Just William
- 28 Nov 07, 01:39 PM
If William Blake was alive today he¡¯d be 250 years old, running barefoot through the streets of Shoreditch and communing with angels. Or maybe he¡¯d be hanging out with The Klaxons, getting giddy with the glow sticks. Whatever, he¡¯d be having fun and getting transcendent.
After Rimbaud, Blake is probably the most rock and roll poet. Therefore I¡¯m thinking of playing a few William-inspired recordings on this Friday¡¯s show. Some of the contenders are:
1. Billy Bragg ¨C ¡®Upfield¡¯ A fond tribute, from one Bill to another.
2. Patti Smith ¨C ¡®My Blakean Year¡¯. Perfectly pretentious.
3. The Doors ¨C ¡®End Of The Night¡¯. A steal from Auguries Of Innocence.
4. Jah Wobble ¨C ¡®The Inspiration Of William Blake¡¯. A wide-boy homage. 
5. Van Morrison ¨C ¡®Veedon Fleece¡¯. Name-checking Blake and The Eternals.
6. Test Dept ¨C ¡®Jerusalem¡¯. Complete with Thatcher¡¯s Falkland¡¯s speech.
7. Bruce Dickinson ¨C ¡®The Chemical Wedding¡¯. The rock chancer¡¯s guide.
8. U2 ¨C ¡®Beautiful Ghost¡¯. An outtake from ¡®The Joshua Tree¡¯.
9. Van Morrison ¨C 'Let The Slave'. The mystic soul-brothers.
10. Rudi ¨C 'Tigerland'. Ulster punks reference Tyger Tyger.
Any other suggestions?
Stu Bailie presents The Late show on Radio Ulster, every Friday from 10pm until midnight.
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Actually Stuart, Northern Ireland's own Gerard McKeown is the most rock and roll poet, but Rimbaud's not a bad second.
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The Inspiration of William Blake
Jah Wobble
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Verve - History
I wander thro' each charter'd street,
Near where the charter'd Thames does flow
And mark in every face I meet
Marks of weakness, marks of woe.
In every cry of every Man,
In every Infants cry of fear,
In every voice: in every ban,
The mind-forg'd manacles I hear
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Here's the playlist from last night, including the William Blake section. You can hear it online for the next week. Cheers!
Fats Domino ¨C I¡¯m Ready (EMI)
Lorraine ¨C Saved (Waterfall)
Jeff Tweedy ¨C Simple Twist Of Fate (Columbia)
Super Furry Animals ¨C The Gift That Keeps On Giving (Rough Trade)
Okkerville River ¨C Our Life Is Not A Movie Or Maybe (Jagjaguar)
William Blake Special...
Billy Bragg ¨C Upfield (Cooking Vinyl)
Jah Wobble (Tyger Tyger)
The Verve ¨C History (Hut)
Test Dept ¨C Jerusalem (Jungle)
Van Morrison ¨C You Don¡¯t Pull No Punches But You Don¡¯t Push The River (Polydor)
Duke Special ¨C No Cover Up (V2)
The Sleeping Years ¨C Clocks And Clones (Talitres)
The Beach Boys ¨C Good To My Baby (Capitol)
British Sea Power ¨C All In It (Rough Trade)
Supergrass - Diamond Hoo Ha Man (Parlophone)
Steve Forbert ¨C Strange Names (Hypertension)
The Sound Dimension ¨C Rockfort Rock (Soul Jazz)
Tommy McClain ¨C Silver and Gold (Ace)
Adele ¨C Chasing Pavements (XL)
Clone Quartet ¨C Young Foal (Smalltown America)
That Petrol Emotion ¨C Natural Kind of Joy (Demon)
Robert Wyatt ¨C a Beautiful War (Domino)
Tom Waits - 16 Shells From A 30.6 (Island)
Rilo Kiley ¨C Close Call (Warner)
The Winding Stair ¨C How Can I Be Lonely (white)
Hamilton Bohanon ¨C Start Up The Dance III (FK mix) (Polygram)
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Can't believe there's no David Axelrod in there, Stu!!
The Axe's two Blake albums - "Songs Of Experience", "Songs Of Innocence" - are wild altogether.
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Outch! Another oversight!
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