CARDINAL
Not to be confused with The Cardinals operating in Cov in 1964 - this duo were operating c 1972 led by acoustic
guitar player Nigel Clark.
Nigel was Southam near Cov. I first met him in a non musical setting at the Butts Tech College in 1969 - we were both 18 and apprentice electricians. Nigel was apprenticed to the Electircity board and I to DF Gibbs (next to the General Wolf pub - where later I would meet Al Docker.). We were both on the Electro-technology day release course.
I became friends with Nigel as he was an intelligent guy and had a big interest in music. Although I didn't play guitar at the time - I was beginning to learn and certainly a prolific lyric writer from the age of 15. Nigel had a great interest in psychology and in the lunch hour he'd be introducing me to lots of books he'sd read - The Forgotten Language by Erich Fromm (which I read and which introduced me the symbolic language of dreams - I was already exploring Dylan's lyrics noting the use of language and this book had a bearing on my writing at that time -developing a personal form of symbolic imagery, then there was the Fundamentals of
Psychology - to get me started, followed by the Psychology of Thinking, R D Laing and so on. Later I picked a psychology mag up from the newsagents in Broadgate with its case studies. I was in admiration of Paul Simon's lyrics and these books and mags provided plenty of inspiration - later I moved into sociological lyrics when I discovered New Society and got into the Ray Davis lyrics.
I write a number of songs inspired by this and Nigel loved the lyrics and took some of them, set them to music and played them with his group at places like St. Osburg. One of his favourite was a song called The Ups and Downs in the life of Mr Toil and Strife (which now would be an embarrassment beign a very early lyric but Nigel liked it at the time and played it. I never got to one of the gigs where they played it unfortunately but Nigel left the Electricity Board and Came to DF Gibbs. Here he introduced he lent me Dyland and Beatles songbooks to encourage my guitar playing and songwriting, introduced me to the 12 bar blues (he would bring his guitar into Gibbs) and the alerted me to the new Joni Mitchell single - Chelsea Morning -which led to me buying here albums and adding yet another source of inspiration lyrically.
I didn't see Nigel for a couple of years after we both left Gibbs but bumped into him outside the Lanch Poly in 1972, By then I was healvily involved with organising bands at the Umbrella Club and just starting my first experiment mixed media session - The Humpoesic Happening at the Umbrella and booked his band Cardinal for a gig. Cardinal had a residency at a pub in Southam but continued playing gigs in folk clubs and anywhere really, including parties. It would be a mixture of covers and their own material. I kept in contact for a while - swopping riffs on the guitar. I'd written a spoof blues song called The Rubber Frog, Spotty Hogg Blews with Steve Brimstone - Derek's son - just a bit of fun - and Nigel worked on it too - it was fast becoming a communal song with different people adding in a verse. Nigel taught how to play a suitable 12 bar riff to it. Then we lost contact again and that's about all I can tell you about Cardinal.
The Rubber Frogg Spotty Hogg Blews song began as a bit of fun during a silly hour at the Shilton Cottage 1972 and the early version written up by Steve Brimstone in my Communication books - not meant to be taken at seriously by even us. Inspiration came from Captain Beefheart's Trout Mouth Replica album and sometimes we could be heard mumbling some of the quips from the album "Fast and Baulbous" etc! So it was very much in the spirit of that. Yet in some ways this became a communal song - with inputs also from the Umbrella club's Pete Webb and a musical input from Nigel Clarke. Here's the original from the communication book as as a pic and the later communal version.
The Rubber Frogg Spotty Hogg Blews
by Trev Teasdel, Steve Brimstone, Pete Webb, Nigel Clarke (1972)
Woke up did mornin'
Dusted my Rubber Frogg
Well, I woke up dis mornin'
Yeah, dusted my Rubber Frogg.
Goin' down the Railroad
Me an my Spotty Hogg.
Well I went past de churchyard
Turd turned in it's grave
Yeah I went past de churchyard,
Turd turned in it's grave
You know I should have known better
than to stand right by and wave.
Oh Mop my sweaty brow momma....
Yeah I went out dis even'
shot my derringer dogg
Yeah, went out dis even'
shot my derringer dogg
I sped down de highway
me and my Potty Trogg.
Oh Rock on Rubber Frogg.
I woke up dis mornin'
Shaved my hairy tongue
Yeah, went out dis mornin'
shaved my hairy tongue.
I slid down the staircase
wiv my bald-headed tongue.
Oh take it to the dry cleaners babe
My fairy godmom saw me
A star-topped waving wand.
Yeah my fairy godmom saw me
He hair was filthy and was blond
Den I woke my eyes to mornin' light
An seen I musta been conned.
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