0:00:02 > 0:00:04MUSIC: "Caravan Song"
0:00:04 > 0:00:07# The early light is breaking
0:00:07 > 0:00:14# The morning sun is waiting in the sky... #
0:00:14 > 0:00:16'I always knew that I could sing
0:00:16 > 0:00:19'better than most other people could sing..
0:00:19 > 0:00:21I also knew that I could do it,
0:00:21 > 0:00:25but I didn't want to be in show business particularly.
0:00:25 > 0:00:28That was, that's a quandary and it still is a quandary -
0:00:28 > 0:00:31how can you sing if you're not in show business?
0:00:32 > 0:00:35I fancied her right when I first saw her.
0:00:35 > 0:00:37I thought, "She's all right..."
0:00:39 > 0:00:40But then, when she sang,
0:00:40 > 0:00:44I thought, "Oh, my God! Out of my depth."
0:00:45 > 0:00:49# Caravans
0:00:49 > 0:00:52# Oh, my soul is on the run... #
0:00:52 > 0:00:55She got onstage and she started to sing
0:00:55 > 0:00:57and it was just the most fantastic...
0:00:57 > 0:01:03A really, really thoroughbred voice just emanated from this girl.
0:01:03 > 0:01:05It was absolutely sensational.
0:01:06 > 0:01:09Barbara can take a straightforward pop song
0:01:09 > 0:01:11and turn it into something that sucks you in,
0:01:11 > 0:01:14even though it's only three minutes long.
0:02:05 > 0:02:10I came from a family where my mother was desperate
0:02:10 > 0:02:13to make an impact on the world,
0:02:13 > 0:02:19but didn't really have the skills or the confidence
0:02:19 > 0:02:25and my father was a very typical Scotsman of his generation,
0:02:25 > 0:02:27who said, "Keep your head down.
0:02:27 > 0:02:30"Don't put your head over the parapet. No, no, that's not...
0:02:30 > 0:02:34"You shouldn't do that. Don't get noticed. It's bad. It's bad."
0:02:34 > 0:02:38My mother used to play lots and lots of records in the house.
0:02:38 > 0:02:42She had a radiogram, an old '50s radiogram.
0:02:42 > 0:02:47Used to play everything, from classical music, via Frank Sinatra
0:02:47 > 0:02:50to light opera and stuff like that,
0:02:50 > 0:02:55so I've grown up with a fairly good working knowledge of classical music
0:02:55 > 0:03:00from music that my mother played on 78s on that gramophone.
0:03:00 > 0:03:04The famous story was me singing in a high pram
0:03:04 > 0:03:08and the postman saying to somebody at my granny's back door,
0:03:08 > 0:03:10"Where's that singing coming from?"
0:03:10 > 0:03:14And my granny said, "Oh, that'll be the bairn!"
0:03:14 > 0:03:17My mother believed in my ability
0:03:17 > 0:03:21but would never have put me in for a talent competition.
0:03:21 > 0:03:24My mother utterly despised that sort of thing.
0:03:24 > 0:03:28She thought it was completely ghastly
0:03:28 > 0:03:30so she was a terrible snob, musically.
0:04:01 > 0:04:04It was when I got to secondary school
0:04:04 > 0:04:08that I realised that other people were picking up on the fact
0:04:08 > 0:04:11that I could sing really well,
0:04:11 > 0:04:15one being, most importantly, being Sandy Saddler,
0:04:15 > 0:04:21who was my music teacher at Woodmill School in Dunfermline.
0:04:21 > 0:04:24The very first class I got was Barbara's class.
0:04:24 > 0:04:27It was all very well having classical singing, et cetera,
0:04:27 > 0:04:32but we had to have something for the mainstream of the school
0:04:32 > 0:04:35who were really more interested in pop and that, and so forth
0:04:35 > 0:04:38but I didn't want it to become known as a pop music school,
0:04:38 > 0:04:41so I turned to folk, and I had a wee folk club
0:04:41 > 0:04:44and then along she comes, dragging this massive guitar
0:04:44 > 0:04:48and she started to play and sing with it as well.
0:04:48 > 0:04:52And...then, before we realised,
0:04:52 > 0:04:54other people were singing along while she was...
0:04:54 > 0:04:58It was almost like a class. She was strumming away on the guitar.
0:04:58 > 0:05:02# Hang down your head, Tom Dooley
0:05:02 > 0:05:04# Hang down your head and cry... #
0:05:04 > 0:05:09Sandy played me an album by the Kingston Trio.
0:05:09 > 0:05:15The Kingston Trio were the first really massively kind of cross-over
0:05:15 > 0:05:17folk music group.
0:05:17 > 0:05:20So I was listening to that music via Sandy
0:05:20 > 0:05:24and in the meantime, I was playing Shadows tunes with my friends,
0:05:24 > 0:05:28who were all boys! It's not like I didn't have any girlfriends,
0:05:28 > 0:05:31I had lots of girlfriends at school when I was 12
0:05:31 > 0:05:33but none of them played the guitar!
0:05:40 > 0:05:45I had the Nick Lucas Guitar Tutor. It was a book, I've still got it
0:05:45 > 0:05:49and it had the spots on the diagram,
0:05:49 > 0:05:51so you'd be going like this
0:05:51 > 0:05:54and you could play these things, this was the beauty of it.
0:05:54 > 0:05:57It wasn't like highly produced music.
0:05:57 > 0:05:59You could play these things in your own bedroom.
0:05:59 > 0:06:04MUSIC: "Bye Bye Love" by The Everly Brothers
0:06:04 > 0:06:06We used to sit and harmonise
0:06:06 > 0:06:09and sing the Everly Brothers songs and some folk songs.
0:06:09 > 0:06:14We liked Peter, Paul and Mary and we used to have their LPs.
0:06:14 > 0:06:16Barbara was in love with Don Everly.
0:06:21 > 0:06:23She found this girl Sheila,
0:06:23 > 0:06:26and their voices merged beautifully, really,
0:06:26 > 0:06:29and they started singing solo
0:06:29 > 0:06:31so of course, we have the school concert
0:06:31 > 0:06:34and that's where I think they first appeared in public,
0:06:34 > 0:06:37the two of them singing I Gave My Love A Cherry
0:06:37 > 0:06:41and from then on, they just went from success to success.
0:06:41 > 0:06:44And, of course, there was Cliff.
0:06:44 > 0:06:48# See her home and I kiss her good night
0:06:48 > 0:06:52# Turn me loose, turn me loose, turn me loose... #
0:06:52 > 0:06:54GIRLS SCREAM
0:06:54 > 0:06:57Most people either liked Cliff or liked Elvis.
0:06:57 > 0:07:01We got into trouble for going to see Summer Holiday one evening
0:07:01 > 0:07:05when we were supposed to be revising for our shorthand exam the next day
0:07:05 > 0:07:09but we still went to the pictures to see the film instead.
