John Peel

 What I wrote about John Peel-extracted from "Totally Shuffled" 

August 13^th

“Do you ever have a night when you don’t dream about The Fall?”

(This is clearly not a song or a tune on the iPod but it is something that is on there and has just shuffled up. It’s shown as “unknown track-unknown artist” and lasts only a couple of seconds. It’s far from being an unknown artist to me-it’s a brief audio snippet of John Peel, and I guess it was him introducing a track from The Fall. I don’t know when it was broadcast or what track it referred to, but for those brief few seconds it’s like being transported back in time).

There are two ways I could use this track. I could either write about The Fall or John Peel. Or both, I suppose. Whilst I am surprised that I’ve got all the way through to mid-August without a Fall track shuffling up, I’m sure that there will be one along before the year is out. Like buses-there’ll be another one in a minute. This clip of Peel may be the only time that it shows up, so I think I’ll go with that. I haven’t done an analysis of what I’ve written so far (I’ve not even re-read any of it or done any editing), but I think that John Peel must have been mentioned at least once a week since I started this back in January, so it’s fairly obvious that John Peel was a very significant influence upon my musical tastes. 

I can’t remember when exactly I started listening to Peel, although I’m fairly sure that I didn’t regularly tune into his show back in the seventies, when he’d play the whole of a Pink Floyd album in one go. I think that I must have started tuning in about 76/77 during the advent of punk. From then on in every Monday to Thursday, 10 until midnight, was reserved for hearing a whole panoply of music. I genuinely believe that without John Peel’s influence I wouldn’t have learned to love all the different sorts of music that I do now. Blues, doo-wop, reggae, soul-even Pink Floyd. I think that I may have still got into The Fall, but I can’t really be sure. Listening to John Peel and his clear love of music, beneath his sometimes grumpy exterior, was the best education I ever had. I know this sounds completely over-the-top and something I think he would have snorted derisorily at, but I think my attitudes to so many things, and not only music, would have turned out very differently if I’d never heard his broadcasts. I probably wouldn’t have been as into music as much as I am and wouldn’t have considered approaching it with the same regard that he did. I would have either been not bothered about music (like those people who when you ask them what sort of music do they like they respond with a “oh, all sorts really”- and you know they have a couple of Simply Red albums and a CD by Adele), or overly serious about it all.

 I cannot think of any other presenter apart from John Peel, who just loved music for what it made him feel rather than if it was fashionable or not, and didn’t see that playing records on the radio just as an interruption for “his public” from hearing his wonderful voice. If I hadn’t got into music through his broadcasts, then I wouldn’t have read the books that I have or watched the films I have seen. I wouldn’t have developed the attitude to popular culture that I’ve got. I certainly wouldn’t have ever have gone to Glastonbury in 2010 if I hadn’t  heard John Peel enthusing about it, and therefore by extension not written about it which, in turn, has led to writing this. If Glastonbury was good enough for him, then I knew it would be ok for me. I wouldn’t have followed Liverpool Football Club in the manner I have. (I really wish he’d still been around for the Champions League Final in 2005).

I don’t want to end this by sounding too maudlin, but every time I listen to an old recording of one of his shows I still find it hard to believe that he’s gone. There’s a certain sadness that my children will never have the chance to hear him playing the wrong record at the wrong speed live- but I’ve still got this recording and many others to treasure- and they know that he was a great man. 

Totally Shuffled:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00CJYZ3CA 

 

Laura Cantrell/John Peel-an extract from "Totally Shuffled"

Laura Cantrell –Lee Harvey Was A Friend Of Mine-Live at Peel Acres (8 May 2003)

John Peel:  “...the thing is, I’ve been talking an awful lot and, er, putting in extra records and stuff, and er, so we’re slightly running out of time and I know you’ve got to get somewhere…and all  of the band and so on, erm, so perhaps if you’ll do your last number next, is that o.k.?”

Laura Cantrell: “Sure, we’d love to do that.”

