Roy Harper – How Does It Feel

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How Does It Feel

 

Today’s Roy Harper track is off the Flat Baroque and Berserk album ‘How Does It Feel’.

I was thinking today that not only is this one of Roy’s most important songs but it is probably the one that has had the biggest impact on my life. I first heard it live back in those heady days of the late sixties. It must have been 1969. I would have been a young long-haired maniac aged nineteen or twenty who was a permanent fixture at Harper gigs. I wasn’t going to sell out or compromise. Life was a big adventure.

The sixties underground was in full swing and there was still an optimistic vibe. You could recognise fellow travellers in an instant. This was the time of camaraderie and sharing. The zeitgeist was different in the underground.

I can only speak for myself but I did not want what was on offer. We were being programmed to fit in, join the rat-race and be a cog in the machine of society. The idea was to make lots of money, buy a big house, big car and demonstrate that you’d made it.

I opted out of that one. I’d been reading my Kerouac and I wanted something more meaningful. I did not want to be the master’s right-hand nose. I wanted to live, travel, explore and love every minute of it.

I viewed society and a career as purgatory. Society was controlling, hypocritical and selfish. It was a warmongering, elitist machine built on xenophobia, greed and status.

The trouble was that if you dropped out of the machine where did you go?

There seemed few options. You could live off a creative endeavour – music, art, dance or writing (I tried my hand at writing) – or you could try to become self-sufficient (back to the land) or you could exist on the periphery of society, selling candles, dope or homemade trinkets and living frugally in a van.

Well I’d watched my parents just getting old (at least they weren’t on the bandwagon) and I wanted something more.

I looked for something else. I didn’t want a god strapped to my wrist. I didn’t want to be two-faced.

But, as with George Orwell’s Keep The Aspidistra Flying, the more you try to avoid the trap of money the more it gets you.

I would sit and listen intently to this song. The words all struck home. The interesting thing was that Roy was not singing it with great force and fury. It was more wistful, reflective, subdued and even defeatist. There was no way out of this machine. There were no answers. It had you. Even Showbiz was part of the rat-race. Whatever you did you were part of it.

Well I didn’t want to be a big wheel so I found my way into teaching where I felt I could at least try to get another generation thinking and questioning the tenets of the machine we were part of.

It was a compromise. It meant that I did have two faces, one set of words for here and another for there, I was part of the machine and I did always vote for the lesser of two evils, but I still kept most of my ideals intact.

The mindless world was still at my heels and I still railed against it – futilely – and often I felt that most of me had died – but I felt that I still had some vestiges of integrity.

The song had a huge impact on me. It helped me focus on what was really important in life. It made me more aware that there was much to life that work, money and status and to keep those other priorities to the fore. Life was for living not existing.

There were times when I felt bona fide while swimming against the tide, but I still ended up as the master’s right hand nose. I think we all do – even if we think we aren’t!

It was interesting to see that the song was picked up on for the Margaret Atwood TV production of The Handmaid’s Tale. So appropriate.

It is a song that has meant a great deal to me down the years and still does. I was privileged to be part of a select group who actually got to see Roy record it at Abbey Road studio. What a moment in history! I cherish those memories.

It’s not real kid!

 

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fhscUPTaE0M

 

 

Roy Harper – How Does It Feel

 

How does it feel to be completely unreal
How does it feel to be a voter
How does it feel to be a voluntary heel
I wonder who’s it is
I see you queuing up outside Saint Peter’s gate,
You can feel bona fide if you ride with the tide
But it’s not real

How does it feel to be out on your own
How does it feel to be thinking
How does it feel to be out on the run
With the mindless world at your heels
I wish I had no answers to put to you
Cos they got me so high tied I feel
Like most of me has died
And it’s real

And outside on the dragon
And inside in the cold
Mummy’s on the bandwagon, Daddy’s just getting old
And through the blood spew heavens
The roar of lust complains:
Please let me in I have no sin, but you know I’m not real

And how does it feel to be the master’s right hand nose
How does it feel to be lieutenant
How does it feel to be stood on someone’s toes
With a leech bleeding you for rent,
When you say you want a bit more rank
You wanna be a bigger wheel
You can feel magnified if you hide in
Your pride… It’s not real

And how does it feel with a white flag in your fist
How does it feel to have two faces
How does it feel with your god strapped to your wrist
And him leading you such a chase
You got one set of words for him,
And you got another for me
You’re gonna feel mystified when you’re identified
Don’t worry kid it’s not real

And outside on the dragon
And inside in the cold
Mummy’s on the bandwagon, Daddy’s just getting old
And through the blood spew heavens
The roar of lust complains:
Please let me in I have no sin, but you know I’m not real

And through the blood spew heavens
The roar of lust complains:
Please let me in I have no sin, but you know I’m not real

A Roy Harper track to cheer me up – Forever

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This is the best love song anyone has ever recorded – full stop!

