MMUUSSIICC IINN AAMMEERRIICCAA :: WWEEEEKK 6 P.A.C. O’Connor

The gentle visitors穏やかな訪問者 The Incredible String BandThe Incredible String Band made fleeting appearances in the US at the Fillmore East, at Woodstock, and with their pantomime “Ū”, and they still have a following in the US. The core of the Incredible String Band consisted of Robin Williamson (right) and Mike Heron, both guitarists and songwriters of great ability. Williamson seemed to be able to play just about any instrument like a virtuoso, but was a tremendous solo guitarist, one of a select group of Scottish masters that included Bert Jansch, Davy Graham and Dick Gaughan, all of whom knew each other and shared songs and experiences in mid-1960s Edinburgh and Glasgow. The ISB as they became known were augmented by their girlfriends and then by an experimental dance group known as Stone Monkey. As they added members, became less folky, gave up drugs and gained spiritual control, they seemed to lose their spiritual freedom, but they certainly continued to gain fans and move audiences until their break-up in 1973, largely due to differences between Heron and Williamson. They reunited in the 1990s, sounding enthusiastic but safe. There is still a version of the Incredible String Band playing small concerts, but Williamson left around 2002 to continue his solo career. Finally, the DVD “Be Glad, for the Song has No Ending” catches the Incredible String Band at the height of their early fame in the summer of 1968, at an old farm house, Penwern, in Pembrokeshire, Wales, in the studio, in concert performances and in an interesting fable: “The Pirate and the Crystal Ball”.

19. OOCCTTOOBBEERR SSOONNGG bbyy RROOBBIINN WWIILLLLIIAAMMSSOONN (1966) LISTEN

I’ll sing you this October song, Oh, there is no song before it. The words and tune are none of my own, for my joys and sorrows bore it. Beside the sea The brambly briars in the still of evening, Birds fly out behind the sun, and with them I’ll leavng. The fallen leaves that jewel the ground, They know the art of dying, And leave with joy their glad gold hearts, In the scarlet shadows lying. When hunger calls my footsteps home, The morning follows after, I swim the seas within my mind, And the pine-trees laugh green laughter. I used to search for happiness, And I used to follow pleasure, But I found a door behind my mind, And that’s the greatest treasure. For rulers like to lay down laws, And rebels like to break them, And the poor priests like to walk in chains, And God likes to forsake the. I met a man whose name was Time, And he said, “I must be going,” But just how long that was, I have no way of knowing. Sometimes I want to murder time, Sometimes when my heart’s aching, But mostly I just stroll along, The path that he is taking.

20. Mike Heron ~ THE HEDGEHOG’S SONG (1967) LISTEN

I’m not the kind to complain That I never had a girl to love. Many a fine girl I tried hard to know, But I think I never tried enough. Sitting one day by myself, And I’m thinking, “What could be wrong?” When this funny little hedgehog comes running up to me, And it starts up to sing me this song. Oh, you know all the words, and you sung all the notes, But you never quite learned the song, she sang. I can tell by the sadness in your eyes, That you never quite learned the song. Every day when the sun goes down, And the evening is so very still, Many a fine girl I’ve held in my arms, And I hope there’s many more that I will, But just when everything is going fine, And absolutely nothing is wrong, This funny little hedgehog’s always around And every time he wants to sing me this song. Oh, you know all the words, and you sung all the notes, But you never quite learned the song, she sang. I can tell by the sadness in your eyes, That you never quite learned the song. One day when the moon was full I thought I might settle down, Found myself a pretty little girl, And I stopped all my running around; But just when the preacher come along, And he’s just gonna pop on the ring, This funny little hedgehog comes running down the aisle, And I don’t have to tell you what he did sing.

Oh, you know all the words, and you sung all the notes,

But you never quite learned the song, she sang. I can tell by the sadness in your eyes, That you never quite learned the song. I’m not the kind to complain That I never had a girl to love; Many fine girls I’ve tried hard to know, But I think I never tried enough. But now I’ll be looking all my days, And it isn’t just me I got to please, There’s this funny little hedgehog Who’s always around, And the only words he ever sings to me are these.

Oh, you know all the words and you sung all the notes, But you never quite learned the song, she sang. I can tell by the sadness in your eyes, That you never quite learned the song.

DDIIRREECCTTOORR PPEETTEERR NN AALL went into this project without a plan or a script, and allowed the music and the ISB to speak for themselves in the 80 minute documentary. The film includes concert footage with only Robin and Mike performing and the results are worthwhile (see Robin Williamson play harmonica and tin whistle simultaneously on `Mercy I cry city’). There’s also a poetry reading, and songs filmed in the studio with two other key band members, Rose and Licorice. There’s an interview section, and, strangest of all, a fable created for the film with homemade costumes and props: “The pirate and the crystal ball”. The film features the ISB and the dance troupe Stone Monkey, with performances by Malcolm le Maistre and one ‘Rakis’ (as the Pirate King), both of whom danced in the ISB’s financially disastrous masterpiece, the pantomime ‘U’. In an interview, Peter Neal talks about why he likes the String Band and his approach to their music and wonders why they were not more commercially successful at the time, given that their music has endured well. This film was made in the late 1960s, and suffers from the woolly dreaminess of the times, but it may provide a clearer sense of these musicians and their work than a more carefully focused documentary might have done.

EE

Be Glad for the Song has no Ending: The Incredible String Band (1970) DVD