John Peel: “O.k., o.k., so you can go and relax or whatever.”

Laura Cantrell: “That would be great. (Pauses).You know John, we were going to do a song for you that, erm, might connect with your past history a little bit...”

John Peel: “You’ll never walk alone?” 

(Sound of laughter)     

Laura Cantrell: “No, since you’re running out of time I won’t go into it too much, it’s called “Lee Harvey Was a Friend of Mine”.

John Peel: ”O.k. o.k…” (fades)

Song starts.

There’ll be plenty in here, both written and implied, about the massive influence that John Peel has had not only on my musical preferences, but also on football, politics, art-a whole myriad of things. For instance, I don’t really think that I would have ever have gone to Glastonbury if I didn’t know that John Peel loved the place. But a great man deserves a considered and carefully thought-out appreciation. At a suitable point I think I will dedicate a days’ worth of writing on Peel. I need to mull it over in advance however to do it justice.

Today, though I will write about Laura Cantrell and this song (and by default), something more about John Peel. It was recorded at Peel’s house (“Peel Acres”) in 2003, later on in his radio career when trips to London to record the show became problematic because of health reasons; he had been diagnosed later in life with diabetes. So this explains the chat before and after the song with Laura Cantrell. It also goes to show Peel’s influence upon me. Without John Peel I would never have heard of Laura Cantrell; and certainly would never begun to appreciate country music or early jazz. I wouldn’t have heard Laura Cantrell’s excellent radio show on WFMU org, “Radio Thrift Shop”. She hasn’t hosted her weekly show regularly for a few years, but it’s all archived on their website ready to listen to at will. She is not only a great singer-I love her voice- but an excellent broadcaster as well. Her style is so laid back that it’s worth listening to for that alone. Sometimes, after a song has finished, you  think that the station has gone off air before she starts chatting. 

Like all skilled broadcasters, (John Peel, Alastair Cooke), she has an ability to sound as if she is speaking directly to you and you alone- just chatting really. Her show usually starts with a sequence of about 20-30 minutes of music before she takes to the mic. Like Peel, she has a genuine love of music, and is so enthusiastic about sharing it. Whether it is old 78 country tunes or pre-war jazz. Interspersed with the music is Laura Cantrell chatting about local things as well (weather, traffic, events etc). Who’d have thought that you’d be able to listen to this music broadcast from New York to Liverpool 4 in the comfort of your front room without boxes and boxes of radio ham equipment?               

However, as I mentioned, Laura Cantrell is a great singer as well- and her relaxed, conversational style as a D.J. comes across when she picks up a song. Any one of her albums are worth hearing; I couldn’t recommend one over another. This track though, is from an early mini album, “The Hello Recordings”, and in this instance she is playing it live. It is, as can be inferred from the title, about Lee Harvey Oswald, and is written from the point-of-view of a fictional 12 year-old from Dallas. This child is full of disbelief, “...he used to take me fishing…they say he shot the President...Lee Harvey was friend of mine.” It is a well -crafted song and like a good short story, is written from an unexpected viewpoint. With her matter-of-fact voice Laura Cantrell carries it off well.

(The link with John Peel is that in 1963 he was working as a D.J. for a local station in Dallas, WRR. On the day off Oswald’s arraignment-and subsequent shooting by Jack Ruby- he worked his way into the hearing on the pretence of being English that he was a reporter for the Liverpool Echo. There is newsreel footage of a very young John Peel as Oswald was led away just before he was shot dead. He also met JFK on a couple of occasions).              

Song ends.

Applause.

John Peel: “Somewhere in this house is the video that has Harvey Oswald and me in the same frame and…who wrote that song?”

Laura Cantrell: “You know, I’m not actually sure who wrote that song, it was done by a guy called Homer Henderson who was a street musician, from, I think, Texas in the 80’s so..”

John Peel: “Well, o.k. Thanks very much for doing it and thanks very much for coming along and I hope that you do this again, it’s been a treat.”

Laura Cantrell: “John, we’ll be here any time you ask us.”