0:07:41 > 0:07:43I was lucky enough to be born in a place where
0:07:43 > 0:07:48there was one of possibly the three best folk clubs in Scotland.
0:08:05 > 0:08:08I've not been in this room since the 1960s.
0:08:08 > 0:08:11I remember it being wide.
0:08:11 > 0:08:14I think the stage was there
0:08:14 > 0:08:17and I think the audience were there.
0:08:17 > 0:08:21I seem to remember them being tiered, I remember sitting high up.
0:08:21 > 0:08:24MUSIC, LAUGHTER
0:08:24 > 0:08:29It was after hours, so it didn't start until late at night
0:08:29 > 0:08:31and I was quite young then,
0:08:31 > 0:08:35so it was quite difficult for me to come when it first started,
0:08:35 > 0:08:37but I wanted to hear the music
0:08:37 > 0:08:39because by that time, of course,
0:08:39 > 0:08:43Sandy Saddler had encouraged me to listen to folk music.
0:08:43 > 0:08:45I was playing folk music on my guitar.
0:08:45 > 0:08:50I was listening to these albums by Peter, Paul and Mary and Bob Dylan and all those people
0:08:50 > 0:08:54and it was THE folk club. There wasn't another place to go.
0:08:54 > 0:08:55MUSIC: "Jock McGraw"
0:08:55 > 0:08:58# The rain may rain and the snaw may snaw... #
0:09:03 > 0:09:06I had been going to the folk club a couple of times.
0:09:06 > 0:09:09I was with a group of school friends,
0:09:09 > 0:09:11so it wasn't long after I'd left school.
0:09:11 > 0:09:15John Watt got up, as was customary in folk clubs,
0:09:15 > 0:09:17to say, "Would anybody like to get up and sing?"
0:09:17 > 0:09:19Now, that happened every week
0:09:19 > 0:09:21and that happened in every folk club as well.
0:09:21 > 0:09:26This is why it was so all-inclusive and so...
0:09:26 > 0:09:28I don't know, it's so wonderful.
0:09:28 > 0:09:30When people talk to me about show business,
0:09:30 > 0:09:34I always say, "What show business?" I was asked to get up and sing
0:09:34 > 0:09:38in an environment where anybody could get up and sing and play.
0:09:38 > 0:09:41That was how gentle and kind it was.
0:09:41 > 0:09:45Anybody would have a go in those circumstances
0:09:45 > 0:09:48but, even so, I was very nervous
0:09:48 > 0:09:52when my friends all said, "She will! Why don't you get up?"
0:09:52 > 0:09:54And I went, "Oh, I don't know."
0:09:54 > 0:09:56Anyway, "She will," they said. And I did get up.
0:10:13 > 0:10:16# Oh, please understand
0:10:16 > 0:10:20# My love, what I say
0:10:20 > 0:10:24# I am lonely
0:10:24 > 0:10:28# I am lost
0:10:28 > 0:10:36# And though I am a young man, my body does decay
0:10:36 > 0:10:43# Like a wooden craft on a sandy bay
0:10:43 > 0:10:47# Come, bring to me a basket
0:10:47 > 0:10:50# Filled up to the brim
0:10:50 > 0:10:54# With coloured shells
0:10:54 > 0:11:00# And set it down That I may choose but one
0:11:00 > 0:11:02# I am lonely... #
0:11:43 > 0:11:45My parents were very upset,
0:11:45 > 0:11:48but my mother most especially, because nobody did that.
0:11:48 > 0:11:51Nobody just left home for no reason.
0:11:51 > 0:11:54Remember, I was not going to university.
0:11:54 > 0:11:56I was actually choosing to leave home
0:11:56 > 0:12:00and my mother said, until the day she died, how hurt she was.
0:12:00 > 0:12:02However, I wasn't going to live my life
0:12:02 > 0:12:05according to how my mother felt.
0:12:05 > 0:12:06I was a young woman.
0:12:06 > 0:12:10I didn't want to be a young woman, like my mother's generation.
0:12:12 > 0:12:14And we were politically very aware.
0:12:14 > 0:12:17I remember we would be walking about in our duffle coats
0:12:17 > 0:12:21and the difference between the boys and girls was the boys had beards.
0:12:21 > 0:12:23That was the only difference!
0:12:23 > 0:12:26Sometimes, the girls were shorter, sometimes they weren't.
0:12:26 > 0:12:28But we were always wandering about in Edinburgh.
0:12:28 > 0:12:32# Take a look at some other places... #
0:12:43 > 0:12:46# ..branch away from here. #
0:12:46 > 0:12:49Some friends and I went to the folk club in Ely
0:12:49 > 0:12:52and Barbara and Jack - Jack Beck and Barbara Dickson -
0:12:52 > 0:12:54were the guests that night
0:12:54 > 0:12:57cos Barbara was out and about, doing that as a named artist
0:12:57 > 0:13:00a couple of years before I was ever able to do that.
0:13:00 > 0:13:02So that's when I first saw
0:13:02 > 0:13:06'and heard Barbara, which was a most impressive thing.'
0:13:06 > 0:13:11Then we met some time, not long after that, in Sandy Bell's pub.
0:13:11 > 0:13:15At lunchtime. And somebody said, "This is Rab Noakes."
0:13:15 > 0:13:17We were 17 when that happened.
0:13:17 > 0:13:21Our parents had all fought or seen action in the Second World War
0:13:21 > 0:13:24and we came along after that
0:13:24 > 0:13:27- and I've always thought I grew up in a completely different world.- Yeah!
0:13:27 > 0:13:30Your folks couldnae tell you anything about this stuff!
0:13:30 > 0:13:33- Cos they'd never been there! - They'd never been!
0:13:36 > 0:13:40Young people of our generation, born when they were born,
0:13:40 > 0:13:43wanted to make the world a better place.
0:13:43 > 0:13:48It was political, it was Scotland, playing up your own culture.
0:13:48 > 0:13:50It's not to be underestimated, that.
0:13:50 > 0:13:53- It's not at all.- There were some remarkable people to meet.
0:14:04 > 0:14:08# BOTH: Through the sleepless nights
0:14:08 > 0:14:12# I cry for you
0:14:13 > 0:14:18# And wonder who
0:14:18 > 0:14:23# Is kissing you
0:14:24 > 0:14:32# Oh, these sleepless nights will break my heart in two
0:14:36 > 0:14:41# Somehow through the days
0:14:41 > 0:14:45# I don't give in
0:14:45 > 0:14:50# I hide the tears
0:14:50 > 0:14:54# That wait within
0:14:56 > 0:15:04# Ah, but then through sleepless nights, I cry again
0:15:08 > 0:15:12# Why did you go?
0:15:13 > 0:15:18# Why did you go?
0:15:18 > 0:15:23# Don't you know, don't you know
0:15:23 > 0:15:28# I need you?
