And is being talented any excuse?
Apparently Graham Greene said that writers need a chip of ice in their heart. (I can't find where he said it, does anyone know?)
I was watching a documentary of John Martyn, who died in January. Came across him when a teenager, when I thought he was an old hippy and didn’t really listen – later got hooked on Solid Air, and started really properly listening to his voice, which is a voice in a million. I have no words to describe it, but when you hear him you’ve no doubt some people are just born with a gift, when you hear him sing his voice somehow expresses the whole range of what it is to be human. He was a proper musician, the antithesis of all those technically good but soulless talent show winners on the X Factor.
He reminds me of Bob Dylan too – there’s such understanding when he sings, this is someone who’s lived through everything and has great empathy with people’s experiences - yet he seems at the same time to have been an angry, aggressive, incredibly selfish human being (he took over his first wife’s record deal, knocked her up so her career was effectively finished, then buggered off on tour leaving her to bring up the 3 kids alone.) All the while making this beautiful, spiritual, achingly sad music.
I couldn’t get my head around the contrast between the music and its effect on me, and how he lived his private life.
About horses
4 days ago
6 comments:
I watched that, too, and feel the same way as you. Watching those scenes of him at home with his girlfriend made me think that I could never live with a boorish, dictatorial alcoholic like Martyn, who clearly thought he was the greatest thing sinced sliced bread, or sliced-off legs in his case.
I think successful artists tend to stir up emotions and be bastards as it gives them something to write about, and even if your family hate you, your audience will always be there, specially if you are as gifted as Martyn. The shit.
Successful artists are those who remain in touch with the eternal child inside. Which is why they usually deserve a bloody good slapping.
What's the D H Lawrence quote? Trust the tale, not the teller.
That.
Our obsession with biography undermines our appreciation of a lot of stuff, I think. Am personally guilty as charged. Largely though, I think artsists are nothing special, and there are arseholes in all walks of life.
In a word: no. But it does help with the self-mythologising.
Karma has a weird way of working its 'magic'. He had a fondness for wanting to get legless and he ended up in a wheelchair.
That's Karma for you.
Post a Comment