HarryVegas
Well-known member
Norma Waterson has died. An absolute giant of the British folk scene with a voice like no other, which I loved. RIP.
Very sad news for folk music fans
- Thread starter HarryVegas
- Start date
the_gin_soaked_boy
Active member
I'm gutted Harry
Linthorpe_Exile
Well-known member
Terrible news.... only a couple of weeks back: Carthy folk dynasty appeals for financial support after income ‘dried up’ during pandemic
onenilawayfromhome
New member
We've been trying to get Martin back into our folk club in South Wales for one last time, but due to Covid and issues back home he's postponed three times. His online concert has been put back many times as well. All things come to an end I guess.
HarryVegas
Well-known member
Yes I feel a bit bereft this morning too mate...
You came to me late,
a great northern rock
crashing out of the speaker,
straight through my skin
and into my heart,
where you plumped up a cushion,
sang your truths plainly
in honeyed tones
till you’d sunk into my bones,
and now it turns out
I wasn’t alone.
An airless artist
painting perfection with sound
has gone to ground
and the song is too sad to sing.
guisborough_rob
Well-known member
That’s very sad indeed. I had the pleasure of meeting Norma, Martin and Eliza in the 90s at their house. They were all so very welcoming. Her recording of Grateful Dead’s Black Muddy River is sensational.
HarryVegas
Well-known member
Singing her sister's song ...
asredastheycome
Well-known member
I always loved this by her. Written by her sister Lal.
Today’s song is Reply to Joe Haines. When Queen singer Freddie Mercury died, journalist Joe Haines wrote a scathing article about him in the Daily Mirror. Filled with faulty assumptions, rabid homophobia, and smarmy self-congratulation, the piece was a vitriolic misery. Lal Waterson was so enraged that she took to her craft and wrote an open letter to Haines which she later set to music. Shortly after Lal’s untimely death in 1998, her sister Norma included a cover of the song on her second solo album, The Very Thought of You. She describes the song in the liner notes.
the white knuckle fury of my sister Lal’s Reply to Joe Haines (originally called An Open Letter to Joe Haines) which is just that. A reply to the iniquitous article written by that man on the subject of Freddie Mercury’s disclosure that he was HIV positive (indeed that he had full blown AIDS) and which the Daily Mirror saw fit to print.
It’s a perfect description, and Norma sings it with a cold anger that does the lyrics proud. As with most of the album, it is half of a song pair, with Mercury’s Love of My Life from the band’s brilliant A Night At the Opera providing a beautiful counterpoint.
Read your letter, tore the page
Wondered whether to write in rage
Then I thought it better to use your trade
No-one should ever die of AIDS
Today’s song is Reply to Joe Haines. When Queen singer Freddie Mercury died, journalist Joe Haines wrote a scathing article about him in the Daily Mirror. Filled with faulty assumptions, rabid homophobia, and smarmy self-congratulation, the piece was a vitriolic misery. Lal Waterson was so enraged that she took to her craft and wrote an open letter to Haines which she later set to music. Shortly after Lal’s untimely death in 1998, her sister Norma included a cover of the song on her second solo album, The Very Thought of You. She describes the song in the liner notes.
the white knuckle fury of my sister Lal’s Reply to Joe Haines (originally called An Open Letter to Joe Haines) which is just that. A reply to the iniquitous article written by that man on the subject of Freddie Mercury’s disclosure that he was HIV positive (indeed that he had full blown AIDS) and which the Daily Mirror saw fit to print.
It’s a perfect description, and Norma sings it with a cold anger that does the lyrics proud. As with most of the album, it is half of a song pair, with Mercury’s Love of My Life from the band’s brilliant A Night At the Opera providing a beautiful counterpoint.
Read your letter, tore the page
Wondered whether to write in rage
Then I thought it better to use your trade
No-one should ever die of AIDS
asredastheycome
Well-known member
The next song on the same album was this.
grumpyoldgit
Well-known member
Oh this is very sad news. I had heard that she was frail but didn't know how serious it was.
The Card Cheat
Well-known member
So sad to hear. Saw Norma and Martin in a small room above a pub in Saltburn. Absolutely amazing. Lovely people too.
Cress
Well-known member
Norma Waterson was one of folk’s greatest voices – and greatest people
The British folk singer, who has died aged 82, was proud of the music she made – and her warmth as well as her toughness sang loudly in her songs
www.theguardian.com
the_gin_soaked_boy
Active member
the_gin_soaked_boy
Active member
Wtaf is going on? I'm trying to say I put that gig on in Saltburn....one of my happiest nights running a folk club. Norma harmonised with me when I sang Lowlands - something that I'll never forget!
The Card Cheat
Well-known member
Wow, really! Well thanks very much, one of my most memorable musical nights ever. I'm extremely jealous about Norma joining in with you!
jonny_greenings_sock
Well-known member
What a magnificent artist and legacy. Terribly sad news, RIP.
It’s shocking to me that musicians of the calibre and status of Martin Carthy and Norma Waterson aren’t able to live on their royalties. I know folk is more niche but when you think about the bands they’ve been in, if they aren’t living comfortably from their careers then who is.
Smoggynorm
Member
unbelievable lady fantastic folk singer RIP