23 f 12 shots from the fRoots Rocket Launcher a dozen leading questions to fire at Roy Bailey
If you were given the funds to organise a concert bill, who would the artists be?
I’m thinking artists alive or dead. The
Weavers. Of all the folk artists that inspired me, this group has to be near the top of the list. I’d invite a man I met in Canada in the 1980s: Dave van Ronk. A voice to growl at you and charm you! With Dave, I’d bring Frankie Armstrong. I wrote the sleevenotes for an album she and Dave made of Brecht songs back in the ’80s. Their voices are per- fect for Brecht, for the anger and the love in the songs. From Australia, I’d invite Judy Small. I love her voice and her songwriting, especially on behalf of women. Tom Waits of course! There are so many people I’ve omitted and I feel guilty for their absence but a concert has to be endurable as well as enjoyable, so that’s it. Ask me again and I’ll give you a different list!
Which totally obscure record do you most treasure and would like more people to know about?
Miriam Makeba (circa 1968) on RCA. What was the best live gig you ever saw?
In 1967 Jacque Brel came to London and gave a wonderful concert at the Albert Hall. He was truly magnificent. The Great British public however, didn’t take to him. We won’t listen, or wouldn’t then, to non-English-speaking singers. He never appeared in the UK again. Our loss.
And what was the worst? While there have been concerts I
haven’t enjoyed as much as I had anticipat- ed, I don’t think I ever was so disillusioned I had to leave. I admit to getting a bit bored if I concluded the artist had nothing to say to me. I think all artists have a duty to hold a mirror to their societies. I sup- pose I think this especially of folk artists because I became involved with this music at a time when it was a cultural/political movement of a post-war generation.
What was your own best ever gig?
In 1998 my concert at the Albert Hall: ‘Roy Bailey and Friends’. Not only a stellar bunch of artists but in the audience, friends from around the world –Australia, Ameri- ca, Switzerland, Belgium and from all over England including Chris Smith, the Secre- tary of State for Culture, Media and Sport and Mo Mowlam, the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland and on stage, Tony Benn! I remember it like it was yesterday.
And what was your worst?
There have undoubtedly been concerts I have enjoyed less than others but I can’t identify ‘the worst’! Whether an audience responds well or not to me is my responsi- bility. I either manage to engage them and take them on my journey or I don’t.
What’s the professional achievement you’re most proud of?
There are two. Firstly, in 1989, I was appointed to the post of Professor and in 1991, Emeritus Professor of Sheffield Hal- lam University. And secondly, my long asso- ciation with Tony Benn. We first met in 1976 on Levellers Day, May 16th. We have been friends and worked together ever since. It is a privilege and an honour to have worked with him and consider him a friend.
What’s the most embarrassing thing you ever did in public?
As a child I lived in a house with an outside lavatory. There were no inside toi- lets for the likes of us! For some reason I cannot fathom, I believed this a private place – a place where no one could see or hear me. Why I thought the latter is beyond me! One day I went to the loo and after a while I began to sing. I sang the popular songs of the day, by the favourite singers of the day! Frankie Lane, Johnny Ray and Guy Mitchell. I sat there for an hour and sang my heart out. When com- plete and appropriately dressed I opened the door and stepped into our garden at which point the neighbours all clapped thunderously. They had been listening over various garden fences. I was mortified and embarrassed I ran into the house and to my bedroom and wouldn’t come out for ages. (I often sang in the loo after that but no one ever listened again!)
Which song or piece of music would you most like to have written yourself?
I don’t write songs or music. I have found some wonderful songs but I can’t select one to highlight. John Tams once called me an anthologist. I liked that. I’m in debt to all the writers who have allowed me to sing their songs. They have written the words and the music and I’ve tried to interpret the songs!
Who was the first musician or singer you were inspired to emulate?
Ewan MacColl. Like many others of my generation I was fascinated by the Radio Ballads of the early ’60s. They showed me that folk songs didn’t have to be of a mythical England of jolly plough- boys and the like but about a world I understood and to some extent wit- nessed. The hardship and struggle and the pride of working people, here and now. Here were songs of miners, of rail- way workers, of fishermen and more. I tried to sing the way he did. I failed. Eventually, I found my own voice. I’ve been happy with that ever since, even though as I approach 80 years I’m aware I’m losing much of the control over the notes and as for my breathing…!
Who was the last-but-one musician or singer you lusted after?
I wouldn’t tell you even if I could remember! At 78, I don’t I remember much about that sort of thing! Also, I’d embar- rass someone!
If you had a rocket launcher, who or what would be the target, and why?
I don’t like rocket launchers or rock-
ets. However, I’m not convinced they are the appropriate weapons to achieve my objective. National borders! Who drew the lines on the map? Not you or me certainly. The nation state is an institution in which lies much of our trouble. We can’t travel without ‘papers’ declaring who we are and under whose protection we reside. Border controls exist. We all live on and share this planet. We should be able to travel around the planet without fear of being ‘the stranger’ and in some way ‘a threat!’ The Nation State belongs to a bygone era. We now have it in our power to change the world. With our new means of communication people can talk to peo- ple without the intervention of state insti- tutions. And how the State hates that lack of control and desperately seek ways to claw back its power to intercede. We can develop a world where there are no bor- ders. Where we all travel freely around our planet and are made welcome. By the same token we in our turn make welcome those who visit us. Our land is your land and yours, ours. It is time to bid farewell to the Nation State. New challenges require new institutions. In the words of Jon Fromer, a songwriter from the USA, “When everyone is welcome, we will all be free”.
roybailey.net F
root salad
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