0:15:29 > 0:15:38# I keep hoping you'll come back to me
0:15:38 > 0:15:43# Oh, let it be
0:15:43 > 0:15:49# Please let it be
0:15:49 > 0:15:57# Oh, my love, please end these sleepless nights for me
0:16:00 > 0:16:11# Oh, my love, please end these sleepless nights for me. #
0:16:18 > 0:16:23I'd like to say that this is 1964 we're talking about, or '65,
0:16:23 > 0:16:25so it's a hell of a long time ago.
0:16:25 > 0:16:29# There's three tae fry and three tae boil
0:16:29 > 0:16:32# And three tae bait the line... #
0:16:42 > 0:16:46# ..attend the boat, the marlin and the creel... #
0:16:46 > 0:16:50You would have people kind of going between those bars.
0:16:50 > 0:16:53Christy Moore would drop in to Sandy Bell's,
0:16:53 > 0:16:55we would go over to Ireland,
0:16:55 > 0:16:58you could have a session with Gerry Rafferty, Billy Connolly,
0:16:58 > 0:17:03The Fureys, Roy Williamson would come, play flute.
0:17:03 > 0:17:08I remember Finbar Furey and Roy Williamson always exchanging tunes.
0:17:08 > 0:17:10I really don't know how it happened,
0:17:10 > 0:17:15how this enigma of the folk scene happened.
0:17:15 > 0:17:19Now, when I look at it, it's all fiddlers and tunes and stuff,
0:17:19 > 0:17:22but then, it was the most colourful of people.
0:17:22 > 0:17:24You came here to meet
0:17:24 > 0:17:29and spontaneously, there would be singing and playing at the back.
0:17:29 > 0:17:32So if Aly Bain arrived from Shetland, which I remember
0:17:32 > 0:17:34when he did originally come here,
0:17:34 > 0:17:36someone would say "Aly, give us a tune,"
0:17:36 > 0:17:41so there'd be a tune at the back. The McCalmans would kick off a song,
0:17:41 > 0:17:43500 people would join in.
0:17:43 > 0:17:46Parties all the time, great parties.
0:17:46 > 0:17:49I remember going to a party in Fife
0:17:49 > 0:17:51and Barbara and Archie were there,
0:17:51 > 0:17:57and I came...I came back with a guy called George Craigie,
0:17:57 > 0:17:59and Derek and Hamish,
0:17:59 > 0:18:03and we had to walk ten miles to the nearest place,
0:18:03 > 0:18:06and it was raining and in the middle of the night,
0:18:06 > 0:18:11we were under this tree and singing Tom Paxton songs,
0:18:11 > 0:18:17and we got to the main conurbation of these houses
0:18:17 > 0:18:21and we had drinker's dreuth by this time
0:18:21 > 0:18:25and this milkman was delivering milk.
0:18:25 > 0:18:27This is how bad we were.
0:18:27 > 0:18:31We were terrible people in those days.
0:18:31 > 0:18:36We saw the milkman deliver milk and we nipped over,
0:18:36 > 0:18:39and we took the milk and we left money.
0:18:42 > 0:18:44Isn't that cute?
0:18:45 > 0:18:51But I remember Barbara being at that party, with Archie
0:18:51 > 0:18:53and an almighty session.
0:18:53 > 0:18:55What happened at these parties,
0:18:55 > 0:18:57there'd be a session happening in this room
0:18:57 > 0:18:59and there'd be a session happening in that one,
0:18:59 > 0:19:02and the great sessions were always in the bathroom
0:19:02 > 0:19:03because of the acoustics,
0:19:03 > 0:19:06and I walked past the bathroom and I heard this voice,
0:19:06 > 0:19:08and it was Barbara singing with Jack Beck
0:19:08 > 0:19:10and there was this voice that just soared
0:19:10 > 0:19:14and seemed to have complete control and emotional contact.
0:19:14 > 0:19:17It wasn't just a pretty noise,
0:19:17 > 0:19:19it had a timbre to it
0:19:19 > 0:19:24that spoke of understanding what they were singing about.
0:19:24 > 0:19:27And so, I keeked in the door, and there was Barbara.
0:19:27 > 0:19:30# The maid so rare
0:19:30 > 0:19:35# And the flowers so fair
0:19:35 > 0:19:38# Together they grew in the valley... #
0:19:38 > 0:19:42Immediately you heard Barbara, in those days, it was quality.
0:19:42 > 0:19:47It just came out that you were listening to a quality singer,
0:19:47 > 0:19:51so she didn't really have to try to draw in a lot of people.
0:19:51 > 0:19:53And she looked great as well,
0:19:53 > 0:19:56lest we forget.
0:19:56 > 0:20:02A lovely girl - still is, but in those days, obviously, younger
0:20:02 > 0:20:04so you had a lot of guys going...
0:20:05 > 0:20:07You know?
0:20:09 > 0:20:10And she was great.
0:20:36 > 0:20:39It was the making of you to get an album, but in those days
0:20:39 > 0:20:41it was company-driven,
0:20:41 > 0:20:46and they wouldn't do it without thinking there was a profit in it,
0:20:46 > 0:20:50and Barbara got that on her own merits.
0:20:51 > 0:20:55It was obvious that other people were going to notice this voice.
0:20:55 > 0:20:58Archie - brilliant singer
0:20:58 > 0:21:04and idiosyncratic in so many arrangements and influential,
0:21:04 > 0:21:09but Archie was never going to make it on the big commercial scene
0:21:09 > 0:21:11but you could hear that Barbara was.
0:21:12 > 0:21:18# Come to me now, you know we are so alone
0:21:18 > 0:21:21# And life is brief... #
0:21:21 > 0:21:25We were all in Sandy Bell's one night and the door burst open,
0:21:25 > 0:21:28and Barbara was there with her guitar case, and she said,
0:21:28 > 0:21:32"I've got a gig in Linlithgow and I haven't got the train fare.
0:21:32 > 0:21:35"I'll pay you back as soon as I get the fee." And we said, "Fine,"
0:21:35 > 0:21:38so we all raked about for what change we had in the bar,
0:21:38 > 0:21:42and she gathered it up, said, "Thanks, boys," and she dashed out.
0:21:42 > 0:21:47Before the door swung flat closed, we heard her shouting, "Taxi!"
0:21:47 > 0:21:50So, John de Barra turned to me and said,
0:21:50 > 0:21:52"Bound for glory."
0:21:53 > 0:21:56And she certainly was, and deserved it as well.
