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John
Watt is a totally unique character and is arguably Fife’s foremost
contemporary chronicler in song. His songs have been enjoyed by
many over the years but remain fresh and new each time they are
aired. They were written over a period of nearly 40 years although
the timescale covered in the subject matter is much longer than
that. Some of his songs have entered the tradition – Jimmy McBeath
was recorded by an American folklorist singing ‘Pittenweem Jo’,
one of John’s songs, claiming it to be "an auld sang I learned
in Fife". That mistake has been repeated many times.
Prior to this year John had recorded
only one album, ‘Shores of the Forth’ along with Davey Stewart,
and although many others have recorded his songs, even on that album
he steered clear of his own songs. The fact that there had not been
many recordings of John singing his own songs was appreciated by
Rab Noakes who was determined to put matters right. Rab is a talented
writer himself and his respect for John is immense. He produced
the album and has shown the extent of that respect in the approach
he took to the recording. No shortcuts were taken. He assembled
a group of talented musicians who were totally sympathetic to John's
songs, and during an enjoyable couple of evenings of rehearsal at
the Watts’ house in Milnathort they laid the foundations for 'Heroes',
John’s latest recording. Rab then gave the musicians the time to
do the job and making no attempt to overcome any of the limitations
of John's voice came up with what is clearly the definitive John
Watt album.
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John Watt is a charismatic character
- as zany as any of the characters he writes about - and a prolific
writer. In the tradition of the 'people's poets' his subject matter
is wide-ranging, taking in all kinds of issues but always with a
local flavour and with a streetwise perspective. John is a natural
wordsmith and most of the time he has chosen song as the vehicle
to bear his words. Traditional song has had a great influence on
John and he has had a greater influence on the Scottish folksong
revival than most people would appreciate. The overriding image
of John is of fun, but below the surface lies some sharp political
observation and social comment. His subject matter might mitigate
against his name being mentioned alongside such luminaries as Sorley
MacLean, Norman MacCaig and even Robert Burns, but it would be a
grave misjudgement of his talent if he was not recognised at this
level.
John Watt is a native of Dunfermline,
Fife, and now lives in Milnathort. He has been involved in the Scottish
folksong movement for over thirty years. A past Chairman of The
Traditional Music and Song Association of Scotland, he has presented
numerous documentaries on radio, including ‘Fife Connection’, ‘Howe
of Fife Connection’ and ‘The Fifty-Fifty Ball’. He has also presented
‘Celtic Horizons’ for BBC radio and ‘Fife’s Got Everything’ for
the Odyssey series produced by Billy Kay. He has lectured for the
Association of Scottish Literary Studies on Fife Poets and Song-writers,
tutored for The Workers Educational Association in Creative Writing
and Musical Appreciation and is Chairman of the Milnathort based
Love and Liberty Theatre Company.
John is currently a member of Milnathort
Folk Festival Committee. The festival is not a high profile affair;
rather, it is a local festival firmly rooted in the community. This
is typical of John. The festival raises funds with activities such
as Duck Races and engage the local children in a Gird & Cleek
championship. There is a 'no stars' policy with all the performers
working the sessions in the local pubs on a rotation basis?
A singer, raconteur and composer, John’s
work has been recorded by artists in Scotland, Ireland, Denmark
and Canada. As a 'people's poet', John's subject matter includes
characters who are not particularly famous outside their own area.
Some are still living, some are dead, some he knows, or knew, some
he was told about. Through being involved in folk-music for over
30 years as a performer, singer and composer, many other characters
have crossed his path and have been the subject of his pen. Stories
flow out of John about local characters such as Willie Deuchars
who used to walk everywhere to football games - Cowdenbeath, Alloa,
Methil, Stirling and according to John's father, Wembley. He recalls
a character, Johnny Purvis, who used to sell papers outside the
Regal Picture House and Bobby Broon who John remembers seeing carrying
trays of flowers and plants around and was reported to have been
gassed during the First World War. He talks about a witty and brilliant
cartoonist, Bud Neil, who peculiarly wore basketball boots and jeans
despite being in his 50's. Another character whom he recalls in
detail and about whom he wrote a song was Ziggy McGiff. He was part
of the group of people who John remembers hanging around Dunfermline
on a Saturday morning. The group was mainly in 'Teddyboy' dress
and spoke in 'prison lingo'. Ziggy was a leading light in this band,
and at Christmas time was seen selling "holly with berries" on the
steps of Woolworth's on the High Street. Ziggy became the subject
of the song that bears his name, Ziggy McGiff.
