The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #148937   Message #3465787
Posted By: GUEST,Big Al Whittle
14-Jan-13 - 02:10 AM
Thread Name: Martin Carthy on a Desert Island
Subject: RE: Martin Carthy on a Desert Island
I enjoyed the programme immensely. Martin's talent has always intrigued me. It really was very illuminating. I would love there to be an autiobiography of the man,

As for tradition - I dunno. There really was no one before him remotely like him, and i can't imagine anyone being like him afterwards - totally unique!

The hints at where he is coming from musically were really interesting and revelatory. His fascination is with the music. The people he seems to love are people who carry the song, and maybe add their twist. Perhaps the fascination with melody and musicality goes back to his years as a choirboy.

The idea of inhabiting the song as a highly personal statement (like Ralph McTell) seems alien to him. Sam Larner for example in Lofty Tall Ships is not talking about his life. That song has always seemed like a fragment of henry Martin to me - (tales of pirare ships on the high seas).

A tantalisingly brief insight!