Horse’s Mouth
October 5, 2021
Rainy day, so good time for another Horse’s Mouth.
Stonefly: Re: Leon Russell. The naughtiest thing I did regarding Leon was asking Chris Stainton – a great musician in his own right – to a Leon!’
Andrew: ‘1981 (Georgetown, The Bayou) and Any Trouble was the opening act – thoughts?’ It’s gone!
Daniel Morgan: A Liverpool gig would be fab – whenever.’ See you there!!
Jeffrey: The lights went out – just for a minute – but the generator came straight on!
Ric Cacchione sends a link to a blog that’s a mile long, but he says he’s a fan, and that’s good enough for me.
Danny G: You just do what you do ‘n’ hope for the best.
Liz K: It’s a book!! A pretty good one too. It’s got all the ingredients of a tome. Why don’t you just write one? There’s good stuff here.
Pete Huxley: I met Steve Marriott at breakfast (we were staying in the same hotel) and he came out to Long Island with us to the studio for the day. I was on the mike – he was about 40 feet away from it – massive voice!
Norman – a 50 year fan! Congrats!!
Chuck Utash: Gettin’ itchy for a gig.
Dru: ‘Are you the only person to make a record with Mick Jones of Foreigner AND Mick Jones of the Clash?’ Dunno – seems likely.
Steve S: I’m his favorite lyricist of all time!! Ta!
Peter Bennett: The origins of ‘Alice on the Hoople – she was pretty much fiction, sorry.
Dalton: ‘Were you at all influenced by the Philly sound back in the 60’/70’s? The truth is that I wasn’t that sophisticated. All I know is that when I toured with Todd Rundgren – who was amazing – He was the beauty and I was the beast!!
Karen: That’s pretty gushy from a not so gushy? Ta!
Jeff Midnight: ‘Hello Ian, James Dean Bradfield of Manic Street Preachers is a big Mott the Hoople fan, and considers ‘Roll Away the Stone’ his favorite song from the 70’s.’ Great!
Steve Horne: ‘How many songs have you written in the last couple of years – especially during lockdown?’ Actually, lockdown has been good for me. I’m pretty lazy, but I really got into writing in the absence of other activities. I’ve written a lot.
Mike Flanagan: ‘Mandrax was a favorite of mine. Did you ever smoke one?’ Why go through all that trouble?
Rick Clark: ‘How did the name ‘Mott the Hoople’ come about?’ It’s the title of a book by Willard Manus. Guy Stevens, our original manager, named us.
David Drew: Cheers David, and good luck with it.
Wade: ‘Do you ever take a day off ‘n’ go fishing?’ I’m fishing all the time, Wade – ‘n’ my fish don’t die.
Erian Netten: ‘Loved seeing you in Rjukan Rock – our all time hero performing in our narrow valley. A lifetime memory. Hope for a lot more amazing music!’
Cary: ‘Ever play a Fender Telecaster much?’ Bit thin for me. Still got the old Strats. Fenders or Gibsons/Gibsons or Fenders – kinda like politics – only more fun!
Shug Laverty and Wullie on the passing of Ray Waters. What can one say – R.I.P. Ray.
Ron P: ‘I like the line: ‘Don’t want to vote for the left wing – don’t want to vote for the right – I gotta have both – to make me fly.’ Cleve and thoughtful. When did diversity of opinion become a bad thing with cancel culture etc. Your thoughts?’ All downhill, innit!
Brad: ‘As one of the most literate lyricists in rock – I’m curious as to what books you read and have influenced you over the years?’ I prefer non-fiction and if I’m writing a lyric, I’ll do research on the topic I’m writing about (i.e. ‘Crazy Horse’ or ‘Bow Street Runners’) to make sure I get the facts right.
Colin Connor: ‘Do you remember the inspiration for ‘Hymn for the Dudes’? I just remember wanting the ‘nazz’ bit to go down to zero so Mick’s solo would be more effective. Dunno – we were in a goldfish bowl – I just wrote it.
Carlos Tejeda: ‘Any chance of official archive releases of MTH or solo band gigs?’ No idea.
Rick Goward tells us Calvin Hardy passed. Calvin was the backstage manager at the Coach House in San Juan Capistrano. ‘He was a great guy who use to play bass with some big names.’ Sorry to hear this. My commiserations to his friends and family. R.I.P. Calvin.
Danny: Usually the music first – lyrics take longer.
Mike Burnett: ‘Hello Ian – just finished volume two – incredible! Not often a book makes me cry (that bad, huh?). The makings of a killer documentary here. Edgar Wright has done a brilliant job with Sparks – which got me tearing up! Any thoughts on a documentary? Nah.
Ritchie: ‘I recall myself and my (late) mate Rob (he worked with your brother once) getting a lift from you and Mick Ralphs en route to a gig in Cardiff many moons ago. And your cruel, but kind, rejection of my request for ‘Bastard’ (a mere slip of the tongue); we ended up playing tambourines during the encore. I daresay there’s a million tales like this one, but it was special to us.’ Goodho!
