Hello! Today's blog is the first of a two-parter, where I catch up with an old friend of mine from the open mic scene, Philip Lymbery. Animal Welfarist, Environmentalist, Photographer, Author and Songwriter, Phil's career is extraordinary, and over the course of the next two blogs we're going to find out which songs he can't live without.
In a pub, somewhere in Sussex...
It’s a Friday lunchtime, mid May, and I’m finally going to get the chance to catch up with my friend Phil.
I met Phil and his wife many years ago as virtual newly weds. Phil was a passionate singer and songwriter who attended many of our open mics, and was always a pleasure to have in attendance.
Like most people I meet through music, I had no idea what he actually did for a living. I’m not saying it didn’t or doesn’t matter, but music is a great leveller when it comes to professions. You’re there for the music, it doesn’t matter if you're a social worker, an astronaut, or the Chief Executive Officer of ‘Compassion In World Farming’ (CIWF), a charity dedicated to the worldwide improvement of animal welfare in food production. As you can probably guess by now, Phil is the latter. I didn’t know, I just thought he was a decent bloke with a guitar and an unusually large collection of checked shirts.
Anyway, a while back I had the idea of writing some blogs along the lines of the radio programme, ‘Desert Island Discs’ where I’d get a friend or two to choose just eight songs that they felt summed up their life, or perhaps helped make them who they are. Given Phil’s extraordinary career he was number 1 on my wish list, but he is a busy bloke. All of which meant that finally getting the chance to catch up for a natter and a spot of lunch was all the sweeter.
If you’d like to read more about ‘Compassion In World Farming’ before reading on, you can visit their website ciwf.org.uk. Phil is the author or co-author of three books, ‘Farmageddon’, ‘Dead Zone’ and ‘60 Harvests Left’ which all deal with the environmental catastrophes that some modern farming methods have caused, and are causing. In the grand scheme of things, reading these books is more important than reading this blog, it’s as simple as that, but if you want to read on, let’s get down to it!
It’s hot, but a quiet corner of the pub garden beckons. Having ordered some food, arming ourselves with orange juice and water, and after a brief struggle with the umbrella on our picnic table, we start to catch up and discuss Phil’s musical choices for this little challenge.
Jon
A lot of your choices are quite… epic, anthemic songs? I was having a think a few weeks back thinking about what you might choose…
Phil
Ok…And what did you conclude?
Jon
Well apart from your third choice, which would seem to be a very obvious choice to me given our playing history, (It’s a song we always used to play together at open mic nights), I suppose I kind of guessed the sort of things you might go for, but there were some that I definitely wasn’t expecting. Like your first choice, ‘In A Lifetime’ by Clannad, I wasn’t expecting that, what is it about that song that made your list?
Phil
Firstly they say that the music you hear when you’re a teenager, that’s the music that stays with you, and the music you hear later in life never has the same feeling or connection.
In 1985, I was twenty, a young twenty, realistically still like a teenager. In that mid 80s period I was still trying to find out who I was. In the early 80s I was still at school, which I hated, but I persevered. I did my A levels, which were a waste of time, because I barely scraped through, I got two Es - which is better than two Fs!
Jon
That’s better than I did!
Phil
Hahahaha!
Jon
So what was it about school that you hated so much?
Phil
Well I wanted to be out in the countryside, I wanted to be a nature reserve warden. I needed to be out with the birds and the wildlife, in nature. School just felt like a constraint. I remember finding myself in trouble, standing in the corner on numerous occasions because I’d been staring out the window, thinking I’d seen a bird fly past. A kestrel, maybe. I was obsessed by the thought of seeing a peregrine, but I think they were always kestrels because peregrines had been all but wiped out back then. Anyway that kind of daydreaming got me standing in the corner a lot.
By the sixth form I was using the excuse of biology projects to bunk off school and go to the local woods….anyway. Nature was my hobby, and that evolved into a synergy with caring for the treatment of animals and the planet.
There was always something special to me about being that age, that 80s post punk rock music era, and for me the most iconic moment was seeing a video of U2 playing at Red Rocks. Their opening music was a record by Clannad, which really drew them to my attention. I just found that 'In a Lifetime' captured a well of emotion, an almost spine-tingling sound and sentiment that really stuck with me as a teenager, going towards my twenties and trying to find my way in life. That’s a very long answer!
Jon
You’re entitled to any length of answer you want. I suppose in that post punk period, a record like that was very different. The structure isn’t obvious, the vocals are… amazing. I think I read that most of the vocals were just done in two takes, with much of it improvised. It’s a very special thing.
Phil
Absolutely. I was enchanted by the whole Celtic element of post punk. U2, Big Country…. ‘In A Lifetime’ just felt like a very special record, with that sudden and surging vocal from Bono as a guest. In my view, probably one of his best ever vocal performances.
