0:00:02 > 0:00:05In the music business,
0:00:05 > 0:00:09if you're not a self-promoting megalomaniac, you don't fit in.
0:00:09 > 0:00:15For 35 years, Richard Thompson has been one of our best-kept secrets,
0:00:15 > 0:00:20a teenage founder of Fairport Convention in England's hippy era.
0:00:20 > 0:00:23He was the guy who kicked folk music's ass.
0:00:23 > 0:00:28In the late '60s, Richard and Fairport invented folk rock.
0:00:28 > 0:00:31# I'm never gonna run away... #
0:00:31 > 0:00:38As a duo with his wife, Linda, Richard confronted the early '70s with songs of spiritual yearning.
0:00:38 > 0:00:42It's a very spiritual thing to play music, at any level.
0:00:43 > 0:00:46# Shoot out the lights... #
0:00:46 > 0:00:54Since parting with Linda in 1981, Richard has pursued an acclaimed solo career from California.
0:00:54 > 0:01:00He leads a very interesting path through this show-business world,
0:01:00 > 0:01:05manoeuvring his ship independent of that slag heap most of us are in!
0:01:05 > 0:01:09# It's a Vincent Black Lightning, 1952... #
0:01:09 > 0:01:14I won't call him the English Bob Dylan - more vice versa.
0:01:14 > 0:01:19I was a shy kid. To get on a stage, expressing myself was a revelation.
0:01:19 > 0:01:22Hello! I'm over here!
0:01:22 > 0:01:28He's one of the most engaging personas in music. He doesn't seem impressed with himself on stage,
0:01:28 > 0:01:31which is so un-rock'n'roll.
0:01:48 > 0:01:52This is a real suburb - a classic American suburb.
0:01:52 > 0:01:57This was a middle-income area, but it's going up, up, up,
0:01:57 > 0:02:00with people like me moving in!
0:02:00 > 0:02:04You feel like saying, "God, look at those hideous windows!"
0:02:04 > 0:02:07"She's left her laundry out again!"
0:02:07 > 0:02:11Oh, a hideous new fence! It's the same as ours!
0:02:11 > 0:02:15It's a love-hate thing with the suburbs.
0:02:15 > 0:02:21The suburbs I grew up in were very, very dull. But it was a very dull time.
0:02:21 > 0:02:26# Sometimes I long for the solitary life
0:02:26 > 0:02:29# Parents long gone No kids, no wife
0:02:29 > 0:02:32# Sister somewhere in Australia
0:02:32 > 0:02:34# Never did keep in touch
0:02:37 > 0:02:41# Sex no more than a how-d'you-do
0:02:41 > 0:02:45# And a copy of Titbits in the loo
0:02:45 > 0:02:51# At work considered a bit of a failure Don't seem to try too much
0:02:51 > 0:02:54# A solitary life... #
0:02:54 > 0:03:00He was my slightly younger brother. Richard was shy.
0:03:00 > 0:03:05He played for hours with soldiers, all his armies out on the floor.
0:03:05 > 0:03:09He was... He liked trainspotting.
0:03:09 > 0:03:12I was just very shy as a kid.
0:03:12 > 0:03:16I was really kind of a social cripple,
0:03:16 > 0:03:18and I think my music was an escape.
0:03:18 > 0:03:23# ..Railway, soldiers in lead
0:03:23 > 0:03:28# Join the suburban boffins of Britain Experts on trivial things... #
0:03:28 > 0:03:32Yeah, my...my father's Scottish, and, um...
0:03:32 > 0:03:38and culturally our house was quite Scottish - lots of Scottish music.
0:03:38 > 0:03:40I love pipe music, that kind of...
0:03:46 > 0:03:49Our father was very strict -
0:03:49 > 0:03:54authoritarian, Scottish, a Scotland Yard detective...
0:03:56 > 0:03:58..who we were rather afraid of.
0:03:58 > 0:04:03I used to stutter as a child, and I still do, in stressful situations -
0:04:03 > 0:04:08talking to the Inland Revenue or something!
0:04:08 > 0:04:11The stuttering Richard, I think,
0:04:11 > 0:04:16was a reaction to the strictness and, you know, this dominant father.
0:04:16 > 0:04:21My father would tell him, "Stop stuttering!" which makes it worse.
0:04:21 > 0:04:26And of course singing - you don't stutter when you sing.
0:04:26 > 0:04:28# I said, kidzz
0:04:28 > 0:04:32# Do you do what your teacher tells you?
0:04:32 > 0:04:35# Do you do what your momma say?
0:04:35 > 0:04:42# Are you goody-two-shoes? I like you that way Like you that way... #
0:04:42 > 0:04:49The first rock'n'roll I heard was probably Bill Haley. My sister had good records - Buddy Holly,
0:04:49 > 0:04:53Jerry Lee Lewis records, Everly Brothers records.
0:04:53 > 0:04:57I do remember it having an impact on my brain.
0:04:57 > 0:05:02# Don't make trouble Thinking for yourself
0:05:02 > 0:05:05# Don't make trouble Thinking for yourself... #
0:05:05 > 0:05:12After World War II, the generation that fought the war really wanted to settle down to a safe life.
0:05:12 > 0:05:18For kids, it was a bit stifling. The generation really took to rebellious music, rock'n'roll.
0:05:18 > 0:05:23It makes you wanna dance and slash cinema seats!
0:05:23 > 0:05:28# Kidzz We scoop you like guacamole
0:05:28 > 0:05:32# We suck out your brains like toothpaste
0:05:32 > 0:05:37# We gobble you down like teenage casserole, teenage casserole... #
0:05:37 > 0:05:41I've still got a quiff! You can't quite see it.
0:05:41 > 0:05:48'As soon as I was really able to get my hands on a instrument, I tried to play.'
0:05:48 > 0:05:52My boyfriends would come and collect me to take me out,
0:05:52 > 0:05:55and I was, of course, never ready,
0:05:55 > 0:05:59so they'd strum along with Richard on his guitar.
0:05:59 > 0:06:01That was when he started playing.
0:06:01 > 0:06:06# Oh, kidzz Ah, kidzz. #
0:06:08 > 0:06:13I can't say my parents approved of playing music.
0:06:13 > 0:06:16I think they were probably worried.
0:06:16 > 0:06:22My mum only gave up on me getting a proper job about five years ago.
0:06:22 > 0:06:25Finally, she thinks it's legit, you know?
0:06:25 > 0:06:30My dad was quite torn - he was a policeman, but a guitar player too,
0:06:30 > 0:06:38so he loved the idea that I played the guitar and actually listened to his Django Reinhardt records.
