I thought it was about time that I wrote a candid recollection of the decade that has defined my life.
The sixties was a fabulously optimistic period to have lived through.
It was the decade in which I changed from a boy to a man. The Beatles altered history. Dylan altered our consciousness.
It was fun recounting my numerous adventures, the music, social changes, attitudes and times.
I was a young kid with principles and attitude.
Adventures with the counterculture in the London underground.
Meeting Roy Harper and going to Abbey Road Studios, hitch-hiking around America, love and life.
A memoir, an autobiography, anecdotes and insights.
I was there. I lived it – and I remember.
My 60s eBook : Goodwin, Opher: Amazon.co.uk: Kindle Store
Amazon.co.uk: Opher Goodwin: books, biography, latest update
Amazon.co.uk: Opher Goodwin: books, biography, latest update
My Sixties
The Spirit Lives
Not the sixties you’ve seen before.
This is the underground.
The real story.
Music, movement, philosophy.
A life lived through gigs, travel, friendships—and the edges of experience.
Part memoir, part autobiography, part raw collection of memories, this is a personal journey through a defining decade. Told through photographs, anecdotes, and reflections, it captures the spirit as it was lived—not as it’s been packaged since.
No Carnaby Street. No pop gloss.
Just the underground scene as I knew it.
From Kerouac to Zen, Kesey to Leary.
From IT and OZ to Dylan, Hendrix, and Pink Floyd.
From Hyde Park free festivals to Roy Harper and Abbey Road.
This is the sixties from the inside.
Recording Sessions – Abbey Road
In the 1970s I attended many of Roy’s recording sessions at Abbey Road Studios. It was amazing to be walking into a place where the Beatles and Pink Floyd also recorded. The weird thing was that there didn’t seem to be any security. I often strolled right in and along to the studio without being challenged at all.
Roy would have all sorts of people in there from friends and relatives to members of big name bands.
Nick would sometimes go along.
I remember on one occasion Nick, who was about seven or eight, standing behind the great big mixing desk with the big picture window that looked into the studio where Roy was recording…. like he was at the controls of the Starship Enterprise. Pete Jenner, who was producing the session, obviously enjoyed having him there and was showing him what all the knobs and levers did to the sound. Nick watched intently and peered over the top of the panel into the studio as if he was captain of the ship – Captain Nick ‘Kirk’ Harper.
Photo – Colin Curwood – in the studio at Abbey Road
‘I’ve got loads of memories of the recording sessions at Abbey Road Studios. It was exciting for me and I was always thrilled to see my dad. I suppose I always wanted his attention. I was probably a pain in the arse trying to get his interest.’
‘I remember using a whole reel of gaffer tape on the glass doors at Abbey Road with the long metal handles taping them together, going round and round. Nobody could get out of Abbey Road. Someone had to climb out of a back window and cut the tape. I was into gentle mischief that got me notoriety – gentle prancing about and playing guitars, generally being a pain, but loving it.’
‘I went down in the dead of night nicking choc-ices out of the ice-cream machine. The whole environment was alien to everything else, plush carpets and big mixing desks with all the knobs. It was like being in a space ship.’
‘Pink Floyd were playing in the studio next door recording Wish You Were Here. I was a big Floyd fan at the age of eight listening to Dark Side of the Moon. And I think my dad recorded me singing ‘Money’ and played it to them. I begged him not to but he did.’
‘Peter Jenner was always kind and I felt that he was family since then. I’ve only seen him about twice in the last twenty years. But his wife Sumi often would look after me when I was visiting Roy if he was busy. And Paul, my stepfather, worked for my dad back then. Paul was already employed at the Studio – he was involved with HQ and I brought him together with my mum. So that worked out.’
‘The sound, the big sound, was so loud and so incredible. I remember being freaked out by the force of the end of ‘Same Old Rock’ – it was like Indians on horseback chasing a train. Weird vision I had. It was scary.’
‘I remember listening to ‘Shine On You Crazy Diamond’ …. being in that session and that was mind-blowing for a nine year old. It was great; I loved every minute of it.’
‘I recall I was sitting on the lap of the receptionist and somehow the silver disc of Yellow Submarine, which was in a glass frame on the wall, fell off and the glass broke so she gave the disc to me. I took it home. It was ‘Yellow Submarine’ cos I played it once. I sold it when I was about 20 for a motorbike. I don’t regret it. I got a lot of fun out of that motorbike.’
Nick Harper: The Wilderness Years: Amazon.co.uk: Goodwin, Opher: 9781678850661: Books