Of all the characters who have influenced
John, members of his own family played a significant part. His grandfather,
David Watt, originally hailed from Leith. He came across to Fife
in 1881 working as a Commercial Traveller for the firm of John Dickinson
& Co Ltd, manufacturers of stationery, and in 1882 he founded
the printing firm of David Watt & Sons in Dunfermline. He was
to influence John from a very early age. At the age of 6, John received
6d from his grandfather for learning the 23rd Psalm ‘The
Lord’s My Shepherd’ by heart and has remembered it ever since. His
Grandfather was described in his church obituary as ‘A lover of
good music and literature, who evinced a poetic view and a gift
of imagination, coupled with a touch of the mystic’. He was, according
to John's father, "a pretty mediocre violin player and prodigious
writer of flowery Victorian verse" and used to advise his customers
of commercial visits in rhyme! John recalls that his grandfather
would take his violin with him on his commercial journeys and timed
his visits to play with various amateur orchestras up and down the
country, venturing as far as Carlisle. He used to bring various
artefacts home and once outraged John's grandmother when a stuffed
polar bear arrived by carrier. It had obviously taken his fancy
but he was told in no uncertain terms to 'get rid o’ the beast!’
Clearly John's family was a musical
one and also one with more than its share of eccentricity. John's
father Gordon and his uncle, Miller, both played in the Dunfermline
amateur orchestra (there is a sepia-coloured photograph of them
both in the Dunfermline museum c1908) whilst his Aunt Phyllis trained
in Leipzig as a concert pianist. Phyllis was dissuaded from pursuing
this as a career as his grandfather 'did not consider it a ladylike
occupation’! This caused a great deal of bitterness although his
father later told John "She would never have made it, she was
technically perfect but had no soul or feeling". John's father
wasn't the greatest at encouraging others but, in the land where
"it's no bad" is considered high praise, perhaps this is not surprising.
John's other aunt, Frankie, married
an Englishman who according to John's father was "some kind of crook
who slept with a gun underneath his pillow". The women in this family
did not fare too well as the husband of Phyllis, an English doctor,
died of drug addiction. Another family member who was to have a
great influence upon John's early life was his Uncle Mac. As a late
child Mac Watt was 16 years younger than the rest of the family,
and had all the love and attention of the ‘old man’ showered upon
him which the others did not enjoy. In a conversation with Swinton
the Ironmonger in East Port Street, Dunfermline, John's Grandfather
said ‘I have three sons, two of them are boors and one is a rogue’.
John remembers Mac as a very fat man
who told many stories, laughed a lot, lived in London and could,
and often did, drink a bottle of gin at a sitting. He was always
borrowing (and spending) money lavishly. John's father wryly remarked
that ‘he was good at that, it was never his own’. After a disastrous
trial in the printing works and being expelled from the Agricultural
College in Ayr, he found his true vocation as a thespian and trained
at the Old Vic acting school. Naturally, being Mac, he knew far
more than they did and left to, ‘tread the boards’ with various
dubious repertory companies travelling round various parts of Britain
and Ireland. His father was mortified at his apparent lack of success
and opened various ‘secret’ bank accounts in Alloa, Stirling etc
to ‘bail him out’ so that the rest of the family would not know
about it.
Mac, full name David MacKane Watt,
was named after John McKane, a well-known millionaire from Dunfermline.
David MacKane Watt, in true proverbial fashion, died in 1953 at
the age of 49 in a gas filled room in Pimlico leaving £10 and a
gold watch. Neither of his brothers went to the funeral. His only
epitaphs, now in John's possession, are a video of a black and white
film ‘The Gorbals Story’ for which he wrote the screenplay and directed
under his stage name David MacKane. The film was made for Eros Films
Ltd, using the Glasgow Unity Players, in 1950. Among the actors
are a very youthful Roddie Macmillan and Russell Hunter. The other
memento is a fading theatre programme from the Globe Theatre, Deal,
in the late 20’s with Mac as ‘Christian Brent’ in ‘Peg O’ My Heart’
by J Hartley Manners. Although Mac was a tragic figure in some ways,
he certainly was 'a character'.
John's passion for football shines
through in his songs. He wrote 'Charlie Dickson', a song about a
legendary player who signed for Dunfermline Athletic Football Club
from Penicuik Athletic in 1955 and thrilled crowds for the nine
years he played at East End Park. John describes him as tall, gangling
and awkward, but fast and with the heart of a lion. Charlie operated
on the premise that if you shot often enough, one was bound to get
through, and they did. He was what John call an 'adopted Fifer',
one whom Dunfermline football fans will never forget.