0:06:38 > 0:06:43Influenced by his dad's guitar playing and records,
0:06:43 > 0:06:48Richard developed an eclectic musical taste way beyond his years.
0:06:48 > 0:06:52Richard's talents began to find expression
0:06:52 > 0:06:57in this fairly ordinary-looking suburban house in Muswell Hill.
0:06:57 > 0:07:00Here we are - the old place.
0:07:03 > 0:07:07It was my family home at the time the band came together.
0:07:07 > 0:07:12We were renting it out, and a series of people passed through it,
0:07:12 > 0:07:16amongst them Ashley Hutchings.
0:07:16 > 0:07:18I had a room on the second floor,
0:07:18 > 0:07:21which I painted red entirely -
0:07:21 > 0:07:24the walls, the ceiling, everything. It WAS 1967.
0:07:24 > 0:07:31And a neighbour of Ashley's was in the same class as Richard at school,
0:07:31 > 0:07:39and through him, Richard was introduced into this sort of coterie of floating musicians.
0:07:39 > 0:07:43When I started to play in the band with Simon and Ashley,
0:07:43 > 0:07:46this was a logical rehearsal space.
0:07:46 > 0:07:51It was first floor - I'm not sure which window.
0:07:51 > 0:07:54GUITAR SOLO
0:07:56 > 0:08:00Richard would be playing these fantastic solos at 15, 16 years old.
0:08:00 > 0:08:06He would stand stock still, and barely a movement of the head.
0:08:06 > 0:08:09He seemed to show no emotion.
0:08:09 > 0:08:13Um...it was all coming through the fingers.
0:08:13 > 0:08:17Like any newly-formed band, they needed a name -
0:08:17 > 0:08:22befitting the times, preferably one with at least six syllables.
0:08:22 > 0:08:26We convened there, so it was Fairport Convention.
0:08:26 > 0:08:31We took the name in May of 1967, Fairport Convention, and, um...
0:08:31 > 0:08:35within three months or so we'd signed a recording contract.
0:08:35 > 0:08:38It was a very happening period.
0:08:49 > 0:08:53# Hey, come and make music... #
0:08:53 > 0:08:59The psychedelic clubs sprang up. The UFO club was the main one.
0:08:59 > 0:09:03They'd have a light show or two or three,
0:09:03 > 0:09:09the projector and the bubbly things going, lava lamps everywhere.
0:09:09 > 0:09:15There were people smoking banana skins and we thought, "Wow, this is really far out!"
0:09:15 > 0:09:20One time when we were playing at the UFO Club with, um...
0:09:20 > 0:09:24Pink Floyd, Joe Boyd came down to see us.
0:09:24 > 0:09:30There was this group of very nice Muswell Hill grammar school boys
0:09:30 > 0:09:32and a girl,
0:09:32 > 0:09:35playing American music -
0:09:35 > 0:09:41Leonard Cohen songs and Richard Farina songs and Bob Dylan songs,
0:09:41 > 0:09:46all being done in a kind of West Coasty rock style.
0:09:46 > 0:09:51# And there ain't no time like the time that you're wasting
0:09:51 > 0:09:55# And you waste just about what you choose
0:09:55 > 0:09:59# There's a man at the table and you know he's been able
0:09:59 > 0:10:02# To return all the odds that you lay
0:10:02 > 0:10:06# And you can't feed your hunger And you ain't getting younger
0:10:06 > 0:10:10# And your tongue ain't got nothing to say... #
0:10:10 > 0:10:15'And then came the guitar solo, and Richard played an amazing solo.'
0:10:29 > 0:10:35He played a solo which quotes from Django, from Charlie Christian...
0:10:35 > 0:10:39you know, an incredibly sophisticated little solo.
0:10:39 > 0:10:44And that really amazed me - the breadth of his sophistication.
0:10:58 > 0:11:01On stage, Richard was very shy.
0:11:01 > 0:11:03He didn't talk a lot.
0:11:03 > 0:11:06He seemed very serious and absorbed
0:11:06 > 0:11:12and he was kind of hunched over his guitar, concentrated on his music.
0:11:12 > 0:11:14And Richard was aged 17.
0:11:14 > 0:11:20So...at the end of the gig I was in the dressing room, saying, "Would you guys like to make a record?"
0:11:26 > 0:11:33Fairport Convention's first records were hip enough, though they didn't exactly set the charts alight.
0:11:33 > 0:11:40But these were some of the best times for what was fast becoming a rollicking good-time band,
0:11:40 > 0:11:44playing universities and festivals all over the country.
0:11:44 > 0:11:50These were the days when beer money, or whatever other substances you purchased with it,
0:11:50 > 0:11:52actually seemed to be enough.
0:11:53 > 0:11:59Richard was rapidly emerging as the main writer in the band,
0:11:59 > 0:12:01alongside new vocalist Sandy Denny.
0:12:01 > 0:12:06Although it was the era of peace, love and brown rice,
0:12:06 > 0:12:10his songs already possessed a weary fatalism.
0:12:10 > 0:12:12When I was singing his songs,
0:12:12 > 0:12:17he was developing his style, learning his art.
0:12:17 > 0:12:21He spent a lot of time in his room, writing songs.
0:12:21 > 0:12:26I think the special ones at that time were few and far between.
0:12:26 > 0:12:31But Meet On The Ledge was a very special song.
0:12:31 > 0:12:36# We used to say There'd come the day
0:12:36 > 0:12:42# We'd all be making songs
0:12:42 > 0:12:46# Or finding better words
0:12:46 > 0:12:50# These ideas never lasted long... #
0:12:52 > 0:12:55# The way is up
0:12:55 > 0:12:58# Along the road
0:12:59 > 0:13:03# The air is growing thin
0:13:05 > 0:13:08# Too many friends who tried
0:13:08 > 0:13:13# Swept off this mountain with the wind
0:13:16 > 0:13:21# Meet on the ledge We're going to meet on the ledge
0:13:23 > 0:13:25# When my time is up
0:13:25 > 0:13:30# I'm going to see all my friends... #
0:13:30 > 0:13:32# Meet on the ledge
0:13:32 > 0:13:36# We're going to meet on the ledge
0:13:36 > 0:13:39# If you really mean it
0:13:39 > 0:13:43# It all comes around again... #
0:13:47 > 0:13:51'I always thought of a ledge as a ledge you jump off,
0:13:51 > 0:13:57'a ledge you stand on prior to jumping so that people can talk you down...or not.'
0:13:57 > 0:14:02What he's saying is it's a risky business being alive.
0:14:02 > 0:14:04It's...this is...
0:14:04 > 0:14:07This is all a sham.
0:14:07 > 0:14:11This is all paper-thin. It could go tomorrow.
