On Keats.

The sun is shining here this morning, if somewhat windy. I am going to try and get outside and achieve something today. I will let you know what progress I make, if any, tomorrow. I just thought I ought to mention John Keats because it is the 200^th anniversary of his death today. He died in Rome of tuberculosis aged only 25. I am not going to sit here and pretend that I am an expert on Keats, far from it, but like many people I do know his most famous works, such as Ode To Autumn, Ode To A Nightingale, Bright Star, Endymion and one or two others.

I have also read a bit about his tragic life and his doomed love affair with Fanny Brawne. This is what Wikipedia says about him. ‘John Keats (31 October 1795 – 23 February 1821) was an English Romantic poet. He was one of the main figures of the second generation of Romantic poets, along with Lord Byron and Percy Bysshe Shelley, despite his works having been in publication for only four years before his death from tuberculosis at the age of 25. Although his poems were not generally well received by critics during his lifetime, his reputation grew after his death, and by the end of the 19th century, he had become one of the most beloved of all English poets. He had a significant influence on a diverse range of poets and writers. Jorge Luis Borges stated that his first encounter with Keats' work was a great experience that he felt all his life. The poetry of Keats is characterised by a style "heavily loaded with sensualities", most notably in the series of odes. This is typical of the Romantic poets, as they aimed to accentuate extreme emotion through an emphasis on natural imagery. Today his poems and letters are some of the most popular and most analysed in English literature. Some of his most acclaimed works are "Ode to a Nightingale", "Sleep and Poetry" and the famous sonnet "On First Looking into Chapman's Homer".

Keats died in Rome and was buried in the English cemetery there. He requested that his name should not be on the headstone, but it should say, 'His name is writ in water'. That is because he thought his name would be forgotten and washed away. The opposite is true of course. I like to interpret the meaning as seeing Keats words as throwing a pebble into water and the ripples of his genius have spread out across 200 years and have touched people all over the world.. 

Listening To Cara Dillon On Monday Afternoon.

This afternoon I was listening to After The Morning which is an album by Cara Dillon from 2006. I have not played it for ages and had forgotten how good it is. Cara comes from Dungiven in Northern Ireland, but these days she lives just down the road from here in Frome, Somerset. We went to see Cara at the Cheese & Grain in Frome a few years ago. I got the poster from the door afterwards and Cara signed it for me. I had it framed and it looks great on my wall. There is a quote from Q magazine on it which says, ‘What may well be the worlds most beautiful female voice’. I will not argue with that.

I will not go through every song because it takes too long. Five of the songs are written by Cara and her husband Sam Lakeman and the other seven songs are either traditional or written by others. Cara gathered some wonderful musicians together for this project, such as the great fiddle player Cathal Hayden who I have seen playing with Christy Moore in recent years, Martin O’Connor on accordion, the master guitar player Martin Simpson, the legend who is Paul Brady and others who I am not so familiar with.

My Poster Of Cara.

You might know the opening song Never In A Million Years because it was released as a single and got lots of airplay on Radio 2 at the time. If I had to choose a favourite song it might be The Streets Of Derry which features Paul Brady on vocals. I also love The Snows They Melt The Soonest which is a traditional ballad that I first heard by Anne Briggs. When I say that I like Cara’s version just as much as Anne’s, that is saying something because Anne Briggs is Britain’s greatest ever folk singer in my opinion. Walls is a nice cover version of an American country song which Cara and Sam put their own arrangement to. Cathal Hayden’s fiddle playing is of the highest standard on this song. Garden Valley is a wonderful song written by the great Scottish singer Dougie MacLean. In fact, all the songs on this album are excellent. Well done Cara & Sam.

If you are not familiar with Cara Dillon’s work. I have shared her version of  Memory Lane to this blog site. I thought some of my Van Morrison fan friends might like it.

  

Cara Dillon & Sam Lakeman - Memory Lane (Van Morrison)

Into The Music by Van Morrison.

It is a lazy Sunday afternoon and I am listening to Into The Music by Van Morrison. If somebody asked me to name the last Van album where every single song was a classic, In all honesty I would have to say Into The Music. This is what I said about it a long time ago.........

Sometime in the mid 1970's I bought my first Van biography. It was a paperback by the late Richie Yorke called Into The Music. I do not know what happened to it, maybe I sold it on my bookstall. At the time I thought it was not very good. Probably because it was the only biography Van ever actually co-operated with, I think Richie had to be careful what he said. A few years later Van bought out an album called Into The Music and my first thought was that it wasn't an original album title, being the same as the book and a play on words of Into The Mystic. However, on hearing the contents it was apparent that after his hiatus of the mid-70's Van Morrison was back on top form. I think after the disappointing reception of A Period Of Transition Van had to make a commercially successful album, which he did with Wavelength and the success of that album gave him renewed confidence to try something more adventurous. He did this brilliantly with Into The Music producing an album packed with great songs and achieving great critical acclaim at the same time. 

