Note - as part of the redevelopment of this site - there is now a post about wandering John on Hobo Coventry A to Z of bands - here https://sites.google.com/site/bandsfromcoventry/coventry-bands-a-to-z/coventry-bands-w/wandering-john
One of my favourite Coventry bands around 1970 was Wandering John.
I knew guitarist John Alderson from childhood, our parents were friends but I went to boarding school and on my return discovered that he'd become an excellent blues guitarist, electric and acoustic - on dobro - and still going strong I note with Tim James. John Gravenor was the charismatic lead singer ( he had a distictive voice in my opinion) and Ade Taylor on bass and Alan the drummer. One of my favourites was a cover of Taj Mahal's Statesbro Blues. (Originally done by Blind Willie McTell). I loved it so much that walking home from a Wandering John concert I wrote a lyric called Middlesbro' Blues - an English version I suppose! I had a sticker from the GEC, where I worked at the time that said Middlesbrough on my song book! I had no idea where Middlesbrough was back then but bloody hell, I ended up doing my degree in Middlesbrough! Should have called it California blues - I might have ended up somewhere more exotic! I lost the lyric long before moving and so can't tell if it was a good description! John Alderson taught me the rudiments of Davy Graham's / Bert Jansch's Anji and contribute some cartoon character sketches for Hobo (which will appear here somewhere). I hung out with Ade Taylor for a while and he taught me to do barre chords - I practised all night and in the morning could play the Band's version of Dylan's I Shall be Released - replete with barre chords. Another favourite Wandering John song was Image of Ezrawhich Ade had written. He wrote them in my communication book after the group split up. I'd thought there were more lyrics to it than this but they must have been repeated! Pity there are no tapes of Wandering John - as CD or a My Space for them would have been good - although I believe there were some live tapes from the Lanch Polytechnic gig c 1971 - they were to be used for an album before the band split but were considered not clear enough. In this digital age, perhaps they could be enhanced if they still exist!! Coming soon to this blog, an article on Wandering John and a band profile in the band directory section.
IMAGE OF EZRA By Dave Sullivan, Ade Taylor & John Gravenor performed by Wandering John)
Confusion raised her coloured head
And messed my mind with amber thoughts
I drifted thro’ a purple haze
Where nothing’s found and nothing’s sought.
Chorus
Then I looked into the gilded mirror
Standing there was the Image of Ezra.
NOTE - Ade Taylor e mailed this note for Image of Ezra
"Image Of Ezra"
which I based on a poem written by Dave Sullivan. I have another verse for you and, maybe John G. has another? The song should be credited to Dave, myself and John A. who wrote the music for it!
John Alderson and John Gravenor had a second band - an acoustic blues outfit called Last Fair Deal ( named after the Robert Johnson song - Last Fair Deal Gone Down). John Alderson played a Dobro, John Gravenor sand and John Westacott of another Coventry group - Whistler - later Zoastra and Urge (late 70's) played harmonica. I'm pleased to see Last Fair Deal is still going in a new form with John Alderson and Tim James (former lead man in the 70's Avant Garde Jazz outfit Ra Ho Tep) - Last Fair Deal
My favourite of theirs was a country blues called -
LOUSIANNA BLUES
(Country Blues song sang by Last Fair Deal C. 1970)
Well I’m goin’ to
Maybe behind the sun.
Well I’m goin’ to
Maybe behind the sun.
I just found out, my trouble just began
Well I’m goin’ to
Give me a mojo hand
Well I’m goin’ to
Give me a mojo hand
I’m gonna teach all dem women
What they don’t understand.
Well if da river was whisky
Da was a divin’ duck
Well if da river was whisky
Da was a divin’ duck
I’d dive to de bottom,
Ah drink my way back up.
That last verse is an example of the The Poetry of the Blues
(Check out this essay by
Francis Newton (AKA Historian Eric Hobsbawm) on my Outlet site.
A couple of days before Christmas 2006 I had two great packages in the
post, Tim James sent me some copies of his visit to BBC Radio Coventry
with John Alderson,, John Gravener sent me a disc with a copy of his
work in progress..Take My Pulse... with a version of JJ Cale;s
Sensitive Kind, onee of my all time favourites
Posted by: BroadgateGnome | 01/10/2007 at 07:51 PM
actually it was 2005 I didnt manage Christmas last year due to health and housing problems
Posted by: BroadgateGnome | 01/10/2007 at 08:18 PM