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
This excellent article - entitled John Wandered came from Coventry's first Alternative magazine The Broadgate Gnome. Wandering John was one of the best Coventry bands of the early 1970's, featuring John Gravenor on Vocals, Ade Taylor bass, John Alderson on Guitars, and Al Warder (Thanks to Neil for the reminder) on drums. Later Jim Pryal (links to his current band INFERNO) on drums. This was published shortly after they split up when all kinds of music collective ideas were emerging. Unfortunately the BroadgateGnome ceased shortly after too. John Gravenor's new band featured Neol Davies (later of Two Tone Fame) and Roy Butterfield (Ex- Indian Summer)
R |
umours have been about in musical circles for the past few weeks, suggesting that Wandering John were no longer together. A ‘phone call to bass guitarist – Ade Taylor confirmed the rumours. He told me that John Gravenor had in fact left and that the remaining three were seeking an organist / singer. The band will not be working together again. Everything’s off. Determined to get more facts, I finally traced John in a city centre café. “I’m forming a new band, a band that will really be it. Dave Fawkes, my manager, has been approaching a number of likely musicians, looking for a good team. So far he has Neol Davis (ex Mead) and Roy Butterfield (ex Indian Summer) and he has had them doing some really gruelling practices out at the university. I hear that they are two brilliant leads that together are just fantastic. Drums and bass haven’t been finalised yet. We’re trying out a few this weekend.
We’re not planning any work yet. We’re going to fill a couple bookings that Wandering John were contracted to do, but when we have fulfilled these obligations, we’ll be concentrating on getting it together. Dave is hustling financial backers at the moment and mumbling a lot about some cottage in the country.
I asked John bout why he left the other band, and what happened about the proposed LP, ‘Music to Throw Bombs
To’ It was a cop out regards the LP. Dave had fixed it up with a friend of his
to make these albums and was going to push them out on his own specially created label ‘Pig Mother’. Everything was set to go, all we needed was some tapes, so we decided to do these at the Lanchester. Unfortunately one of the bass cabinets was left unplugged, blowing the other one. Then the PA blew and then we could only do short set. The recorded tapes were good but unrecordable. I finally split with the others because we were constantly playing the same old round, which was a drag. The others turned down a couple of bookings that would have got us more into other fields like the college circuit. The others are good musicans and good lads, but I really want to get into something bigger. It’s going to be quite a gas, if nothing else.
Wandering did a cracking version of Statesbro Blues - made popular in the late 60's by Taj Mahal and featured on the sampler - The Rock Machine Turns you On (or one of the Rock Machine albums). The song was written in 1928 by Blind Willie McTell and these are the original lyrics to the song.
STATESBRO BLUES - by Blind Willie McTell
Wake up mama, turn your lamp down low
Wake up mama, turn your lamp down low
Have you got the nerve to drive papa McTell from your door
My mother died and left me reckless, my daddy died and left me wild, wild, wild
Mother died and left me reckless, daddy died and left me wild, wild, wild
No, I'm not good lookin', I'm some sweet woman's angel child
You're a mighty mean woman, to do me this a-way
You're a mighty mean woman, to do me this a-way
Going to leave this town, pretty mama, going away to stay
I once loved a woman, better than I ever seen
I once loved a woman, better than I ever seen
Treat me like I was a king and she was a doggone queen
Sister, tell your brother, brother tell your auntie, auntie, tell your uncle, uncle tell my cousin, cousin tell my friend
Goin' up the country, mama, don't you want to go?
May take me a fair brown, may take me one or two more
Big Eighty
left Savannah, Lord, and did not stop
You ought to saw that colored fireman when he got that boiler hot
Reach over in the corner, hand me my travelin' shoes
You know by that, I got them Statesboro blues
Sister got 'em, daddy got 'em
Brother got 'em, mama got 'em
Woke up this morning, we had them Statesboro blues
I looked over in the corner, grandpa and grandma had 'em too
To read an article on the The Poetry of the Blues on Trev's Outlet site. The article is brill written by Francis Newton (the pen name of Historian Eric Hobsbawm) from his book The Jazz Age. Here's the intro -
"The Poetry of the Blues is unique with the unique talent of its original practitioners for making poetry out of words of one syllable. The blues are unquestionably the finest body of living folk-poetry in the modern industrial world. They consist mainly of 5 stressed rhyming couplets with the first line repeated, which are combined, modified and augmented to taste. Like other folk-poetry they are concerned almost exclusively with straightforward statements, questions or appeals and not at all with literary ornamentation. Even their similes are used for precision and not evocation."
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