Hans

Early dementia? Probably not. More likely this had something to do with James’ infidelity and heroin addiction which blew the idyllic love affair to pieces. But for a while Carly and James were truly Rock Royalty.

Who else could claim Rock Royalty status and how many survived the stress of Sex, Drugs & Rock and Roll? I am personally not that interested in gossip and hardly follow the private lives of musicians. But I gave it a go and managed to come up with a respectable list of famous rock and rolling love affairs.

1. Johnny Cash & June Carter

Johnny Cash married himself into the absolute top of American music, the famous Carter Family. He adored the family and Johnny and June would stay together through some hard and challenging times. Everyone who ever saw the movie Walk The Line will remember.

2. Michael Jackson & Lisa Marie Presley

Same idea didn’t work out as  well for Michael Jackson. Jackson married himself into true Rock Royalty by his marriage to Elvis’ daughter. Many believe that their marriage was a PR stunt to cast Jackson in a better light after allegations of sexual molestation charges involving a 13-year old boy.  Jackson and Presley separated on December 10, 1995.

3. Marvin Gaye and Anna Gordy

Motown golden boy, Gaye married himself into the very top of Soul Royalty. He married the sister of Motown’s boss and founder Berry Gordy. Result: a great divorce album ‘Hear My Dear’. Things didn’t really work out for him. A few years later Marvin was shot dead by his own father.

4. Carly Simon & James Taylor

Famous marriage didn’t survive life on the road. They had a couple of children and son Ben is doing well with the Ben Taylor Band, sounding very much like his dad.

5. Kurt Corbain & Courtney Love

Troubled relationship ended with Corbain’s  suicide. Courtney Love struggles on with her own band Hole

6. Marianne Faithful & Mick Jagger

Marianne Faithfull, a very young folk singer with aristocratic roots, met the members of Rolling Stones through their manager, Andrew Loog Oldham. Her first pop hit was a version of the Stones’ ‘As Tears Go By,’ and she was soon a key figure on the Swinging London scene.  Faithfull was  famous for her  beauty and  her long-running romance with Mick Jagger. In the ’70s, Faithfull split up with Jagger, developed a serious drug habit, and recorded rarely. But since then  she made at come-back and has been  recording some of her best albums.

7. John & Yoko

Yoko was a famous avant-garde artist when she and John met. Together they released a couple of albums as the Plastic  Ono Band. She recently  released a new album with son Sean.

8. Richard & Linda Thompson

Richard Thompson, a highly talented guitarist/singer/composer of Fairport Convention. Left the band and performed as duo with wife and folk singer Linda. Made some brilliant albums. Their divorce album ‘Shoot Out the Lights’, documenting the falling apart of their marriage, is a masterpiece. Their son Teddy Thompson is making quite a name for himself. He also helped his mother with a beautiful come-back album (‘Fashionably Late’). Has something of a Rock Royalty thing going for himself through his relationship with Martha Wainwright.

9. John & Beverly Martyn

Similar story as Richard and Linda Thompson. Talented folk singers John & Beverly Martyn married and then  recorded two or three albums together and performed as a duo.  John Martyn was far too restless and ambitious to stay too long in the same place. He moved on  as  solo artist and struggled with alcohol and drugs addiction. His brilliant album Grace & Danger is arguably the best divorce album of all time (songs like ‘sweet little mystery’ and  ‘when that hurt in your heart is gone..’). John Martyn died last year.

10. Paul & Linda McCartney

Formed the band Wings and performed together until Linda’s death.

11. Jack and Meg White(The White Stripes)

Jack and Meg  claimed to be siblings, but they are  actually a married couple until 2000.

12. Janis Joplin & Leonard Cohen

Check out Cohen’s song  Chelsea Hotel (‘I remember you well in the Chelsea Hotel ..’). Supposedly about him and Janis having an affair in the most famous Rock hotel.

13. Kate McGarrigle & Loudon Wainwright III

One of the great musical families. Kate (from great Canadian folk duo Kate & Anne McGarrigle) and LoudonWainwright married young but it  didn’t last  very long. Two of their children are now famous musicians: Rufus Wainwright and Martha Wainwright. Judging on the song that Martha wrote about her father, the marriage had some problems and the divorce was painful. The title of that song? You motherf*@! asshole.  Family is still on speaking terms and made a beautiful family album The McGarrigle Hour. Martha has a relationship with Teddy Thompson, son of Richard and Linda Thompson. Kate died a few months ago of cancer.

