Rock And Roll Music

Just let me hear some of that rock and roll music
Any old way you choose it
It's got a back beat, you can't lose it
Any old time you use it
It's got to be rock and roll music
If you want to dance with me.

Those are lines from 'Rock and Roll Music', one of the tracks on Beatles For Sale, released sixty years ago just in time for the Christmas market. Of course, it wasn't one of their own compositions. Chuck Berry had written and released the song back in 1957, the year that John Lennon and Paul McCartney commenced a musical partnership (in the Quarrymen) that was destined to change the world in 1964, a sort of annus mirabilis (wonderful year) in so many ways. More on that later.

Beatles For Sale was, however, the group's second LP in a year (and in fact their fourth in just under two years - the sort of recording and release schedule that would be unthinkable nowadays), so only eight of the fourteen tracks were originals, the balance being favourite covers that had been part of their repertoire during those Hamburg residencies of 1960 and 1961

Surprisingly, Beatles For Sale has its detractors, seemingly because nearly half the material is cover versions, in comparison to A Hard Day's Night earlier in the summer, which had been their first LP to feature all original Beatles compositions. 

The Beatles' excuse, as if one was needed, was that 1964 had been such an intense year for the Fabs (as they were becoming known), what with touring the UK, Europe and 'conquering'  America, making a feature film, writing a book of poetry (in Lennon's case), that they just hadn't had the time to write half a dozen additional songs for Beatles For Sale. (It must also be remembered that they chose not to include the contemporaneous hit single 'I Feel Fine' c/w 'She's A Woman' on the LP because they wanted to give their fans value for money.)

Beatles For Sale album cover photoshoot, Hyde Park 1964 (Robert Freeman)

Commentators have added that the LP's artwork, photographs of the group taken by Robert Freeman in Hyde Park, makes them look somewhat world-weary, and the ironic title for the album (surely Lennon's suggestion) encapsulated their frustration at being seen as 'product' as the downside of becoming a global phenomenon, theories which have contributed to a sense that Beatles For Sale is somehow below par in the group's canon. All I can say is that those detractors really need to listen to the record with fresh ears. It's time for a revaluation.

Some of you will be familiar with Philip Larkin's wryly ironic poem about the social changes in motion at the beginning of the Sixties. (I'm supposing he named it after an earlier poem by John Dryden celebrating London's survival in 1666 after the twin threats of plague and fire). 

Annus Mirabilis

Sexual intercourse began
In nineteen sixty-three
(which was rather late for me) -
Between the end of the Chatterley ban
And the Beatles' first LP.

Up to then there'd only been
A sort of bargaining,
A wrangle for the ring,
A shame that started at sixteen
And spread to everything.

Then all at once the quarrel sank:
Everyone felt the same,
And every life became
A brilliant breaking of the bank,
A quite unlosable game.

So life was never better than
In nineteen sixty-three
(Though just too late for me) -
Between the end of the Chatterley ban
And the Beatles' first LP.

                                               Philip Larkin (1967)

Larkin pinpoints 1963 as the crucial year, but for me personally 1964 was the momentous one, for all of the following reasons. As mentioned earlier, it was the year in which the Beatles became a global phenomenon (starting with their appearances on the Ed Sullivan Show in the USA in February), the year in which Labour ended thirteen years of Tory misrule, the year in which I stepped up from Junior to Secondary school (and from short trousers to long), the year of our family's move from industrial Peterborough to academic Cambridge, the year in which I first went to bed with a girl (see my poem 'Stephanie Re-Maps The Stars'), the year when it began to seem that all was change for the better and all things were possible. Optimism was boundless and the Beatles, ensconced in EMI's Abbey Road studio number 2, were busy laying down the soundtrack of our unshackling.

Beatles For Sale recording session, Abbey Road 1964 (Robert Freeman)

I think that's one of the reasons why Beatles For Sale, released at the end of my own annus mirabilis, remains one of my favourite Beatles records, right up there with their best LPs. I'm pleased they chose to give needle time to those cover songs, as a reminder of their roots, and of what a terrific beat group they were. But that record also provides the first hints of them transitioning into the complex artists they would become, a foretaste of that brilliant run of recordings from Rubber Soul to Revolver and Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. 

Beatles For Sale opens with one of the strongest trio of songs on any of their albums in 'No Reply', 'I'm A Loser' and the sumptuous 'Baby's In Black' (all essentially Lennon compositions). It's followed by John's infectious rendition of 'Rock And Roll Music', the Paul McCartney's ballad 'I'll Follow The Sun', another top notch cover by Lennon of 'Mr Moonlight' before the side closes with a ridiculously rocking rendition by Paul of 'Kansas City'.

Admittedly, side two with its country and western influence dips slightly after the opener 'Eight Days A Week', including as it does the obligatory George Harrison and Ringo Starr vocal spots, but 'Words Of Love' and 'I Don't Want To Spoil The Party' are great songs, the rockabilly Carl Perkins covers are inspired and the musicianship is excellent throughout. Beatles For Sale has so many wonderful memories for me and still gets played to death annually in the run up to Christmas and New Year. It's long been a family tradition to play it while the Christmas tree is being decorated, and I've been listening to it in the gym for several days in a row recently as well. 