It was recorded on Roy’s first album – an album that was recorded in a make-shift studio. The songs were all recorded live with a minimum of technology. A superb album.

The song was poetic, romantic and quite a contrast to Roy’s angst on his epic’s like McGoohan’s Blues.

It was written for Mocy – his first wife. A beautiful tribute.

I remember Roy singing it to Liz and me at the Kingston Hotel in 1970. That was a special gig. He doesn’t normally do things like that.

Roy rerecorded it for the 1974 album Valentine. He felt that the superior technology might enable him to produce a more polished version.

I still prefer the original.

Here’s a live version from early on.

 

A Roy Harper Track to Raise the Spirits – Hell’s Angels

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Hell’s Angels – a track that always makes me laugh as it brings back memories of sitting in that control room with Pete Jenner looking out at the anarchy in the studio. They were having a ball.

It seems a little at a odds with the rest of the album – a seven and half bit of mayhem. At least that’s how it seems to me.

There’s a bit of a story to it.

EMI, who had just signed Roy to the Harvest label, were looking to promote him. They had expectations. They thought Roy could be big. They thought that a hit single would be a good step to promote the album so they were applying a little pressure.

It provoked Roy’s usual response. When he was confronted by people he considered as part of the establishment it seemed to cause his hackles to rise.

So eventually he decided to do as they requested and produce a single. He went away and wrote Hell’s Angels. It was a deliberate attempt to create something that he knew could never appear on Top of the Pops or get radio play. The lyrics were not Pop friendly!

I remember the session. It was very late. I think the Nice had been performing at some club in London and came along to the studio after the gig. Roy taught them the song in five minutes and they recorded it live in the studio. At one point Blinky, the bass player and Lee Jackson the drummer, lost the rhythm and Roy can be heard vocally giving him the beat.

This is Roy on electric guitar! He was having a great time! The studio was rockin’ as they romped along into a meandering jam. Then the backing dissolved and it was just Roy’s guitar – Roy brought them back in with his prompt.

It was party time.

There had been debate about cutting it to remove the drop-out and in the end I think they just dubbed a vocal on the beginning. Roy and Pete Jenner loved it and decided to put it on the album just as it was.

Up til then Roy’s albums ended with mad laughter. This was the ideal ending.

Somehow it completed the gamut of styles on the album – from angry poetic rant against society through serene love songs to humorous fun and ending with this bit of anarchy.

They offered it to EMI as a single but for some reason – maybe the lyrics, or the seven and a half minutes, or the madness of the track, they turned it down as a single.

I suppose the irony was that they already had a single. If they had released Another Day it might have propelled Roy and the album into the stratosphere. Thank heavens that did not happen!

Free Speech!!  One Each!!

Hell’s Angels
if you think you need a better deal why don’t you just take one
like the Hell’s Angels
put your foot down, let’s get out of this town

fancy seeing all of you here, well I don’t know
fancy seeing all of you here
dressed up in your government gear, paying taxes
never thought you’d make it to here

Hell’s angels
If you think you need a better world why don’t you just make one
like the Hell’s Angels
live your own law, lick your own paw

fancy seeing all of you slugs, well I don’t know
fancy seeing all of you mugs
drinking all your government drugs
well I don’t know
helping all your government thugs

free speech!
one each!

Roy Harper – Short and Sweet

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Give your life quality by living it!!

Civilisation is built on a hypocritical morality.

Short & Sweet

You ask what is the quality of life
Seeking to justify the part you play
And mask, what seems a worthless fate
To strive, to make it any more or less than short and sweet

And you, you are a fantasy, a view
From where you’d like to think the world should see
Be true and you will likely find a few
Building a vision new and justice to your time

And we, we, the immoral men, we dare
Naked and fearless in the elements
We’re free, carefree from tempting fates, aware
And holding off the moral nightmare at the gates
In the garden

But short, short is from you to me, as close
As we all hope to try to help it be
We’re caught watching the dark in the sky, who knows?
Helpless as time itself to hold the time of day

And sweet, sweet as a mountain stream, beholds
Toward a new day breaking in the east
We’ll meet as every future dream unfolds
And surely quality it is at very least
At very least

Making contact with Roy Harper for the first time in 1968 -Extract from Ruminating on Roy Harper.

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Making contact with Roy Harper for the first time in 1968 -Extract from Ruminating on Roy Harper.