0:14:11 > 0:14:13# Meet on the ledge
0:14:13 > 0:14:17# We're going to meet on the ledge
0:14:17 > 0:14:19# When my time is up
0:14:19 > 0:14:24# I'm going to see all of my friends
0:14:24 > 0:14:27# Meet on the ledge
0:14:27 > 0:14:31# We're going to meet on the ledge
0:14:31 > 0:14:34# If you really mean it
0:14:34 > 0:14:39# It all comes round again. #
0:14:39 > 0:14:44"The way is up, along the road, the air is getting thin.
0:14:44 > 0:14:47"Too many friends who died,
0:14:47 > 0:14:50"blown off this mountain with the wind.
0:14:51 > 0:14:54"Meet on the ledge."
0:14:54 > 0:14:57It's about music and artists -
0:14:57 > 0:15:02how people just give themselves to what they've got to do, and...
0:15:03 > 0:15:05..get blown away by it sometimes.
0:15:05 > 0:15:09Either drink, drugs or insanity...
0:15:11 > 0:15:14..or just lousy, lousy luck.
0:15:30 > 0:15:34It was just another drive home after a gig -
0:15:34 > 0:15:39a Birmingham club called Mother's that we'd done numerous times.
0:15:39 > 0:15:42We drove back to London after shows.
0:15:44 > 0:15:47And Harvey, our tour manager,
0:15:47 > 0:15:50had been ill all day with an upset stomach,
0:15:50 > 0:15:53was definitely not feeling himself,
0:15:53 > 0:16:00and nobody really knows what caused it, but he lost control of the vehicle.
0:16:00 > 0:16:04I was sitting in the front and awake, so I saw it all happen.
0:16:04 > 0:16:08Um...very scary. The van somersaulted.
0:16:08 > 0:16:14I was out. We were all out - out the windows, out the doors.
0:16:14 > 0:16:16When I came to, minutes later,
0:16:16 > 0:16:21I was the only person left inside the van. Everybody else was ejected.
0:16:26 > 0:16:30The crash caused the deaths of drummer Martin Lamble
0:16:30 > 0:16:35and Richard's girlfriend, designer Jeannie Franklyn.
0:16:37 > 0:16:42You question your theories of existence when young people die.
0:16:42 > 0:16:47It's a very hard thing to bear. You look for the meaning in that.
0:16:47 > 0:16:52And the answers aren't easy. When people die, you miss them,
0:16:52 > 0:16:55you know?
0:16:57 > 0:17:00# Oh, oh
0:17:00 > 0:17:02# Helpless and slow... #
0:17:02 > 0:17:09When Unhalfbricking - the band's third LP, recorded before the crash - was released,
0:17:09 > 0:17:14the remaining Fairports considered whether they still had a future.
0:17:14 > 0:17:19We were so shaken up, it was very hard to see sense at the time,
0:17:19 > 0:17:24and I think we resolved at that point to really...
0:17:24 > 0:17:29to kind of reinvent ourselves as interpreters of traditional music.
0:17:29 > 0:17:32We conceived Liege And Lief
0:17:32 > 0:17:39to explore the world of the traditional song as interpreted by a young English rock'n'roll band,
0:17:39 > 0:17:44and make centuries-old songs sound like they were written yesterday,
0:17:44 > 0:17:49and also to make new songs sound hundreds of years old.
0:17:49 > 0:17:53We went down into the countryside, into Hampshire,
0:17:53 > 0:17:57and our manager, Joe Boyd, rented a lovely Queen Anne house,
0:17:57 > 0:18:01and that's where we started to form folk-rock music.
0:18:01 > 0:18:05# Come all ye roving minstrels
0:18:08 > 0:18:11# And together we'll try... #
0:18:11 > 0:18:16Fairport, already joined by Sandy Denny, the great folk singer,
0:18:16 > 0:18:19had now enlisted Dave Swarbrick,
0:18:19 > 0:18:22the folk scene's leading fiddle player.
0:18:22 > 0:18:28Although influenced by the American roots music of the Band,
0:18:28 > 0:18:34amongst others, Fairport looked to the traditions and mysteries in their own back garden.
0:18:34 > 0:18:38# "Well, tell me now, young Tamlyn," she says, "if a mortal man you be?"
0:18:38 > 0:18:42# "I'll tell you no lies, sweet Margaret,
0:18:42 > 0:18:45# "I was christened as good as thee, as thee
0:18:45 > 0:18:48# "I was christened as good as thee." #
0:18:48 > 0:18:53We thought when we did electric versions of traditional tunes
0:18:53 > 0:18:58that this would be something people would recognise as their own -
0:18:58 > 0:19:03their own culture, contemporised and made a bit more vital.
0:19:03 > 0:19:07# ..And the stars they blazed like day
0:19:07 > 0:19:11# And the Queen of Elfin, she gave a thrilling cry
0:19:11 > 0:19:14# Young Tamlyn's away, away... #
0:19:24 > 0:19:27# I forbid you maidens all
0:19:27 > 0:19:31# That wear gold in your hair
0:19:31 > 0:19:33# To travel to Carterhaugh
0:19:33 > 0:19:37# For young Tam Lin is there... #
0:19:37 > 0:19:43Richard's contribution was everything.
0:19:43 > 0:19:46It was the amazing business
0:19:46 > 0:19:51of him actually playing electric guitar lead jigs and reels,
0:19:51 > 0:19:54which no-one had thought of before,
0:19:54 > 0:20:00and playing in unison with Dave Swarbrick.
0:20:00 > 0:20:06I thought rock'n'roll was the hardest music in the world then.
0:20:06 > 0:20:12What I did was bring folk music into it, and that was new to them.
0:20:13 > 0:20:18There was a musical battle going on between Swarb and Richard,
0:20:18 > 0:20:23but it wasn't an egotistical battle, it was them firing off each other.
0:20:23 > 0:20:26"Play that, then swing into this."
0:20:31 > 0:20:37Swarbrick was breathtaking, and I knew that from other bands before.
0:20:37 > 0:20:43But Richard Thompson made me listen different. I thought, "Ooh, who's this?"
0:20:43 > 0:20:49He's the guy who kicked folk music's ass and gave it that youth thing -
0:20:49 > 0:20:54gave it a beautiful stage and colour to stand on and be seen,
0:20:54 > 0:20:58as a sexy thing, you know?
0:20:58 > 0:21:05You're singing a song about a transvestite highway robber - come on! Behave yourself!
0:21:05 > 0:21:08Get into the game here!
0:21:08 > 0:21:11Ooh-yee! Howling violins!
0:21:14 > 0:21:17That's the way to do it!
0:21:17 > 0:21:22Whereas the fatsos with the corduroy were all giving it...