As Derek Taylor wrote in the sleeve notes: "There's priceless history between these (LP) covers. When in a generation or so, a radio-active cigar-smoking child picnicking on Saturn asks you what the Beatles affair was all about...just play the child a few tracks from this album and he'll probably understand."

       

Beatles For Sale album cover photoshoot, Hyde Park 1964 (Robert Freeman)

I've no new poem for you this week. Instead, for what it's worth, gentle reader, here are my top ten albums of 2024, as trailed in the musical advent calendar I posted daily on Facebook in December (along with musical clips):

01 Natural Magick - Kula Shaker

02 Moon Mirror - Nada Surf

03 Why Is The Colour Of The Sky? - Bananagun

04 Iechyd Da - Bill Ryder-Jones

05 In This City They Call You Love - Richard Hawley

06 12 - White Denim

07 Half Cut - Sarah Gillespie

08 Daniel - Real Estate

09 Across The River Of Stars - Beachwood Sparks

10 Here In The Pitch - Jessica Pratt

Finally, as an audio bonus, that song: Rock And Roll Music as performed by The Beatles. Enjoy!

Thanks for reading. Happy New Year, S ;-)

Read More

Run

With a tumultuous week behind us and a momentous one in front of us in the run-up to the EU referendum, your Saturday Blogger feels impelled to voice an opinion concerning Brexit. I've been thinking over what to say while I've been out on my daily run (trying to maintain a sane mind in a healthy body, you understand).

This is the most important decision we have been asked to make in a quarter-century. Whilst the European Union as an institution is far from perfect, I'm very much of the view that we should vote to remain while looking to improve the EU further from within.

I suppose in a nutshell it comes down to value systems and my instinctive preference for an open rather than a closed approach - meaning I favour a constructive, co-operative and expansive world view that embraces change and stands for the greater good (or common weal as it used to be known) rather than one that is rooted in fear, self-interest and a somewhat anachronistic nationalism.

I believe it was an unfortunate decision by Cameron and crew to call the referendum in the way they did. I think the campaigning has not been a credit to either side. I suspect the economic, political and social fall-out if the country does vote on Thursday to leave the EU will adversely impact the UK for decades to come.

All of which doesn't have much to do with the week's blog theme of Run! So the image below is an attempt to get back on track and I include it as a pictorial antidote to the propaganda thrust at us by the Leave campaign with its grim posters depicting hordes of migrants.

Run, don't walk. Love, don't hate. Trust, don't fear. Embrace, don't shun. Laugh, don't frown. Assist, don't ignore. Open, don't close. Advance, don't retreat. Remain, don't leave.

The poem below is the earliest surviving example of my own writing, uncovered in a recent excavation of old files. As you will discern, it is schoolboy stuff  - literally! I was about 17 when I wrote it, mixing in the influence of A-level studies in history (the French Revolution) and literature (W.B. Yeats and Irish folklore). It was probably intended for the school magazine but was never submitted. Truth to be told, I'm a little embarrassed by its gauche attempt to express the freedom of body and spirit in harmony with nature, but what the heck... it fits the theme of this week's blog quite aptly, so here it is...

Liberté

Run
fleet with the wind
along the slopes of grassy valleys,
hair flying,
beautiful woman,
in your nakedness.
A red sun
chases you westward
across hilltops into evening,
and though many arrows
fly towards you
from the woods below,
still night will find you,
silver in the moon,
sleeping upon the sea.

In memory of Jo Cox, murdered by a simple twist of hate. As Philip Larkin said: "What will survive of us is love."

That's all folks. Thanks for reading. Use your vote wisely. Peace and love, S ;-)

Read More

Editing the Great Writers

Read More

Essence and Inspiration

An interview with Cath Nichols, extended from one previously conducted by Deborah Swift (novelist) at: www.deborahswift.co.uk

1. What is it about poetry that makes it essential to you?

Something about the reading of poems makes me go into a different space/time experience – whether that’s reading them in my head or hearing the poet read them out loud. It’s not usually the ‘story-telling’ space (which I think of as a kind of escapism, or learning, or forward momentum) that I get from reading prose. It’s more like meditation or a quality of attention. If prose is forward momentum, poetry is circular; it ripples out from the centre. Certainly when I’m writing poetry, too, there is a sense of ‘tardis space’ – time spent ‘in’ poetry is bigger on the inside than it is on the outside!

2.Tell me about the themes that most excite you at the moment, or structures in poetry or prose that make your eyes light up.

