John (Prine)'s album came out in April (2018) and Sarah and I sang this song to each other all that year. We were thrilled to see John play it live in Birmingham in the August, just another of the many magic times we had during what we both called the best summer of our lives - which later turned out to be Sarah's last - making the song all the more poignant. It was only after that I realised that it must have been Sarah singing the refrain to me rather than the other way around - "You Don't Have To Be Alone" . . . .

Summers End

Frozen Moment

Twenty - First Century Man

At nearly 17 minutes long, McGoohan's Blues demands some necessary explanation, especially for a first-time audience, about the song itself but also why I chose to blast through someone else's epic. This prologue has now become epic in itself (limited by YouTube to 5000 characters I've now used exactly that).

The Prisoner and The Village
Patrick McGoohan played 'Number 6' in 'The Prisoner', a British TV series he co-wrote about an ex-secret agent waking to find himself living in 'The Village' where everyone has numbers rather than names and is controlled and constrained by mysterious superiors. Roy Harper, writing in 1969, named this song after McGoohan and inserted references from the series into the lyrics which wryly observe characters of life's daily microcosm before turning consciousness to the inner connection to the glorious macrocosm. Roy's like that, he's a witchy-thinking guy...

His Royal Roy-ness
Roy was especially good to me last year after hearing that Sarah had 'followed the river'. Darren kindly checked in on me knowing Sarah and I had tickets to Leeds, he persuaded me to come despite being deep in the grip of grief, made sure I would be among friends even if I was still destined to sit next to an empty seat through the performance. It was generous and kind of him, afterwards I caught up with my old acquaintances (and some new ones). Roy and I had a good talk, about Sarah, about music, about life: the only constant is change, how we live in only one moment and it's here and it's now. he said "I spent my whole life writing songs to express that, this is it, there's only today...". We talked about McGoohan's Blues which he performed in its entirety for the first time in many years. He thinks it holds an uncanny relevance 50 years on (even if he isn't sure he does!). And he proved it from the stage. Sarah and I were at Roy's 70th birthday party at the Royal Festival Hall early in our relationship, both moved to tears that night (as was Roy) by his (bad) speech at the end about having loved his life and not wanting to leave the planet - how apt and beautiful that he previewed a new song inspired by these thoughts as the encore to theses 2019 'farewell' shows (cue skipping).

McDonkey
And so it comes to me, a Donkey, plodding (forward) through its life, along the inexorable path to Loctite Lane where all donkeys must go, led eventually by the Black Donkey, a prince with bright eyes, floating out on the tide. Playing gigs in 2019 I had been finishing my set with a personalised excerpt of McGoohan's that I'd been calling McDonkey's Blues to express all this witchy-ness in my own journey. I told my audiences that we'd never be 'now' again but maybe I'd return one day to 'here' to give them the full 17 minutes... and maybe I will! After much thought I decided to leave Roy's personal lyrics well alone - aside from one being the opening line, it felt right not to mess with Heather or Nick(y) but I took some liberties at other points. "I'm on my way" always struck me as 'Donkey Moves Forward' so the line "I'll come and see you sooner" feels to me to be enhanced by my personalisation, I hope Roy won't mind.

Technical Notes
It really was just one take, some hesitations and hiccups remembering the words and their order - Roy will tell you that is entirely in keeping! Never made videos before, trying to do it on your own in Corona Virus lockdown isn't easy. My equipment isn't pro, the camera on the iPhone SE struggles in low light, I spent a morning jerry-rigging halogen lights and burning a chair - who knew how complicated it is to set up lights just so the camera sees without shadows thrown across your face? But 17 mins of a single static camera angle is just too boring, iMovie is good for a novice like me but I got carried away with effects, transitions and a plethora of images that fitted the lyrics in my head. I was fortunate enough to be pecked back to sense by an executive wren.

And now ...The Prologue...

McGoohan's Blues

Naked Flames

McDonkey's Blues

We Were Young

You Will Be Waiting

Wild Mountainside

I'm In Love With The Checkout Girl At Tescos

The Same Old Rock

Nottingham-based guitarist and singer of original material and slightly obscure covers.

Ashley Mortimer

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