Richard Thompson: Goodbye Television Centre BBC Four Sessions

# Oh, blow down this house of cards

# Oh, blow down this house of cards

# Oh, blow down this house of cards... #

# Well, I'm so tired of working every day

# Now the weekend's come I'm gonna throw my troubles away

# If you've got the cab fare, mister, you'll do all right

# I want to see the bright lights tonight

# There's crazy people running all over town

# There's a silver band Just marching up and down

# The wide boys are all spoiling for a fight

# I want to see the bright lights tonight

# Meet me at the station Don't be late

# I need to spend some money and it just won't wait

# Take me to the dance and hold me tight

# I want to see the bright lights tonight... #

Bright lights! Peter Zorn.

SAX SOLO

# A couple of drunken nights rolling on the floor

# Is just the kind of mess I'm looking for

# I'm gonna dream 'til Monday comes in sight

# I want to see the bright lights tonight

# Meet me at the station Don't be late

# I need to spend some money and it just won't wait

# Take me to the dance and hold me tight

# I want to see the bright lights tonight

# Take me to the dance and hold me tight

# I want to see the bright lights tonight. #

My daughter, Kami Thompson.

APPLAUSE

She'll be back. She'll be back.

I'm sure of that.

# I can't eat and I can't sleep

# Knowing that you're on your midnight creep

# I can't jump

# I can't jive

# Knowing that you want me dead or alive

# There's no halfway with you

# You see red, white and blue

# What holds your head on could use another screw

# Well, come on, do your worst, boy

# That's the way, that's the way

# Hit me where it hurts, boy

# That's the way, that's the way

# Puff until you burst, boy

# That's the way, that's the way

# But I'll never give it up I'll never give it up

# I'll put you in my loser file

# I don't need your reptile smile

# You look better out of range

# Stare at somebody else for a change

# When the sky fell in, you cried

# And blackness welled inside

# And how your little brain got twisted and fried

# Come on, do your worst, boy

# That's the way, that's the way

# Hit me where it hurts, boy

# That's the way, that's the way

# Puff until you burst, boy

# That's the way, that's the way

# But I'll never give it up I'll never give it up

# You're someone I can't help betray

# You know you built me up that way

# That way

# Hey-ey-ey, hey-ey-ey Hey-ey-ey-ey

# Well, I don't run I don't care

# Some day we're gonna meet somewhere

# You and me will rock and roll

# When you crawl out of your sick little hole

# So give me what you've got

# Put your money in the pot

# Let's see what you are and what you're not

# Well, come on, do your worst, boy

# That's the way, that's the way

# Hit me where it hurts, boy

# That's the way, that's the way

# Puff until you burst, boy That's the way, that's the way

# But I'll never give it up I'll never give it up

# But I'll never give it up I'll never give it up. #

APPLAUSE

This is a song off our new record. This is called Good Things Happen To Bad People.

# Sweet thing, believe me

# You'll never deceive me

# You stared me down without blinking

# That's when I really started thinking

# You must have been running around

# You must have been running around

# Cos you were smiling

# Your friends say you're antsy

# For something fancy

# Like a caged bird that's broken free

# You want to fly high and mess on me

# Well, I know you've got a secret or two

# Your hair's in a brand new do

# And you're so happy

# Good things happen to bad people

# Good things happen to bad people

-# But only

-But only

-But only

-But only

# For a whi-i-ile

# You cried the day I walked you down the aisle

# And I know you've been bad

# From the way you smile

# Mona Lisa

# What a teaser

# What's that strange cologne I'm smelling

# You know more than you're telling

# Well, I know you've been running around

# I know you've been running around

# Cos you're so ha-a-appy

# Good things happen to bad people

# Good things happen to bad people

-# But only

-But only

-# But only

-But only

-For a whi-i-ile

# You cried the day I walked you down the aisle

# And I know you've been bad

# From the way you smile

# Good things happen to bad people

# Good things happen to bad people

-# But only

-But only

-But only

-But only

# For a whi-i-ile

# You cried the day I walked you down the aisle

# And I know you've been bad

# From the way you smile. #

APPLAUSE

Thank you.

This next song is, um, interesting contextually.

BBC is closing this place down.

