Walking In January.

Friday was a good day. The sun was shining, perfect for a good long walk. I left the house at about 12.30 and headed in the usual direction towards the countryside. I said hello to some sheep who were grazing happily in the January sunshine. I didn’t turn left for the White Horse this time but carried on up a steep pathway through the bare leafless trees to the top of the ridge, The path was quite slippery with lots of wet dead leaves covering the chalk underneath, so I had to be careful. It was worth the effort for the panoramic view of the fields below.

Then I headed along the edge of Salisbury Plain beside the army firing range. It was quite breezy up here, but I was grateful for that after the strenuous sweaty climb up the hill. I didn’t see another soul apart from one couple out walking their dog. I loved the solitude and being far from the madding crowd. As Arthur Schopenhauer once said, ‘A man can be himself only so long as he is alone; and if he does not love solitude, he will not love freedom; for it is only when he is alone that he is really free’. Anyway, I walked along the trackway for quite a distance. There are footpaths leading downwards towards the woods, but I walked on further until I thought that was far enough for one day and headed down the hill and into the woods. 

Along the way I came to an avenue of beech trees that must have been planted maybe nearly 100 years ago. Over the years courting couples and other people had carved their names or initials and the year into the bark of the trees. I wandered along reading them and taking photos. The oldest one I spotted was 1972 but I bet there are some a lot older than that. Some of the teenagers who carved their names with pen knives all those years ago would be old people now. I wondered if Ralph still loves Sylv, or if Vikki & Joe were still together. I always find things like that fascinating, like finding graffiti from the middle ages in old buildings like churches. 

I carried on along a muddy path that I hadn’t discovered before, but knew it was going in the right direction and it led me back to the pathway where I first ascended the hill. It was even slippier going down, but I didn’t come to grief. When I finally got home the clock said 3.30, so I had been out walking for three hours. Next time I’ll try and go even further.

Melanie, Cheese & Grain Frome, May 26, 2009

I heard the sad news last night that Melanie has passed away at the age of 76. She was one of my favourite singers back in the 1970s, so as a little tribute to Melanie I thought I'd dust off this story I wrote after seeing her in 2009.

27/05/2009.
 I discovered the music of Melanie in the early 1970's when I was at Teacher Training College in North Wales and immediately loved her music and message of peace. I bought all her albums, Candles In The Rain, Leftover Wine, Live At Carnegie Hall, Gather Me, Garden In The City, Four Sides Of Melanie, Madrugada, The Good Book and others that I can't remember right now. She was prolific in the 70's and all her albums were brilliant. What a great songwriter she is. I never did get to see her live though. She was on at Glastonbury in the early 1980's and I was looking forward to seeing her, but drank too much cider and collapsed in a heap somewhere and missed her.

Decades went by, I don't know why but I guess I just lost interest in Melanie and my vinyl albums gradually disappeared to god knows where. Then a couple of weeks ago I saw a poster on a wall in Westbury which said that Melanie was appearing at The Cheese And Grain in Frome. I decided to start my summer of music by seeing Melanie. I went with Kim and My friend Fred.

The three of us were standing outside the venue having a chat when a van drew up and a hippy looking guy dashed inside. This turned out to be Melanie's son Beau-Jarred who opened the show. He is a wizard on guitar and played some amazing pieces, some of which reminded you of Bach's baroque music. At other times he even played the guitar behind his head a la Jimi Hendrix. Then it was time for Melanie. It was great to finally see her after all these years. After a little chat with the audience she began with one of my favourites, Close To It All and I was immediately taken back to that room at college when I first heard her. The next song was one I didn't recognise or have forgotten called The Sun & The Moon. The Nickel Song was next, one of her more commercial songs and I remember having this on a single back in 71. Then she sang Hi Lily Hi Lo which she told us came from a Danny Kaye film, but I remember it as a hit for Alan Price. Melanie's version is great and was followed by a new song called First Thing I See which is superb and shows Melanie still has retained her song writing ability. This was proved by another excellent song called Little Bit Of Me.

Melanie was ably supported on guitar by Beau-Jarred throughout who then produced an instrument I had never seen before which sounds like an electric cello  and reminded me of Nick Drake. Melanie then sang another audience request I Really Loved Harold. This was followed by another new (To me) song called Make It Work For Me. Then a classic, Melanie's stunning version of Ruby Tuesday which I think is lyrically the Stones greatest song which Melanie manages to make even more meaningful. Love Doesn't Have To Hurt was followed by Brand New Key which is Melanie's biggest hit and really good fun. "We're in Wurzel country", said Melanie with a grin. Smile followed and is a profound song Melanie wrote in the aftermath of 9/11. Beautiful People followed which is one of my personal favourites and shows that as a singer/songwriter Melanie is one of the all time greats. Lay Down/Candles In The Rain was next, just to underline what great inspirational songs she has written. It was almost the end, but not before Look What They Done To My Song Ma, one of her most famous songs. The evening ended with another song I didn't recognise called I'd Like To Leave You With Something Warm. She did!
Afterwards Melanie patiently signed autographs and spoke to everyone who waited behind. That shows what a nice person she is. Also the concert was for charity in aid of SCOPE. One of the reasons I first liked Melanie all those years ago was that she was beautiful and meeting her briefly after the gig I can confirm that she most certainly still is!

