Someone, although it would be astonishing if anyone did, might ask why I had not chosen to do this before now And I have an answer
Believe it or not I have always been reluctant to make the leap (that some make very early on in their life) and refer to myself as anything in particular Friends and acquaintances have sometimes suggested a designation but their suggestions have never felt like they belonged to me - or I belonged to them
But, not long ago, on August 6th 2017 to be exact, the inimitable Iain Anderson of Radio Scotland (www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0074hkv) 'made me' the featured Songwriter of the Week He also referred to me as a Scottish Singer Songwriter and it was with his words that I suddenly thought 'well maybe I could be one of those' More interestingly perhaps, over the following days, the thought did not go away
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| Iain Anderson: from his BBC web site - without permission |
A week or so later I emailed him to give him this news but, as I have discovered with others who have recently received it, he may not have thought I was being serious
But serious I am And so serious I decided if I were going to be one of those I would need to be a Scottish Canadian songwriter (As I have never liked the term singer/songwriter I enjoyed leaving out the singer bit)
But Canadian had to be in there for many reasons Being a landed immigrant was a major one but it was also in Canada that I wrote many of the songs which have been responded to well both here and over there
As for the man himself, I have used a photograph of him elsewhere on this site but as you will see above that has not deterred me from including another
PS I can also boast to having known something of him many years ago when we were both involved in a performance of Mother Courage in the Glasgow University Arts Theatre
Christopher Small who was the Glasgow Herald Theatre critic at the time was not at all impressed with my contribution What he thought of Iain's performance is not included in the old newspaper clipping I came across several moths ago Perhaps I'll try to find it again and make sure I have remembered that correctly
And boastfully I can claim - I think - that the Captain (as the Cook) was required to perform a song for which I had written the 'tune' He has been told!