0:21:22 > 0:21:27Get out of here! You know? That was then, this is now, boom!
0:21:30 > 0:21:36People loved it on stage, to see these two guys wind each other up -
0:21:36 > 0:21:40who could play that set of triplets faster?
0:21:42 > 0:21:48DAVE SWARBRICK: That was the point of it - to make a bloody row!
0:21:50 > 0:21:53Two can do that better than one!
0:21:57 > 0:22:02He's one of those endless players - goes over the cliff again and again.
0:22:04 > 0:22:08I think Swarb was very excited at playing with the band,
0:22:08 > 0:22:14and he liked to push the tempos up till they were almost unplayable.
0:22:17 > 0:22:20We kept turbo-charging.
0:22:20 > 0:22:23We got carried away.
0:22:32 > 0:22:39Perhaps not least with a serious case of folk-rock-guitarist's repetitive strain injury,
0:22:39 > 0:22:44after one further album, Richard left Fairport Convention.
0:22:44 > 0:22:48I sort of imploded. I had a feeling I had to try stuff on my own.
0:22:48 > 0:22:55# Don't expect the words to ring Too sweetly on the ear Live in fear... #
0:22:55 > 0:23:00Richard's first solo LP was the oddly titled Henry The Human Fly,
0:23:00 > 0:23:05still beloved of devotees, not least for its cover picture.
0:23:05 > 0:23:09I wanted a really good human fly costume,
0:23:09 > 0:23:11but the budget came to £4/2s/6d.
0:23:11 > 0:23:15Henry The Human Fly is a bit of an eccentric record.
0:23:15 > 0:23:21It only sold eight copies, so there's eccentrics out there who are missing out.
0:23:21 > 0:23:25# ..Listen to the scratchy voices Eating at your nerves... #
0:23:25 > 0:23:31The singing on that album is not very confident, that's the problem.
0:23:31 > 0:23:36I really wanted to sing the songs, but, um...I didn't do a good job.
0:23:36 > 0:23:42Having launched himself on an unsuspecting world disguised as a fly,
0:23:42 > 0:23:45Richard wisely teamed up with another singer.
0:23:45 > 0:23:52Linda Peters, a friend of the Fairports, had done lucrative work singing on commercials.
0:23:52 > 0:23:59Together with Richard, she formed one of the defining non-mainstream acts of the '70s.
0:23:59 > 0:24:03It was a partnership that was always gonna happen.
0:24:03 > 0:24:07She had always been in love with Richard.
0:24:07 > 0:24:12They started singing together and it seemed a partnership made in heaven.
0:24:12 > 0:24:18SISTER: Linda was the front person for his words. She was a glamorous-looking female singer,
0:24:18 > 0:24:23and she became his stage presence by speaking for him, singing for him.
0:24:23 > 0:24:27# I'm sorry for the things I've said
0:24:27 > 0:24:31# The things I've done
0:24:32 > 0:24:38# Sorry for the restless thief I've been
0:24:40 > 0:24:47# Please don't make me pay for my deceiving heart
0:24:49 > 0:24:54# Just turn up your lamp and let me in
0:24:58 > 0:25:02# I wish I was a fool for you again
0:25:02 > 0:25:06# I wish I was a fool for you...
0:25:06 > 0:25:10# I wish I was a fool for you again
0:25:10 > 0:25:14# I wish I was a fool for you...
0:25:14 > 0:25:19# I wish I was a fool for you, yeah
0:25:19 > 0:25:23# I wish I was a fool for you
0:25:23 > 0:25:27# I wish I was a fool for you again... #
0:25:36 > 0:25:43'Richard was quiet and interesting and mysterious, and that's attractive in a young person.'
0:25:43 > 0:25:50There was some symbiotic thing between us, if that's the word. We could kind of...
0:25:50 > 0:25:56You know, maybe we were just the same... miserable youth at the time.
0:25:56 > 0:26:01We just sort of worked together, I guess. It worked well.
0:26:06 > 0:26:11We got married, um... I wanted to get married much more than he did.
0:26:11 > 0:26:19I always say I asked him to marry me, but then he says he asked me. I'm sure I asked him.
0:26:23 > 0:26:28# I know the way
0:26:28 > 0:26:34# That I feel about you
0:26:36 > 0:26:41# I'm never gonna run away
0:26:41 > 0:26:47# I'm never gonna run away... #
0:26:49 > 0:26:56Richard and Linda reigned over those of us with any claim to an alternative philosophy of life
0:26:56 > 0:26:59in the drab early 1970s,
0:26:59 > 0:27:06blending a folk fatalism with a yearning for a better world than Britain during the three-day week.
0:27:06 > 0:27:11# A heart needs a home... #
0:27:14 > 0:27:18Island Records had trouble marketing the husband-and-wife duo,
0:27:18 > 0:27:24not least because said duo seemed rather unconcerned with their own career curve.
0:27:24 > 0:27:30Richard was a very shy and private man at that time.
0:27:30 > 0:27:36I found him quite difficult to deal with, in a not unpleasant way.
0:27:36 > 0:27:43But he certainly wasn't someone who was looking to grab fame with both hands and squeeze it dry -
0:27:43 > 0:27:47quite the opposite. He shied away from it.
0:27:47 > 0:27:50We weren't a commercial act.
0:27:50 > 0:27:55I, actually, am a rampant snob. I adored being the critics' darling.
0:27:55 > 0:28:00I loved being admired by my peers, and I didn't give a shit, really,
0:28:00 > 0:28:02about selling thousands of records.
0:28:02 > 0:28:07It has been speculated that this lack of wider success
0:28:07 > 0:28:12might partly have been due to Richard's songs themselves.
0:28:12 > 0:28:18Where his lyrics asked the big questions, his answers were often distinctly bleak.
0:28:18 > 0:28:21You write sometimes from a mood -
0:28:21 > 0:28:27you don't write a song necessarily thinking, "I should take a balanced view about this."
0:28:27 > 0:28:29You write songs in fits of emotion.
0:28:29 > 0:28:34You do push it all the way. You do push it to the limit.
0:28:34 > 0:28:38But that doesn't mean that's where you live.
0:28:38 > 0:28:40# I feel for you, you little horror
0:28:40 > 0:28:45# Safe at your mother's breast
0:28:45 > 0:28:51# No lucky break for you around the corner
0:28:53 > 0:28:56# Cos your father is a bully
0:28:56 > 0:29:00# And he thinks that you're a pest
0:29:00 > 0:29:06# And your sister She's no better than a whore... #
0:29:06 > 0:29:12I think it's a phenomenal song about a child coming into this crazy world.
0:29:12 > 0:29:16And it was just after our first child was born.
