The Wreck Of The Arthur Lee--1993--The Prison's Going Down

[jamestkirk]

The Wreck Of The Arthur Lee--1993
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sXvgH7OKwTk


Portion of the Big TaKeover interview with Hugh Cornwell....

BT: Speaking of hills in L.A., Arthur Lee of Love wrote a wonderful song called “The Red Telephone” from Forever Changes with lyrics reflecting Arthur’s perspective on a hillside. He’s also one of my all-time favorite musicians.

HUGH Cornwell: Oh, me too, me too. With “Gods, Guns and Gays” I was just trying to write my impression of an Arthur Lee song. It’s a bit of punk a bit of psychedelia and a bit of a pop all at once.

BT: Which he does oh so well.

HUGH: Exactly.

BT: You released a song in 2001 called “The Prison’s Going Down,” which was about Arthur Lee. He was released in December 2001 so you must have written this not too long before he was freed.

HUGH: That’s right. It was on Hi-Fi. And then I had the pleasure to see him play. He came to tour England with his band (Baby Lemonade) who were great. All young kids. No keyboards. They did it all with guitars. It was a fabulous gig. And I knew the promoter who was a friend of mine. And he said do you want to come up and see Arthur? I said I want to give him a copy of my album because it has a song on it about him being in prison. He said, I don’t know if that would be a good idea. Whenever you mention prison he just goes crazy. So I got scared and didn’t go. He never knew that I had this song for him.


BT: Wow. Robyn Hitchcock in 1993 on his album Respect did a song titled “the Wreck of the Arthur Lee.”

HUGH Cornwell: That’s a great title.

BT: And it’s wonderful song. Have you heard it?

HUGH: No.

BT: It’s amazing. It has these wonderful symphonic elements and is really rich sounding. The title sounds negative but at that time Arthur kind of lost his way. Musically he wasn’t doing much. He was widely considered a sixties casualty (before rising like a phoenix post-prison from 2002-2004 then tragically passing away in 2006). Apparently someone brought the song to his attention and he got very defensive.

HUGH: I bet he did.

BT: But it was actually paying homage to him.

HUGH: He wouldn’t see that.

BT: He had some real blind spots and issues but was a total musical genius.

HUGH: I agree totally.

BT: And you also covered “Message to Pretty” on You’re Covered....

The Wreck Of The Arthur Lee

The wreck of the Arthur Lee
Will never return again

The captain and all his men
Went up and jumped overboard
"Jesus is Lord" they cried

Believe in love!
Believe in love
And I'll believe in you

The missing Avenger planes
Will never return to base
-- don't you wait up for them

How often have you boys said
"I ain't gonna bump no more"?
"We ain't gonna bump no more"

Believe in love! Believe in love!
And I'll believe if you'll believe in me
I got home
There was nobody there
Just the phone
Let it ring in the air
But it's home

The wreck of the Arthur Lee
Will never return again
Never return again

[jamestkirk]

The Prison's Goin' Down
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E_vYeeBSHqU

by Hugh Cornwell on Arthur Lee's incarceration...BRILLIANT

Hadn't heard this...how about you, Ed?

Arthur lying down dreaming a dream
Woke up to realise life wasn't as it seems
Four walls a bed and a wonderful view
But he's feeling lonely without the rest of his crew
The prison's going down

Arthur wide awake feels misunderstood
What did he do to upset the neighbourhood?
Just being free as a bird
After all that's what they said they loved
When will it be explained to him when he gets above?
The prison's going down

Arthur's thinking 'bout the past
All of those crazy times loving very fast
What does the future hold will he get out soon?
Is there someone out there
Who'll phone him this afternoon?
The prison's going down

[The Freedom Man]

Hadn't heard it yet.The harmonica in the beginnning is very Arthur-ish, as if he could have played it.