0:22:02 > 0:22:04# Come boat me o'er
0:22:04 > 0:22:08# Come row me o'er
0:22:08 > 0:22:15# Come boat me o'er to Charlie
0:22:15 > 0:22:22# I'll gie John Ross another bawbee
0:22:22 > 0:22:29# Tae ferry me o'er to Charlie
0:22:29 > 0:22:36# BOTH: We'll o'er the water, we'll o'er the sea
0:22:36 > 0:22:42# We'll o'er the water to Charlie
0:22:42 > 0:22:49# Come weel, come woe, we'll gather and go
0:22:49 > 0:22:57# And live or die wi' Charlie
0:23:00 > 0:23:06# I swear by moon and stars so bright
0:23:06 > 0:23:13# And sun that glances early
0:23:13 > 0:23:20# If I had twenty thousand lives
0:23:20 > 0:23:26# I'd lose them a' for Charlie
0:23:27 > 0:23:34# We'll o'er the water, we'll o'er the sea
0:23:34 > 0:23:40# We'll o'er the water to Charlie
0:23:40 > 0:23:48# Come weel, come woe, we'll gather and go
0:23:48 > 0:23:59# And live or die wi' Charlie. #
0:24:01 > 0:24:05There was all these people around, all doing different sorts of music,
0:24:05 > 0:24:08but we all would, sometimes we would have a night off
0:24:08 > 0:24:11or I would have a night off and I would go to a folk club
0:24:11 > 0:24:13but I'd go to see someone play.
0:24:13 > 0:24:15I was in Edinburgh a lot of that time,
0:24:15 > 0:24:19so people like Billy would be coming through the city.
0:24:19 > 0:24:20There was a great thing -
0:24:20 > 0:24:25you'd get your fee plus expenses and accommodation,
0:24:25 > 0:24:27which was a big lie, you know.
0:24:27 > 0:24:31Accommodation was usually a couch in somebody's house
0:24:31 > 0:24:36and I used to tell people I could tell the difference between Axminster and Wilton by the taste,
0:24:36 > 0:24:38I'd slept on so many floors!
0:24:39 > 0:24:44I remember, you liked to kind of be different with your clothing.
0:24:44 > 0:24:48I did. I wore very gaudy, stripy clothes
0:24:48 > 0:24:50and clothes with stars on them and all that,
0:24:50 > 0:24:55and the reason was, when I was solo, that kind of behaviour started,
0:24:55 > 0:24:59because I'd show up at a club in Bolton or Barnsley or something
0:24:59 > 0:25:02and nobody would know I was the guest.
0:25:02 > 0:25:05I was just another guy with Levis and a guitar case
0:25:05 > 0:25:08and people would say to me, "Who's the guest tonight?"
0:25:08 > 0:25:11"Me." "Oh, oh, fine." And...
0:25:13 > 0:25:16And I thought, "I'm going to do something about this.
0:25:16 > 0:25:19"When I walk in the door, they're going to know who the guest is."
0:25:19 > 0:25:21So I'd just go, "B-vam!"
0:25:21 > 0:25:26You'd see yellow stars and deckchair kind of trousers,
0:25:26 > 0:25:27and it was good.
0:25:42 > 0:25:45# I wud gie a' Knockhaspie's land
0:25:45 > 0:25:47# For Highland Harry back again... #
0:25:47 > 0:25:50Hamish Imlach helped me enormously
0:25:50 > 0:25:56and he said, "If you go with me to the north of England,
0:25:56 > 0:26:01"over a weekend, I'm playing Sunderland, Sheffield and Liverpool,"
0:26:01 > 0:26:04and he said, "If you go to those folk clubs,
0:26:04 > 0:26:07"which are great big folk clubs
0:26:07 > 0:26:12"with lots of other folk club organisers attending them," he said,
0:26:12 > 0:26:13"I bet you you'll get work."
0:26:15 > 0:26:18In almost every big English kind of city, conurbation,
0:26:18 > 0:26:20there was some kind of folk circuit,
0:26:20 > 0:26:21I don't know if it was as big as Liverpool,
0:26:21 > 0:26:24Birmingham had a very flourishing one, so did Manchester,
0:26:24 > 0:26:26there was a very flourishing circuit in Yorkshire,
0:26:26 > 0:26:29so when I first started going to these clubs,
0:26:29 > 0:26:34I'd see singers who were doing a British tour or a regional tour.
0:26:34 > 0:26:37At the time, I was just doing a floor spot
0:26:37 > 0:26:40and I did the same little set of three songs
0:26:40 > 0:26:42in each of those folk clubs,
0:26:42 > 0:26:45and I think Hamish, being Hamish, must have said,
0:26:45 > 0:26:49"You know, she's come a long way, see what you can do for her,"
0:26:49 > 0:26:53and it is absolutely true that from those three floor spots
0:26:53 > 0:26:57I had a career in the north of England
0:26:57 > 0:27:01and that also blossomed into a career in other places.
0:27:02 > 0:27:05When Barbara started playing down here,
0:27:05 > 0:27:12she'd already developed a repertoire that was not exclusively Scots,
0:27:12 > 0:27:16she had a very good repertoire of Scots songs,
0:27:16 > 0:27:19English traditional songs
0:27:19 > 0:27:22and she was a great ambassador for Scots writers,
0:27:22 > 0:27:26she was a great, you know... proselytiser for Rab Noakes
0:27:26 > 0:27:28and for Archie Fisher as a writer,
0:27:28 > 0:27:33as well as doing songs by James Taylor, who wasn't that widely known,
0:27:33 > 0:27:37so I think it was much easier for Barbara to play the English scene.
0:27:37 > 0:27:40It's all about the takeover by Londoners of the north-east.
0:27:40 > 0:27:44You could do a little tour of about eight to ten days,
0:27:44 > 0:27:47which, in those days, was quite decent money.
0:27:47 > 0:27:52It was well paid, when I think that my dad used to get £9 a week.
0:27:52 > 0:27:56I could get virtually that for one night.
0:27:56 > 0:27:58# What can the old customs... #
0:27:58 > 0:28:03We ran a successful club, The Ford Arms, in Byker, part of Newcastle,
0:28:03 > 0:28:07and Barbara was staying at my house because I'd got her a week's work
0:28:07 > 0:28:10and she didn't have a gig that night,
0:28:10 > 0:28:11the Tuesday night.
0:28:11 > 0:28:12"Can you get me on?"
0:28:12 > 0:28:15And so we said, "Yes, of course we'll get you on."
0:28:15 > 0:28:18Sandy Denny was our guest.
0:28:18 > 0:28:21# With your eyes on the moon
0:28:21 > 0:28:23# You're a crazy lady... #
0:28:23 > 0:28:27A lot of people knew Barbara because she'd worked the clubs around
0:28:27 > 0:28:30and it was terrific, she went down a storm.
0:28:31 > 0:28:35Sandy Denny and her manager were peering down
0:28:35 > 0:28:39with this volume of applause for Barbara,
0:28:39 > 0:28:42and as I walked past, she turned to her manager
0:28:42 > 0:28:46- and said, "Who the- BLEEP- is she?"
0:28:47 > 0:28:50Barbara didn't want to outdo anybody, she just wanted to play.
0:28:58 > 0:29:02# ..And temptation strong
0:29:06 > 0:29:10# A woman's only human
0:29:12 > 0:29:18# This you must understand
0:29:18 > 0:29:21# BOTH: She's not just a plaything
0:29:21 > 0:29:27# She expects love, just like her man
0:29:27 > 0:29:38# And if you want a do-right all-day woman
0:29:39 > 0:29:48# You've got to be a do-right all-night man... #
0:29:50 > 0:29:55'I learned my craft. I learned how to play the guitar,
0:29:55 > 0:29:58'I learned how to get better at that,
0:29:58 > 0:30:02'and I learned it for myself, I didn't learn it for the audience.
