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Post by Michael Messer on Apr 8, 2020 11:12:57 GMT
Terry Clarke - Jesse Taylor - Michael Messer / Sunday Express 1993 My old dear friend and songwriter of so many of the songs I have recorded over the years, Terry Clarke, died yesterday from complications in surgery. It was not Covid-19 related. I am so sad today that words almost fail me. However, knowing that words never failed Terry, I feel compelled to write and post some things about him during the day. Terry Clarke was a brilliant songwriter and performer, and only through fate and the way the world works he was not a very well known artist. Songs that Terry wrote for and with me include... Hummingbird Cherry Blossom Hawaiian Agency Lucky Charms Take Me Back Sad Side Of The Note Sunflower River Steve Cropper Havana Blues Son House Locomotive Skin Blue Letters Hummingbirds In My Soul Big Wind Love Shine On Riverboat Tail Feather Blues Bluer Than Blue Painting The Blues King Guitar Living In Rhythm Crow Blues Step Right Up Robert Johnson's Wake Cannonball Blues Moonbeat No Blue In The ABC Jawbone Johnny Leaving Ruby Living By The Water Canary Bird The Rising Sun Terry was so proud when Johnny Cash wrote the liner notes for our Rhythm Oil album, and rightfully so. John used Terry's lyrics to create these poetic notes. Terry Clarke >RIP ------------ Shine On Michael
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Post by bonzo on Apr 8, 2020 11:46:47 GMT
Sorry to hear of the loss of your dear friend Michael.
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Post by Pickers Ditch on Apr 8, 2020 12:27:35 GMT
Sad, sad news Michael, but he left quite a legacy.
Feel for you....
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Post by Deleted on Apr 8, 2020 12:28:59 GMT
Condolencies to you MM, and to Terry's family / other friends. TT
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Post by Brad Bechtel on Apr 8, 2020 12:37:50 GMT
My condolences to you and his family and friends.
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Post by vent on Apr 8, 2020 12:54:42 GMT
That is very sad news Michael.
I’ve many great memories of seeing Terry play.
Used to see Terry at the Weaver’s regularly along with you and Ed, also with Jessie Taylor too – maybe Ponty Bone as well sometimes?
He was quite an entertainer and a cracking songwriter - also great company with some wonderful stories. While I was a psychiatric nursing assistant at Fairmile Hospital in Berkshire it turned out that he’d had a job there cleaning windows – no wonder we both thought each other’s faces were familiar, even through the toughened glass of a Victorian asylum.
He was incredibly funny and responsible for one of the best off-the-cuff stage asides I’ve ever seen. He had a short-lived Monday night solo residency at The World’s End on Stroud Green Road which tried (and failed) to become a live music venue. Struggling in front of a load of mainly disinterested drinkers he was giving it his usual all when one the feet fell away from the mike stand causing it to fall, slowly, like a felled tree in a cartoon. His eyes followed it all the way down to the stage floor.
On picking it up, mid-song, and trying to balance it he uttered the immortal words “This really IS the f’ing World’s End”. The World’s End’s still there and, when passing on the bus, that memory often as not still brings a smile to my face.
Nothing but fond memories of Terry as a person, a songwriter and a performer.
Condolences to all.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 8, 2020 13:06:30 GMT
Very sorry to hear of your loss...
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Post by pascal on Apr 8, 2020 15:50:04 GMT
I am very sad myself, Terry was a good friend, and we shared the stage sometimes... Here him & I at "la pomme d'Eve" Paris 2004 if I am correct.
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Post by 5slide on Apr 8, 2020 16:36:05 GMT
So sorry to hear this. My deepest condolences to you Michael, and Terry's family and friends.
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Post by Michael Messer on Apr 8, 2020 17:06:18 GMT
Thanks everyone. Terry has left an extraordinary legacy and while his own recordings never reached the wide audience they should have done, many of Terry's songs have become well known through my recordings of them. Most of Terry's songs that I recorded were written for me and many were inspired by ideas that I threw Terry's way. We all have our favourites, but sitting here this afternoon thinking about our work together through six albums and many road trips, it all seems like one song and one tour and each is as important as the next. Here's a few fond memories that I have found while rummaging through piles of old junk this afternoon.... Tour poster - 1993 Tour tee shirt signed by all three of us - 1993 Gig board Weavers Islington I think - Early 90s sometime BBC GLR Mary Costello Show July 1993 - original photograph by Alan Messer Music City Texas Magazine - We won Austin TX Import Album of the Year in 1993 Weavers Islington - Early 90s sometime Michael Messer - Terry Clarke - Jesse Taylor at Terry's house July 1993 by Alan Messer Jesse, Terry and me at Terry's house July 1993 by Alan Messer House of Cash headed notepaper that has a private note to me, December 1992 Just found this on Terry's website. I have not seen this before. Terry Clarke Atomic 10 and Other Sinatra Dreams ****
Michael Messer’s Mitra Call Of The Blues **** A couple of extraordinarily different (and beautiful) albums by Brits with Texas in their hearts. Messer’s the king of the National steel guitar and Clarke is a singer-songwriter with the air of an Americana Van Morrison. Together they teamed up with the Joe Ely Band’s breathtaking guitarist Jesse Taylor for one of the finest Americana albums of all time, 1993’s RHYTHM OIL, of which one Johnny Cash said in his sleevenotes “Here is the real thing – bare bones blues gut-bucket rural rock.” Messer, never one to tread an obvious path, here teams up with Indian slide guitar virtuoso Manish Pingle from Mumbai and London’s Gurdain Rayatt, master of the tabla, both renowned in Indian classical music. The result is hypnotic and stirring with Messer on slide, lap steel and vocals, JJ Cale and Mississippi Fred McDowell played as if they inhabited the world of TV hit Indian Summers, possibly slipping across into Bollywood. There’s a traditional raga number, Messer and Terry Clarke’s old rootsy favourite Lucky Charms and even Muddy Waters’ I Can’t Be Satisfied, which featured on RHYTHM OIL. Clarke’s is even curiouser. He’s always immersed himself in an imaginary world of rock ‘n’ roll and country and here creates a mean, moody string-laden Americana tribute to Ol’ Blue Eyes. There’s the piano-accompanied crooner Hoboken, the fabulous Mexicana sound of Trini Lopez Said, the hot, dark Take Me To The Desert, the 50s rocker It’s All Life and the pomp of The Last Italian Vampire. An album that positively reeks of whiskey, casinos, pencil-thin ties – and the spine-tingling mix of triumph and terror that surrounded Sinatra and his entourage.Shine On Michael Attachments:
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Post by leeophonic on Apr 8, 2020 17:52:20 GMT
Sad times indeed, I have many fond memories of Terry across the years, what is difficult to capture and explain is that he was enigmatic and had that rock and roll blood flowing in his veins, always with the 12 string booming although Terry had the vocals to match.
Respect to all and I will re listen to some of the cd,s over the next few days and raise a glass to Terry. I remember being told a few years back that the Boss (Bruce) saw in Terry what we all saw and was interested in Terry and his mercurial touch. Keep the Irish Blues torch burning bright as another star joins the sky tonight.
Lee
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Post by Michael Messer on Apr 8, 2020 18:44:40 GMT
Sad times indeed, I have many fond memories of Terry across the years, what is difficult to capture and explain is that he was enigmatic and had that rock and roll blood flowing in his veins, always with the 12 string booming although Terry had the vocals to match. Respect to all and I will re listen to some of the cd,s over the next few days and raise a glass to Terry. I remember being told a few years back that the Boss (Bruce) saw in Terry what we all saw and was interested in Terry and his mercurial touch. Keep the Irish Blues torch burning bright as another star joins the sky tonight. Lee Beautiful words, Lee. Indeed Bruce Springsteen was interested in writing with Terry, but for one reason or another it never materialised. Here are Jesse Taylor, Terry Clarke and Bruce Springsteen in Dublin, 1996. Photograph by Glen Fukunaga Shine On Michael
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Post by thebluesbear( al) on Apr 9, 2020 10:49:42 GMT
MM My deepest condolences for the loss of your friend and also to His family , Terry was clearly a very talented songwriter , one of my favourite songs that you do is Blue letters , that is a seriously great song IMO .
Take care
al
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Post by jono1uk on Apr 9, 2020 11:22:18 GMT
so sorry for your loss Michael .1 do hope you will be able to attend your friends funeral ...
Jon
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Post by marshcat on Apr 10, 2020 15:09:04 GMT
Distressing news, Michael - So many Reading memories. "Rainbow's end"...
Stuart
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