I am presently rewriting this book. I should be through in a week or so and then I will start thinking about publication.

I have used this long-standing relationship to provide a backdrop to my life and the times I have lived through. I found it useful to illuminate both Roy and his music and the impact it has had on my life.

This is a short extract – an account of the first time I met the man face to face.

I’d be grateful for any feedback.

Meeting Roy was a lot easier than I thought. I had no interest in being a fan. I was fanatical but not about Roy as a star, as a musician or performer. I was intrigued with the man. I needed to know if he was genuine and I knew I would connect with him if he was all he seemed. I wanted to make that contact with him on a personal level yet making any kind of friendship seemed absurd. There was a gulf between us. Roy was, whether we liked it or not, up there on a stage and I was a young kid in the audience. Roy was in his mid-twenties with a wealth of life experience and I was starting out with a brain only starting to gel out of the pupation of adolescence. We might both share a perspective on society, life and loves and a common fascination with Kerouac and Ginsberg but we were still worlds apart. Just what did you say to a living hero when you met them?

For once my imagination and quickness of mind and tongue failed me. Or rather my imagination worked all to well. I could clearly see myself in my mind’s eye tongue-twisted and embarrassed mumbling my lines as the imperious Harper looked on in bored bemusement. Regardless I had to press forward. There was no going back. I rehearsed some stupid lines in my head and was determined to approach the man and say them. Life has since shown me that the only thing holding you back is your own subconscious. It sits on your shoulder whispering in your ear about all the potential disasters awaiting you. It is an expert on your every weakness and fear.

Needless to say it worked out totally different to the pictures I had built up in my mind. I hung around the stage as Roy collected his stuff together following a gig at some college or other – I think it was the Queen Mary College. It didn’t take long for Roy to pack up. He travelled light in those days. All that was required was that he put his acoustic back in its case and collected his black notepad of lyrics, poems, ideas and thoughts together. I like the image of Roy gathering his thoughts. There were no Pas or cables, no gizmos or foot-pedals. Back then it was just Roy, an acoustic guitar and a couple of mics courtesy of the venue – unadulterated and naked. He sat and spilled it forth.

I stood there nervously waiting with my heart pounding and a lump in my throat. This was hardly the hipster of cool that I saw myself as; it was much more the adolescent fool. Still – nothing ventured – nothing gained.

Roy looked over and saw me. His face broke into a big warm smile and he strode over and grabbed me by the hand.

‘I’m glad you came over, man,’ Roy enthused shaking me by the hand. ‘I’ve seen you at a number of gigs and I was going to come and speak to you. It’s good to see you. Here. Here’s my number. Give us a bell and we’ll get together for a smoke or something.’ With that he scribbled on a page of his notepad, pressed a piece of paper into my hand and was gone, off to collect his paltry pay, and off back on the bus home to Kilburn to the flat he shared with Mocy, Nick and a range of pets. For gigs further afield he would catch the train or even hitch-hike but this was just down the road for him.

I had said nothing. I had his telephone number. I was ecstatic. It was like arranging your first date or something. I could not believe how it had gone. Roy had asked me to give him a ring and for us to get together and I had not said a word. I had not made a fool of myself.

I look back at that now and am amazed at the complete openness of the man. He was so friendly and generous to a complete stranger of a kid – so genuine. It is a measure of the open-hearted person he was back then.

Jackson C Frank and Roy Harper

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Jackson C Frank

 

When I was playing Roy’s first album, back in 67, I didn’t know that ‘My Friend’ was about Jackson C Frank. It wasn’t until much later, when we were talking about the songs on that first album, for the book we were working on, that Roy told me all about his friend.

Jackson had a tragic life. At the age of eleven he was badly burned when a fire at his school killed fifteen of his classmates. It scarred him both physically and mentally.

In 1965, equipped with a batch of brilliant songs, Jackson sailed to England. Once here he established himself on the Folk Scene based around Les Cousins. Roy was also starting out and they became good friends. At the time Roy was going through his metaphysical stage, questioning infinity and reality, and the two of them would talk and laugh long into the night, probably very stoned, having deep conversations of a philosophical nature.

Jackson recorded his wonderful Paul Simon produced album in 1965. That’s when I discovered him. I was sixteen and a school friend by the name of Robert Ede introduced me to that album just after it was released. I loved it and still have the copy I bought back then. I have played it to death. It was an album that had a huge influence on everyone at the time because the melodic songs were so personal and introspective – a real departure from traditional styles. It certainly impacted on Roy as well as others like Bert Jansch and John Renbourn, and had a profound impact on their song writing. Jackson, like Davy Graham, was a major inspiration for people in the progressive Folk Scene.