0:30:02 > 0:30:05'I knew that I was good and I could do it.'
0:30:05 > 0:30:09# As long as we're together, baby
0:30:09 > 0:30:14# You got to show some respect for me
0:30:14 > 0:30:17# So if you want a do-right... #
0:30:17 > 0:30:19We look at people like Barbara nowadays,
0:30:19 > 0:30:22it's like she's been sprinkled with magic dust
0:30:22 > 0:30:24that suddenly produced this star.
0:30:27 > 0:30:30She's walked the board, she's done the folk clubs,
0:30:30 > 0:30:33she's been in back rooms on damp mattresses
0:30:33 > 0:30:36in someone's place with a party going on next door.
0:30:36 > 0:30:38She's done all that.
0:30:40 > 0:30:46The fact that her voice was undoubtedly better than most of her contemporaries,
0:30:46 > 0:30:50I think, escalated her into a different sphere.
0:30:51 > 0:31:05# You've got to be a do-right all-night man. #
0:31:05 > 0:31:08WILLY RUSSELL: By this time, a couple of years after I first met Barbara,
0:31:08 > 0:31:12I'd gone back to college, and of course, I started a folk club there.
0:31:12 > 0:31:15I remember booking Barbara, 15 quid,
0:31:15 > 0:31:20and about a week before, I got a call from this guy called Bernard Theobald
0:31:20 > 0:31:24and he said, "About this booking for Barbara Dickson," he said,
0:31:24 > 0:31:27"I'm calling you to tell you that the booking has gone up to 19 quid."
0:31:27 > 0:31:30"What?!" I was incensed,
0:31:30 > 0:31:32but, you know, it was Barbara
0:31:32 > 0:31:36and being a teacher training college folk club, we could afford it,
0:31:36 > 0:31:39so we swallowed it and we paid,
0:31:39 > 0:31:41but a lot of clubs were really, really upset about that.
0:31:41 > 0:31:44It was a difficult thing having that kind of management,
0:31:44 > 0:31:48it was like Bob Dylan suddenly appearing with Albert Grossman
0:31:48 > 0:31:50saying, you know, "You're not giving the kid 5,
0:31:50 > 0:31:52"you're giving him 5,000 or he doesn't play."
0:31:52 > 0:31:54It was that kind of thing.
0:31:54 > 0:31:57# We can work it out
0:31:57 > 0:32:00# We can work it out. #
0:32:03 > 0:32:06With me is Willy Russell, who wrote the musical.
0:32:24 > 0:32:27Look, for Christ's sake, Linda, you got to stretch...
0:32:33 > 0:32:36When I went to do John, Paul, George, Ringo...And Bert in Liverpool,
0:32:36 > 0:32:38that's when everything changed
0:32:38 > 0:32:43because I had Willy Russell asking me to sing the Beatles songs
0:32:43 > 0:32:46and I think, prior to having a manager, I would have said,
0:32:46 > 0:32:48"Oh, I don't know if I can do that,"
0:32:48 > 0:32:50but the manager said, "You've got to do that show
0:32:50 > 0:32:54"because that is a very good thing for you to do."
0:32:54 > 0:32:57And that is what managers do.
0:32:57 > 0:33:01You need somebody to kind of give you a kick in the arse.
0:33:01 > 0:33:06# I'm not half the man I used to be
0:33:07 > 0:33:10# There's a shadow hanging over me... #
0:33:10 > 0:33:14I first met Barbara backstage at the theatre,
0:33:14 > 0:33:17she was in John, Paul, George, Ringo...And Bert.
0:33:17 > 0:33:20I think the thing that you came away with from that show
0:33:20 > 0:33:24was the wonderful interpretation of the Beatles songs by Barbara.
0:33:24 > 0:33:28Obviously, by then, 1974, Beatles songs had been done by everybody,
0:33:28 > 0:33:34but this was a beautiful, clear, simple interpretation
0:33:34 > 0:33:36of just a great voice and piano.
0:33:36 > 0:33:42Almost every review talked about this stunning girl at the piano
0:33:42 > 0:33:47whom we couldn't see because she was hiding behind goggles and hair,
0:33:47 > 0:33:50I mean, it was almost as though she hid herself, and I know,
0:33:50 > 0:33:53you know, she found it difficult,
0:33:53 > 0:33:58the transition from hiding folky to pop queen,
0:33:58 > 0:34:01I think she found it difficult to stand in the limelight.
0:34:01 > 0:34:05# Answer me, oh, my love
0:34:05 > 0:34:08# Just what sin have I been guilty of? #
0:34:25 > 0:34:30'Immediately Answer Me was a hit, which was at the beginning of 1976,
0:34:30 > 0:34:32'people started to talk to me in the street
0:34:32 > 0:34:35'and run after me and ask for autographs.
0:34:35 > 0:34:37'I thought that was really weird.'
0:34:37 > 0:34:40I couldn't quite understand what that was about,
0:34:40 > 0:34:44cos I'd never been at the receiving end of it and it embarrassed me.
0:34:44 > 0:34:49I thought, "I am not deserving of this kind of adulation,"
0:34:49 > 0:34:52and I still think that, I still think that's all a load of rubbish.
0:34:52 > 0:34:55Ladies and gentlemen, Barbara Dickson.
0:34:56 > 0:35:01'Just after that was this huge series of The Two Ronnies that I did
0:35:01 > 0:35:03'every single week for eight weeks.'
0:35:03 > 0:35:06# The one with the eyes that could capture my soul
0:35:06 > 0:35:08# But you just want a heart to borrow... #
0:35:08 > 0:35:11'15 million people watching The Two Ronnies
0:35:11 > 0:35:13'and I pop up in the middle of every show
0:35:13 > 0:35:14'and everybody's going, "Who's this?"'
0:35:41 > 0:35:45- # So what happens now? - Another suitcase in another hall
0:35:45 > 0:35:49- # So what happens now? - Take your picture off another wall
0:35:49 > 0:35:50# Where am I going to?
0:35:50 > 0:35:53# You'll get by, you always have before
0:35:53 > 0:35:56# Where am I going to? #
0:35:56 > 0:36:00I mean, I was aware of her pop career and we stayed in touch.
0:36:00 > 0:36:04We didn't see as much of her because it was the whole rock entourage,
0:36:04 > 0:36:06it was the backstage pass now.
0:36:06 > 0:36:09Look, Barbara was always fantastically welcoming
0:36:09 > 0:36:11and made sure we were included in everything,
0:36:11 > 0:36:13but it just wasn't the same scene, you know.