And moving lock, stock and barrel to Salford.

And, um, this is a song about old Salford, Salford when it was a bit more of an industrial town,

a bit more LS Lowry.

Lots more chimneys and smoke and grit and grime.

Back in the '60s when Fairport used to play up at Salford University on a regular basis.

A song called Salford Sunday.

# Salford Sunday

# Skies are weeping

# Dawn is creeping

# Through the blind

# Salford Sunday

# And I'm aching

# For the night

# I left behind

# Salford Sunday

# Morning after

# Bass drum beating

# In my head

# Sunday papers

# Talking scandal

# And a cold side of the bed

# For I left

# A weeping willow

# She should be

# Lying on my pillow

# If I wasn't such a hard nose

# Such a perfect

# Waste of time

# Salford Sunday

# And I'm dreaming

# And it's all

# In black and white

# I do better When I'm dreaming

# Better than

# I did last night

# Salford Sunday

# And I'm walking

# Through the rain

# It's pelting down

# There's a train goes back to London

# I hate to leave

# This ugly town

# For I left

# A weeping willow

# She should be

# Lying on my pillow

# If I wasn't such a hard nose

# Such a perfect

# Waste of time

# Salford Sunday

# Skies are weeping

# Dawn is creeping

# Through the blind

# Salford Sunday

# And I'm aching

# For the night

# I left behind

# For the night

# I left behind. #

APPLAUSE

Thank you.

Please welcome my very special guest, Dave Swarbrick!

CHEERS AND APPLAUSE

DAVE WARMS UP

Yeah, that sort of thing.

Dave and I used to be in a group together.

In the early '70s.

Hey!

Don't go there, don't go there.

CHEERS

Well, we could.

But we have some fine selections for you here. The first tune is a medley.

-The first tune's Wishing. What's the other one?

-Wishing, yeah.

-What's the second tune called?

-Victor's Return.

-The third tune?

-The Gravel Path To Granny.

The Gravel Path To...To Granny?!

This is off a wonderful album I did with Swarbrick and some other old Fairport people, Smiddyburn,

which is undoubtedly in your collections. Never off your turntables.

GENTLE, LYRICAL PLAYING

TEMPO PICKS UP

Yeah!

CHEERS AND APPLAUSE

Dave Swarbrick!

APPLAUSE CONTINUES

# Oh, play me a blues song and fade down the light

# I'm sad as a proud man can be sad tonight

# Just let me dream on Oh, just let me sway

# While the sweet violins and the saxophones play

# And, Miss, you don't know me But can't we pretend

# That we care for each other

# 'Til the band reach the end

# One step for aching

# And two steps for breaking

# Waltzing's for dreamers and losers in love

# One step for sighing

# And two steps for crying

# Waltzing's for dreamers and losers in love

# Now they say love's for gamblers

# The pendulum swings

# I bet hard on love and I lost everything

# So don't send me home now

# Put a shot in my arm

# And we'll drink out old memories

# And we'll drink in the dawn

# And Mr Bandleader Won't you play one more time

# For I've good folding money

# In this pocket of mine

# One step for aching

# And two steps for breaking

# Waltzing's for dreamers and losers in love

# One step for sighing

# Two steps for crying

# Waltzing's for dreamers and losers in love

# And, Miss, you don't know me

# But can't we pretend

# That we care for each other

# 'Til the band reach the end

# One step for aching

# And two steps for breaking

# Waltzing's for dreamers and losers in love

# One step for sighing

# Two steps for crying

# Waltzing's for dreamers and losers in love

# Waltzing's for dreamers

# And losers in love. #

APPLAUSE

Mr Dave Swarbrick. Kami Thompson. Thank you.

Get the band back on now.

The exciting, um, wimp trio.

Cos we're not a power trio. We're sort of a folky wimp trio.

But we're proud to be that way.

This is another song off our new record. This is called Stony Ground.