0:29:16 > 0:29:21And I was, you know, pinned to the wall by it. I thought, "My God!"
0:29:21 > 0:29:24But so many people say to me,
0:29:24 > 0:29:28"Were you insulted? It's a terrible song to write about a child."
0:29:28 > 0:29:31I don't understand that logic.
0:29:31 > 0:29:34# Life seems so rosy
0:29:34 > 0:29:37# In the cradle
0:29:39 > 0:29:41# But I'll be a friend
0:29:41 > 0:29:45# I'll tell you what's in store
0:29:46 > 0:29:52# There's nothing at the end of the rainbow
0:29:54 > 0:30:01# There's nothing to grow up for any more. #
0:30:08 > 0:30:13Some of his songs go into areas that are almost unthinkable.
0:30:13 > 0:30:17I hope that, in writing such bleak material sometimes,
0:30:17 > 0:30:20it actually helps him.
0:30:20 > 0:30:26You know, he can ease his burden because it seems some of the songs seem so tortuous
0:30:26 > 0:30:32that the person who made that song must be suffering a lot of anguish.
0:30:32 > 0:30:39Music is spiritual stuff. It's a very spiritual thing to play music at any level, I believe.
0:30:39 > 0:30:46It's very spiritual stuff and we have a duty as musicians to explore that side of ourselves.
0:30:46 > 0:30:52That's an important thing to do. We've got to ask ourselves, "What are we doing as human beings?"
0:31:02 > 0:31:05In the mid 1970s, Richard became a Sufi.
0:31:07 > 0:31:10Sufism, which is the inside of Islam,
0:31:10 > 0:31:13it all seemed laid out like a map.
0:31:16 > 0:31:18If you pray at fixed points,
0:31:18 > 0:31:22it gives you a certain change of perspective...
0:31:24 > 0:31:26..it keeps you on a certain line.
0:31:26 > 0:31:34You never stray too far from that line because you have to keep coming back to that line.
0:31:34 > 0:31:37That makes life a lot easier.
0:31:37 > 0:31:42I don't think there's a conversion. You just realise who you are.
0:31:42 > 0:31:47# Dancing till my feet don't touch the ground
0:31:50 > 0:31:54# I lose my mind and dance for ever
0:31:54 > 0:31:58# Lose my mind and dance for ever
0:31:58 > 0:32:01# Turn my world around
0:32:02 > 0:32:05# Turn my world around. #
0:32:08 > 0:32:12Richard became a Muslim, then I became a Muslim.
0:32:12 > 0:32:19When you go into something like that, you tend to go into it wholeheartedly, and we both did.
0:32:19 > 0:32:26He was, you know, a pain about it. He was very prudish and a pain, but so was I.
0:32:28 > 0:32:30Not unusually for the '70s,
0:32:30 > 0:32:35Richard and Linda, with their young family, went to live in a commune,
0:32:35 > 0:32:42initially, a Sufi community in East Anglia, perhaps not unlike this one in London from the same time.
0:32:42 > 0:32:46I didn't like it at all. It was hard going.
0:32:46 > 0:32:51Nobody held a gun to my head, but in retrospect, I, you know...
0:32:52 > 0:32:56..I sort of surrendered myself to an insane degree.
0:32:56 > 0:32:59# Take my hand
0:32:59 > 0:33:03# O, real companion
0:33:05 > 0:33:11# And we'll dance We'll dance till we fade away. #
0:33:12 > 0:33:17When Richard and Linda converted to Sufism, it made quite a difference.
0:33:17 > 0:33:21They were pretty ascetic at the time, in person.
0:33:21 > 0:33:26To interviewers and on stage, they were not forthcoming.
0:33:26 > 0:33:30It wasn't like dealing with Roxy Music.
0:33:31 > 0:33:38If you come across something that gives you what you think are the answers,
0:33:38 > 0:33:41it has a profound impact on what you do.
0:33:41 > 0:33:46It's probably the most profound impact of anything in my life.
0:33:50 > 0:33:54Although Richard practises his faith to this day,
0:33:54 > 0:33:58he, Linda and their family left the commune after two years.
0:33:58 > 0:34:03The duo gradually re-emerged into the music business world.
0:34:03 > 0:34:08Their satirical album Sunnyvista was not well received, however.
0:34:10 > 0:34:17With typical irony, they had their greatest success with what was their last album together,
0:34:17 > 0:34:20both as a duo and as man and wife.
0:34:20 > 0:34:25Having a young family and being on the road was difficult.
0:34:25 > 0:34:31- Eventually it counted against the marriage.- We were together for about ten years.
0:34:31 > 0:34:39It was like 20 years for a normal couple because we were together during the day and in the evening.
0:34:41 > 0:34:43# ..Hides like a child... #
0:34:43 > 0:34:51There's a tendency to bring your work home with you and to take home to work and you never get a rest.
0:34:51 > 0:34:54It's non-stop.
0:34:55 > 0:34:57Difficult situation.
0:34:58 > 0:35:00# ..He can't stand the day
0:35:01 > 0:35:04# Shoot out the lights
0:35:07 > 0:35:09# Shoot out the lights... #
0:35:09 > 0:35:16People do say that the songs on Shoot Out The Lights are about our disintegrating marriage,
0:35:16 > 0:35:23but the songs were written well before we broke up, so I wasn't thinking, "Oh, look,
0:35:23 > 0:35:28"I've just written a song. It must mean the marriage is on the rocks."
0:35:28 > 0:35:31It's more, "That's a dark song, but I like it."
0:35:33 > 0:35:36# Just watching the dark... #
0:35:36 > 0:35:39I hate to necessarily associate
0:35:39 > 0:35:43people's lives with how I appreciate their music.
0:35:43 > 0:35:45The music was already powerful.
0:35:45 > 0:35:49It was pretty clear that something was up...or down.
0:35:49 > 0:35:51# Shoot out the lights
0:35:53 > 0:35:56# Shoot out the lights. #
0:36:03 > 0:36:10It seemed to be tailor-made for the film of them falling apart. It was so sort of spooky.
0:36:10 > 0:36:16It was breathtaking how accurately it portrayed what was about to happen to them.
0:36:16 > 0:36:23During that record, I was pregnant and was concentrating on that more than the record.
0:36:23 > 0:36:27When I listened to those songs after the split,
0:36:27 > 0:36:33you'd have to be brain-dead not to see what was going on, but I didn't.
0:36:33 > 0:36:40# When you're rocked on the ocean, rocked up and down, don't worry
0:36:44 > 0:36:50# When you're spinning and turning round and round, don't worry... #
0:36:50 > 0:36:57There were a lot of songs about disintegration of relationships, but I was used to those.