0:36:13 > 0:36:17People were staying in hotels and there were tons of people around
0:36:17 > 0:36:21and I didn't spend any real time with Barbara again
0:36:21 > 0:36:26until, it would have been '82,
0:36:26 > 0:36:28when we started to talk about doing Blood Brothers.
0:36:50 > 0:36:53We couldn't have somebody who couldn't quite get the notes
0:36:53 > 0:36:56and all that sort of business, and by the time we wrote the final song,
0:36:56 > 0:36:58which has a huge range in it, I thought,
0:36:58 > 0:37:02"We've just got to go for Barbara and try and persuade her to do it."
0:37:02 > 0:37:05I remember being absolutely terrified
0:37:05 > 0:37:08and standing and there was a sort of flat mic
0:37:08 > 0:37:11taped to one of the uprights in the wings
0:37:11 > 0:37:18and I sang, "Tell me it's not true..."
0:37:18 > 0:37:25# Say it's just a story
0:37:25 > 0:37:28# Something on the news... #
0:37:28 > 0:37:30'When I look back on it now,
0:37:30 > 0:37:33'all the things that I considered to be milestones,'
0:37:33 > 0:37:35like Blood Brothers
0:37:35 > 0:37:38and before that, John, Paul, George, Ringo...And Bert
0:37:38 > 0:37:42were... I think were very important to me
0:37:42 > 0:37:45and if I'd felt, "I don't want to do anything different,"
0:37:45 > 0:37:47I wouldn't have done Blood Brothers.
0:37:47 > 0:37:49Of course, what I'd forgotten
0:37:49 > 0:37:52is that Barbara's mother Ruth was from Liverpool
0:37:52 > 0:37:56and so Barbara actually cut a really good Liverpool accent.
0:37:56 > 0:37:59- You didn't notify me! - Well, I...just...
0:37:59 > 0:38:02Couldn't I keep him for a few more days, please?
0:38:02 > 0:38:05Please? They're a pair. They go together.
0:38:05 > 0:38:08What happened then, of course, was throughout rehearsals,
0:38:08 > 0:38:11Barbara went from a very tentative actress
0:38:11 > 0:38:13to being better and better and better
0:38:13 > 0:38:15and people thinking, "My God,
0:38:15 > 0:38:18"I'm going to have to flex my muscles to keep up with her here."
0:38:18 > 0:38:22Don't tell me which one. Just take him. Take him.
0:38:42 > 0:38:46I was a lowly assistant stage manager.
0:38:46 > 0:38:48Do you remember what you first said to me?
0:38:49 > 0:38:52"Would you like to join our tea kitty?"
0:38:52 > 0:38:54- Tea club.- Tea club.
0:38:55 > 0:38:57You did.
0:38:57 > 0:38:58What an opening line!
0:38:58 > 0:39:00BARBARA LAUGHS
0:39:15 > 0:39:18I sort of went off the rails twice in Blood Brothers,
0:39:18 > 0:39:21once in Liverpool and then in London.
0:39:22 > 0:39:25Every week, we had four shows back to back.
0:39:25 > 0:39:28You have eight shows a week and four of them are on two days.
0:39:28 > 0:39:31There was a Friday matinee and a Saturday matinee.
0:39:31 > 0:39:33I used to keep saying, "Right, just think of it as..."
0:39:33 > 0:39:35- Four quarters.- "Four quarters."
0:39:35 > 0:39:38I seem to remember we were watching, I was into American football,
0:39:38 > 0:39:41so you'd go, "Right, that's one quarter out of the way,
0:39:41 > 0:39:44"we'll get through the next one and then there's the third one,"
0:39:44 > 0:39:48and then Saturday evening came - end of the fourth quarter, into the pub.
0:39:48 > 0:39:52I didn't really prosper being in long runs in the theatre,
0:39:52 > 0:39:55and every time I've done it, I've become ill.
0:39:55 > 0:39:58There'd be people there who'd maybe travelled from Stornoway
0:39:58 > 0:40:01to see me in a show, you know, and you can't be rubbish,
0:40:01 > 0:40:03you've got to be good all the time.
0:40:03 > 0:40:08That is terrible, terrible pressure for somebody like me.
0:40:08 > 0:40:12But I know people who are trained in the theatre who can't do it either.
0:40:12 > 0:40:16If your name's above the title, it's a terrible responsibility.
0:40:16 > 0:40:18# Freedom
0:40:18 > 0:40:20# I know him so well... #
0:40:30 > 0:40:33OLIVER: We got the word it went up to seven in one week,
0:40:33 > 0:40:37so that was a guaranteed, you'd be on Top Of The Pops
0:40:37 > 0:40:39and then the next week it went from seven to number one
0:40:39 > 0:40:41and it stayed there for four weeks.
0:40:41 > 0:40:45# And though I'd move my world to be with him... #
0:40:45 > 0:40:49I'd just started work at the BBC, having left the theatre as a runner
0:40:49 > 0:40:53and I was a runner on Top Of The Pops looking after Barbara and Elaine,
0:40:53 > 0:40:56but I don't think a lot of people knew we were together,
0:40:56 > 0:41:00so it was quite fun that I was, "This is your call..."
0:41:00 > 0:41:03BOTH: "Miss Dickson!"
0:41:03 > 0:41:06- # Wasn't it good?- Oh, so good
0:41:06 > 0:41:10- # Wasn't he fine?- Oh, so fine
0:41:10 > 0:41:12# Isn't it madness?
0:41:12 > 0:41:16BOTH: # He won't be mine...
0:41:34 > 0:41:36I remember my manager saying to me,
0:41:36 > 0:41:40"Put the guitar down and do a sort of Tina Turner
0:41:40 > 0:41:44"along the front of the stage," which is completely laughable now
0:41:44 > 0:41:48because I could never do something like that,
0:41:48 > 0:41:55it's just a ridiculous kind of way to see me being marketed,
0:41:55 > 0:41:58and you can't do stuff like that if you don't want to do it,
0:41:58 > 0:42:00you just look really stupid.
0:42:00 > 0:42:04I became more...I suppose, more worried about myself,
0:42:04 > 0:42:06more intransigent,
0:42:06 > 0:42:10really believed that everything Gerry Rafferty thought about the music business was right,
0:42:10 > 0:42:14that they were out to get you and you just had to be very careful.
0:42:36 > 0:42:38I met Barbara and we worked on that Dylan track.
0:42:38 > 0:42:43You know, it was nice, so I think for the two of us, there was, like,
0:42:43 > 0:42:46a hope there would be another opportunity,
0:42:46 > 0:42:48because the other sad thing in our profession is,
0:42:48 > 0:42:53we're together with different line-ups doing different projects
0:42:53 > 0:42:56and then you move on to somewhere else,
0:42:56 > 0:43:02and you think, "Aw, I'd love to see them again." Of course...
0:43:02 > 0:43:06You may see them in two years, and that makes it extra special.
0:43:07 > 0:43:11And there's a beautiful Bedouin saying, which is
0:43:11 > 0:43:17"We pitch our tents far apart so our hearts remain closer."