Another of John’s football-related
songs is ‘John Thomson’ – a song that is now sung by a number of
traditional singers. John Thomson was the Celtic goal-keeper from
Cardenden, Fife, who tragically lost his life diving at the feet
of Sam English, the Glasgow Rangers centre-forward at Ibrox Park,
Glasgow on Saturday 5th September 1931 at 21 years of age. John
was too young to have met John Thomson but he heard about him while
doing his National Service in the Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders
in 1951 at Fort George, Inverness-shire, when he heard some Highland
Light Infantry recruits singing rather drunkenly -
Why do I weep, why do I pray
Young John’s asleep, so far away
He played his part that August
day
And left my heart, down Parkhead
way
The recruits had come from the Maryhill
Barracks in Glasgow and the song was a parody using the tune of
Suvla Bay, a First World War song relating to the Dardenelles which
had the word ‘August’ in it as opposed to September when John Thomson
died.
Although it was 1951 when John first
heard of John Thompson, it was thirty years later in 1981, the 50th
anniversary of Thomson's death, that John wanting to write a song
on a Fife hero, went to see his brother Jimmy in Cardenden. He was
very kind to him showing him all John’s medals, jerseys and mementos
which he had won in his tragically short career – eight International
caps, and three Scottish Cup medals. Jimmy had a packet of 20 ‘Players
Number 3’ with one cigarette out of it, smoked by his brother on
the day of the match.
An estimated 40,000 attended John Thomson’s
funeral in Cardenden, with schools and shops being closed for the
day. At a memorial service in Trinity Church Glasgow on Tuesday
September 8th 1931 the doors had to be shut as the overflow crowds
stood outside. When Miss Allie Cullen on the organ played "The
Dead March in Saul" the unfortunate Sam English completely
broke down. Sam English was a friend of Thomson and it subsequently
affected his whole career. He eventually had to leave Rangers for
Everton before moving to Hartlepool and finally finishing his career
with the Dumfries team, Queen of the South.
Of such events, legends are created
–
He was only a miner laddie
From the pits of Fife he came
Just to play a game for Celtic
And make himself a name
John Thomson
In ‘twenty six’ frae the pits o’ Fife
A lad tae Celtic came,
None knew that he would give
his life
For fitba’s but a game
Between the posts at Wellesley
He was the prince o’ men
John Thomson came from Bowhill
Bowhill Cardenden
At Paradise he’d spent five years
He first appeared at Dens
The boy frae Fife, who knew no
fear
Made twenty thousand friends
Between the posts at Parkhead
Aged seven years and ten
John Thomson came from Bowhill
Bowhill Cardenden
Cups and medals and prizes came
And everybody knew
That he would join the hall of
Fame
And soon wear Scotland’s blue,
Between the posts at Hampden
He was the prince o’ men
John Thomson came from Bowhill
Bowhill Cardenden
Then in ‘Thirty-one’ at Ibrox ground
A cross beat McStay and then,
As the salmon dives, young John
went down
And never rose again
Between the posts at Ibrox
He was the prince o’ men
John Thomson came from Bowhill
Bowhill Cardenden
John Watt © Springthyme Music
Glossary: Paradise - Parkhead, home
of Celtic. Dens - home of Dundee FC
This was the song that emanated from
the visits to Jimmy Thomson and his wife, Meg Dodds, and was eventually
used for the programme ‘The Fifty-Fifty Ball’ in September 1981.
No doubt there will always be ‘characters’
who will become the subject of the songwriter’s pen but, as in many
areas, the climate in Fife, conducive to their emergence, has changed.
There are no longer close knit communities, except possibly the
fishing industry, and the demise of the miners' club, the advent
of television and the emergence of a large middle class car-owning
population are all against the appearance of ‘new’ characters -
but who knows?
As to the emergence of songwriters
like John Watt, characters like him, moulded by their community
and writing from the inside, are certainly few and far between.
Michael Marra and Adam McNaughtan display similarities to John both
in their use of humour in their writing and their ability to tackle
serious subjects, but these parallels aside, John is unique in the
Scottish folksong revival. If you don’t believe me, spend an hour
or so in his company and discover the man who’s T-shirt reads, "the
Muchty Megastar" and you will soon change your mind.
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