More applause.

John Peel: “Another great night at Peel Acres.”

Laura Cantrell recorded one more session for John Peel at his Christmas show at Peel Acres on 23^rd December 2003. He sadly died on 25 October 2004 whilst on a working trip in Peru.

Get/read Totally Shuffled here:

In the U.K:

 http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00CJYZ3CA 

or in the U.S.:

http://www.amazon.com/Totally-Shuffled-Listening-Broken-ebook/dp/B00CJYZ3CA

In praise of John Peel

extract from  "Totally Shuffled: A Year of Listening to Music on a broken iPod"  

“Do you ever have a night when you don’t dream about The Fall?”

(This is clearly not a song or a tune on the iPod but it is something that is on there and has just shuffled up. It’s shown as “unknown track-unknown artist” and lasts only a couple of seconds. It’s far from being an unknown artist to me-it’s a brief audio snippet of John Peel, and I guess it was him introducing a track from The Fall. I don’t know when it was broadcast or what track it referred to, but for those brief few seconds it’s like being transported back in time).

There are two ways I could use this track. I could either write about The Fall or John Peel. Or both, I suppose. Whilst I am surprised that I’ve got all the way through to mid-August without a Fall track shuffling up, I’m sure that there will be one along before the year is out. Like buses-there’ll be another one in a minute. This clip of Peel may be the only time that it shows up, so I think I’ll go with that. I haven’t done an analysis of what I’ve written so far (I’ve not even re-read any of it or done any editing), but I think that John Peel must have been mentioned at least once a week since I started this back in January, so it’s fairly obvious that John Peel was a very significant influence upon my musical tastes. I can’t remember when exactly I started listening to Peel, although I’m fairly sure that I didn’t regularly tune into his show back in the seventies, when he’d play the whole of a Pink Floyd album in one go. I think that I must have started tuning in about 76/77 during the advent of punk. From then on in every Monday to Thursday, 10 until midnight, was reserved for hearing a whole panoply of music. I genuinely believe that without John Peel’s influence I wouldn’t have learned to love all the different sorts of music that I do now. Blues, doo-wop, reggae, soul-even Pink Floyd. I think that I may have still got into The Fall, but I can’t really be sure. Listening to John Peel and his clear love of music, beneath his sometimes grumpy exterior, was the best education I ever had. I know this sounds completely over-the-top and something I think he would have snorted derisorily at, but I think my attitudes to so many things, and not only music, would have turned out very differently if I’d never heard his broadcasts. I probably wouldn’t have been as into music as much as I am and wouldn’t have considered approaching it with the same regard that he did. I would have either been not bothered about music (like those people who when you ask them what sort of music do they like they respond with a “oh, all sorts really”- and you know they have a couple of Simply Red albums and a CD by Adele), or overly serious about it all. 

I cannot think of any other presenter apart from John Peel, who just loved music for what it made him feel rather than if it was fashionable or not, and didn’t see that playing records on the radio just as an interruption for “his public” from hearing his wonderful voice. If I hadn’t got into music through his broadcasts, then I wouldn’t have read the books that I have or watched the films I have seen. I wouldn’t have developed the attitude to popular culture that I’ve got. I certainly wouldn’t have ever have gone to Glastonbury in 2010 if I hadn’t  heard John Peel enthusing about it, and therefore by extension not written about it which, in turn, has led to writing this. If Glastonbury was good enough for him, then I knew it would be ok for me. I wouldn’t have followed Liverpool Football Club in the manner I have. (I really wish he’d still been around for the Champions League Final in 2005). I don’t want to end this by sounding too maudlin, but every time I listen to an old recording of one of his shows I still find it hard to believe that he’s gone. There’s a certain sadness that my children will never have the chance to hear him playing the wrong record at the wrong speed live- but I’ve still got this recording and many others to treasure- and they know that he was a great man. 

Get/see Totally Shuffled here 

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Totally-Shuffled-Listening-Broken-ebook/dp/B00CJYZ3CA