0:43:17 > 0:43:20And I think that's very appropriate to our music.
0:43:21 > 0:43:24'It was like 17-year-olds in the garage
0:43:24 > 0:43:26'working out tunes again, you know.'
0:43:26 > 0:43:29# Hush-a-bye
0:43:29 > 0:43:32# Don't you cry
0:43:32 > 0:43:36# Go to sleep, little baby
0:43:38 > 0:43:44# When you awake, you will have cake
0:43:44 > 0:43:50# And all the pretty little horses
0:43:52 > 0:43:58# Dapple grey, black and bay
0:43:58 > 0:44:04# Coach and six little horses
0:44:04 > 0:44:10# Hush-a-bye, don't you cry
0:44:10 > 0:44:15# Go to sleep, little baby
0:44:16 > 0:44:22# When you awake, you will have cake
0:44:22 > 0:44:29# And all the pretty little horses
0:44:31 > 0:44:38# Way down yonder, down in the meadow
0:44:38 > 0:44:44# There's a poor little lamby
0:44:44 > 0:44:50# The bees and the butterflies pecking out its eyes
0:44:50 > 0:44:58# The poor little thing cried mammy
0:45:00 > 0:45:05# Hush-a-bye, don't you cry
0:45:05 > 0:45:12# Go to sleep, little baby
0:45:12 > 0:45:18# When you awake, you will have cake
0:45:18 > 0:45:27# And all the pretty little horses. #
0:45:30 > 0:45:33I haven't had much experience as an actress.
0:45:33 > 0:45:36I'd done television, just one television production
0:45:36 > 0:45:38with Taggart just before this,
0:45:38 > 0:45:41and the rest of my work was in the theatre.
0:45:41 > 0:45:44I didn't really, I didn't know how to hit a mark, really.
0:45:44 > 0:45:47It was in Taggart that I learned how to do that
0:45:47 > 0:45:49and learned all sorts of things.
0:45:49 > 0:45:51It's an utterly different animal,
0:45:51 > 0:45:54working on television or film, to working in the theatre.
0:46:07 > 0:46:11I made a huge lifelong friend in Geraldine James.
0:46:11 > 0:46:14She is still... I look up to her enormously
0:46:14 > 0:46:20and she's got this sort of character that she's like the head girl.
0:46:20 > 0:46:23'There's a lot of hysteria in night shoots
0:46:23 > 0:46:25'because you're just so tired,
0:46:25 > 0:46:30'and what we were doing was walking down a road in film rain,
0:46:30 > 0:46:34'and I had never been anything other than professional to my fingertips
0:46:34 > 0:46:38'in the whole of the shoot. I just couldn't stop laughing.'
0:46:38 > 0:46:40Cos you're just a tart, like the rest of us!
0:46:40 > 0:46:46I kind of sank to the floor without saying a word,
0:46:46 > 0:46:49but just completely hysterical!
0:46:49 > 0:46:53I put my head down and went into the foetal position on the ground,
0:46:53 > 0:46:55you know, with the bin bags.
0:46:55 > 0:46:59I just remember Geraldine saying, "Pull yourself together, Dickson!
0:46:59 > 0:47:01"Come on! Pull yourself together!"
0:47:01 > 0:47:03And I said, "I'm so sorry, Geraldine."
0:47:03 > 0:47:05Cos I was wasting, not just their time,
0:47:05 > 0:47:08but our time as well, which was just absolutely unforgivable.
0:47:22 > 0:47:25There's an old kind of Hollywood story about these guys
0:47:25 > 0:47:27who are trying to cast for a film
0:47:27 > 0:47:29and they're wandering about, saying,
0:47:29 > 0:47:32"You know, for this role we need somebody like...
0:47:32 > 0:47:36"We need a Richard Widmark kind of, someone like Richard Widmark.
0:47:36 > 0:47:38"Who can we get who's like Richard Widmark?"
0:47:38 > 0:47:42And eventually, someone says, "Why don't you call Richard Widmark?"
0:47:42 > 0:47:45So you kind of think, "I probably need someone like Barbara Dickson,
0:47:45 > 0:47:48"you know, well, who can you get?"
0:47:49 > 0:47:50Barbara Dickson!
0:48:07 > 0:48:09Sorry to interrupt you, but I'm here to present
0:48:09 > 0:48:13this year's Laurence Olivier award for Best Actress in a Musical.
0:48:13 > 0:48:14And...
0:48:14 > 0:48:16CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
0:48:16 > 0:48:17The winner...
0:48:19 > 0:48:24One of our finest, most accomplished actresses and singers,
0:48:24 > 0:48:25Miss Barbara Dickson!
0:48:25 > 0:48:28STEVE BROWN: The way it's written, she's onstage all the time
0:48:28 > 0:48:32but she's not necessarily doing stuff. That makes it a tough role.
0:48:32 > 0:48:33She's kind of standing there,
0:48:33 > 0:48:36watching everybody else have fun quite a lot of the time.
0:48:36 > 0:48:40I remember watching Band of Gold and I remember seeing Barbara,
0:48:40 > 0:48:43like most people, thought, "Isn't that the singer?"
0:48:43 > 0:48:47And she was absolutely amazing,
0:48:47 > 0:48:50so obviously, meeting her for the first time,
0:48:50 > 0:48:52all the cast were really nervous,
0:48:52 > 0:48:56as you are when, I suppose, "the name" comes to rehearsal
0:48:56 > 0:49:00but from the moment I met her, I knew we were going to get on.
0:49:01 > 0:49:04# No-one to share the fun
0:49:04 > 0:49:06# You were my special one... #
0:49:06 > 0:49:09'I loved Spend Spend Spend. I knew, also,'
0:49:09 > 0:49:13that I'd probably get ill because of the way I am,
0:49:13 > 0:49:18but I wanted to do it because the opening line of that show was,
0:49:18 > 0:49:21I just stood there, the music stopped and I said to the audience,
0:49:21 > 0:49:23"I know what you're thinking.
0:49:23 > 0:49:25"What's it like having all that money?"
0:49:26 > 0:49:30It was just, like, wry,
0:49:30 > 0:49:36really wry, so I thought, "OK, this is a great show,"
0:49:36 > 0:49:40and the whole idea of a life going into a wall at 60 miles an hour,
0:49:40 > 0:49:42that really intrigued me as well.
0:49:42 > 0:49:45For me, it's not what the person is giving onstage,
0:49:45 > 0:49:48it's what they're giving off-stage as well, you know,
0:49:48 > 0:49:51because without that, you haven't got a happy company
0:49:51 > 0:49:56and she was a major part of that being a really happy company
0:49:56 > 0:49:59that felt like, "Yeah, this is going to be good,
0:49:59 > 0:50:06"we're big hitters, you know, we've got... We've got her!"
0:50:06 > 0:50:08People in the theatre are very loving
0:50:08 > 0:50:12and kind and close and supportive,
0:50:12 > 0:50:18but for me, my personality was such that I didn't...