The album begins with a very optimistic upbeat song, the very catchy Bright Side Of The Road. This song gave Van his first hit single in Britain since the days of Them. I like Katie Kissoon singing in the background and the harmonica and when Van does that growly voice which is a bit like Louis Armstrong. Let’s enjoy it while we can because it goes by in the twinkling of an eye. The upbeat feel continues with Full Force Gale. This is very spiritual and Christian. I will find my sanctuary in the lord', sings Van. The great Ry Cooder plays slide guitar on this one. A great song for Sunday mornings, or any morning, for that matter. Steppin’ Out Queen is next. Queens crop up quite a lot in Van songs, Joe Harper Saturday Morning also mentions queens, and Queen Of The Slipstream of course. It is a great song as is Stepping Out Queen, Part 2 on the Philosophers Stone album. Mark Isham’s piccolo trumpet gives a very medieval feel to Troubadours. Van’s friend Robin Williamson plays tin whistle on this song. He was to play quite a role in Vans spiritual journey in subsequent years. 'And for every man all across the land and from shore to shore, they came singin' songs of love and chivalry from the days of yore'.

Pee Wee Ellis.

Rolling Hills is again very up tempo with lots of Yeahs and whoo's from Van who threatens to dance a jig among the rolling hills. Toni Marcus plays a nice viola on this track. Toni plays an important role in making the sound of this album, playing violin, viola, mandolin and straviola. You Make Me Feel So Free is a song I have come to associate with Brian Kennedy in subsequent years because he sings a great cover version on the No Prima Donna album. Pee Wee Ellis excels himself on this track with a nice solo. It was a lucky day for Van when Mark Isham recommended Pee Wee to him. The first six tracks are great, but then Van steps up from great to sublime with the last four tracks starting with Angelou. I have heard it suggested that Van might have got the name from the famous American author Maya Angelou who wrote I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings. I have never heard of anyone else by that name. This is a romantic song with its images of Paris in the month of May. I spent a few months in France in 79 and met lots of interesting people so this song struck a chord with me when I first heard it. I especially like the talking interlude in the song. ‘Walkin' on a city street who would think you could ever be touched by a total stranger, not me but when you came up to me that day and I listened to your story it reminded me so much of myself. It wasn't what you said but the way it felt to me, about a search and a journey just like mine’.

Toni Talia Marcus.

The next song And The Healing Has Begun is almost as good as it gets with Van. I would put it in the top five Van Morrison songs of all time. Toni Marcus is magnificent on this track. It's All In The Game is a Companion song to You Know What They're Writing About. When Van sings the two songs together it becomes his Master class. Among Van afficionados this song has become simply known as 'Game'. The song itself has an interesting history. The original music was written by an American Vice-President called Charles Dawes in 1912. Lyrics were added by  Carl Sigman in 1951. It was recorded by Tommy Edwards and got to Number 1 on both sides of the Atlantic in 1958. Both Cliff Richard and the Four Tops had hits with it before Van recorded it and made it his own. It is Toni again who excels on this song with her haunting violin. It is a shame she was not in his band for longer. The song flows seamlessly into You Know What They're Writing About. The words Meet me down by the pylons has a very personal resonance for me because at Worthy Farm there is a line of pylons which go right across the site towards the Tor in the distance and the first time I saw Van at Glastonbury in 82 these words suddenly took on new meaning for me. They seemed strangely prophetic. Van Morrison has made some great albums and wonderful songs since 1979, but I do not think for sheer consistency and quality he has quite matched the brilliance of Into The Music. This album personifies the healing power of music.

 

The Village Of Ghosts

Imber Church.

Saturday afternoon and it is raining again, but quite warm. I just went outside to feed the birds and they had not eaten what I gave them yesterday, which was peanuts. I could not get suet pellets yesterday which they like. Bugger! If they don’t eat the peanuts, I’ll eat them myself.

When I got up this morning and was sitting in the kitchen, I could hear the sound of mortar bombs and artillery exploding in the distance. I am not joking, because on the outskirts of Westbury behind the White Horse is Salisbury Plain where there is a huge army firing range, so you can often hear shelling going on. There is a ghost village quite near here called Imber. During World War 11 all the villagers were told to evacuate the village at short notice, and they left, never to return to their homes. The village is now used for the army to practice house to house fighting and that sort of thing. The church of St Giles is still there, and generations of families are buried in the churchyard. Once or twice a year services are held in Imber church. The Ministry Of Defence still owns vast tracts of land on the plain which was acquired during the war and kept ever since. Although it is quite sad about what has happened, one bonus is that the land has become a wildlife sanctuary and some rare birds such as the Bustard have returned. There are lots of deer as well, which is where the deer who get into Westbury cemetery and eat the flowers probably originated from.

