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norman baker
To live without my music would be impossible
to do, but in this world of trouble my music
pulls me through. Words from a John Miles
single from 1976. OK, they are bit over the top
and the single doesn’t date well, but actually I
know what he meant, because music has been
important to me all my life, and perhaps sometimes
pulled me through as well. It may have
been submerged beneath my politics, but it’s
always been close to the surface.
In particular, I have derived such tremendous
pleasure over the years from the Beatles. I tried
to tell Paul McCartney this once when we met,
but I suppose many people do, for he barely registered
it and was keener instead to talk about
animal welfare.
After I left university, I had no real idea what I
wanted to do, so I got a job in a record shop on
Tottenham Court Road. The company, Our
Price, was expanding fast, and within about
three years, I was regional director, managing
26 shops and over 100 staff, but I think my
happiest time there was managing the branch
in Leicester Square. It was a wonderfully
vibrant place, and counted amongst its staff Ian
Johnston, the son of Brian, the BBC cricket
commentator, Will Parnell, the son of band
leader Jack, and Peter Vaughan Clarke, known
affectionately as PVC, who was a star of the
children’s TV series The Tomorrow People.
That period also saw my first public appearance
on stage singing with a band, when I guested
one night with an outfit called The Stripes at a
pub in St Albans. I drank a few pints for Dutch
courage before bravely launching into Twist and
Shout and Dizzy Miss Lizzy. I don’t recall much
else, except that the barmaid asked me for my
phone number.
In the mid 1980s, I also recorded a couple of
Twists and shouts
numbers with a band called The Entire Population
of China. I dug them out and listened to
them the other day for the first time in ages and
if I say so myself, they’re not too bad. In fact,
I’ve been inspired to hook up again with one
of the guys to write some new songs, a process
now under way.
There was a period when some of us thought
it might be fun to play regularly, so we set up
The Reform Club, and between about 1992
and 1998 played clubs, pubs like the Six Bells at
Chiddingly, and private functions. It was great
fun, and unlike politics where it is common
to play safe in the middle, on stage you either
cut it or you don’t. The audience can be hugely
enthusiastic or walk out. I’ve had both!
When I was elected to Parliament in 1997, it
became difficult to keep the band going. People
wouldn’t accept that this was just a hobby, and
kept trying to ascribe ulterior motives to what
was just a bit of fun, so since then my stage
appearances have been somewhat random, the
most recent being just before
Christmas when I was asked if I
would sing a number on stage
with Noddy Holder. Would
I? You bet!
Now, my music is generally
limited to presenting my
regular Sunday morning
radio show Anything Goes –
10am to noon on Seahaven
FM 96.3 – and being a
semi-regular customer at
Lewes’s excellent outlets,
Octave and Si’s Sounds.
I have a feeling that long after
the politics has gone, the
music will still be there.
CoLuMn
97