# Old man Morris got it bad last week

# Fell for the widow from across the street

# She clipped him in the ear and she told him what's what

# But he couldn't keep his mind off her honey pot

# Oh, silly old man with his teeth all gone

# Poking his nose where it don't belong

# She's a rose all right but she's got thorns

# You're working on stony ground

# Lost his heart to Buxom Betty

# Throwing out the compliments like confetti

# Left and right he threw them all around

# But everything was landing on stony ground

# Silly old man with his teeth all gone

# Poking his nose where it don't belong

# She's a rose all right but she's got thorns

# You're working on stony ground

# Widow's got a brother Henchman, too

# A pair of gorillas from London Zoo

# They call on Morris and they tell him what's what

# But he can't keep his mind off her honey pot

# Silly old man with his teeth all gone

# Poking his nose where it don't belong

# She's a rose all right but she's got thorns

# You're working on stony ground

# Well, they kicked him in the head Poked him in the eye

# Shoved him in the gutter and there he lies

# Dripping with blood Dripping with snot

# But he's still dreaming of her you-know-what

# Silly old man with his teeth all gone

# Poking his nose where it don't belong

# She's a rose all right but she's got thorns

# You're working on stony ground

# You're working on stony ground

# Stony ground, stony ground Stony ground, stony ground

# Stony ground, stony ground

# Stony ground, stony ground... #

APPLAUSE

Thank you.

Thank you very much.

# Sally B, oh, Sally B

# Oh, you make my heart flutter

# Will you drag me from the gutter, Sally B

# Sally B, oh, Sally B I'm a working man truly

# But you know how to woo me, Sally B

# Sally B, oh, Sally B Now the bank's repossessing

# It's hard times I'm guessing, Sally B

# Oh, you've got the style that touches the people

# You've got the style

# Oh, you've got the style that touches the people

# Sally B

# They talk down south without moving their mouth

# And the houses are old antebellum

# There you'll find supporters Revolutionary daughters

# Who'll believe anything that you tell 'em

# Oh, Sally B, oh, Sally B Who needs all them books

# When you've got them looks Oh, Sally B

# Sally B, oh, Sally B Now the crown of thorns suits you

# You're my hope for the future Sally B

# Now you've got the style that touches the people

# You've got the style

# You've got the style that touches the people, Sally B

# The crazies are raving So keep the flag waving

# It still hypnotises the masses

# How many stumpers could cause such a rumpus

# With a smile and a shake of the chassis

# Sally B, oh, Sally B Now you talk so down homey

# You talk like you know me, Sally B

# Sally B, oh, Sally B Your blue eyes are steely

# But you smile so sincerely, Sally B

# Sally B, oh, Sally B With the gifts that God gave you

# Will you be my saviour, Sally B

# Sally B, oh, Sally B Oh, you make my heart flutter

# Will you drag me from the gutter, Sally B? #

CHEERS AND APPLAUSE

Thank you.

I'd like to bring on an old friend. Mr Pete Zorn!

This song is about, um... It's probably set in the 1980s

and it's about a tramp on the streets of London, WWII veteran,

and he dreams back to the war when he was treated more decently, when he was more of a hero.

And he remembers going to the Cafe Royal

to hear one of his favourite singers, Al Bowlly, a very popular singer of the '30s and '40s.

Al Bowlly was killed in an air raid during WWII, hence the title is

Al Bowlly's In Heaven And I'm In Limbo Now.

# We were heroes then

# And the girls were all pretty

# And a uniform

# Was a lucky charm

# It brought you the key to the city

# We used to dance Al Bowlly would sing

# Love Is The Sweetest Thing

# Al Bowlly's in heaven

# And I'm in limbo now

# I gave my youth

# To king and country

# But what's my country done for me

# But sentenced me to misery

# I traded my helmet and my parachute

# For a pair of crutches

# And a demob suit

# Al Bowlly's in heaven

# And I'm in limbo now

# Hard times Oh, hard, hard times

# Hostels and missions and dossers' soup lines

# Can't close my eyes on a bench or a bed

# For the sound of some battle raging in my head

# Old friends

# You lose so many

# You get run around all over town

# The wear and the tear It just drives you down

# St Mungo's with its dirty old sheets

# Beats standing all day down on Scarborough Street

# Al Bowlly's in heaven

# I'm in limbo now

# Can't stay here You got to foot-slog

# Once in a blue moon you might find a job

# Sleep in the rain or you sleep in the snow

# When the beds are all taken You've got nowhere to go

# Well, I can see me now

# I'm back there on the dance floor

# With a blonde on me arm Redhead to spare

# Spit on my shoes and shine in my hair

# And there's Al Bowlly He's up on the stand

# Oh, that was a voice That was a band

# Al Bowlly's in heaven

# and I'm in limbo-o-o-o...

..now. #

APPLAUSE

Pete Zorn, the alto solo,

Taras Prodaniuk on the bass solo, Michael Jerome on drums.