Talking about noise, when I went to the front door to pick up my post, I could hear two lorry drivers arguing outside, “Why don’t you look where you are going, you f+++++g dickhead”, and this sort of thing. I thought it was quite funny. You hear it all when you live on a main road..... The sound of Car Wheels On A Gravel Road by Lucinda Williams is filling my kitchen now. I haven’t played it for ages. What a great album it is. Nearly every song is a classic, Drunken Angel, Concrete And Barbed Wire, Lake Charles, Greenville and lots of others. If you like a country rock ballad sound, then I am sure you would love this album. 

My team Peterborough United aka The Posh are playing today. It is 0-0 at half time. I will let you know the result. If they win, I might treat myself to a drink tonight.

Me & Posh.

Addendum: Posh won 3-0 !!!!!!!!!! 2nd in the table now !

 

Word Of Mouth by Vin Garbutt

I ordered an album by Vin Garbutt at the same time as ordering Jackie Leven. I was reminded of the pair of them when I was out on one of my walks. I thought it was high time I got acquainted with Vin’s music because I met him at the Village Pump festival a few years ago, but I did not actually see him perform. Vin had finished his set when I met him and asked him for a photo. He seemed a very friendly person, and I think he was amused at the slogan on my t-shirt which said, F**k Google, Ask Me!. As with Jackie, I did not know which album to get. In the end I opted for one called Word Of Mouth from 1999. I had heard that Vin was a very funny guy when he performed live with lots of humorous anecdotes between the songs. Therefore, I was expecting quite a light-hearted collection of songs. I found out different though. Apart from one instrumental set of tunes and one funny observational song, the songs on this album are mainly powerful political songs which show a huge social conscience.

Vin & Me

Vin came from Middlesborough and sings with a strong northern accent. Some people, especially from outside Britain might find some words quite difficult to understand. Luckily, I got used to his accent quite quickly. The first song is called City Of Angels. It is set in Thailand where the name of the Capital city Bangkok means ‘City of Angels’. It tells the sad story of a girl called Anchali who is forced into prostitution in order to support her family. Forty Thieves is another protest against injustice, namely fishermen being swindled out of a fair price for their catch. It was written by Dave Evardson who comes from Grimsby, so knows what he is talking about. While listening to this song a TV series set in the north called When The Boat Comes In came to mind. I think that is because of Vin’s accent. Dark Side Of The Moon is nothing to do with Pink Floyd. It is a powerful anti-war song. The war in question is the Falklands conflict. John You Have Gone is a very sad song which Vin wrote about a friend of his who died in tragic circumstances.

Wilf Mannion

The sombre mood is lifted then with three instrumental tunes Wilf Mannion’s Jig / The Wild Irishman / Jamie’s Christening. It shows Vin is a great whistle player. Football fans will know that Wilf Mannion was a legendary player. Sarajevo is next and was written by Stan Graham at the height of the war in Bosnia. The Truth Is Irresistible is a humorous song, but also has a message about preserving the things in our heritage that are important. Waits And Weeps is a song about the Piper Alpha oil rig disaster in the North Sea in 1988 in which 168 workers died.

Vin’s mother was Irish and there is quite an Irish feel to this album. I wonder if she came from Kilorglin, County Kerry because Beyond The Pale is the story of someone who leaves that town and goes to England in search of fame and fortune and ends up regretting it. The area around Dublin used to be known as The English Pale and so the rest of Ireland was ‘beyond the pale’. The Beggar’s Bridge is an historic tale set in the reign of good Queen Bess. Tom Ferris goes off to sea after lovely Agnes’s father calls him a beggar. He returns rich and builds Beggar’s Bridge which is still standing today, marries fair Agnes and becomes Lord Mayor of Hull. Time And Tide was written by Beth Lyall & John Crookes and tells the story of the building of The Richmond which was the last big ship to be built at Swan Hunters famous shipyard on the River Tyne.

Beggar's Bridge, Glaisdale.

In my opinion Vin has saved the best until last because my favourite song here is called The Troubles Of Erin. Vin wrote it when the IRA ceasefire was announced in 1994 and there was hope for peace. In the song Vin chronicles the troubles from 1969 and it is a passionate plea for a peaceful future for Ireland. Let us hope it continues. I wish I had seen Vin Garbutt perform live, but sadly he died in 2017. To me he is a political folk singer in the tradition of Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger, Joe Hill, Victor Jara and many more. I hope his legend will grow by word of mouth, his music live on and hopefully be enjoyed by future generations of folk music fans.

Duke Special - Orangefield - Amsterdam