I started going to Les Cousins in 1967 (which is where I first saw Roy) but I did not encounter Jackson. That was because, following the album, he had suffered further mental problems (probably Post Traumatic Stress) and returned to the States.

He came back to England in 1968 and I was delighted to see him in a small pub on Ilford High Street. He was absolutely brilliant – such a warm character and great performance. He was so shy and modest. He sang all the songs from that first album and no others. My mate Pete and I sat at a table right at the front and loved every minute. Afterwards we stayed behind and had a chat with him. I cherish that.

I asked him about a second album. There had been much talk. He said there wasn’t one and that he’d suffered writer’s block. There were no new songs. I found that very sad.

Roy Harper was playing his important St Pancras Town Hall gig the following week and Jackson was supposed to have a guest spot (the only guest spot). I went along to that watershed Roy gig and was looking forward to see Jackson again. He never showed. I saw his friend there and asked after him. He told me that he wasn’t well.

I never saw him again and neither did Roy. He returned to the States shortly afterwards and suffered tragedy after tragedy (marriage split up, child dying, living on the street, having an eye shot out) before dying in 1999.

Roy’s song ‘My Friend’ was recorded in 1966 for his first album. It was about that first departure, when Jackson returned to New York.

And was it gold or is it silver, my friend?

I can hear you crying

Through the mist you stumble

And when you’ve taken that last sun

We’ll watch it in the darkness

Even though Jackson returned to England a year or so later that relationship never returned to what it had once been – probably because Roy’s life had become hectic with a lot of gigs, recording, a wife and kid. The freewheelin’ days were over.

Later, in the eighties, Roy talked very sadly and lovingly about his friend Jackson. They’d shared a lot in a short while and I reckon something of Jackson lives on in Roy’s song writing. He was a remarkable man and that first album still resonates with me.

Music for Today – to Cheer me Up in Isolation – Roy Harper

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Today I shall be playing the music of Roy Harper! I shall listen to the poetic lyrics, the beautiful melodies and also the angst!

It will make me think, wonder and smile.

Roy is the greatest songwriter on the planet!

Ye Vagabonds – Supporting Roy Harper in Edinburgh at the Usher Hall

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Ye Vagabonds – Supporting Roy Harper in Edinburgh at the Usher Hall

The Mac Gloinn brothers again performed their superb support in Edinburgh. They brought old Celtic songs to life with their great harmonies, interweaving their voices in a delicate beauty, while their own compositions fitted in seamlessly. The tones of their voices complemented each other so well. A joy to hear and a fitting start to the concert. At times they reminded me of the Incredible String Band – at other times they were quite unique. This blend of harmonies has a long tradition that goes way back into Celtic history and was resurrected in the early country and western of the 1930s-1960s in the USA. Brothers have that genetic link and upbringing that enable the nuances to develop so well. There are a host of them (Louvin, Delmore and Maddox to name a few). This was the area that the Everly Brothers tapped into on their album Songs Our Daddy Taught Us and I was interested to see that the Mc Gloinns had a cover of Barbara Allen (Barbara Ellen on their album). The stand out track for me was their own composition – Pomegranate. I look forward to seeing them again for a longer set in more intimate surrounds.

p1130705p1140207

Following their set I nipped along to purchase a CD and have a brief chat. Brian and Diarmuid were doing good business. I obviously wasn’t alone in liking their sound. They were proving popular.

p1140211 p1140212 p1140213 p1140214

I asked if they were touring and they told me that they were bringing out another CD soon and would likely be touring the UK in December or January. I told them to be sure to play York and Hull (musical heart of Britain).

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At the end of the concert, which was the end of the tour,  Roy brought them on stage. They had just been part of something momentous – the return of Britain’s greatest singer-songwriter!

Roy Harper – Edinburgh Usher Hall Review – A Man for all Seasons!

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Roy Harper – Edinburgh Usher Hall Review – A Man for all Seasons!

Roy Harperp1140197-2 A Man for all Seasons!

I’d go to the ends of the Earth to catch a Harper concert – well at least the ends of the country! That’s pretty much what I’ve just done – from the Royal Festival Hall in the deep south of the Thames Delta in London to the Usher Hall in Edinburgh – the northern granite fortress of Scotland. (OK – not quite Land’s End to John O’Groats). And what a stunning adventure – out of this world!

I’ve seen Roy perform for nigh on fifty years and I can affirm that at the age of seventy five none of his musical skills or voice has diminished an iota. He is as good as ever. Like a good wine he leaves the brain intoxicated with a fine zest tingling the senses.

