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Frankieblue's Profile

MY LIFE THROUGH MUSIC

By
Frank D. Wilson, Born Kirkcaldy, Fife, Scotland. June 26 1940 Now resident in Glenrothes Fife

Why am I writing this account?

Why not?

It is not my intention to write about all the music I have heard or loved in my lifetime. I think that would fill this computer in no time. I will only write about the music that has influenced me in one way or another.

In the 1940’s the hit songs of the era for me were, Run Rabbit, Run by Flanagan and Allen and Mairzy Dotes and Dozy Dotes but the first songs ever to catch my attention were by Nelson Eddy and Jeanette Macdonald. I can’t remember the songs but the singing was superb, even with the reception we were able to get on the radio. I was six years old and it was 1946. I have loved duets ever since. It was an introduction to light opera singing as well as duets and I pursued both in my way from then on. Luckily for me the era of the Hollywood Musical and colour pictures were near and there would be a wealth of duets to be seen and heard.

Another memory from the mid 1940’s is of my dad singing. He sang in the local pub and I recall sitting on the steps outside listening to him singing O Sole Mio (My Sun), (later It’s now or never by Elvis) and Torne A Sorrento (Return to Sorrento) in Italian and I just loved it. My dad fought through the whole of WW2 and the latter part took him from North Africa through Sicily then Italy. I presume he learned the Italian lyrics then. Later I would listen to the many great tenors of the 30s to 60s from Enrico Caruso and Beniamino Gigli through to Mario Lanza and this led me to operas and to the March of the Toreadors from Bizet’s Carmen being my favourite among many (and even the Hollywood musical version called Carmen Jones). My Dad’s favourite tenor was Enrico Caruso but any recordings of him from the 1930’s were too scratched to hear. However, I have kept recordings by Gigli from 1931 through 1937 on a 33 1/3 rpm long play record secreted away. I haven’t heard them for at least 5 years, since I ditched my turntable.

My mother and I moved to live with my gran when my dad died and I was nine years old. This opened up a whole new experience in music for me. My Grandad played a keyless melodeon. It had buttons and paddles and he played Scottish tunes which I really 0enjoyed. My mum had two uncles who lived not far away and one played a button keyed accordion and the other played a big piano keyed accordion. The uncles, with their families, lived next door to each other and the musical evenings when I went there were out of this world. Uncle Bill was a superb player and, according to family folklore, knew Jimmy Shand well and could have played with him but decided he would rather keep goal for East Fife Football Club. These times left me with a healthy regard for Scottish music as played by accordions. I relate this to the Cajun music as played in Louisiana USA which I am certain is a mixture of French and Scottish played by immigrants from these places and mixed together. To this day I love Cajun music which I know can sound like jumbled up, off key, noises to the uninitiated.

Unfortunately however, I have no other love of Scottish music apart from the thrill on hearing the skirl of the pipes.

Now into the 1950’s and I make my first purchase of a record (about December 1952). It was Wheel of fortune, by Kay Starr. Kay Starr was my mum’s favourite singer and the record was a present for her (which necessitated the purchase of a player so it was a costly present). This was also my first foray into so called popular music and finding out about Kay Starr was interesting. She was the daughter of a full blooded American (red) Indian father and an Irish mother. Because “streaming” was not important, Kay Starr sang everything. Country, Jazz, Big Band ( there was no better accolade than to be asked to sing with Glen Miller, which she did) and did her own thing with the songs in her unique way. She was the very first female singer to have a top hit record and that was some achievement when you consider her background and the times she lived in in the USA. On top of that the competition she beat was high, Peggy Lee and Joan Stafford for instance. Because of Kay I love the female voice in country and western music to this day, particularly Patsy Cline, who’s voice I link strongly with Kay’s, and Loretta Lynn.

In the early 1950’s a new sound was happening in the world of popular music, that was the sound of Frankie Lane. Frankie Lane’s influence on me in the world of pop was total. I was a fan after the first note I heard and play his music to this day. Frankie was the first I had heard who made me want to sing, and to be "him." He was the first singer I had heard to “bend” and “hyphenate” words in a song, and to linger behind the music sometimes with the lyrics to give a lazy, easy performance but with a superb range. In my early teenage years I must have sung Frankie Lane songs hundreds of times, mostly in the bath because of the acoustics there. He was number one when the competition was awesome, Dean Martin, Perry Como, Al Martino, Bing Crosby, Johnny Rae, Guy Mitchell and Frank Sinatra to name but a few.

On new years day in 1953 a man I had not heard, or heard of, died. Hank Williams. Hank Williams was to become the biggest influence ever in my life of music but other things were happening now and musical life was speeding up.

In 1954 a phenomenon was released on the USA. A trio, Elvis Pressley on rhythm guitar, Scotty Moore on lead guitar and Bill Black on Bass made a record that changed music for me forever. It was Well that’s Alright (Mama). Unfortunately, it was 1956 before the phenomenon was released on the world and I was in the right place at the right time. I was in the world and I was sixteen.

It was a true revolution and I was lucky to be the perfect age to take it on board.

In this same year Johnny Cash started to do his thing and he revolutionised country music. I became almost as big a country fan as an Elvis fan. It was a bit unlucky for Johnny to come through at the same time as Elvis because he had to live in Elvis’s shadow for a long spell although he was big in the USA he didn’t make the world till Elvis died really.

Big Bands
There was another medium that gave me tremendous joy and that was “The Big Bands.” These were full size orchestras that toured the ballrooms “The Dancin’.” Dancing to these bands was a treat and Some of them became pretty famous, so much so that when they played you couldn’t dance because everybody stood at the stage. These bands gave me a good grounding of rhythm, it was amazing how they could make a dozen trumpets, half a dozen trombones and various other instruments sound as one. I have always had a great respect for the big bands. The really big (internationally) bands such as Glen Miller (still on the road even though Glen died in 1942), Duke Ellington, Count Basie and Benny Goodman etc were too big to come to Scotland although some did play Edinburgh and Glasgow but these places seemed farther away then than they seem today and the cost was much more prohibitive then than now. In any case I did not like the sound of the really big bands apart from Glen Miller, whose “In The Mood” (1939) I keep on the computer and play occasionally.

The bands I liked best were Eric Delaney (major drum solos), Ted Heath (Glen Miller style) and Chris Barber with Ottillie Patterson (Jazz). The latter was my favourite and I met Ottillie at the Raith Ballroom in Kirkcaldy. To hear the magic of slow jazz listen to “Careless Love” by Ottillie.

Two of the players in Chris’ band became famous in their own right, Monty Sunshine, who played clarinet, made hit records and the other, Lonnie Donegan, Became an instant success and was the reason, along with Hank Williams, for my (and a thousand others) first guitar. Lonnie played banjo (which is the heart of a true traditional jazz band) in the band but became famous by inventing “Skiffle.” Skiffle sent most teenagers scurrying away to make their own instruments, makeshift guitars from plywood with gut pulled by pliers and tied of. Double Bass from a broom handle with gut or rope attached to a metal dustbin for the acoustics and a washboard played with thimbles on the fingers for the rhythm. Lonnie was a Scot, from Glasgow, and was the very first British Superstar, Skiffle was huge the world over.

Hank Again.
Hank Williams was the single biggest influence for me, and it was because of his songs that I learned to play guitar and banjo. It was also because of the songs he wrote that I wrote songs. Yeah, me and millions others.

I suppose it says something for my taste in music when the stars I loved are played every day even though they have been gone for so long.

I could go on forever about it all but I will end with the fact that my biggest influence was Hank but my greatest pleasure was from listening to Elvis. And, now, to my great friends here on Singsnap.

Frank