0:36:57 > 0:37:00I sang a lot of those in my time!
0:37:00 > 0:37:05# Your mind is confused and you can't seem to speak... #
0:37:05 > 0:37:09'He said, "I'm in love with somebody else," and left.'
0:37:09 > 0:37:11# It's just the motion
0:37:13 > 0:37:16# It's just the motion. #
0:37:17 > 0:37:21The LP, though, became something of a success,
0:37:21 > 0:37:28especially in America, going on to be voted one of Rolling Stone's top LPs of the '80s.
0:37:28 > 0:37:35The newly separated Richard and Linda were expected to capitalise on this success and go on tour.
0:37:37 > 0:37:44Our manager was twisting our arms and saying, "If you don't do this tour, you'll never work again."
0:37:44 > 0:37:50Richard said, "Linda, you'd be mad to go!" And I said, "I'm going."
0:37:50 > 0:37:54It was difficult, yeah. There was a lot of personal animosity and...
0:37:55 > 0:37:57..somehow...
0:37:58 > 0:38:01we did it.
0:38:01 > 0:38:09# Oh, it's just the motion, Oh, it's just the motion
0:38:09 > 0:38:11# Oh-h... #
0:38:12 > 0:38:16People say, "We saw that tour and it was fantastic!
0:38:16 > 0:38:20"You were kicking him on stage and hitting him!"
0:38:20 > 0:38:25I wasn't doing it all the time, but there was a load of tension.
0:38:25 > 0:38:30I had been praying five times a day and covering myself up,
0:38:30 > 0:38:35so here I was getting drunk, living on tranquillisers and singing.
0:38:35 > 0:38:42# I've only sad stories to tell to this town
0:38:43 > 0:38:46# My dreams have... #
0:38:46 > 0:38:51Linda was a new definition of loose cannon.
0:38:51 > 0:38:57I just looked around for the emergency exits, made sure I knew where they were.
0:38:57 > 0:39:02When she wasn't in a quivering heap of jelly, she was capable
0:39:02 > 0:39:06of really singing some of those terribly hard lyrics,
0:39:06 > 0:39:08"Walking on a wire", excuse me?
0:39:13 > 0:39:19Walking On A Wire was just about hanging onto a life disintegrating.
0:39:19 > 0:39:23# I wish I could please you tonight
0:39:26 > 0:39:32# But my medicine just won't come out right
0:39:35 > 0:39:40# I'm walking on a wire I'm walking on a wire
0:39:42 > 0:39:44# And I'm falling. #
0:39:44 > 0:39:50I never say many good things about myself as a singer, but I CAN say, "I'm not kidding."
0:39:50 > 0:39:56# Oh, it scares you when you don't know
0:39:59 > 0:40:04# Whichever way the wind might blow. #
0:40:05 > 0:40:07I was in the audience.
0:40:07 > 0:40:13They were great shows and there was a lot of tension on stage.
0:40:13 > 0:40:20It was truthful, you know. They didn't come out and pretend that something wasn't going on.
0:40:23 > 0:40:26# I'm walking on a wire... #
0:40:26 > 0:40:29As entertainment, you couldn't beat it.
0:40:31 > 0:40:37# And I'm fall...falling
0:40:38 > 0:40:40# Oh-h... #
0:40:44 > 0:40:49I remember thinking Richard was being incredibly brave,
0:40:49 > 0:40:51incredibly stoic
0:40:51 > 0:40:57and probably extremely stupid, for putting us all through this.
0:41:00 > 0:41:06The feedback I've got over the years is that it was a very tough tour to do!
0:41:06 > 0:41:10All credit to everybody for getting through it.
0:41:12 > 0:41:19And then the day I had to fly home, I thought, "I'm not going to drink any more." I threw the pills away.
0:41:25 > 0:41:32I came home and started again. You know, one wasn't in great shape, but came home and started again.
0:41:37 > 0:41:41While Linda went on to remarry and vary her involvement in music,
0:41:41 > 0:41:46the tour had begun to establish Richard in America,
0:41:46 > 0:41:50where he now has a bigger audience than in his own country.
0:41:50 > 0:41:55God knows what his career would have been like had he stayed in Britain.
0:41:55 > 0:41:59There is this syndrome in England about the tall poppy
0:41:59 > 0:42:06and it does encourage people to kind of put their heads down and be a bit more tugging of their forelock.
0:42:06 > 0:42:13America opens you up a little bit more to the idea of, "Yeah, I'm here.
0:42:13 > 0:42:17"Come. Experience ME now," to a fault, as we all know,
0:42:17 > 0:42:23but I think it's been good for Richard because that can take a big weight off you,
0:42:23 > 0:42:30if you've been slogging through the music business for years. It's not a nice business.
0:42:32 > 0:42:38# Time to ring some changes Time to ring some changes... #
0:42:39 > 0:42:46It was during a solo tour of America that Richard had met that certain someone else, Nancy Covey,
0:42:46 > 0:42:53who ran the folk club McCabe's and was to become the future Mrs Richard Thompson.
0:42:53 > 0:42:59I hired Richard to play at McCabe's, the club that I ran in Los Angeles.
0:43:00 > 0:43:05I didn't know how it would go. I knew he was a great musician,
0:43:05 > 0:43:10but, boy, people came out of the woodwork!
0:43:10 > 0:43:15The people in the know all showed up for those shows.
0:43:15 > 0:43:17When I went to see the show -
0:43:17 > 0:43:22I brought my dad with me - and I said, "Look at this line, Dad.
0:43:22 > 0:43:28"This is the highest IQ in one place that I've ever seen in Los Angeles."
0:43:28 > 0:43:31# Time to ring some changes
0:43:31 > 0:43:34# Time to ring some changes... #
0:43:34 > 0:43:38I remember he sat in a chair and he was very quiet.
0:43:38 > 0:43:43He just played and I thought, "This is kind of a depressing guy."
0:43:43 > 0:43:46You know, the music was incredible.
0:43:47 > 0:43:52But, entertainment-wise, it was pretty hardcore stuff.
0:43:57 > 0:44:02I was really surprised at how he was on stage,
0:44:02 > 0:44:05- because the person- I- met
0:44:05 > 0:44:12was this witty, charming, interesting, really fun, humorous guy.
0:44:12 > 0:44:15That's who I'm married to.
0:44:17 > 0:44:21After initially setting up home in London,
0:44:21 > 0:44:27Richard and Nancy now spend much of the year in Los Angeles, where their son, Jack, goes to school.
0:44:27 > 0:44:32The thing I noticed after he and Nancy got together
0:44:32 > 0:44:39was that he deliberately shifted his focus of professional interest to the other side of the Atlantic.
