as a public service, following is a full report on Richard's recent remarkable gig at the Getty Museum in L.A.
entitled, "They Could Have Been Hits: One Thousand Years of Also-Rans"
Friday, October 19, 2001. Harold M. Williams Auditorium.
Richard was sometimes accompanied by percussionist John Densmore, and was joined occasionally by vocalist Judith Owen. The Getty projected huge slides on the screen in back, which were really wonderful, as Richard's songs were often quite historical.
As the witnesses of R's last Getty concert know, he starts in the far past and ends up with songs from the present.
[the following is taken from notes scrawled hastily in the dark -- there was no list of songs on the program. And often I can't read my own writing! So forgive any mistakes or imprecision.]
1. "The World is Blissfully Lost" [?] -- from 1200 A.D. or so.
2. "Orazzio Vecci (I Know a Lucy Fellow)," [?] an Italian song.
3. "Leaned Back Against an Oak" (first line) -- a "Cruel Mother" ballad from Scotland. Richard gave a longish explanation of this one. A mother has twins in the woods, then kills them with a knife. Later, she is married, and looking out the window, sees two lovely young children playing. "Who are you?" she asks. "Any mother would be happy to have such children as you." They reply, "We're your children who you murdered in the woods." The ghost children then describe how the mother will fry in hell for a long, long time.
4. "Lament of Dido," by Henry Purcell, from Dido and Aeneas. "When I Am Laid in Earth," first line. A well-known and lovely song. Judith sang solo on this one, while Richard accompanied.
5. "A Begging I Will Go," (first line), a folk song.
6. "Black Leg Miner," a folk song. A black leg miner is a scab, and the song described the bad things that would happen to him. We're now in industrial England.
7. "Shenandoah." This was a thrilling moment for me, as Shenandoah is one of my favorite songs. Richard apologized for singing one of "our" songs -- no need, Richard. I think we're all one big Anglo-American tradition.
8. Trafalgar Song. A hilarious English music hall song about living as a tramp in Trafalgar Square. Admiral Nelson has a huge statue there, and the last line is, "If it's good enough for Nelson, it's good enough for me."
9. "Why Have My Loved Ones Gone?" by Stephen Foster. Strange, I don't remember ever hearing this lovely tune.
10. A song about old age, from the Mikado, by Gilbert and Sullivan. To my shame, I don't know the Mikado well enough to get the proper name. A duet with Judith. Gilbert and Sullivan must be a favorite of Richard, because he did one of their songs then, too.
11. "Trapped in my Rocking Chair," [?] by Hoagy Carmichael. Richard says there's a version of this with Louis Armstrong. "It doesn't get any better than that," he said. "Sweet Harriet . . . chariot . . .trouble I've seen."
12. "Orange Colored Sky." That's all I've got in my notes! Sorry, don't have more info.
13. "Hobo Bill," by Jimmie Rodgers. A very sad song that reflects the great depression in America, I think.
14. Cry Me a River. A lovely version of this with Judith.
15. Raise Your Glass. Richard just played a fragment of this, but it sounded like early, 50s rock. So now we've entered the rock era.
16. "It's a Legal Matter," by the Who. Richard said that the Who were very, very big when he was growing up. Pete must have been in an anti-marriage mood when he wrote it, Richard observed.
17. "Tempted By the Fruit of Another." This is the "Richard plays weird, cheesy rock songs" part of the evening. Last time it was Britney Spears and Abba.
18. "Kiss," by Prince, ended the main show.
ENCORE
If I remember right, Richard gave a little speech here, mentioning the "tough times" America had been through recently, and complimenting America for the great freedoms enjoyed here, not available in many other lands.
19. "When You Walk Through a Storm," by Rogers and Hammerstein, from Carousel. The full "cast of thousands" ensemble (Richard, John and Judith) helped on this. Strangely enough, Richard does a great version of "When You Walk"-- on the face of it not the kind of song you'd associate with the writer of "Psycho Street," "Fire in the Engine Room," or "The End of the Rainbow". I've heard him perform it before, on KCRW. He does simple arpeggios on the guitar and really builds toward the end. As Richard performs it, it has a wonderful folk song, hymn-like quality. A very inspiring end to an inspiring evening.
I don't think anyone will mind if I reproduce Richard's funny liner notes here. If so, just mention it when you contact me about the guitar tuning position, Richard, and I'll take them off.
THEY COULD HAVE BEEN HITS: ONE THOUSAND YEARS OF ALSO-RANS
We had great fun last year -- possibly at the expense of the audience -- with our show "One Thousand Years of Popular Music," so I thought something similar might be appropriate this time. Someone paid me the back handed compliment of declaring that the show did not lack for ambition; I have taken this stinging rebuke somewhat to heart, and this year, in spite of the snappy title, we will limit ourselves to a mere nine hundred years of Western musical history.
I feel a kindly service has been performed to the audience in skipping over the heavy moralizing of Saint Godric (eleventh century), and we commence our odyssey with good old "Anon," working our way up to the latter-day troubadours of the twenty-first century. On our journey, we shall pass through moods blithe and troubled, bawdy and sacred. As I am unqualified to sing 90 percent of the music on the show, let me stress here that the songs are intended to be the stars this evening; as fashions change and the baby gets thrown out with the bath water, we forget how appealing some of the old stuff can be.
Bear with me this evening if I try to find a few selections that reflect on recent tragedies -- for the good of my own heart I need to express some thoughts of patriotism, spiritual uplift, and human values. I hope you will join in as the mood takes you.
Best wishes,
Richard Thompson
RICHARD THOMPSON -- THE FACTS
I grew up in part-leafy, party-grungy Tufnell Park, London. They were fixing some of Uncle Adolf's craters well into the '60s. I drank Tizer and read The Beano. I wore short trousers until age eleven, when I started to play in "Beat" groups. I was in a popular folk combo for five years, which has haunted me ever since ("Didn't you used to be in Fairport Convention?"), and I realize that Fame is how often you are on the Letterman Show ("Saw you on TV in 1982 -- where on earth have you been?"). My ambition is to win a hard-boiled egg-eating contest.
