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| The
Scaffold in 1970 (Roger is in the middle) |
It's
now 40 years since Roger McGough achieved real fame as
a poet with the publication of the best-selling poetry
collection The Mersey Sound. 1967 also saw him with a
hit song on his hands, Thank U Very Much, as part of
The Scaffold along with John Gorman and Mike McCartney
(brother of Paul, no less). In the following year The
Scaffold's anthem, Lily the Pink, reached No. 1 in the
charts. Today as the regular presenter of BBC
Radio 4's Poetry Please he brings poetry to even wider
audience and most recently he's published his
autobiography, Said and Done.
Can you tell us a bit about what to expect when
you come to Bradford?
Whenever
I explain what I do you can feel jaws open and then
drop to the ground! What happens is the lights
go down and I walk on the stage and open a book and
read [laughs] but it's poetry – it's what I've done
for 40 years – and reading stories from my new
autobiography, Said and Done, about being a poet. And,
of course, this time I've got [guitarist] Andy Roberts
with me which adds a spark or two. He's an old friend
and he provides a musical element to the show.
You've been collaborating with Andy since the
early days?
Andy
was at the Edinburgh Festival from the early 1960s and
he was a student then. He came to Liverpool University
because he was attracted by what was going on there.
He studied Law but fortunately he fell in with all the
poets, musicians and artists and he actually got his
degree but he never practised Law. He played with The
Scaffold and he played with the Liverpool Scene with
Adrian Henri. His life since then has been as a
working musician accompanying bands like Pink Floyd.
In fact he was up in Bradford last week playing to a
full house at St George's Hall with Dennis Locorierre
[former lead singer with Dr Hook]. He's a working
musician. I'm just an old friend and it's always nice
to be on the road with an old mate and he drives.
Normally it's me on my own trekking round.
You talk about Andy coming to Liverpool. You've
lived in London for quite a long time now but do you
think people still see you as a Liverpool or a Mersey
poet?
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| Hear
Roger McGough live in Bradford! |
At
one time it became like a cross to bear. 'Liverpool
poet,' that's all people said, and what does that
mean? Brian and Adrian, when he was alive, and I used
to ask that question because it's not a geographical
thing as opposed to being called a Sheffield poet or a
Bradford poet. [Brian Patten and Adrian Henri whose
poems were also included in The Mersey Sound]. It was
something to do with time and place, and attitude, but
that's sort of faded now, thank heavens, and I think
I'm quite happy to be known as a Liverpool poet. It
just means I was brought up and lived there and feel
very much as though it's home really even though I've
been away from there for about 20 years.
It's now 40 years since The Mersey Sound was
published but it's still a well-known book of poetry.
How would you describe its impact at the time?
This
year is the 40th anniversary of the book, and it's
being reprinted in June as a Penguin Modern Classic
which is quite nice. I was telling Brian we'd have to
learn Greek now. The sad thing is Adrian isn't here to
see it. You've no idea when you first do these things
– we were very thrilled when we were invited by
Penguin to be published back in 1967 but we had no
idea that 40 years later it would still be being
reprinted and finding new audiences.
The cover of the first edition was very 'pop', and
it could be argued it's become somthing of an icon,
but you've said that it was far from what you, Adrian
and Brian wanted.
I
think Adrian was quite happy but Brian and I didn't
like it being called The Mersey Sound, just grabbing
on the coat tails of the Beatles, that sort of thing,
but luckily we were talked out of it. Penguin's
publicity department did what they thought was best
and probably they were right. It did catch on with a
lot of people who perhaps normally wouldn't have gone
to poetry. Also I was with the Scaffold, and when the
book was published in 1967 it was when Thank U Very
Much hit the charts and a year later there was Lily
the Pink, and my name was synonymous with something
that was OK and public, so I think it helped my
acceptance as a poet really.
Did you feel that the barriers between music, pop
music especially, and poetry were being broken down at
that time?
Definitely.