14. Ramasas & Selket

The strangest rock duo since the Egyptian Empire. Martin Raphael was working as a central heating salesman when he and his wife, Selket, emerged onto the late-’60s psychedelic scene. He was convinced that he (and his wife) was the reincarnation of the Egyptian deity whose name he had adopted. The couple recorded a great first album, ‘Space Hymns’, with the members of 10CC as backing musicians. The album is still collectors material and there are popular websites dedicated to the music of Ramases and Selket. He committed suicide in the mid-90’s.

15. Bob Dylan & Joan Baez

What could have been…but wasn’t to be. Joan Baez was the very  talented singer/activist of the left wing folk/ protest movement of the sixties. Then out of the blue came Bob Dylan turned up and took everyone by surprise. Dylan was something special from the start and became the undisputed leader of that generation. Joan Baez and Dylan toured together (see: Don’t Look Back about the British tour) and something was happening..  But just as sudden as he had arrived, Dylan left everyone behind, including Baez. If you ever saw the great documentary by Martin Scorcese ‘No Direction Home’  you still feel the disappointment and unbelief with Baez . Dylan was Dylan, but the pain was still real.  After their break up Dylan wrote the song All I Really Want To Do ( All I really want to do..Is, baby, be friends with you) and moved on.

I am not really that up-to-date with more recent Rock Royalty. Maybe the Jonas Brothers are doing it with Hannah Montana, …and who knows what that Justin Beaver is up to.

It is actually not that easy. In the past I  have been accused by friends of playing typical ‘suicide music‘ and with that they usually meant guys like  Tom Waits, Randy Newman or Lou Reed (‘Berlin’). Not really cheerful party stuff, true. But you will agree that it has to be much worse to make it fit in that special category of Music to Commit Suicide By....

So which musician has that special quality to push it just that little bit further, who can make you realize, right on the spot, that your life, any life at all really, just doesn’t add up? Mentally I am going through a list of the usual suspects: Joy Division, Leonard Cohen, Marianne Faihful, Tim Hardin.. Sad, but still not bad enough.

Then we have the really sad stories of two great musicians, who couldn’t stand it any longer and killed themselves. I am talking about Nick Drake and Elliott Smith. With hindsight you can hear all that bad stuff in their songs and where that just had to lead to.  But their music is so beautiful, melodic and also hopeful that they don’t fit the picture either.

I have to go back a long time when I still lived with my parents in Holland. My dad used to love those sentimental Dutch  ’tear jerkers’,  sad and unbelievable bad at the same time. His favourite was a female singer from Amsterdam, the Singer Without A Name (‘Zangeres Zonder Naam’) was her name. Not much of a voice either, if you would ask me. She sang these truly awful songs about human misery and tears and abuse. A classic that I specifically remembered was a song about a little child having lost his parents and probably everyone else in the world including the dog and other pets. That song was titled ‘At the Wall of the Old Cemetery’. My father loved it and at parties he would turn the music up to unbearable levels. Upstairs I was trying to protect myself by pressing my hands to my ears and holding a pillow case over my head.  In vain and my head was filling up with very unhealthy thoughts.

If you ever want to hear Music to Commit Suicide With…don’t look further. I am not sure if you have anything like that in the English musical world. To really understand this you will probably have to listen to those old Dutch records. Even if you don’t understand a word of it, I am sure you will agree that that stuff is hard to beat.

Just make sure you are not alone when you put the record on!!

how about your favourite funeral songs? Any ideas?

In one of the next Domino programs I will honour some of these almost forgotten guys: bands who hit the target once and hit it right. But they disappeared from the public eye just as spectacularly as they had arrived. We remember them from that one brilliant track, their ultimate claim to fame. What is left is a vague memory from the distant past; maybe a gold plated record or some pictures on the wall.

Sad?? I don’t think so. They had their moment in the sunshine and still have that song. If they were lucky with their manager, they may still have a nice bag of royalties too. If not, you may see them one day in your local club trying to earn a few dollars on the retro tour.

Well, here are a few of my favourite one hit wonders  (at least the ones that I can still remember) and you can hear some of them on the next Domino program.