Melanie said she hated the picture of herself on this poster but she was still kind enough to sign it for me.

Melanie Safka - Beautiful People.

Melanie RIP. Close To It All

Matapedia by Kate & Anna McGarrigle.

Sunday afternoon: The weather has changed here. Yesterday it was freezing, and suddenly today it is up to 12 degrees C. On the downside however, the 9^th named storm of this winter called Storm Isha is set to slam into Britain with 60mph winds and heavy rain forecast. Time to batten down the hatches, so I am hunkered down in my kitchen and listening to music. I thought to pass the time I’d tell you about the album I am listening to at this very moment. It is called Matapedia by Kate & Anna McGarrigle. I have always loved the McGarrigle sisters, ever since I bought their debut album in Andy’s Records on Bridge St Peterborough back in the hot summer of 76. 

To this day it remains one of my favourite albums of all time. It is a classic, but to my shame it has been the only one of their albums in my collection until I ordered Matapedia a couple of weeks ago. I also regret never having seen them perform live. They did headline the Acoustic Stage at Glastonbury in 2002, but I missed that because it clashed with Rod Stewart on the Pyramid Stage and Kim wanted to see Rod. I’ll never get the chance to see them again because Kate sadly died in 2010. Anyway, no point in mulling over the past. It is only now that matters.

The excellent title track Matapedia opens the album. I didn’t know what Matapedia meant, so I looked it up on Wiki. It is the name of a river and municipality in Quebec Canada. Kate’s daughter Martha Wainwright is mentioned in the lyrics and Martha helps out on vocals. Kate speaks and sings the words. Anna plays accordion and Zoel Zimkin plays violin. The song is driven along by the percussion of Michel Pepin. 

Matapedia River.

Goin’ Back To Harlan is the song that made me decide to buy this album because I have enjoyed hearing it many times on youtube. Harlan is a mythical place of nostalgia, longing, and the bittersweet journey of returning to one’s roots. (You must watch the video below!) Anna wrote this wonderful song which has mention of Bells of Rhymney which I know best by The Byrds. It also mentions Shady Grove which Fairport turned into Matty Groves. I don’t need to tell you any more about this song if you watch the video. Kate wrote I Don’t Know which is just herself on piano and vocals. It is a love song of regret and the sentiment reminds me of Go Leave on the debut album. I wonder if it was inspired by the end of her marriage to Loudon Wainwright?.  Maybe not because they were divorced twenty years before this album. 

By contrast, Hang Out Your Heart rocks out. The lyrics about rain and gale-force winds seem very appropriate for today. The song features some great guitar by Pat Donaldson who I remember from the band Fotheringay. The drums of Sylvan Clavet are also to the fore. Arbre is written by Philippe Tatartcheff and sung in French by Anna. My French is very poor, but I know arbre means tree, so I think it is a love song of a tree, ‘By the wind, In the space of a moment, I give up my leaves to the caresses of my lover’. When I first saw the title of the next song Jacques Et Gilles I immediately thought of the nursery rhyme Jack And Jill but it isn’t that. It is a song about two French Canadian workers who work in a mill in the USA and are homesick. Certain words in the lyrics made me wonder if it was inspired by Jack Kerouac. Words like Lowell, Merrimac, and Ti Jean. (See photo below of Kate & Anna having a book signed by Jack Kerouac’s daughter Jan) The two protagonists of the song hate their bosses Paddy & Katie Boyle but realise that they came from Ireland and would like to go home as well. 

Anna wrote Why Must We Die? Which I didn’t like the lyrics of at first. ‘We are men of constant sorrow, we’ll have trouble all our days’, is a bit depressing. However, Anna might have still been grieving the death of her mother at the time because the next track Song For Gaby is a sad song about the death and funeral of their mother. Sister Jane and son Rufus are mentioned in the very poignant lyrics, as is their hometown of St-Sauveur. Talk About It written by Kate is a much more upbeat and fun song with Kate on vocals, banjo and piano. Finally, the last track The Bike Song is written by Anna and brings the album to a close on a high note. I don’t know why it was called The Bike Song, maybe the words just came to her when she was cycling along. I’m pleased I finally bought this excellent album 28 years after it was released and have thoroughly enjoyed listening to it on a dark stormy Sunday afternoon in January. Cheers.

Somebody put this photo on Facebook a few months ago (Thank you). It shows Kate & Anna having a book signed by Jack Kerouac's daughter Jan Kerouac. I'm guessing that the book is Jan's autobiography called Baby Driver. It shows that the McGarrigle sisters were Kerouac fans!. You can see that Jan had a very strong resemblance to Jack.

Kate and Anna McGarrigle, “Goin’ Back to Harlan.”