0:44:40 > 0:44:48It was immediately obvious that he was going to concentrate on raising his profile in that marketplace.
0:44:50 > 0:44:55After his somewhat haphazard path through the '70s,
0:44:55 > 0:44:59the '80s saw a more focused and career-minded Thompson emerge
0:44:59 > 0:45:04with an increasingly scornful world view evident in his songwriting.
0:45:16 > 0:45:19# I keep my nose clean I keep my speech plain
0:45:19 > 0:45:23# I keep my promises She twists the knife again
0:45:23 > 0:45:27# I shut my memory I close my eyes and then
0:45:27 > 0:45:31# She takes another bite She twists the knife again
0:45:31 > 0:45:35# In the middle of a kiss She twists the knife again
0:45:35 > 0:45:39# When I get up off my knees She twists the knife again
0:45:39 > 0:45:42# When I think I'm off the hook She gets me
0:45:42 > 0:45:46# She twists the knife again She twists the knife again... #
0:45:46 > 0:45:52It felt like this ghost of his relationship with Linda was still hanging around.
0:45:52 > 0:45:56Every review focused on his personal life and tied the songs to it
0:45:56 > 0:46:00and I would imagine that's pretty wearying.
0:46:00 > 0:46:03# She twists that knife again! #
0:46:03 > 0:46:08This is where we started to see more character stories, more narrative songs,
0:46:08 > 0:46:14as opposed to the ones that were soul and agony - his own soul and agony, as it seemed,
0:46:14 > 0:46:20and he might deny that they were about him, but they certainly seemed that they were from his life.
0:46:20 > 0:46:24I suppose it was time to move into new territory.
0:46:24 > 0:46:29While he settled into a life lived mainly in California,
0:46:29 > 0:46:35Richard's thoughts, especially when he was writing, often turned to home.
0:46:35 > 0:46:41I've always written about Britain. You kind of carry the landscape around with you.
0:46:41 > 0:46:43Because I'm not a beach boy,
0:46:43 > 0:46:49it doesn't sit right with me to use this as the landscape for the drama.
0:46:49 > 0:46:54I have to put the characters back into a landscape I understand.
0:46:57 > 0:47:00I'm a writer from a tradition.
0:47:00 > 0:47:05Traditional models are very good, because it's such distilled music.
0:47:05 > 0:47:12You're taking a story and following it through using ballad language, this very bright language.
0:47:15 > 0:47:18# Says Red Molly to James
0:47:18 > 0:47:21# "That's a fine motorbike
0:47:21 > 0:47:25# "A girl could feel special on any such like!"
0:47:25 > 0:47:29# Says James to Red Molly
0:47:29 > 0:47:31# "My hat's off to you
0:47:31 > 0:47:36# "It's a Vincent Black Lightning 1952
0:47:36 > 0:47:41# "And I've seen you at the corners and cafes, it seems
0:47:41 > 0:47:45# "Red hair and black leather My favourite colour scheme!"
0:47:45 > 0:47:48# And he pulled her on behind
0:47:50 > 0:47:53# And down to Boxhill
0:47:54 > 0:47:57# They did ride... #
0:48:05 > 0:48:09Vincent Black Lightning is a racing specification bike.
0:48:09 > 0:48:14When I was a kid, that was always the one you'd go, "Ooh, wow!"
0:48:17 > 0:48:23I've always looked for English ideas that didn't sound corny, around which you could pin a song.
0:48:23 > 0:48:27And this song started with a motorcycle, with the Vincent.
0:48:27 > 0:48:32It was a good lodestar around which the song could revolve.
0:48:32 > 0:48:36# Oh, he reached for her hand And he slipped her the keys
0:48:36 > 0:48:40# Said, "I've got no further use for these
0:48:40 > 0:48:43# "I see angels on Ariels in leather and chrome
0:48:43 > 0:48:50# "Swooping down from heaven to carry me home."
0:48:50 > 0:48:55# And he gave her one last kiss and died
0:48:57 > 0:49:00# And he gave her his Vincent
0:49:01 > 0:49:06# To ride. #
0:49:10 > 0:49:13To find myself as a solo performer, I really had to work.
0:49:13 > 0:49:15Quick!
0:49:15 > 0:49:19Well, I had to be the frontman, which is OK...
0:49:19 > 0:49:23Hello. ..I'm over here! Hello!
0:49:25 > 0:49:30Richard was always the quiet person at the back.
0:49:30 > 0:49:35It's so amazing that he now holds an audience in the palm of his hand.
0:49:35 > 0:49:39Mother and I can never get over it.
0:49:39 > 0:49:43We can never believe that that's the shy Richard.
0:49:52 > 0:49:57MAN: It's like a state of grace, in a way.
0:49:57 > 0:50:03You get to be light and charming and as not weighed down by your demons as you know yourself to be.
0:50:03 > 0:50:06It's a lot to carry, but...!
0:50:06 > 0:50:13He's roaming through this catalogue of profoundly dark and disturbing music, in a lot of ways,
0:50:13 > 0:50:20and just tiptoeing through it and picking a dark flower here and a black rose there!
0:50:20 > 0:50:23# This is the nearest to being alive
0:50:23 > 0:50:28# Oh, let me take my chances on the wall of death... #
0:50:28 > 0:50:32The listener is a very important part of the process.
0:50:32 > 0:50:38You want a mirror, some criticism and you want some love back. You're doing it for love.
0:50:38 > 0:50:43# ..on the wall of death! #
0:50:40 > 0:50:43Enough praise to keep you floating.
0:50:43 > 0:50:49Enough lubrication to keep the joints oiled and keep the wheel turning.
0:50:53 > 0:50:58By the 1990s, Richard was getting appreciation from many quarters.
0:50:58 > 0:51:01The head of Capitol Records was a fan
0:51:01 > 0:51:07and signed Richard to the label where he recorded five albums over the next decade.
0:51:07 > 0:51:10# But I'm misunderstood... #
0:51:10 > 0:51:14During this time, Richard was also nominated for a Grammy,
0:51:14 > 0:51:19as well as being honoured back in Britain with an Ivor Novello award
0:51:19 > 0:51:22for his outstanding achievements in songwriting.
0:51:27 > 0:51:33He goes deeper and says more original things than most songwriters.
0:51:33 > 0:51:39I don't like to compare any songwriter to another. There's Randy Newman, Paul Simon and Dylan
0:51:39 > 0:51:43and Richard Thompson's working at least on that level.
0:51:43 > 0:51:46I'm in love with those ballads of Richard's.
0:51:46 > 0:51:52Dimming Of The Day is one of the most beautiful songs and heart-breaking songs I've recorded.
