Hiding Under Covers

This feature first appeared in an abbreviated form in The Independent (12/7/14) Previewing the 1964 Proms, which included a short programme of compositions marking the 50th anniversary of the First World War, The Times observed that “the actual quantity of music inspired by the 1914–18 War is small, and its language has little meaning for us today.” Survivors were understandably only too keen to forget the abject horror of the conflict. No one wanted to remember it with music. The turning point was the stage show Oh, What a Lovely War , which had premiered the previous year. The idea of transforming a 1961 radio documentary into a musical was initially unpopular with the radical producer Joan Littlewood, who detested anything to do with the military. Nevertheless her production, and the 1969 film adaptation, chimed with a younger, more critically-inclined generation, ready to review what they knew about the war their grandparents had fought in. Books and TV docume...

THE WEREWOLVES OF LONDON Warren Zevon  (1978) Warren Zevon was the renegade West Coaster. While his mid-seventies Los Angeles contemporaries were taking it easy and running on empty, Zevon’s albums swilled with troubling tales of mercenaries, psychopaths and bent lawyers. In 1975, Zevon signed to David Geffen’s Asylum label, on the promise that Jackson Browne would produce his first, self-titled, album. Around this time he began work on a song which would have to wait until the second album, Excitable Boy , for release. “The Werewolves of London” was written by Zevon, with the songwriter LeRoy Marinell and the session guitarist, Waddy Wachtel. Taking a title suggested to Zevon by Phil Everly, the three sat down one hot Californian afternoon.   Marinell had a guitar figure, which had been floating around unused for some months. It was translated into a piano vamp by Zevon, a classically trained pianist, and Wachtel ad-libbed some lyrics: “I saw a werewolf with a Ch...

THE MONSTER MASH Bobby (Boris) Pickett and the Crypt-Kickers (1962) It’s shifted millions of copies since its first release in 1962, but thanks to an initial ban by the BBC for being too morbid, it took eleven years to make the UK charts. Elvis Presley dismissed it as “the dumbest thing I’ve heard”. Bob Dylan, on the other hand, is a fan, featuring the crypt-kicking classic in his Theme Time Radio Hour. If Halloween has an official anthem, surely it’s “The Monster Mash”, one of the bestselling novelty singles of all time. “The Monster Mash” was written by Bobby “Boris” Pickett, who died in 2007. Back in 1960, Pickett had been part of a covers band, the Cordials, who played Los Angeles and even cut a couple of flop singles. One of their favourite live numbers had been a rendition of “Little Darlin’”, a 1957 hit for the vocal harmony act the Diamonds. In an effort to stamp his own personality on the song, Pickett took to ad-libbing through the spoken bridge in the style of ...

Genesis (1973) The Story of the Song (Updated October 2017) I’ve been listening to the Genesis album  Selling England by the Pound  now for 40 years. One track that I have always had something of a soft spot for is “The Battle of Epping Forest”. Although there are objectively better and more musically satisfying tracks elsewhere on the album, “Battle” kept my attention as a teenager; and still does. I love the witty lyrics, the double entendres and the cartoon-like characters with Bash Street Kids-style names.  I grew up in East Anglia and often went down to London, so I knew roughly where Epping was on the map. To me, then, the song appeared rooted in the real world. It seemed to report on real events, real-time, unlike the myth-laden (but equally attractive) romance of “Dancing Out with the Moonlit Knight” or “Firth of Fifth” or the rustic whimsy of “I Know What I Like”. “Battle” was packed with words and colourful characters, with humour and ...

THE POST OFFICE TOWER LONDON  Souvenir Brochure (1969) I'm standing on the Post Office Tower   So I can see all there is to see   --Paul Weller, ' Life from a Window ' (1977)  Through the Post Office Tower   Travel miles and miles of copper wire   --Fake Teak ' The Post Office Tower ' (2010)  I made this bomb for the GPO   To blow them all to Hell --Cressida ' Goodbye Post Office Tower Goodbye ' (1971) The Post Office Tower (now BT Tower ) in London's Fitzrovia was opened by Harold Wilson on 8 October 1965. It is 177 metres (581 ft) tall, with a further section of aerial rigging bringing the total height to 189 metres (620 ft). It's been my favourite London building since I visited it as a child in 1969. An excellent blog about the Tower including some  videos  and  images from the  menu  of its famous revolving restaurant can be found at  The Great Wen . This p...

This is an article I wrote for The Independent in 2006, to mark Paul McCartney's 64th birthday. Unfortunately it never ran so I'm posting it here to mark Macca's 71st birthday on 18 June. It's not intended to be definitive, nor is it a list of my personal favourites; just an illustration of  the variety of music Paul has written over 50 years, from rockers and romance to ambient and comedy. Maybe I’m Amazed (1970, 1977) If this is all  Paul   McCartney had ever written, we would still know his name.  The inspiration for this proud ballad was of course Linda Eastman, who Paul married  in 1969. Regularly voted one of the greatest love songs ever, it evaded single release until a live version made the charts in 1977 and has since been covered by, amongst others, Rod Stewart and Joe Cocker. Find it on: McCartney and Wings Over America Helter Skelter (1968) This White Album headbanger was inspired by the Who's song, “I Can See for Miles”. McC...