The guy led a complicated life, marrying his brothers wife and suffering from acute bouts of alcoholism and drug taking, but he was widely respected for his stunning falsetto voice and towards the end of his life Jeff Lynne produced an album with him. There were rumours that he was to join the Travelling Wilbury's after Roy Orbison's untimely death but before he could do so, he shot himself with a rifle at his home in 1990, aged 56.
I include another favourite of mine by him, "Don't Gild the Lily Lily":-
And just for good measure a different song with the same title by the Coors:-
We once proudly boasted of a fine rail network, and our power, water, airplane and haulage networks were proudly owned by the British taxpayer. Nye Bevan, the man reponsible for the NHS, and who built over one million new homes between 1947 and 1951, once boasted that we were a rich nation built on an island of coal and surrounded by fish. Now even Royal Mail has been sold off and the queens head will probably be printed for profit by crooks like the Murdoch's and Mittal's of this world. In fact, there is a good possibility that it may soon be taken over by Deutsche Post - how ironic that would be. People desperately trying to pay their power and water bills or who have to pay excessive fares for poorly provided and inefficient train services have been ripped off by the privatisation of our great national assets, which are now largely owned by foreign companies. Even the new nuclear power plant at Hinckley is to be built by a French company (EDF) and part financed by the Chinese government. And don't be in any doubt that this government's legislation on schools and the NHS mean that they are, essentially, being privatised. Control is now being taken away from democratically elected Councils and Local Health Authorities and given to cheating companies such as G4S and Serco who have been given huge multi billion pound contracts to provide inferior services in these and other government sectors. Whilst Serco's difficulties include the poor handling of pathology labs and fatal errors in patient records. At St Thomas' Hospital, the increase in the number of clinical incidents arising from Serco non-clinical management has resulted in patients receiving incorrect and infected blood, as well as patients suffering kidney damage due to Serco providing incorrect data used for medical calculations. A Serco employee later revealed that the company had falsified 252 reports to the National Health Service regarding Serco health services in Cornwall. In September 2013, Serco was accused of extensive sexual abuse cover-ups of immigrants at Yarls Wood prison in Bedfordshire.
In September 2013, Ireland rejected a tender by Serco when the company was found to be involved in a series of multi-billion pound frauds in Britain.
Whilst their their money grabbing mates at G4S, who failed totally to provide the security required in their contract for the London Olympics, are under investigation by the Serious Fraud Office for allegations of criminally overcharging tax payers.
And if you have ever wondered where that smirk on Richard Branson's face comes from then look no further than the selling off to him, at a cheap rate, of the good part of Northern Rock (whilst we the taxpayer, retain the massive loss making section) and the rail franchises that have been handed out to him.
I have never understood economics and I doubt if many of the economists who run our world do either. Put two of them together in a room and they will disagree and none of them predicted the massive economic crisis in the banks in 2008 which the poor in the world are picking up the tab for.
Having gone through the Thatcher years, when moneterism was king and the money supply had to be restricted, we have now done a complete about turn and the Bank of England and the Fed. are printing billions of pounds and giving it to the banks. This was supposedly done in order that they could lend to industry and individuals, when in fact they have used it to pay off their still huge debts.
Neo liberalism is now being used throughout the western world and if, like me you ever wondered what that is Shamus Cooke recently wrote:-
“The essence of neoliberalism can be reduced to the following: government should be used exclusively to help big business and the wealthy with tax cuts, subsidies, privatizations, anti-labour laws, etc., while all government programs that help working and poor people should be eliminated. It’s really that simple.”
I am amazed at the gall of this pro-establishment, royal arse licking corporation having the nerve to present this program, once again, when the abuse of children at this organisation has been endemic over the last thirty years. Instead it will carry on, as if all were normal, with a boring evening of second rate has-beens and dreary newscasters doing their bit, not to protect children, but to promote their vanity and themselves. If they wish to do something for charity then why not donate portions of their large salaries, anonymously, instead of presenting themselves as paragons of virtue.
That well known master of jollity and immigrant tax evader to this country, Sir Terry Wigon even got paid a salary for presenting this charade. And what's Rolf Harris, that embarrassing fawner who had to be marched off of the stage at Queenies Golden Jubilee, doing with that poor bear? As for the name Pudsey, not only is it the name of a fine town in Yorkshire but it also defined as, "The curious-shaped flat wads of dough left on a kitchen table after someone has been cutting scones out of it". Humm, all very curious. Poor Pudsey, poor public,they surely deserve better than this amateurish back slapping orgy for the poor.
The four hours wasted on the output of this programme would be better spent in revealing why child poverty exists throughout the world. And the answer to that is to be found in their own corridors and that of the governments and the financial organisations such as the IMF who manipulate our world. These are the people that are punishing the poor and starving for the mistakes of their friends the bankers and without them there would be no Children in Need.
Doesn't he know that its rude to point a finger at HM?
The Traveling Wilburys, 1988. L–R: Roy Orbison, Jeff Lynne, Bob Dylan, George Harrison, and Tom Petty. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
I think his story is too well known for me to repeat much of it here but I remember the awe that my friends and I were in when we first heard "Running Scared". We had never heard anything like it and he followed it up with a string of hits over more than forty years. Although he died prematurely fortunately he had just had a revival with the hit song, "I Drove all Night" and had had great happiness and success with, "The Travelling Wilburys".
His voice was unique, and there will never be another like him and he was respected and revered by singers and groups all across the musical industry. I first saw him at the Town Hall in Birmingham where the backing acts include Olivia Newton John and a young group, who had just had their first minor hit called, "The Beatles". I saw him live on one more occasion live, at the Gaument cinema in Cheltenham.
You got your monies worth: he would be on stage for about an hour and just launch into every song, note perfect, without any interruption, or that annoying time wasting chatter in between his songs. A great, great artist and a true professional.
This song has been taken from his album, or long player as we used to call them then in the UK, "Crying" released in 1962, It was written by Roy and one of his close collaborators Joe Melson, but strangely I have never heard "Our Summer Song" played on air. Nor do I know who played the brilliant saxophone solo, so if there is anyone out there who knows who it was, then please let me know.
Just for good measure I have also included. "I Drove All Night".
Those of you who were part of the Folk Club scene in the 1960's may well remember Bob Davenport. He was a Geordie and had a hugely powerful voice, which had no need of microphones, and I was told that it exploded, like an atomic bomb, in the largest of halls. I only saw him once and have found most of his early recordings almost impossible to find. He sang a number of memorable songs including "Hanging from the Old Barbed Wire" a WW1 song of anger about the countless millions of men who were needlessly killed because of the power games of government and royalty across Europe. Yes the same ones who hypocritically lay their wreaths on war memorials at this time of year.
He also sang, "The Dirty Blackleg Miner" which way before the strikes of the 1980's and had been going the rounds for decades. It was a song about miners, brought in from other parts of the country to break a strike, and the bitterness that was felt towards them. Bob sang the song from the pit of his stomach and vehemently spat out the title line. Unfortunately no recording of this, by him, seems to be available and sadly modern folk singers have prettified and gutted the song but this version is nearer to the original.