Top 25

1. McArthur Park – Richard Harris
2. The Wild Places – Duncan Browne
3. Something in the air – Thunderclap Newman
4. Death of a Clown – Dave Davies
5. My Sharona – The Knack
6. Fire – Arthur Browne
7. Year of the Cat – Al Sewart
8. Friday on my Mind – Easybeats
9. One of Us – Joan Osbourne
10. Tainted Love – Soft Cell
11. Summer Breeze – Seals and Croft
12. Spirit in the Sky – Norman Greenbaum
13. She Drives Me Crazy – Fine Young Cannibals
14. Louie Louie – The Kingsmen
15. Twist in my sobriety – Tanita Tikaram
16. Summertime Blues – Blue Cheer
17. The Days of Pearly Spencer David McWilliams
18. This Wheel’s On Fire – Julee Driscoll & Brian Auger
19. Venus – Shocking Blue
20. Come On Eileen – Dexy’s Midnight Runners
21. Lucky Man – Emmerson Lake and Palmer
22. Loving You – Minnie Ripperton
23. If you’re going to San Francisco – Scott McKenzie
24. Midnight at the Oasis – Maria Muldaur
25. My Belle Amie – Tee Set

As far as I can remember Nancy Sinatra was one of the first and Nancy and Lee (Hazelwood) produced a few of the most memorable tracks of the sixties. Jacob Dylan (The Wallflowers) and Adam Cohen are building an excellent career for themselves. So does Teddy Thompson (parents: folk legends Richard and Linda Thompson) and Ben Taylor (James and Carly Simon).  The son of Ringo Star is a very successful drummer, while Joachim Cooder is currently touring Australia as percussionist in Ry Cooder’s band. And together with mum Yoko, Sean Lennon just released a highly acclaimed new Plastic Ono Band album.

And then there are the true dynasties. As a young musician Neil Finn joined brother Tim’s band, Split Enz. Now he does the same for his own kids. His oldest son, Liam, showed his talent on his great debut album.  Still working on the highly anticipated follow-up, he tours and records with Jimmy Barnes’ daughter. How’s that for dynasties? And the next son of Neil has also joined his dad’s band (Seven Worlds Collide) so we can safely assume that we will hear more of him too.

But the most interesting dynasty may come from Canada: the Wainwright/McGarrigle connection. Controversial songwriter Loudon Wainwright married Kate McGarrigle (from the famous Canadian folk duo Kate & Anne McGarrigle). Their marriage fell apart, but their two children are doing brilliantly on their own. Rufus Wainwright and Martha Wainwright are stars in their own right and their following is still growing. What makes this family extra interesting is their funny habit to write publicly about their relationships and they tend to do that in a pretty honest and explicit way. How about Martha’s song to her dear dad from her first album, titled You Motherfucking Asshole. Loudon was not too intimitdated and responded with a nice one about his daughter and also a little song for young Rufus (‘Rufus is a tit man’). I believe they get on pretty well;  They just have an odd way of showing their affection.

Then there is this strange story about David Crosby (everthing about him is a bit strange) and his son James. In the sixties David Crosby gave his young baby up for adoption. Too busy with sex, drugs & rock and roll to take care of a family. James grew up happily in his new family, became a talented musician, but something was not right. He started searching for his biological father and discovered he was the son of David Crosby. They met each other and started making music,  formed a new band Crosby, Previn and Raymond (CPR) and released a few great albums in the tradition of CS&N.  A story with a happy ending, it seems.  Quite different from that sad and bizarre fate of the Buckleys.

Tim Buckley’s brilliant songs and his unique, powerful voice made him one of the most influential singer/songwriters of the sixties. He married and the couple had a son, Jeff (1966). But much like David Crosby, Tim Buckley nver managed to combine family life with his restless artistic ambitions. He left his wife and kid to follow his career but tragically died of a drug overdose, aged only 28. Twenty years onwards, around 1994, we heard for the first time of Jeff Buckley, who then had just released his first record Grace. One of the best albums, if not the best, of the nineties. Like his father his success was based on great songwriting, a magic voice and intense and soul searching performances. I once read an interview where he maintained that he had never listened to any of his father’s albums. The man didn’t exist for him. An amazing claim and quite hard to believe if you know the music of both, but the son’s anger was still there. But like his father Jeff Buckley would die tragically and much too young. On the night of May 29 1997, he spontaneously decided to go swimming in the Mississippi River and waded into the water fully clothed. A few minutes later, he disappeared under the waves.  Just like his famous dad Jeff Buckley died before turning 30, in the middle of a great promising career. And that’s where the bizarre story of Tim and Jeff Buckely ends. Unfulfilled? Absolutely, but both father and son have secured their place in the history of rock music. The story goes on and on and we will surely find similar examples in the future (maybe Michael Jackson’s or Madonna’s children)

But don’t forget to go and see Duncan Bowie’s movie ‘Moon’ and check out if he did actually reserve a support role for a certain Major Tom.