You join us today at the mouth of the river Ness in the Highlands of Scotland, birthplace of Karen Gilan from Doctor Who & Guardians of the Galaxy; one of my favourite contemporary writers, Ali Smith; Runrig guitarist Malcolm Jones; and the Loch Ness Monster.
We're steering clear of Nessie today though and sticking to the city itself, which you'll find mentioned in Mike Scott's Long Way To The Light...
I spent the night in Glasgow
Flew to Inverness
I found the Place and at the first
I was not impressed
Nobody said hello
The faces left me cold
Back then how was I to know
All that would unfold?
Tough crowd there, Mike?
You'll also find Inverness mentioned in the sequel to Hank Snow's I've Been Everywhere... gloriously titled I Ain't Been Anywhere...
I ain't been anywhere Joe, ain't been anywhere Joe
I didn't want to go so I guess I'll never know Joe
An old stick in the mud Bud
I ain't been anywhere.
Kumquat, Limerick, Inverness, Loch Ness
Swansea, Cuanda, Colombia, Gold Coast
Edinburgh, Singapore, Galveston, Okinawa
Blarney, Killarney, Karachi, Pyongyang
Warsaw, Tarancon, Down, Libya
Goose Bay, Labrador, Outer Space, no place.
However, surely the greatest lyrical mention of Inverness comes in another song that gets about a bit... even visiting the small Norfolk village where I went on holiday last year. (And now I'm kicking myself for using this track for Inverness... what chance do I have of ever finding another song about Cley-next-the-Sea?)
Land's End at dusk
A day of churches
Her getting her hair cut
A windswept walk to Dunnet Head
Boarding a north-bound train at Inverness
A rainy Cley-next-the-Sea
Her swinging on a tyre
Me taking her picture
A station frozen in time
March stars in a Norfolk sky
407 miles down the country next week, back to my home county, but a little bit further south... it ain't New York City, that's for sure!
Alyson will be pleased with her home town getting a feature!
ReplyDeleteI put this post together very late last night so apologies to Alyson for not including her in the list of local luminaries!
DeleteAm very pleased to offer another lyrical reference to Cley-next-the-sea, from Cathal Smyth's brilliant Are The Children Happy?:
ReplyDelete"The walks on Stiffkey Marshes,
How you loved the rain upon your face.
The kitchen with the handsome Gothic door.
Your excitement when the Arsenal did score,
And the stones on Cley's grey shore."
Thank you. I didn't think to search the shorter name. D'oh.
DeleteThat Cathal Smyth track is quite lovely, I had no idea that he'd recorded a solo LP - is it all this good? It's rather baffling that he pronounces both Stiffkey and Cley incorrectly though.
ReplyDelete(I think you've neglected to add the Trembling Blue Stars link Rol).
I think blogger might have eaten it. Will replace it when I get home. In the meantime...
Deletehttps://youtu.be/qif08eo3zTc
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DeleteIn my opinion, Cathal's album is brilliant. I reviewed it at the time at http://newamusements.blogspot.com/2015/07/from-madness-to-sadness-or-greatest.html
DeleteAnd yes, shame about the pronunciation, but he's far from alone in getting those two wrong ;)
Long, long ago there was a Scottish entertainer called Harry Gordon who styled himself as "The Laird of Inversnecky". He recorded several comic songs such as "The Bells of Inversnecky", "The Inversnecky Grocer", "The Inversnecky Bus" "The Inversnecky Anthem"; well, you get the idea...
ReplyDeleteI used to hear some of his 78 rpm records as a kid and my favourite was "A Tattie, A Neep & an Ingin" (translated to English, it means "A Potato, A Turnip and An Onion").
Harry Gordon was born in Aberdeen and ever since those records, Aberdonians have referred to Inverness as Inversnecky, much to the annoyance of some Invernessians.
We'll have to ask the local expert how she feels about that.
DeleteGosh - that’s a familiar sight in the picture above! Not so keen on the lyrics from Mike Scott though - I promise if any of you ever came to visit we would be friendly. And yes Lynchie, wouldn’t be impressed by that other name for the town and all Harry Gordon’s fault.
DeleteHere’s the thing though, I’m not even in Inverness this week but in Belfast instead (a very friendly place) - Not great timing considering my mum is still in hospital but been booked for ages so decided to go for it. Will no doubt write about it next week.
Been absent from the comments boxes this week but will play catch up when I get back.
PS - Karen Gillan’s parents live down the road from us and we used to see her in school shows (she was one of the Sound Of Music children!). Also, my friend sitting next to me right now went to school with Ali Smith and remembers her well - she was very much a character and one of the drama set who wrote and performed plays.
I should have got you to write this post, Alyson.
DeleteRemembered my little film from earlier in the year if anyone is interested in making that picture at the top move.
Deletehttps://jukeboxtimemachine.com/2018/03/20/the-vernal-equinox-elo-and-mr-blue-sky/
I believe they were 15 year punks from Edinburgh but in the late 70's / early 80's, i would recommend listening to Disco Pope over Inverness though.
DeleteThe Prats - Inverness, not a patch on Disco Pope though :-)
ReplyDeleteMomus also has a song called The Laird of Inversnecky.
Will have to investigate The Prats.
DeleteI once got propositioned by a Gurkha in a pub in Inverness!
ReplyDeleteDid himalaya?
Delete(sorry)
A pun that's surely up there with D'yer maker?
DeleteVery good C!
DeleteFor the record I politely declined
Lovely to read of all the connections in Alyson's neck of the woods.
ReplyDelete