|
Fairy Cresdent Mercy
September 1991 Liverpool
The show 'Good rockin Tonite' had opened and judging by the audience and most of the critics reaction, it was a hit. It had been a hard 4 week rehearsal for me for a couple of reasons but mostly because I had to learn real quick how to perform as someone else. The singing part was easy but leaving me, Michael Dimitri, behind in the dressing room was what I found challenging. Also the show was a non stop all singing, all dancing, all playing music extravaganza, where we went through over 60 songs, 20 different artists, and roughly 12 years of Jack Good's life so there was a lot to remember. There were 11 of us in the cast (not including a full time drummer and a three piece horn section) and we all had to be somewhere different for every number and in most cases when we got to our new stage mark, nine times out of ten we had to be somebody else.
I don't want to sound like I'm complaining cause I'm not, I absolutely loved doing the show but I'd got to a point in my career that the only thing I had to remember was where I left my guitar and most times, that was someone else's job. Don't get me wrong life on the road in a rock and roll band is not as easy as some people think and it isn't always 3 page riders, swish tour buses and a roadie to change your strings for you but having to learn anything except the route from your bed to the bar is about as tough as it gets, when you've been doing it as long as I had. Anyway with the help of seasoned "Aktors" I managed to get through it. The cast were great, personally and professionally in fact, everyone was great and I was in Liverpool the home of the Beatles. It wasn't that I was such a huge Beatle fan but Liverpool had a buzz about it, the pubs, the vibe and the people. It did take me most of the time I was there to finally understand the accent but I have fond memories of the "Playhouse" and the house in Bootle that I lived in.
There is one memory in particular that I'd like to share with you. About two weeks into the run (the length of time the show is scheduled for) Ronnie Caryl (plays for Phil Collins now) who was then, the main lead guitar player in the show and who also had a show stopping number (just after the audience finds out that Gene Vincent and Eddy Cochran die in an auto crash) where he sang "I was born to Rock and Roll" suggested that he and I go across the river to a pub in a little village that he used to live in. He and I spent a lot of time exploring restaurants and pubs (which may have added to the buzz I felt about Liverpool) in any event, off we went. We walked down to the docks bought our tickets and waited for the boat. I asked Ronnie if he knew the name of the river? He looked at me as if I was an alien from Mars instead of from the states and he replied The Mersey. You never heard of the Mersey river? He laughed. Just as I was about to answer (no I hadn't) the boat began to dock and suddenly blaring out of four overhead speakers I heard music,
'Life goes on day after day, here I always will stay', I joined in on the chorus.. "So Fairy cresdent mercy", I thought Ronnie was gonna piss himself he was laughing so hard. Then it hit me like a ton of old rock and roll bricks 'FERRY CROSS THE MERSEY'. For all the songs that I've sung, all the travelling I've done , all the places I've been, all the wonders I've seen (I think there's a song in there somewhere) it took me 30 years to realise that Gerry and the Pacemakers who were from Liverpool (duh) were singing about a ferry-boat that crosses the Mersey river and not some Old English folklore Fairy named Cresdant Mercy.
It was at that moment that I understood how some Europeans think that Americans are stupid when it comes to the world and have no knowledge of anywhere but their own back yard, because and to be honest, for the most part, it's true.
| 
