A Nineteen Year Old Writes

Last year I finished an entry below with a brief recollection of the singer John Martyn who was about to return to performing after an operation. In it I mention an interview I did with John when I was a student. Within a week, the hosts of both of the John Martyn web-sites, John and Hans, had written to me asking if I had a copy of the interview. I dug it out from the alcove at the back of the spare room and posted it off.

Today, Hans put the whole thing (and a review of the album that John was touring, One World) on line. You can read it here. It’s pretty weird, reading stuff you wrote aged nineteen, with no thought of it lasting a month, 26 yers later, but, apart from my over-use of the word “somewhat’ and rather more casual drug references than I’d make now that I’m a ‘responsible’ author, it reads OK, and there’s some interesting stuff there about John’s music, views on drugs and the posthumous reputation of Nick Drake.

John’s touring in May and I’ll be rushing from an MA class to see him at Nottingham’s Royal Concert Hall.