, if I am not quick enough, with their hands; they strike me upon my back; the boys take liberties with me sometimes they pull me about; I am the only girl in the pit; there are about 20 boys and 15 men; all the men are naked; I would rather work in mill than in coal-pit’.

This evidence shows the terrible squalid conditions working people had to endure during the Victorian period when the British empire was at its height and the aristocracy, landed gentry, and factory owners enjoyed fabulous wealth beyond the wildest dreams of most of the population. In their report the commissioners said of Patience, ‘This girl is an ignorant, filthy, ragged, and deplorable-looking object, and such a one as the uncivilized natives of the prairies would be shocked to look upon’. What a scathing indictment that is of Victorian society. I don’t think slaves toiling in cottonfields would have had worse working conditions. The commission’s report based on the evidence that Patience and many others gave resulted in The Mines and Collieries Act 1842. The Act forbade women and girls of any age to work underground and introduced a minimum age of ten for boys employed in underground work. However, it was only with the growth of Trade Unions and the formation of the Labour Party that things finally really improved for most people in Britain. 

I’m not the first person to be curious about Patience because by looking on Wiki-data and elsewhere I found that other people had been researching her history. Poor Patience spent her last years in a Workhouse and what the Victorians called Lunatic Asylums. Patience passed away in 1865, age 42. She was buried in St Peter churchyard, Stanley, near Wakefield Yorkshire. I have got friends who live in Stanley, but I don’t think it would be worth searching for her grave on my next visit to Yorkshire because the likes of Patience Kershaw would not have been afforded the luxury of a headstone. Her small contribution to improving the lives of poor people in Britain shouldn’t be forgotten though. This song will be her epitaph. Thank you Frank Higgins and The Unthanks for turning her testimony into song so that Patience Kershaw will never be forgotten.

The Unthanks perform The Testimony of Patience Kershaw

Somerset Maughan & Ramana Maharshi

Today I thought I would tell you about a book which arrived here recently. It is called Points of View, a collection of five essays by W. Somerset Maughan. A first edition published by Heineman in 1958. The reason I ordered it was because I was particularly keen to read one of the essays which is called The Saint. It didn’t take me long to read the essay because it is only 39 pages long. In 1938 during a trip to India Somerset Maughan had a meeting with the Hindu sage Ramana Maharshi. The essay is an account of that meeting, together with a biographical portrayal of Ramana Maharshi’s life and teachings. In one of Maughan’s novels The Razor’s Edge in 1944 he had used a fictionalised version of Ramana as one of the books characters. I first became curious to learn about Ramana Maharshi because Eckhart Tolle has often mentioned him in glowing terms in his talks. 

This led me to reading a 22-page pamphlet called Who Am I? which was first published in 1923 and consisted of 28 questions put to Ramana by Sri Pillau. Then I read a 1985 paperback Be As You Are, The Teachings Of Sri Ramana Maharshi. This book which I recommend is edited by David Godman who has followed Ramana’s teachings since 1976 and became the librarian at his ashram.  I wanted to find out about Maughan’s meeting. It was in Madras that Maughan’s hosts told him that he should visit Ramana who was the most revered swami in India. It was a hot dusty drive of several hours to reach Ramana’s hermitage at Tiruvannamalai at the foot of the holy mountain of Arunachala. On arrival Maughan promptly fainted. He was carried unconscious to a hut and laid down on a pallet bed. When he regained his senses, he found Ramana sitting on the floor by his bed. He barely said a word except, “Silence is also conversation”, and remained sitting in silence for half an hour before finally leaving. Maughan immediately felt recovered. He was well enough to visit the hall where Ramana sat in silence on a dais and welcomed visitors.

I’ll just give you a quick little history of Ramana and his teachings which Maughan covers in the second part of his essay. He was born in Tiruchuli, Tamil Nadu, India in 1879. In 1895, an attraction to the sacred hill Arunachala was aroused in him and in 1896, at the age of 16, he had a "death-experience" or sudden liberation where he became aware of a "current" or "force" which he recognized as his true "I" or "self" that is Iswara.  Six weeks later he left his uncle's home after discovering that Arunachala was a real place and journeyed by train to the holy mountain where he remained for the rest of his life. For several weeks he stayed in the vaults of a temple, so deep in meditation he was unaware of being eaten alive by vermin and insects, and local children throwing stones at him. He was finally rescued by a local sage Seshadri Swamigal who cleaned him up and fed him. He moved to another temple called Gurumurtan where a sadhu called Palaniswami became his first attendant and provided food and cooked for him. His family who had been searching finally tracked him down, but he refused to return home even when his mother begged him to. Eventually his brother and mother became followers and moved to live near him at Virupakasha Cave where he stayed for 17 years. 

Arunachala

In later years, an ashram grew up around him, where visitors received spiritual instruction by sitting silently in his company or by asking questions. Ramana Maharshi recommended self-enquiry as the principal means to remove ignorance and abide in self-awareness. In 1902, a government official named Sivaprakasam Pillai, with writing slate in hand, visited the Ramana in the hope of obtaining answers to questions about "How to know one's true identity". The questions he asked formed Ramana Maharshi's first teachings on Self-enquiry, the method for which he became widely known, and were eventually published as Nan Yar?, or in English, Who am I?. (That’s the pamphlet I first read)

His mother died in 1922, so from 1922 until his death in 1950, Ramana Maharshi lived in Sri Ramanasramam, the ashram that developed around his mother's tomb. The ashram grew to include a library, hospital, post-office and many other facilities. Ramana Maharshi displayed a natural talent for planning building projects. The popular image of him as a person who spent most of his time doing nothing except sitting silently in samadhi is highly inaccurate. From the period when an Ashram began to rise around him after his mother arrived, until his later years when his health failed, Ramana Maharshi was actually quite active in Ashram activities such as cooking and stitching leaf plates.  

Ramana Maharshi then became well known in and out of India after 1934 when Paul Brunton, having first visited Ramana Maharshi in January 1931, published the book A Search in Secret India. Brunton calls Ramana Maharshi "one of the last of India's spiritual supermen” and describes his affection toward Ramana Maharshi: “I like him greatly because he is so simple and modest, when an atmosphere of authentic greatness lies so palpably around him; he is so totally without any traces of pretension that he strongly resists every effort to canonize him during his lifetime”. While staying at Sri Ramanasramam, Paul Brunton had an experience of a "sublimely all-embracing" awareness, a "Moment of Illumination". The book was a best-seller and introduced Ramana Maharshi to a wider audience in the west. 

In November 1948, a tiny cancerous lump was found on Ramana's arm and was removed in February 1949 by the ashram's doctor. Soon, another growth appeared, and another operation was performed by an eminent surgeon in March 1949 with radium applied. The doctor told Ramana that a complete amputation of the arm to the shoulder was required to save his life, but he refused. To devotees who begged him to cure himself for the sake of his followers, Ramana is said to have replied, "Why are you so attached to this body? Let it go", and "Where can I go? I am here." By April 1950, he was too weak to go to the hall and visiting hours were limited. Visitors would file past the small room where he spent his last days to get one final glimpse. He died on 14 April 1950 at 8:47 p.m aged 71. At the same time a comet was seen which disappeared beyond Arunachala which his devotees saw as the passing of a great soul.. Although he passed away in 1950 I think that with the spread in popularity of  such things as Mindfulness and Meditation in the modern world the teachings of Ramana Maharshi are more relevant than ever. So, thank you very much Eckhart Tolle for first introducing me to Ramana Maharshi. 

PS, Please watch David Godman's video interview below. He explains Ramana's teachings much better than I ever could do.