So it's going to be very sad to see this turned into penthouse apartments.

Probably none of us will be able to afford to live here. I understand it'll be a sort of BBC museum,

which will be quite fun. Where are the Daleks going to go?

They've moved the Blue Peter garden. It's already up in Salford.

Yeah, yeah. That's rather emotional, I think. A very emotional thing.

But they didn't do Blue Peter in here, did they? It's too big.

If the animals got loose, they'd be gone. Giant pythons roaming around White City.

# I've seen trouble from every direction

# My old head is peppered with grey

# I could never resist life's temptations

# Oh, they just seemed to fall in my way

# I've had wives and I treated them badly

# And maybe a lover or two

# At the time though I didn't know it

# I was saving the good stuff for you

# I was saving the good stuff for you, darling

# Saving the good stuff for you

# There was some part of me knew, darling

# To save the good stuff for you

# And I even thought on occasion

# It was love that was making me blue

# Oh, some kind of love Well, I called it love

# Maybe fatal attraction will do

# But I got it all out of my system

# Now my heart it is tested and true

# All the time, though I didn't know it

# I was saving the good stuff for you

# I was saving the good stuff for you, darling

# Saving the good stuff for you

# There was some part of me knew, darling

# To save the good stuff for you

# And I'm glad that you never did know me

# When I was out of control

# I was hollow right there in the middle

# Some people got sucked in the hole

# But I cut myself loose from the old ways

# Now you're all that I'm clinging to

# All the time, though I didn't know it

# I was saving the good stuff for you

# I was saving the good stuff for you, darling

# Saving the good stuff for you

# There was some part of me knew, darling

# To save the good stuff for you

# I was saving the good stuff for you. #

APPLAUSE

We're going to leave you with this musical thought.

And... I love this. People out of the audience!

This is my daughter-in-law Paulina.

APPLAUSE

To show how phenomenally even more talented we are than you thought we were.

# It was three in the morning when she took me apart

# She wrecked the furniture She wrecked my heart

# She danced on my head like Arthur Murray

# The scars ain't never going to mend in a hurry

# Just when I think I could learn to forget her

# Right through the door comes a tear-stained letter

# Oh, oh, oh Love, love

# Cry, cry if it makes you feel better

# Set it all down in a tear-stained letter

# Oh, oh, oh Love, love

# Cry, cry If it makes you feel better

# Set it all down in a tear-stained letter

# My head was beating like a song by The Clash

# Writing cheques that my body couldn't cash

# Got to my knees I was reeling and dizzy

# I went for the phone but the line was busy

# Just when I think things are getting better

# Right through the door comes a tear-stained letter

# Oh, oh, oh Love, love

# Cry, cry if it makes you feel better

# Set it all down in a tear-stained letter

# Oh, oh, oh Love, love

# Cry, cry if it makes you feel better

# Set it all down in a tear-stained letter

# Well, I like coffee and I like tea

# I just don't like this fiddle-de-dee

# It makes me nervous Gives me the hives

# Waiting for a kiss from a bunch of fives

# Just when I think things are getting better

# Right through the door comes a...

# Oh, oh, oh Love, love

# Cry, cry if it makes you feel better

# Set it all down in a tear-stained letter

# Oh, oh, oh Love, love

# Cry, cry if it makes you feel better

# Set it all down in a tear-stained letter

# Oh, oh, oh love, love

# Cry, cry if it makes you feel better

# Set it all down in a tear-stained letter

# Oh, oh, oh

# Cry, cry if it makes you feel better

# Set it all down in a tear-stained letter

SAX SOLO

APPLAUSE

CHEERS AND APPLAUSE

Thank you very much. Thank you. Thanks a lot.

The combo!

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd