Badfinger - Without You

The Saddest Song Of All Time.

The music industry can be a very cruel business. It can actually kill people. Even writing one song can have tragic consequences. A Facebook friend of mine yesterday shared a video of Nilsson singing Without You. Everybody knows that song, it sold millions of copies all over the world in 1971 and Mariah Carey repeated this success in 1994. The combined sales of these two versions make it one of the most successful songs ever written. I wonder though how many people know the sad story behind its creation? Hearing the song yesterday made me look on Youtube for the original version by Badfinger. When Nilsson first heard the original song he thought it was The Beatles singing it and I agree, it has a very Beatles sound and the singer Pete Ham in the video reminds me a bit of John Lennon’s son Julian. It is definitely my favourite version of the song. I have shared the video above if you want to hear it.

Badfinger were originally called The Iveys and were formed in Swansea, Wales in 1961. Eventually the line-up became Pete Ham, Tom Evans, Mike Gibbins & Joey Molland. They didn’t have a great deal of success as The Iveys, but in 1968 their fortunes changed when they were spotted by Mal Evans who worked for The Beatles and they became the first group to be signed to The Beatles new Apple label. Their name was changed, and they immediately had worldwide success with such hits as Come And Get It, No Matter What, Day After Day & Baby Blue. Their music also featured in the film The Magic Christian.

Pete Ham & Tom Evans.

Without You was written by Pete Ham & Tom Evans as a track on their album No Dice in 1971. One fateful night Pete Ham had arranged to go out with his wife Bev but Tom Evans said he had an idea for a song. Bev said that was ok, she would go on her own and he should go to the studio, but he could tell she was disappointed. In the song this became ‘Well, I can't forget this evening, and your face when you were leaving, But I guess that's just the way the story goes, You always smile, but in your eyes your sorrow shows’. Tom Evans was also having problems with his relationship with his future wife Marianne. He confided to a friend that he was worried that she would leave him and said he couldn’t live without her. This statement evolved into the chorus of the song. Neither of the writers realised the potential of the song to become a power ballad when recorded by Nilsson & Carey and dozens of other singers.

Pete Ham.

Pete Ham tragically took his own life in 1975 after suffering with depression. This was largely caused by the band being scammed by their manager called Stan Polley who disappeared with all the bands money and left them penniless. Pete had just bought a large house that he now couldn’t pay for and his wife was pregnant. In the suicide note he wrote ‘Stan Polley is a soulless bastard’. You hear people like Van Morrison complaining about the big-time operators in the music business, but I don’t think any band could have been ripped off as badly as Badfinger. Tom Evans never got over the death of his friend and he too committed suicide in 1983 possibly caused by a long running dispute with other band members over royalties for Without You. The song had become a curse. Neither of the two writers of the song lived to hear the multi-million selling version by Mariah Carey. They could have been still alive today having a happy retirement living off the royalties of just that one song, but it never happened. That is why Without You must be a contender for being the saddest song ever written.

Heart Food by Judee Sill.

After the hot weather of the past few days the sky is now grey and rainy. Not to worry, the rain will be good for the garden. I am staying in this afternoon and listening to music. I haven’t written a blog since last Thursday, so I thought I’d tell you what I have been doing. On Friday I had a visitor who called at mid-day, I opened a bottle of wine and then the day descended into an alcoholic haze which is quite rare for me these days.  I resolved to stay off the booze for a few days after that. Sunday was a really nice day apart from hearing on the news about the atrocities in Sri Lanka. I sat outside in my chair all day and read The Remains Of The Day by Kazuo Ishiguro. I had been meaning to read it for ages and I’m glad that I finally did because it is brilliant. It is about the unrequited love between a butler called Stevens and a house-keeper called Miss Kenton. The author uses the fact that the protagonist is a butler as a metaphor for looking at the whole of society because we are all butlers in a way, when you think about it. Ken Kesey used a similar device when he set One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest in a mental hospital in order to show that the powers that be in society do not like an individual thinking for himself in case he rebels. Anyway, there is a lot of humour in the book as well as pathos and I urge you to read it if you haven’t already done so.

I didn’t go out on Monday either, I didn’t see another living soul all day which suited me fine. I pottered around in the garden with just my robin and blackbird for company and planted a few things such as impatiens, fuchsias, lupins, and osteospurmum (That sounds like a disease, but it is a plant). I watched the final of University Challenge on the telly and retired early on Monday night. Tuesday, I went into Bath again. I bought myself some nice new boots in Clarks on Milsom Street. I will need them for Glastonbury which is only about 70 days away now. Then I had another look in Topping & Company and treated myself to a signed first edition by John Cooper Clarke called The Luckiest Guy Alive. Johnnie Clarke is more than a poet, he is a comedian as well. I met him once, it was at Glastonbury 1982, it’s great that he seems to have had a renaissance in popularity in recent years. I think that might be due to a lot of the younger generation discovering him when he was added to the GCSE syllabus in schools. I started to read the book on the train on the way home and chortled quietly to myself all the way to Westbury.

