Say Goodbye To May And Hello To June
And so goodbye May, hello June. Yes that could be the title of an awful mid - sixties pop song, sung by four toothy , mop haired lads from Truro, dressed in purple and orange , whose one and only release in May 1967 catapulted them to number 93 in the chart after one late night spin on Radio Luxembourg. The single was attached to an anchor rather than a bullet and the three surviving members have spent the last 49 years convinced it would have gone all the way, if they had been born in Liverpool. Anyway, I digress!
Talking of single, solitary plays. ‘Me Too’ was played on Radio 2 by Paul O Grady in May 2016, which was fantastic and thank you to everyone who joined the mailing list, having heard it.
I also played a lovely gig at ‘Shedfest’ in Crudwell near Malmsberry in the garden of a pub called The Potting Shed, which everyone should visit at the earliest opportunity.. you will leave there heavier but happier. The last time I was in Crudwell was in 1985, as I drove through the village in my 1974 Ford Escort Estate Mk 2 in custard yellow, loaded with amplifiers and guitars, heading home from agricultural college (don’t ask, it’s complicated), I was hit from behind by a Jag driven by an intoxicated member of the landed gentry. I was fine and he was feeling no pain, but my car was crumpled. Most importantly I had a date coming up with a girl who had told me she was model, although it later transpired she modelled camping equipment. Nonetheless, attending a college where the number of males to females was 830 to 27, Alison could have modelled a space suit and I would have found her attractive. Gawd Bless the NFU insurance company, who provided me with a brand new Ford Fiesta while my car was being repaired and in a sexy two tone colour scheme of beige and dark brown! Sadly after the first date, I did not see Alison again. Well apart from the camping section of the 1986 / 1987 Argos catalogue.I hope success did not change her.
A few years later the repaired custard coloured Ford Escort Estate was still with me when I drove my cohabitee of the last 28 years home for the first time. My father pointed out that I would 'never keep a girl like that, with a car like that’. He had a point, it had been used to carry pig food in the interim years since recovering from attentions of the inhebriated huntsman and no longer transported my musical equipment as I had surrendered all hopes of pop stardom. A loan was duely agreed and one evening, in very fading light, I bought a beautiful black nearly new Ford Escort Mk 3. In the morning it turned out to be dark brown! The love of my life saw the funny side and it was still with us when we brought our first newborn daughter home from hospital.
Anyway, thank you Alex for inviting me back to Crudwell after 30 years and Sir Richard of Plug Hall for arranging. Everything was perfect by the way but a tip for next year. It might be an idea to have a slightly raised stage. This would stop the geriatric bull dog joining me while performing, as he did a few times on Sunday, circling my guitars. Which meant some of my finer musical moments had to be cut short so I could stop him lifting his leg.
In other news I will be performing at The Wimborne Folk Festival on June 11th and in the evening in Damerham, The Festival Of Dreams in Winchester on June 19th, Glastonbury Festival on Saturday 25th June ( PRS stage), supporting folk legend Julie Felix in Ringwood on June 21st and headlining The Drax Folk Club Bere Regis on June 28th.. so if you would like to hear a load of old whaffle, interspersed with occasional song and you are in rollerskating distance please come along.All dates are on my website.
And finally in a mass attack of commercialism you can now buy ‘Me Too’ on iTunes.. 99p and it's yours! Will this download be the quirky weird item on The Antiques Road show in 2165, worth a small fortune because of its rarity? To avoid my 3 times great grandchildren being ruined by money, please pass the link on to friends and family and ask them to buy it, making it popular and therefore render it of no value or interest in the future.
I hope the band from Truro know 49 years later, that a first play on the radio is the best it gets. I am holding onto the memory!
Ian x