At The Scaffold shows we'd have musicians – we
played with very good ones in our time – and we also
included poetry, sketches, satire and, of course, the
comedy. That's pretty much gone out of music now,
hasn't it? There's not a lot of irony in music
nowadays. People take it very, very seriously. There
was the Bonzos [Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band] at the time
and there were other groups as well as The Scaffold
who enjoyed the business of music but also made fun of
it and who didn't take it too seriously. Poetry, music
and rock 'n' roll together all quite happily, and
painting as well - it was quite exciting!
1967 was also the so-called 'Summer of Love'. Did
it seem like that at the time?
Well,
you saw it happening. You were aware of it but at the
time it seemed to be a PR thing for London. There was
a time when long-haired girls would come around with
flowers. It was all a bit tongue-in-cheek, certainly
in the North, I think. I mean people enjoyed it and
maybe it's me being cynical and I was cynical then.
I've talked to people of my own age who thought it was
wonderful and well-meant and innocent, and probably to
those people it was, but I saw people making money out
of it and also what was happening in Liverpool. We
talk about the Beatles, what a great time it was in
Liverpool, but it was the time when the docks were
closing...and economically it was very depressing. But
it was almost like there was a party going on but with
a very spectral dark background.
So was Liverpool a good place to be in the 1960s?
Oh,
yes. It was good to be young then but we didn't think
we were at the centre of the universe. We were part of
that post-war generation who didn't do national
service, who went to art college and universities and
had education and a bit of money in their pockets and
a lot of high hopes!
Since then you've become one of the best known
poets in the country and you've done a lot of poetry
for children.
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| The
role of poetry is both to console and surprise |
I
enjoy it. The book I'm finishing now, and which is
coming out next year, is a book of poetry for young
ones and I enjoy it when I can do both. If I'm writing
about adult stuff there's a lot of poems about people
dying, very serious things, and then it's nice just to
be very playful and use the language. You write for
yourself really. This month I don't say I'm writing
for children. You just know once you start writing a
memorial for somebody it's going to be an adult poem
and if you are writing about a giraffe it's going to
be a child's poem but it's the same impetus that
started it and it's the same care you take over it.
You might spend the same amount of time writing a poem
about cockroaches as you do about your best friend
dying.
It's interesting what you say about poetry being
playful because, looking at the poems you wrote back
in the 60s, you seem to have used a very playful
technique to tackle very serious things about like
nuclear bombs going off.
I
suppose that's always been a sort of strength in a
way. It began as a weakness and became a strength.
Were you very disappointed not to be named Poet
Laureate?
No.
I didn't really expect it for lots of reasons but it's
nice to get the CBE and it's nice to be a Freeman of
the City [of Liverpool]. I think I would have been a
good Poet Laureate.
You mentioned in one of your recent programmes
that Poetry Please will always surprise somewhere
along the line. Is that something you've always wanted
to and do you think that's the role of poetry today?
I
think the role of poetry is to console future
generations in a way AND to surprise. I think it's
both. I do think so much now we live in a culture of
blame, never of praise. You never hear the police did
a good job on that or the government did well on this.
It's always about how they failed and who do you blame
for the failure. This must affect young people's lives
so it's nice to write things that are cheering and you
feel you can change things as well. And you can be
surprising, but try and be positive about life. I
always want people to feel better for having been to a
reading of mine or to have read a book.
If there's one thing you want people to take away
from your evening in Bradford what will be?
Beside
the large cheque you mean?
It's
always nice to do the book signing afterwards. It's an
important part of what I do. It's not to do with
selling books, it's all to do with meeting an
audience. It does remind me of why I do things because
most of what I do means being alone with my thoughts
and it's very lonely, it's isolated and there no
impact on what you're doing, it's just in your head,
and it's really good to go out to an audience and
share the fruits of your labour with them. Usually
they respond positively and it reminds me why I do it
and I feel part of them so it's a good feeling.
Roger McGough's Said and Done is at The Alhambra
Studio on Wednesday May 9th 2007.
|
Said
And Done
