Since my mate Marty’s demise, I’ve thunk, cried, giggled and raged about the loss of one of my dearest friends. During that time I’ve daydreamed about the outrageous and ridiculous things we’ve done together (not least of all sharing each other’s accommodation), and how I’d get something out of writing about it here.
But.
Yesterday I was thinking about music, and how Mart’s ‘taste’ was, like mine, boundless. I confirmed this by idly putting together an iTunes playlist, as if I could DJ at the great man’s wake. Within half an hour or so, it got to over 200 – or fifteen hours playing time: some party! And that’s just iTunes – don’t (or, please do) get me started on vinyl.
So, by way of introducing those who didn’t know him – and many of those who thought they did – here’s a select few (the first and last two of which are very, very special).
| Click on the song titles for iTunes links | ||
| Willin’ | Little Feat | One of his favourite bands ever – and this track kind of sums him up: always willin’. Plus: we always wanted to know who Dallas Alice was. |
| Run Like A Thief | Bonnie Raitt | Had a number of bleary conversations about Bonnie’s ballads. |
| Rag Mama Rag | The Band | I can just see him doing the Marty shuffle to this… |
| Dance, Dance, Dance | Crazy Horse | … and this, at parties in my parent’s flat, when they were away. |
| Shoora Shoora | Betty Wright | Introduced me to this – thanks Mart |
| Moondance | Van Morrison | Had to be: one of the boy’s heroes |
| Can’t Get Enough | Bad Company | Oh yes he can – oh no he can’t… |
| Four Day Creep | Humble Pie | Can you see us leaping around like idiots to Stevie at (I think) The Rainbow? Can ya? |
| Rescue Me | Fontella Bass | Thanks for this one too Marty. |
| Asfalt Tango | Fanfare Ciocarlia | Did some serious boppin’ to Romania’s finest… |
| Balkanto No. 1 | Magnifico | … and Slovenia’s finest! (not available on Merka’s finest, sadly). If you want a copy, let me know! |
| 1865 (96 Degrees in the Shade) | Third World | We had loud summers |
| Kingdoms and Empires | Brian Copsey | A little piece of magic from a friend… |
| Dixie Chicken | Little Feat | Another ‘Feat singalong (which will be missing Mart’s special vocal phrasing) |
| Maggie May | Rod Stewart | I can see us all now – 18 or 19 years ‘old’, singing along drunkenly to this in the Magdala, Lordship Lane. (And Martin peeing in a milk bottle on the way home). |
| Stay With Me | The Faces | More of the same |
| (Ain’t Nothin’ But A) House Party | J. Geils Band | Almost a kind of anthem in our place, where parties just kind of happened. |
| Lean on Me | Bill Withers | Wish he’d thought of this a few weeks back |
| What Do You Want The Girl To Do? | Allen Toussaint | A couple of classic singalongs in 21A Rochdale House. |
| Ain’t No Love In The Heart Of The City | Bobby “Blue” Bland | |
| (Clara) St. Kitts Woman | Taj Mahal | Martin always had a thing about this album, I think especially this song. |
| Journey from Eden | Steve Miller Band | One of the last times we spoke, I said that this album isn’t given the praise and reverence it deserves. “You’re right there, Bobby-lad”. |
| Jesus On The Mainline | Ry Cooder | We didn’t believe in the subject matter, but we believed in singing this loud. |
| Medley: Cold Cold Cold/Tripe Face Boogie | Little Feat | A big time party favourite for Marty: he could really wind up for this one. |
| Please Please Please | James Brown | Anything by James please. And so it is. |
| Honky Tonk Women | The Rolling Stones | And this lot. |
| She Said | Plan B | A local boy I think Martin would have got along with famously. A pity they never met. |
| Hi Ho Silver Lining | Jeff Beck | Three big singalongs now, finishing with one of Mart’s heroes: Stevie Marriot |
| The Boys Are Back In Town | Thin Lizzy | |
| Lazy Sunday | The Small Faces | |
| Happier Than The Morning Sun | Stevie Wonder | How I wish this for Martin right now. |
| Wicky Wacky | The Fatback Band | Groove-a-thon party jive |
| People Say | The Meters | An utter, utter classic – also performed by the greatest R’n’B band that never quite made it. Epic grooves from Moon at the Hope & Anchor in Islington. |
| Get Off Your Ass And Jam | Funkadelic | Funk like Marty liked it: mad bad and seriously leg-wagging. |
| Rabbits In The Pea Patch | Maceo Parker | Three grooves before Mart would typically curl up on the floor for a doze (while all else partied on around him)… |
| Soul Strut | Lady Daisey | |
| Groove Me | King Floyd | |
| Mimouna | Orchestre National De Barbes | One of his favourite groove bands… |
| Barra Barra | Rachid Taha | … plus another arab(ish) who doesn’t take prisoners. |
| Turn You to Love | Terry Callier | For you Mart |
| Who Knows Where the Time Goes? | Fairport Convention | Yeah – where did it go? |
| I Don’t Want To Talk About It | Crazy Horse | Mr Young’s band again |
| Tom Traubert’s Blues (Four Sheets to the Wind In Copenhagen) | Tom Waits | No idea if Martin even heard this, but it must be here whatever. |
| Endless Sleep | Nick Lowe | I remember Steve and Brian singing this in Rochdale House and thinking what a beautiful song it was… and whether it could ever be applied to any of us. |
| May You Never | John Martyn | This song was written for all of ‘us lot’ – especially for Martin. |
| Sweet And Shiny Eyes | Bonnie Raitt | The song that perfectly captures the feeling of being one of a group of herberts – Marty, Steve, Jim, Brian, Madigan, amongst (a few) others – out to beat the crap out of life, to squeeze it, shake it, turn it inside out and get what we could out of it. Martin did that.And we all sang it. |
I’m out of breath now – more on Martin’s extraordinary times later.
Great playlist but where’s Martin Simpson, Joey Zawinul, Richard Thompson, Baaba Maal et al?
Like I said, this is just a small part of fifteen hours’ worth – plus, it’s exclusively from my iTunes library, and huge though it is, it doesn’t compare to the vinyl (which is the medium I shared with Martin). I say ‘shared’, but I wouldn’t mind getting some of mine back!
You’ll see that Joe was added to the next post, as he didn’t feature at all, but Richard’s ‘Bright Lights’, ‘The Cross’ and ‘Drunkards’ all feature in the Big One. Perhaps I’ll promote one of them… yes I will.
But never liked Baba Maal meself: chose Fela Kuti and Salif Keita instead.