0:50:18 > 0:50:19I couldn't handle long runs.
0:50:19 > 0:50:25You know, no shrinking violet ever survived in this lark.
0:50:25 > 0:50:29It takes a lot of will, a lot of determination
0:50:29 > 0:50:35and, you know, for a woman, it's an added struggle,
0:50:35 > 0:50:37so you need that backbone,
0:50:37 > 0:50:42and you need it to survive, you know, that lonely business
0:50:42 > 0:50:44of being on the road. I couldn't do it.
0:51:03 > 0:51:04I loved her voice.
0:51:04 > 0:51:08I knew that we were destined.
0:51:08 > 0:51:12It was really close, to the pair of us, to our hearts.
0:51:12 > 0:51:16Artistically, it's a wonderful thing to be let loose,
0:51:16 > 0:51:20you know, with arrangements and production with that voice
0:51:20 > 0:51:22and with those songs.
0:51:22 > 0:51:27Her archives are fabulous, you know, for songs,
0:51:27 > 0:51:31so I'm absolutely privileged, really,
0:51:31 > 0:51:38to be just allowed to do whatever I want, which is what I do.
0:51:50 > 0:51:55# The lassie's courage began to fail
0:51:57 > 0:52:04# And her rosy cheeks, they grew wan and pale
0:52:04 > 0:52:09# And the tears came tricklin' doon like hail
0:52:11 > 0:52:19# Or a heavy shower in summer. #
0:52:21 > 0:52:27'The first time I sang it was probably about 1965.
0:52:27 > 0:52:31'It was one of the songs that John Watt suggested that I sing.
0:52:31 > 0:52:35'It was on that list with I Once Loved A Lad, so it was
0:52:35 > 0:52:39'one of the first Scottish songs as a young singer that I learned.'
0:52:40 > 0:52:48# Saying, "Lassie, lassie, ye shall be mine,
0:52:48 > 0:52:56# "I said it all tae try thee." #
0:53:03 > 0:53:06The way that Troy and I work is extraordinary.
0:53:06 > 0:53:10I just come here with songs and I sit at the table
0:53:10 > 0:53:13and I just sing in his ear.
0:53:13 > 0:53:17I sing the song unadorned, no guitar, no nothing,
0:53:17 > 0:53:20because I think I know he knows what to do,
0:53:20 > 0:53:22and he always knows what to do, and he goes, "Wow,"
0:53:22 > 0:53:25- and that happen with Rigs o' Rye. - It certainly did.
0:53:25 > 0:53:31I just would have gone, "'Twas in the month of sweet July..."
0:53:31 > 0:53:33- "We'll have that." - And he said...- And that was it.
0:53:33 > 0:53:38He just knows where to place it, you know, so it kind of...
0:53:38 > 0:53:42It's such a beautiful song and it's quite, you know,
0:53:42 > 0:53:45some of the verses are really quite prosaic, you know,
0:53:45 > 0:53:47and you think, "Oh, yeah,"
0:53:47 > 0:53:52but there's such a beautiful scope for arrangement within the song
0:53:52 > 0:53:56because it just cycles round and round like all great traditional songs do,
0:53:56 > 0:54:02but we just expanded on it and it came out just the way we wanted it.
0:54:02 > 0:54:08# And they live in Brechin the winter through
0:54:09 > 0:54:23# And in Montrose in summer. #
0:54:25 > 0:54:27CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
0:54:30 > 0:54:32What you will get from Barbara
0:54:32 > 0:54:37is an honest song, sung perfectly, delivered perfectly,
0:54:37 > 0:54:42and it will sound just like somebody in your own front room,
0:54:42 > 0:54:47not a massive sound where the voices are all over the place
0:54:47 > 0:54:48and synthesisers or whatever,
0:54:48 > 0:54:52so it's honesty, I think, is what you're looking for there.
0:54:52 > 0:54:55She is an honest interpreter of good songs.
0:54:55 > 0:54:57Sadly, for me,
0:54:57 > 0:55:02her contribution to the folk scene won't be what she's remembered for.
0:55:02 > 0:55:07It'll be for, you know, duets on Top Of The Pops
0:55:07 > 0:55:09and Caravan and stuff like that,
0:55:09 > 0:55:12which is absolutely fair enough,
0:55:12 > 0:55:16but there were lots of good albums that came out,
0:55:16 > 0:55:17and lots of good songs.
0:55:17 > 0:55:20That's more what I think of her contribution,
0:55:20 > 0:55:24the fact that people would look at Barbara and say,
0:55:24 > 0:55:27"I want to sing like that," or, "I want to be where she is."
0:55:29 > 0:55:34# It only rains when clouds bang together
0:55:35 > 0:55:39- # BOTH:- But everybody knows that
0:55:39 > 0:55:45# And it's rockets and missiles that are causing this bad weather
0:55:47 > 0:55:51# But everybody knows that
0:55:53 > 0:55:55# Everybody knows that... #
0:55:55 > 0:55:57I didn't write that many songs,
0:55:57 > 0:56:00but of the ones I did, that was my favourite.
0:56:01 > 0:56:03'I had a girlfriend
0:56:03 > 0:56:06'and her parents were on holiday in Ayrshire in a caravan
0:56:06 > 0:56:08'and I took her down to meet them
0:56:08 > 0:56:11'and there was two clouds, I'll never forget it,
0:56:11 > 0:56:13'just two wee white, fluffy clouds'
0:56:13 > 0:56:19and her mother said, "Well, I hope those clouds don't bang together."
0:56:21 > 0:56:26I found it really endearing that her world was so lovely,
0:56:26 > 0:56:30simple, she had it sorted out - they bang together, it rains.
0:56:30 > 0:56:33# But does everybody know
0:56:33 > 0:56:37# The way that things are going to go for them tomorrow?
0:56:41 > 0:56:44# What will they do if they turn round
0:56:44 > 0:56:49# And find that they have no time left to borrow?
0:56:53 > 0:56:59- # BOTH:- Zsa Zsa Gabor is the world's greatest actress
0:57:00 > 0:57:04# But everybody knows that
0:57:04 > 0:57:10# And the sex bomb of the '50s got her first break on a mattress
0:57:11 > 0:57:15# But everybody knows that
0:57:17 > 0:57:22# Everybody knows that
0:57:54 > 0:57:57# But does everybody know
0:57:57 > 0:58:02# The way that things are going to go for them tomorrow?
0:58:06 > 0:58:09# What will they do if they turn round
0:58:09 > 0:58:13# And find that they have no time left to borrow?
0:58:17 > 0:58:23# It only rains when clouds bang together
0:58:24 > 0:58:28# But everybody knows that
0:58:28 > 0:58:34# And it's rockets and missiles that are causing this bad weather
0:58:35 > 0:58:40# But everybody knows that
0:58:41 > 0:58:46# Everybody knows that. #
0:58:55 > 0:58:58Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd