Chords for Richard Thompson Newsnight Part 2

_ His journey to the Dockside started in a North London suburb.
_ _ It may not look like one of the great pop landmarks, but for the folk rock fraternity,
this house in Muswell Hill, North London, is as important as that Beatles landmark, Abbey Road.
_ [B] It was here in the spring of [N] 1967 that the then teenage Richard Thompson
first rehearsed with the band with whom he made his name.
The name of the house is Fairport, and the band gave themselves a rather American title,
Fairport Convention.
The music they made here was [Am] eclectic, putting it mildly, from blues to American rock favourites,
[Em] [A] and then they pioneered British folk rock.
[E] _ _ [Gbm] _ The Fairports were joined by the greatest [Bm] British traditional [Dbm] fiddle player of his era, [B] Dave [E] Swarbrick.
_ _ [D] _ _ _ [A] But _
[E] _ _ they still looked like [D] an all-purpose 60s band.
[A] _ _ _ [E] _ _ _ _ _
_ _ Richard Thompson then had a shock of curly hair, and even as a teenager was a quite remarkable [A] guitarist. _
_ _ [E] _ _ _ [D] _ _
In 1969, the Fairport's ever-changing line-up had included both Swarbrick and that great singer, Sandy Denny.
In the autumn of that year, they released Leech and [Dm] Leaf,
an album that matched new songs that somehow sounded traditional
with bleak traditional [D] songs treated with rock instrumental work.
It [Dm] was the first British folk rock album, and is now the most popular of the band's albums.
It's now [G] seen as a classic.
I think we knew it was an important record, and we probably thought it was important to about 15 people,
_ including ourselves. _ _ _
We were [N] aware it was the first attempt to really _ _ update British traditional music
and bring it into the rock slash pop _ mainstream.
I'd never heard anything so colourful done to folk music before.
_ _ _ _ _ _ I mean, the shades of evil that was possible to do with electric was enormous.
_ _ _ At the awards, the now-legendary 1969 Fairport line-up were reunited.
_ There was Simon Nicol, who was brought up in the Fairport house,
and is still a member of Fairport Convention.
Bass player Ashley Hutchings, known as the Governor.
_ _ [G] _
Dave Swarbrick, thankfully recovered after years of serious illness,
and still owning his 1969 _ fiddle.
I've not seen that.
[Dm] Time knows him. _
And of course, Richard [G] Thompson.
_ Get out of here.
_ [D] Legion Leaf was very much a group effort,
but the album producer argues that Thompson played a key role.
Looked fantastic.
_ Bloody good, mate.
[G] Bloody good.
I think it all came back to Richard,
and how he took those ideas that were flying around
and incorporated them into what he played,
and people feeding off that as the centre.
_ _ [E] _ _
_ [Am] _ _ _ [Gb] To [B] perform [Dm] Matty Groves, would you please [G] welcome Fairport Convention. _
[Eb] _ _ [Dm] _ _ _ _ _ _
[C] _ _ [Am] _ [Dm] _ _ _ [D] _ _
It's a holiday, a holiday, on the first one of [Dm] the year.
Legion Leaf [G] won the award [Am] for the most [Dm] influential folk album of all time.
And when the reading is well done, she casts her eyes about.
The _ girl she [G] spied [C] on Matthew [D] Groves, walking [G] in the [Dm] crowd.
Amazingly, no one bothered to film this most famous of all the Fairport line-ups back in 1969.
He'd streak his [C] wife right through the heart, [Dm] and he pinned her [C] against [D] the wall.
But this is what they look and sound like now,
with Chris Wilde taking the part of the late Sandy Denny.
From under a my [C] lady at the top, [D] she [C] was of no [D] care. _ _
_ _ [D] _ _ _ _ _
After recording a historic album at the [C] age of 20, [D] Richard Thompson moved on. _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ [Gm] [A] In January 1971, he quit the Fairports to start his solo career,
in which he was joined until 1982 by his then wife Linda.
_ [B] _ [N] _ _ _
For the last two decades, he's been based in the States,
where he has an even larger following than Britain,
and his songs have been [Ab] covered by country artists.
But he [A] sounds more British than ever. _ _
[D] At the Chapel of [Db] Partial Remembrance, [C] the ushers [B] went into a seizure.
There [Em] aren't many singer-songwriters [Eb] in Los Angeles writing about [Dm] divorce,
and a novelty [D] dancer from Pench.
And the honeymoon down in Ibiza, [Cm] where the sun and the [G] nightlife were [B] hot.
[Em] As she lay on the sand, he [Eb] said, isn't it grand?
I'll [D] bring all of my wives [A] to this farce.
[D] Let it blow.
There is [G] a theory that _ you need some [A] distance to focus [E] on who [F] you are.
_ I think [G] to some extent that's true.
[A] _ _ To put myself in the same sentence as [D] James Joyce or Robert Louis Stevenson, _ _
_ it worked for them.
Being abroad.
Yeah, being abroad, it pulled everything into very sharp focus.
What I've heard so far_
And for his latest project, yet another change of direction.
Your guitar has to be the lead, very, very, very clear lead.
And very much authority in it.
And then all the rest will fall in place.
_ _ He was asked by that maverick director, Werner Herzog,
to write and play the music for his new film.
OK, go to work.
Do your job. _ _ _ _ _
The true story of a man who [G] lived and died
among the [C] bears in the Alaskan wilderness, Grizzly Man.
_ [D] _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ [C] _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ [G] _
[C] _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
[D] _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ [G] _ [D] _ _ That's his new music.
_ _ [Dm] _ _ [D] _ _
And _ _ _ _ [Am] _ _
_ _ _ _ _ [C] _ here's a song he [G] wrote 38 years ago. _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ [D] _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ [Am] _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ [C] The [G] Folk Awards ended with a who's who of the folk fraternity
joining old and current members of Fairport Convention
for what's [D] become their regular finale.
_ _ _ _ _ The thoughtful [Am] Meet on the Ledge was written by Richard Thompson
while still a teenager.
[C] _ _ _ _ [G] _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
[D] After all these years, he surely deserves a little recognition.
[Am] We're gonna meet on the ledge _
[C] _ If we [G] really mean [D] it
[G] It all comes round again
[Abm] _ [A] Robin _ _ _ _ Denslow on Richard Thompson.
Tomorrow morning's front pages.
The Times leads on,