In the Spring of his career he was forceful, capricious and furiously blowing this way and that with hurricane fury and torrents of words lashing the brains of all who ventured near. Like a tempest – unyielding, creative and wild.

In his Summer years he burned, scorched ears and laid waste to all he despised with vitriol and skill. His epics had scope, genius and barbed insight unparalleled in the world of music.

But, as we all know, it is in the Autumn that the vine bears fruit and the harvest is brought in. Roy is busy gathering in the fruits of the decades and creating a sumptuous smorgasbord to lay before us.

Over the years Harper concerts have been gatherings of the faithful where we were treated to a sharing of the feast in what had become his front room. But this mature Harper has honed each and every song into a gem of a performance. It’s the same feast but the presentation skills are manifest.

Working with a bunch of supremely talented musicians – the strings and brass under the direction of Fiona Brice, Beth Symmons on double bass and Bill Shanley on guitar and banjo – has harnessed Roy to a greater structure and in so doing has enabled his musical genius to shine. In order to synchronise with such accomplished musicians Roy has had to rein in his idiosyncrasies and focus on delivery. But there is no loss of power for all this – the music is all the greater. The backing has superbly augmented Roy’s compositions to unleash their inherent beauty and strengths.

Neither has this detracted from Roy’s rambling intros, beloved by many and a source of immense frustration to others, but usually shedding insight and setting to the compositions.

It was exactly the same set as at the Royal Festival Hall and so I will not dwell too long on the set save to say that Me and My Woman, Hallucinating Light, Don’t You Grieve, Time is Temporary, 12 Hours of Sunset and When An Old Cricketer Leaves the Crease were so well crafted that the quality was up there with a studio produced sound. They were crafted gems.

That is not to detract from the rest of the set either. Hangman and Hors D’ Oeuvres were full of Roy’s anger and passion.

Three years ago we were witnessing a Harper renaissance. He was finally receiving the plaudits that should always have been there, and his live and studio performances were reaching the heights.

I was concerned that a three year lay-off might have brought an end to this late flourish. I am pleased to report that it hasn’t!

Roy is back! This tour was a triumph! This Harper nut has received another fix. Hopefully it will be sufficient to tide him over to the next outing – the withdrawal symptoms are too great to bear.

Make it soon Roy!

Roy Harper – Today is Yesterday – another of those newly discovered videos.

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Roy Harper – Today is Yesterday – another of those newly discovered videos.

It is strange to hear Roy do this one. It was not one of his great songs and not one that he ever played much. It was recorded at Abbey Road but left on the shelf as it was considered to be not too worthy. Roy didn’t rate it.

But in actual fact it has some nice words and some musical moments not dissimilar to some of the other tracks on Flat Baroque and Berserk. I quite liked it.

What do you think?

If you are at all interested in my writing on Blues and Rock Music you can check out my books here:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Opher-Goodwin/e/B00MSHUX6Y/ref=sr_tc_2_0?qid=1474797981&sr=1-2-ent

I would recommend the Blues Muse or In Search of Captain Beefheart to get you started:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Blues-Muse-Opher-Goodwin/dp/1518621147/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Search-Captain-Beefheart-Opher-Goodwin-ebook/dp/B00TQ1E9ZG/ref=la_B00MSHUX6Y_1_4?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1474886379&sr=1-4

or

537 Essential Rock Albums Pt. 1

https://www.amazon.co.uk/537-Essential-Rock-Albums-first-ebook/dp/B00OEMO7TA/ref=la_B00MSHUX6Y_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1474902569&sr=1-3

Opher’s tributes to Rock Geniuses

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Ophers-World-Tributes-Rock-Geniuses-ebook/dp/B00U0NLP4W/ref=la_B00MSHUX6Y_1_32?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1474967124&sr=1-32

If you would like some of my Sci-fi I recommend Ebola in the Garden of Eden or Sorting the Future to get you started:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Ebola-Garden-Eden-Opher-Goodwin-ebook/dp/B0116VXVIY/ref=la_B00MSHUX6Y_1_19?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1474886688&sr=1-19

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Sorting-Future-Opher-Goodwin/dp/1533082669/ref=la_B00MSHUX6Y_1_10?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1474886738&sr=1-10

If you would like a sixties novel I recommend Danny’s Story or Goofin’ with the Cosmic Freaks

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Dannys-Story-Opher-Goodwin/dp/1533487219/ref=la_B00MSHUX6Y_1_9?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1474886738&sr=1-9

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Goofin-Cosmic-Freaks-Opher-Goodwin-ebook/dp/B00MT3GWIK/ref=la_B00MSHUX6Y_1_18?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1474886872&sr=1-18

Happy Reading!!