Another busy week, getting stock readty for Victoria Coach Station tomorrow and Sunday , also gardening, the greenhouse is nearly full. Just to prove the book is coming along, now seeking publisher.
An extract from Dave's autobiography 1969
A delicacy on a lads night out was to call in at the Greek fish and chip ship near Stella’s antique emporium on Seaside and order Hampton and Chips, I’ll leave you to work that one out, oops didn’t mean for a double pun. Well what was happening out in the big world, John Lennon married Yoko Ono; oh boy did that have consequences. The new duo produced records which seem to have vanished from even folk memory. Don’t Worry Kyoko ( Cold Turkey Album 1969), We Love Daffodils, did they really exist, the landlord at the Birling Gap Hotel gave Dave the record free out of the juke box to stop him tormenting guests with it. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance kid, Raindrops falling in the pictures. Monty Python started on TV, with the homepride flower graders at half time.
Woodstock had happened for real in the USA and at home the first Isle of Wight festival in 1969 and again in 1970. Of much more immediate concern was the increasing price of fuel which I remember filling up at the cheap Murco garage opposite Marion’s as it reached an astronomic 5/- a gallon. You still had the choice of 2, 3 or 4star petrol which had the advantage of being understood by everyone, likewise gallons. Litres and metres were yet to be invented save in foreign parts occupied by Napoleonic hordes , spared our own free shores by the Martello towers which still guarded the coast from the Redoubt to Pevensey and even beyond. I bought a Ford Anglia 107E, green and cream, from Ben Wise and Hand Cross, it lasted a few months and fell to pieces then I had to put up with old cars, a succession of bangers.
If the years output makes you cry I would call you a liar but as ‘sad’ as that sounds in modern parlance I’m getting all dewy eyed. This was my year, the year after 68, the revolution was it there, had it happened, it’s very hard to judge when you are in the middle of it all. Driving down the seafront, windows open on a hot summer evening, the sea crashing to our right, a few pints for the worse, the engine throbbing before us, radio turned full maximum crackle, yes it was, downhill all the way from here, Thunderclap Newman ‘Something In The Air’, produced by Pete Townsend of The Who, the important mega group who never had a No1 in their own right strangely, but thanks for this one, it’s in my Desert Island disc selection. Call out the instigators Because there's something in the air We've got to get together sooner or later Because the revolution's here, and you know it's right And you know that it's right We have got to get it together We have got to get it together now Lock up the streets and houses Because there's something in the air We've got to get together sooner or later Because the revolution's here, and you know it's right And you know that it's right We have got to get it together We have got to get it together now Hand out the arms and ammo We're going to blast our way through here We've got to get together sooner or later Because the revolution's here, and you know it's right And you know that it's right We have got to get it together We have got to get it together now
For those with the inclination we started to hear about new causes to do with the social revolution which hitherto had been restricted to Vietnam and Tory miss rule. There was Women’s Liberation, sexual freedom, racial equality, international law, black power, anti colonial liberation movements. Pop music bounced around and provided plenty of entertainment, meaningless as most always had been, so why criticise. The Move had Blackberry Way whilst Amen Corner brought us (If Paradise Is) Half As Nice. Very much of it time and alluding to Sophia Loren ,Peter Sarstedt wrote and sang Where Do You Go To My Lovely? The ability to sing along all the words was vital, without these shared experiences we who missed the trauma of war would have little to bond the future folk memory. Big Dave’s foreman was I think Bert and he sipped at the Tally Ho! pub in Old Town opposite St Mary’s hospital. In the public bat there was a small cabinet which kept hot a selection of pies and our favourite, sausages on a stick. Dave must have thought it a worthwhile investment in time and money seeking out Bert in the evening as we regularly called by and got him a pint. Our own time was spent on the bar billiards table in the corner.
By now new Beatles records were receiving international style launches such as ‘Get Back’ performed live on the roof of the HMV building in London, this was however the last year as the tensions built and by the time The Ballad Of John & Yoko was released it was obvious the end had come for the Fab Four from the humble Cavern club in Liverpool. Future success, heartache and tragedy would follow as suited such mega stars, they had barely lasted the decade and even the Stones who would go on forever were now passé with the youth audience.
There were plenty of one hit wonders around in 1969, most of them are still in my mind, Zager & Evans had the thoughtful ‘In The Year 2525’ which contemplated our future and in a world of silly pop tunes was amazingly far thinking. Bubble gum music but none the worse for that was Credence Clearwater Revival with Bad Moon Arising, great on the dance floor. Smooching was courtesy of Je T’Aime…Moi Non Plus which achieved notoriety being banned by the beeb as too salacious, even the record label abandoned it due to embarrassment, looking back it was rather sweet. An all time low was reached towards the end of the year as Sugar Sugar by the Archies headed over from, America, originally performed on screen by cartoons characters thankfully only the music reached out shores. A special place in our hearts was held for Rolf Harris, he had a Christmas smash hit which topped the hit parade for 6 solid weeks bringing us the 1903 tale of Two Little Boys, reputedly harking back to events in the Crimean war. Eminently sing a long stuff, easy to take the piss out of but Rolf has the last laugh as an institution and prize draw at Glastonbury festivals.
Although I never had much interest in collecting records I remember big Dave dedicating to me his copy of David McWilliams song ‘The Days Of Pearly Spencer’. It was sarcastically inscribed ‘to Dave on the dole etc’. An interesting lyric about a down and out in Northern Ireland the singer writer David McWilliams recorded several albums in the late '60s in a style similar to Donovan, obviously influenced by Bob Dylan. McWilliams' "Days of Pearly Spencer," was his best song, with a dark edge, swirling violins, and a dab of psychedelia in the megaphone-distorted vocals on the song's chorus.
we drove down early Saturday and had a stand just inside the main hall at departures, we stayed at the Premier Travel Inn at Kew, very nice location, great bar meal at the Waterman pub around the corner and charming local girl behind the bar. Mandy though had a tumble after we left, nothing to do with the wine I hasten to add.
I finally caught up with covers last night, the Swiss DVDs from 1991 / 92 are all on e bay together with other recent releases. You Tube London Trolleys clocked up is 1000th viewing, web sites had 32 thousand hits and You Tube overall over 10,000 views. Did a few pages on my autobiography, a bitterly cold Windy day. Got to finish a family film for a friend, Mandy arrived back 3 am this morning after a gruelling journey from Ireland.
photos courtesy Greg Bubb, well the Best Ever London Country programme is wrapped up, just doing the cover hence the photos, its posted on You Tube as well.
Sunday, battling through the sound effects on London Country DVD, still looking after myself, Mandy in Ireland. Another dull damp day, the garden is too wet to get out in although needs spring tidy up. Yesterday in Doncaster, there's a new bus station, not signposted anywhere, its actually not that far from the old one, only difference there is no chance of photography there, black hole of Calcutta job! Still the usual roundabout gave some action and looked nice with the spring pansies. Not a place for the faint hearted, Doncaster is the gusset of Britain's knickers, if you want the full third world experience without travelling come here.