Today, the postman knocked on my door and handed me a package. It contained a cd called Heart Food by Judee Sill. I am on my first listen at the moment. It is a Japanese import which I didn’t realise when I ordered it, so the booklet of sleeve notes is mainly in Japanese. I remember seeing Judee Sill on The Old Grey Whistle Test in the 1970’s and thinking that she wasn’t a very nice person. She was complaining about being sick of being the support act to rock bands. You shouldn’t judge a person by one statement though. When I ordered the album I thought I would add a review to my never-ending list of obscure female singers. What I have heard so far I like, it sounds quite sophisticated and will probably take a few listens to get into. It was released in 1973 on the Asylum label. I like the opening track There’s A Rugged Road. On some tracks such as The Vigilante there are some touches that remind me a little of The Byrds in the Gram Parsons era. As I say though I haven’t heard it enough to give a valid judgement. I think it turned out to be her last album and she sadly died in 1979. I have put a video of one track called The Pearl below if you want to hear it. It’s stopped raining now. I can’t think of anything else to say. See you later.

Judee Sill.

Haiku by John Cooper Clarke.

Judee Sill - The Pearl

The Art Of Life.

It is Thursday morning, the back door is open, the birds are singing, and the sun is shining. I am listening to an album called Each Little Thing by Sharon Shannon. I bought it in the Oxfam shop in Bath yesterday afternoon. Sharon is a wizard on the accordion. I heard someone say once that she is to the accordion what Jimi Hendrix was to the guitar. I wouldn’t go that far, but she is great. I have seen her play quite a few times at Glastonbury and she is the perfect music for festivals when the sun is shining. Sharon is playing in Frome soon, so I must try and get a ticket. Incidentally, the late great Kirsty McColl sings on one track on this album.

I had a topping time in Bath yesterday, everyone was out and about enjoying the Spring weather. After I left Oxfam, I had a look in Topping & Company which must be the best bookshop in the west of England and it is obviously run by people who love books. They have literary events on all the time, where authors read and discuss their work and sign books. Consequently, they have hundreds of beautiful signed books for sale. It is the kind of place that makes me wish I lived in Bath.  I was in there for at least an hour just browsing and looking at books that I didn’t know even existed. I could easily have bought a dozen books but in the end, I was sensible and just bought a signed book by Paul Durcan called The Art Of Life. I have liked Paul Durcan ever since he worked with Van Morrison on The Days Before Rock & Roll.

He has always spoken very highly of Van and I read once somewhere that he said the two greatest Irish poets were Patrick Kavanagh and Van Morrison. If I ever went to a Paul Durcan reading, I would ask him who Justin was. I bet he is sick of people asking him about that though. Another reason I bought this particular book was that several of the poems mentioned County Mayo which is where my family originated from. Anyway, if you love books and you are ever in Bath check out Topping & Company. It’s just around the corner at the top of Milsom Street.

 After that I had a bit of a sit down near the Abbey and listened to the buskers and then caught the 4.35 back to Westbury.

Mad As The Mist And Snow by Kenny Craddock.

It is Sunday morning and I have been listening to an album called Mad As The Mist And Snow by Kenny Craddock. A friend of mine sent me it a couple of years ago. I think he thought I would find it interesting because of the Van Morrison connection. Kenny played keyboards and piano with Van in the early 80’s and replaced Pee Wee Ellis as Van’s band-leader. Kenny’s Van connection is best known for him writing the music for Before The World Was Made based on a W.B Yeats poem which Van recorded for his Too Long In Exile album of 1983. I was just reading a 1997 interview with Kenny and he spoke very highly of his time working with Van. The title of this album also comes from a Yeats poem. After 30 years in the music business and working with the likes of George Harrison, Ringo Starr, Lindisfarne, Paul Brady, Van and many others it was Kenny’s first solo album. Sadly, shortly after recording it he was killed in a car crash in Portugal in 2002 at the age of 52.

Kenny was a multi-instrumentalist. On the album he plays Acoustic & electric guitars, accordion, mandolin, piano, Hammond organ, bouzouki, and ukelele. On the opening track One Way Traffic the accordion is very much to the fore. Man Like Me features the saxophone and the backing vocal refrain of You’re driving me crazy reminds me a little of The Temperance Seven. Van as you know recently also made an album of that title. The third song Watcher On The Hill features very nice vocals by Lliane Carroll. Battle Song is quite an epic song which begins with some great guitar play. The lyrics written by Laurence Bristow-Smith are very profound and atmospheric as well. The title track is next and divided into Parts 1 & 2. The first part is quite a big jazzy arrangement and quite short. Mad As The Mist And Snow, Part 2 is the highlight of the album in my opinion. The percussion playing of Nana Tsiboe gives it an eerie Celtic sound which is enhanced by the saxophone of Tony Rico and Lliane's vocals. Coupled with the words by Yeats interpreted by Kenny this is seven minutes of brilliance. There was a great compilation album released many years ago in the 90’s of Yeats poems set to music called Now And In Time To Be and I think this track would have deserved to have been on it if it had been recorded earlier.

