(from 2019)
For a number of years Rachael was good enough to
promote the work of Amy Goddard, a singer-songwriter from England. I say “good
enough” because I was the one who introduced Rachael to Amy’s work – which up
until now has totalled three CDs, live performances on YouTube, and now the
prompt for this post – a brand new album out at the end of this month.
It was one of those in-jokes on several levels
because Amy Goddard is my daughter. So I would write things like – “I was
invited by the family to come and see Amy Goddard.” “I’m told Amy Goddard is a
music teacher.” And my personal favourite,
“I’ve known Amy Goddard’s mother for some years…” Amy’s mother and I have our
45th wedding anniversary later this year.
There were other in-jokes too. One of my favourite
songwriters was named John Stewart. Amy was force-fed John Stewart material on
the car cassette player each day going to and from school, and the result is
her latest album, which is a tribute to his songs. There are around 700 of them
that are known, and she had to whittle the list down to 17. But in Rachael’s
extended family there was also a John Stewart; there was even a photograph of
him in a kilt many years ago on this blog. So there were in-jokes about the
John Stewart who sang. And the John Stewart who – well – didn’t.
So why didn’t I own up to who I was? I was concerned
at the time to preserve my anonymity. If it were possible to trace who I was,
then my pen-name for this blog could lead to other blogs where I used a
different handle, but could at a stretch be traced. I didn’t want that. Now, I
don’t really care. On the basis that a secret is something you tell everyone
individually, most who know me, actually know ME. I can’t see anyone else being
bothered, and anyhow, I’ve never written anything anywhere that I’m worried
about being “found out.” I might be a
bit embarrassed perhaps, but that’s about all.
Amy’s latest CD has one tribute song to John Stewart
that she has recorded before. This is a new arrangement but the rest are her
selection of his songs.
Stewart wrote and wrote. He sang with the Kingston
Trio, who were huge in America over 1958-1963, and wrote Daydream Believer for
the Monkees (whose version changed one word and missed the whole point of the
song but who listens to lyrics anyway?) and had one hit of his own with
Fleetwood Mac, called Gold. By then he was in his early 40s, and finally having
a hit, he sang it on national US TV. He was obviously ill at ease, miming away
with a tribe of scantily clad girls cavorting behind him (they shook it to the
east, they shook it to the west, and then they shook it down south). It was not
his finest hour. He almost had a breakdown afterwards and went back to writing
and the folk clubs, his real home.
For Amy this project has been a different ball game.
If you are a singer-songwriter, generally the project stands or falls by the
songs. A brilliant songwriter with a voice like bathwater escaping down the
drain (think Bob Dylan) can get away with it. Also, the fledgling
singer-songwriter provides songs that no-one else has sung, so there are no
terms of reference for comparison. But if you sing someone else’s material,
then you can either sing it, or you can’t.
Amy can. Yes, I know I’m prejudiced – both in favour
of her singing and the choice of material. So why not click the link below and
try it? You can hear a single Bringing Down the Moon and a preview of the tribute
album. In the preview you can even hear Occasional in there somewhere, but only
a correspondent like the recent Boyo would recognise it and make rude remarks.
No comments:
Post a Comment