I have been preoccupied with the sea for years and with various myths. Also hybrid people and characters: for example, mermaids, and over the last couple of years the Procne and Philomela, a myth where both women are turned into birds. I’ve noticed that I often get hooked on material that was someone else’s first. The hook is where my mind keeps going back to a thing that I disagree with strongly (such as Hans Christian Anderson’s use of the little mermaid and how she has to work to earn a place in heaven - yuk). It’s the gritty irritation than later develops into something, a percieved injustice in the older writing that needs re-writing for today (in my opinion). Philomela (the nightingale in various odes) had real appeal: why should she turn into a nightingale and sing a sweet sad song having been raped by her brother-in-law? It made me furious! So, I wrote a poem and later a play (set in the present and involving an Asian family in Manchester) to work out a different approach.

I am building up a novel now which is a response to Shakespeare’s Cymbeline. Again deep outrage that Imogen’s husband agrees to a bet to test his wife’s faithfulness. She is put at great risk; he believes she has been unfaithful and sends someone to kill her; and then at the end of the story they reunite to live happily ever after! Aargh! The gall of it. Of course, I realise in those days women had to put up with a great deal and possibly marriage was the best protection available, so you’d do all you could to make it work, and forgive all kinds of crap. But not now.
Investigating structures: now I’m doing longer works I am fascinated by links between poetry and prose or plays – it’s something about rhythm and alternation, I think. In prose it seems to be to do with suspending the revelation of plot and creating recurring motifs; and in a poem it’s to do with the tension in enjambment, and repetition of words or sounds.

3. You are interested in radio and the aural experience of words. How has this influenced your work?

It was a big part of my PhD research. I’d noticed that many poets write for radio as dramatists, docu-drama writers and sometimes as poets. I love Michael Symmons Roberts work (he used to be a BBC documentary producer and later Head of Religious Broadcasting before becoming a full-time poet and academic). Paul Farley and Simon Armitage too have done a lot. Way back you have Dylan Thomas and in fact almost every poet based in London in the forties did some work for radio as an actor, writer or producer. Samuel Beckett did some innovative stuff (he did the first really radiophonic play All that Fall – using sound in a distorted way for atmospheric effect). Joan Littlewood and Charles Parker valued working-class history and experience. With Ewan MacColl and Peggy Seeger they made the Radio Ballads series: this pretty much invented documentary without commentary – people were heard in their own voices for the first time, instead of transcribed interviews being read by actors! That followed on from the invention of new technologies that made recording equipment portable – writers and producers could get out and about.
Kathleen Jamie did a wonderful radio play in the 90s that had imagined characters from Larkin’s Whitsun Weddings talking about their lives since the great Whitsun train ride. Their stories were interleaved with Larkin reading the poem. You can listen to it in the British Library if you go to the sound archive there. All of it is just so inspiring.

I’ve done some local BBC radio short drama and poetry but I’m still trying to crack Radio 4 drama. New writers have to go via the Afternoon Play slot which is pretty pedestrian. Only the famous get asked to do docu-drama stuff, which would be more up my street. So, watch this space!

4. Which other writers have made a lasting impression on you and why?

For novels, Shani Mootoo’s The Cereus Blooms at Night. Fabulous, surprising novel set in the Caribbean with race, sexuality (as in queer as well as straight) and gender issues seamlessly woven through a great story set in the past and present.
Anne Carson, a Canadian poet and Classics professor who writes book-length poems or sequences. The Autobiography of Red (Red is a little ‘creature’ from a Greek myth alive in the present day), and Glass and Gods. The sequence where the narrator goes home to Mum after heartbreak, but re-investigates Emily Bronte and the moors, sums up a particular kind of sadness and detachment. It is sometimes shocking when it describes certain acts of desperation, but it’s so truthful as to how humans can be with each other. The Beauty of the Husband is another book-length poem of hers (subtitled ‘a fictional essay in 29 tangos’!). It won the T.S. Eliot Prize a few years ago). Carson also does translations of Greek drama and writes fantastic essays.

5. Tell me about your publications or scripts-in-progress.

Pamphlet, Tales of Boy Nancy (Driftwood, 2005). This is being re-issued soon by erbacce press (Driftwood having closed) with a group of new poems, ‘Distance’.
Collection, My Glamorous Assistant (Headland, 2007).
I’ve poems forthcoming in Poetry Wales and The Stinging Fly and, I found out last month that I’ll be in 2012’s Lung Jazz: Young Poets for Oxfam. I’m not that young, but the line was drawn at 40 years old at the time of sending in work last year.
I’ve a couple of plays doing the rounds at the moment (i.e. being sent to theatres and companies), so look out for them, or if you’re part of a theatre group you can request to read them. They all have very strong parts for women. Drowning Meirion Evans – set around 1915, Woolworths, the Lusitania and with lots of magical business. Birdie – the Philomela myth re-written for an Asian family in Manchester. And there’s Ada – a take on Phaedre where an older married woman falls for a young lad with dire consequences. I took inspiration from the Iris/ Peter Robinson affair in Northern Ireland (she was sixty and had an affair with a nineteen year old, yikes!), but also gave it a twist: she is ardently religious and finds out that the lad thinks he might be gay – so she’s trying to ‘help’ him be straight. It all takes place in a country on the brink of civil war, and Ada is married to the country’s president.

Read More