Stealing Time is another great Bluesy track which again features accordion and harmonica playing by Jem Turpin. Folded is a slow Blues ballad of betrayal featuring great guitar playing. Tiger Lilies At Pearl Lake has some esoteric lyrics by Pound/Gardner who wrote the words to most of the songs. I googled Pearl Lake to find out where it is and there is a lake in Herefordshire by that name although there may be others I suppose. The final track is Shore Bride and Kenny’s wife Julia Robinson is credited on vocals. This track really shows Kenny’s prowess on the keyboards and piano. I have enjoyed spending a very pleasant hour listening to this album today, especially Part 2 of the title track.

Tim Buckley Day.

I have made today Tim Buckley day. I’m listening to the first five albums that Tim made in his career. I sold three books in the last few days, my signed Antonia Fraser book called The Weaker Vessel, did you know that Antonia Fraser was the inspiration for Lady Writer by Dire Straits? well you do now. I also sold a biography of Andy Warhol and also my signed Michael Foot book. I was in Bath again yesterday afternoon, so I thought I’d treat myself to some new music with the proceeds from my books. In HMV I noticed that they had a lot of box sets of five albums by various artists for only £9.99. There were sets by the likes of Fairport Convention, Emmylou Harris, Sandy Denny, Bonnie Raitt, The Pogues and lots of others. I ummed and aared for a few minutes and finally opted for the Five album box set by Tim Buckley. That is because I didn’t have any Tim Buckley in my collection and people are always telling me how great he is.

Today I am listening to all five in chronological order. The first one is simply called Tim Buckley and was released in 1966. I would describe it as psychedelic-folk. It reminds me slightly of early Country Joe & The Fish or Jefferson Airplane or even a little hint of The Monkees on some tracks. Tim would have only been 19 years old when this album was made. The lyrics and music show he was very precocious to produce something so sophisticated at such a young age.

The second one is called Goodbye & Hello which came out in the summer of love of 67 and shows a huge development in a year. It is a much more ambitious album and possibly influenced by Sargent Pepper. It makes much more use of sound effects such as aircraft and fairground sounds. Jackson C. Frank and David Ackles came into my head on some tracks. After one listen a track called Phantasmagoria In Two stood out for me. Apparently, this album flopped when released which is surprising because it seems to capture the zeitgeist of the times. The lyrics are very poetic and also seem quite political at times which isn’t surprising because the war in Vietnam was raging at the time.

The third one is called Happy Sad and shows another change in direction. It sounds a lot jazzier and improvised to me. The songs are a lot longer and depart from the musical form of the previous albums. The vibraphone is very much to the fore. My favourite song after one listen is Dream Letter and there is one very poignant line in it where he sings ‘Does he ever ask about me?’ which is obviously a reference to his son Jeff Buckley who I don’t think he had much contact with when his marriage broke up. Gypsy Woman is a twelve-minute improvised jam. This album isn’t at all accessible like the previous albums, but I think I’d get to like it after a few listens.

The fourth album called Blue Afternoon starts off more in the folk song tradition with Happy Time but then gets much moodier with Chase The Blues Away and then stays in that gloomy mood. Listening to these albums I get the feeling that Tim Buckley was a much happier person at the start of his career and gradually became unhappier. I admire him for his musical development though because I think the albums sound less and less commercial with each release, but he didn’t seem to care about that. That shows the difference between an artist and an entertainer to me. One wonders what he might have achieved if he hadn’t died so tragically young. This is an album that I would have to listen to a lot I think, to get into it, …or not, as the case may be. One listen is not sufficient to judge something so avant-garde.

The fifth and final album is called Lorca and is named after the Spanish poet Federico-Garcia Lorca. I don’t know anything about Lorca except that he was killed by Franco supporters in 1936. There are only five very long songs on this album. The change in style in only four years from the first album is incredible. This in the most difficult of all the five albums. I would describe it as experimental free-form avant-garde jazz. The binary form of verse and chorus has disappeared entirely from the songs. After the first two tracks I was just about all Tim Buckley-ed out. I was going to turn it off but then the third track Had A Talk With My Woman saved the day. It was recognisable as a song. I will listen again at a later date but enough was enough for today. That album brought Tim Buckley day to an end. I have put Song To The Siren by Tim below if you want to hear it.. It's not on any of the albums I heard today but I think it is a great song.