Keith Lloyd: ‘Any idea what happened to the ‘Marionette’ puppets?’ No idea, whatsoever.
Keith Michigan would like more obscurities; he mentions ‘Scars’ – which is a favorite of mine.
James Williford: ‘Could you tell us about your father and your relationship with him? In the song ‘Ships ‘you say, I think love’s easier when it’s far away. Did you really say that to your Dad?’ My Dad never wore pants or shoes until he was 7 years old. Started off penniless – wound up in MI-5. Our relationship was ‘complicated’. I was gone at 16!!
Scott: Who are your favorite female vocalists? Lorraine Ellison, Ronnie Spector, Dusty Springfield, Tina Turner.
Phillip Holmes: ‘Any thought or memories you could share with us about working with ‘Generation X’ on the ‘Valley of the Dolls’ album you produced?’ It wasn’t an easy record – they were still finding their feet, but Billy went onto great success. I thought Der to be a really good guitarist. He knew what he wanted.
Carlos Tejeda: ‘I seem to recall seeing MTH performing on (In Concert) the tv show in 1973 with Mick Ralphs still in the line up for a good 40 minutes of the show. Is this correct?’ He left MTH in 1973 – could have been just after this tour segment.
Matt Nojonen: ‘I am going to be totally selfish and say I hope you never quit. Your music remains original, creative, interesting, ballsy, and inventive – all the good stuff. You have blown the doors off all your contemporaries who are largely coasting on nostalgia at this point – if they are working at all. Wit, honesty, humor and heart have been your trademarks from the beginning and you remain true to that code in all your music.’ (Blush!) Thanks, Matt!! We’ll see.
Gene Solomon: So, it’s the Cleveland Guardians! Well, I ain’t writing one with that as a title!!
Peter Jordan: You got that wrong. Michael Palin and Charles Darwin went to Kingsland School – you can see it up on the other side of the river if you ever visit the Quarry. That was the posh school. Me and brother Bob went to the Priory Grammar School (this side of the river). I think it’s a coed now.
Tremayne: I think the tubs just about empty – you never know.
David Cowen: We did play with Fairport early on, but I think he’d already left by then.
Rick Graves: Dunno, it’s up to my manager and the others involved. Good idea, but I’m onto the next.
Matt Parish says there is going to be an M.C. Escher exhibit in Long Island in October – looks like in Stony Brook.
Dave Gamlin: Cheers!
Ric: Thank you!
James B wants ‘Great Expectations’ in the set list.
Jon White: We had ‘Roll Away the Stone’ when we did the ‘Mott’ album. The thinking was it would be a hit single – so keep it for ‘The Hoople’ in case nothing else turned up. Then Mick left, so Luther replaced Mick’s solo with his own because he was now Mott’s guitarist. That’s how I remember it.
Pickles: ‘I read William Shatner receives an interesting treatment for his tinnitus.’ People ease it all kinds of ways.
Kevin Quinn: Ray Waters was quite a guy – I have been getting so many extremely positive messages about him. R.I.P.
Terry tells a story of how he converted some Russian fishermen in NFLD. He gave this one kid a few tapes (including one of mine) and his face lit up. ‘You’d think I was handing him a bag of gold? What do you think?’ Lovely.
Dru: ‘I honestly think ‘Strings Attached’ is the best introduction to your music – the arrangement and performances allow the songs to breathe.’
Mike Fitzgerald: New Bob Mortimer book ‘And Away’ opens each chapter with a song lyric. Rod Steward – Chapter 11. Bad Company, 12. And Mott, 2013. You ever been one for fishing? Hop you are well.’
Bob Boyle: It doesn’t get any better, does it?
Rob Mend: Toured Ireland with Rory way back when. Lovely chap and a great player.
Mike Hart: ‘Thanks!!’ Thank you!
Robin Snow: ‘Thanks for making Ohio, cool!’ Well, it was!
Mark Baker: We’ll see how it pans out.
Matt Parish: ‘ ‘Mission for ignition’ is a must album or song title!’ That’s Paul Cudderford’s or ‘Cuddles’ as we affectionately call him.
Bill Chase: ‘Are the people in ‘Rain’ real or fictional?’ Real.
Richard Bone: I don’t think there ever was a video of the Uris show – a big mistake – it was an expensive show to put on.
Mick McKenzie: So sad about Darrell Bath – superb on the late 90’s tours. Loved it when he opened with ‘Never Trust A Blonde’. Proper Rock ‘n’ Roll swagger. R.I.P. great man.’ ‘Beware of the smell ‘n’ the lies they all tell’ -that’s the line I remember – it’s just funny!
Tom Flynn: ‘Very nice article on ‘Schizophrenic’ on web site ‘Best Classic Bands’ – September 30th 2021.’ Goodho!
Duncan McGregor: ‘Now ‘Diary’ has finally been reissued – are there any plans for an audiobook version?’ Who knows – stuff happens!
Paul: Any chance of hew stuff?’ You better believe it!
IH
The Horse’s Mouth
If you would like to hear it “straight from the Horse’s Mouth”, you can Ask your question here.