0:51:52 > 0:52:03# Now all the bonny birds have wheeled away
0:52:03 > 0:52:12# And I need you at the dimming of the day... #
0:52:12 > 0:52:16He's funny and he's not self-involved
0:52:16 > 0:52:18and loves his life being a dad.
0:52:18 > 0:52:25He's a beacon for people that are traversing the more occupational hazard part of rock'n'roll!
0:52:25 > 0:52:31Richard seemed to have all the fun without all the dastardly results the rest of us had!
0:52:31 > 0:52:35I'm on the road tomorrow, so I'll have to do a bit of laundry.
0:52:35 > 0:52:42'I don't see him hanging out at the scene too much when there's big parties with Don Henley!
0:52:42 > 0:52:45'He's a grown-up.
0:52:45 > 0:52:49'I've been over there and it's a lovely, beautiful garden.'
0:52:49 > 0:52:53I've learned to be loud with my plant choices.
0:52:53 > 0:52:57Pastelly English pastoral look doesn't quite work here.
0:52:57 > 0:53:00Things pop into your head.
0:53:00 > 0:53:04Ideas come to you because you're not thinking about it.
0:53:06 > 0:53:10I think a lot of the problem is switching your brain off.
0:53:10 > 0:53:15Once you've switched your brain off then good things happen.
0:53:15 > 0:53:19Unlike several rock'n'rollers one could mention,
0:53:19 > 0:53:22Richard follows a regular work routine.
0:53:22 > 0:53:25I live the way I live.
0:53:25 > 0:53:31Creatively, to be more efficient, I get up really early. That's age as well. That's getting old!
0:53:31 > 0:53:36But it's very convenient for me because I can work longer hours.
0:53:36 > 0:53:42It's all work in progress. We don't discuss things while they're being processed.
0:53:44 > 0:53:50You can talk something into the dustbin. That's why I won't.
0:53:50 > 0:53:52We don't talk about it.
0:53:52 > 0:53:56He does that job, but we refer to it as his job, his work.
0:53:56 > 0:54:01I never even say, "How's the music going, honey?"
0:54:01 > 0:54:03We just don't talk about it!
0:54:03 > 0:54:08And it's because...I respect that, we have that distance,
0:54:08 > 0:54:11we don't have to live the music all the time.
0:54:11 > 0:54:16I think that that's what's worked for 20 years.
0:54:16 > 0:54:20There's times when I've wanted to get some work finished,
0:54:20 > 0:54:25so I'll do office hours - 9 to 4, 9 to 5 -
0:54:25 > 0:54:29and plough through stuff. Sometimes that's a month or two.
0:54:29 > 0:54:35My family doesn't like me during that period. They find me moody and withdrawn and difficult.
0:54:35 > 0:54:39# Gloom and misery Gloom and misery... #
0:54:39 > 0:54:43NANCY: Living with a creative guy,
0:54:43 > 0:54:50well, it has its positives and negatives. It's not like living with John Denver.
0:54:50 > 0:54:53Of course I hear little snippets of it around the house,
0:54:53 > 0:54:57but I never even admit that I'm listening to that.
0:54:57 > 0:55:02# Like perfume in the air... #
0:55:02 > 0:55:07I'd love to hear those songs in progress. It would be great!
0:55:07 > 0:55:13I'd love to have a little microphone into what he hears. I don't know what he hears in there.
0:55:13 > 0:55:17# She may quit you She may forsake you... #
0:55:17 > 0:55:21HE SWITCHES MUSIC OFF
0:55:21 > 0:55:25- Why did you switch that off?- It's me. I don't like to listen to me!
0:55:25 > 0:55:31If you're a writer, you live in society, but you're kind of on the edge of it.
0:55:31 > 0:55:35You have to find your source material.
0:55:35 > 0:55:42That's people walking down the street and people in the newspaper and all the stuff you remember,
0:55:42 > 0:55:45all the past social situations.
0:55:45 > 0:55:46Scary!
0:55:46 > 0:55:52You need fuel and so you need to be out there with your eyes open.
0:55:55 > 0:55:58- Me?- No, the man you're filming!
0:55:58 > 0:56:04- I'm not a big personality. I'm a very small one. - You remind me of someone.
0:56:04 > 0:56:08- I'm a musician.- What kind of a musician?- A folk musician.
0:56:08 > 0:56:11- Like Peter, Paul and Mary?- Exactly.
0:56:13 > 0:56:18BILLY CONNOLLY: He doesn't look passionate. He's a quiet guy.
0:56:18 > 0:56:23He looks like a big English wally in his shorts and he knows it and doesn't care.
0:56:23 > 0:56:28And he's got a funny Army hat. He's almost an anorak!
0:56:28 > 0:56:32If you met Richard on a train, you'd think he was a big anorak.
0:56:32 > 0:56:38You wouldn't think he was the guy with the gold Les Paul shaking the town!
0:56:38 > 0:56:42# Well, there's a house in an alley
0:56:42 > 0:56:46# In the squats and low-rise
0:56:46 > 0:56:51# Of a town with no future
0:56:51 > 0:56:55# But that's where my future lies... #
0:56:55 > 0:56:58He's a suburban being. He'll never escape that.
0:56:58 > 0:57:03# It's a rule, but no rule... #
0:57:03 > 0:57:08Richard's driven from inside. He goes on writing songs, playing
0:57:08 > 0:57:13and singing his songs because he has no choice. He goes at it with a will.
0:57:13 > 0:57:17# Oh, now, my name it is Mulvaney
0:57:17 > 0:57:22# And I'm known quite famously
0:57:22 > 0:57:26# People speak my name in whispers
0:57:26 > 0:57:29# What higher praise can there be?
0:57:29 > 0:57:33# But I'd trade my fine mohair
0:57:33 > 0:57:38# For tie-dyes and faded jeans
0:57:38 > 0:57:42# If she wanted me some other way
0:57:42 > 0:57:46# She's my Cooksferry Queen
0:57:46 > 0:57:50# She gave me one pill to get bigger
0:57:50 > 0:57:54# Gave me one pill to get small
0:57:54 > 0:57:58# I saw snakes dancing all around her feet
0:57:58 > 0:58:02# And dead men coming through the wall
0:58:02 > 0:58:07# Well, I'm the prince of this parish
0:58:07 > 0:58:10# I've been ruthless and I've been mean
0:58:10 > 0:58:15# But she blew my mind as she opened my eyes
0:58:15 > 0:58:19# She's my Cooksferry Queen
0:58:19 > 0:58:22# Hey! He-ey! #
0:58:35 > 0:58:38Subtitles by BBC Broadcast - 2003
0:58:38 > 0:58:41E-mail us at: subtitling@bbc.co.uk