Jon
A lot of your choices have that Celtic influence, but that wasn’t your upbringing was it? It’s just a theme that resonates with you?
Phil
It absolutely resonates with me. I’ve often thought that if I had the option to move away, one of the places I’ve always been drawn to would be Scotland, the northern isles, particularly Shetland. I’ve said to my wife that we should move to Shetland but she’s much more of a south coast loving person. That’s a step too far for her at the moment, and not very practical for me, but it's a dream.
Jon
Okay, second choice, ‘Land Of Hope and Dreams by Bruce Springsteen, another anthemic choice. It’s a track that’s got a very gospel.. almost religious, Woody Guthrie type folk feel to it. Very obviously not Celtic, but more along the lines of what I expected you to choose, even though I don’t think I remember you playing Springsteen songs at Open Mic all those years ago. What is it about this one that hits the spot?
Phil
I think I did later on at Open Mics…. but the sentiment I keyed in on was that it evokes the feeling of the settlers in the Midwest of America, fanning out into uncharted territory and making their own luck. It’s the feeling of hope, and a journey. Thirty five years into my professional career working towards a better way, for people, animals and the planet… I feel I’m on a journey from a place or time that I’m never going back to. I just really identified with it. I just really love this song.
Jon
When you listen to it, he lists out all the different types of people who are welcome on this journey he’s taking. Inclusivity is the theme, which for an older song is more unusual, when was it released….?
Phil
I think originally maybe 98, and then properly in 2012…
Jon
Crikey you mean it’s not from the 1980's???
Phil
No, but it’s got an 80's feeling to it.
Jon
I think a lot of what Springsteen does has an inherent 80's feeling. That’s not necessarily a bad thing. He just has that sound doesn’t he? Always very much considered an artist of the people.
Jon
Okay! ‘One Guitar’ by Willie Nile - that’s the one I absolutely predicted. I’m going to have to admit on the record, that I remember stealing a Willie Nile poster from a venue in Chichester and posting it to you. I had to message your wife to get your address because you’d just moved.
Phil
You did!
Jon
Although I’m going say that the gig had actually happened, I’m not 100% sure…
Our food arrives - Phil comments that he thought that our venue today was the first place he did open mic with Sedge and I and how appropriate it was to be meeting here. We try, possibly unsuccessfully, to remember all the venues we might have played together, but Phil recalls he has a diary of all his open mic performances stashed in his loft somewhere…
Jon
I’m envious of people who have records of that type of thing. We worked out that Sedge and I have done maybe 1300 open mic shows together now.
Phil
I can believe it…
Jon
And I’m not saying your performances weren’t special, but you do get to a point where you only remember all the weird stuff, or the times things went wrong.
Phil
Yeah, Yeah - the standout moments for all the wrong reasons! At least I don’t feature in that list.
Open mic nights were great though. ‘One Guitar’ by Willie Nile was a song I very much tried to own, as much as one can own someone else’s song, at open mic nights. It’s just a great tune, and with it only having 2 chords it’s very easy to play. Simple structure.
Phil
I remember Gary Holder used to do an annual event at the Capitol Theatre in Horsham. In 2014, he got me to do that song as the closing number. I started alone and then all the other players joined me on stage. It very much became my signature song. I’d first heard it played by Mike Peters from The Alarm, whilst he was on tour with Willie Nile.
Jon
I’m actually quite grateful to you, because that playability is something that’s continued to grow as a feature in a lot of what I do now. The ‘simple song done well’ kind of idea. I didn’t really realise it at the time, but that song did teach me something about performance I wasn’t really aware of.
It also fits very well with everything we’ve discussed so far as being the themes you find engaging, inclusivity, a positive message, and the power of speech. There are battles worth fighting and ideas worth fighting for.
Phil
Yes it’s about using what you have, to find your voice and create changes for a better world.
Jon
Onto your next choice, ‘The Big Music’ by The Waterboys. Not that I’m a huge Waterboys fan, but I was reading around the subject after the passing of Karl Wallinger recently, and remember a piece where Mike Scott was explaining how he wrote the song, how hard he’d worked to express the right words and almost religious emotions he had in mind. Another song with a video of soaring over lochs and mountains by the way!
Phil
The Big Music to me was always about big hopes, big dreams and aspirations. Always striving for something better, even if you knew you weren’t going to quite make it.
Back in 1983, I drove up to the NEC in Birmingham to see U2, and The Waterboys were playing in support. I did know of them but hadn’t seen live. And they played that song. It was massive. That whole movement, that big sound was something I very much followed.
Just bridging back to the semi religious aspect of the song. My Dad was a vicar, and I went to church school, so that ethic was a strong part of my childhood. I'm not a practicing believer now but that strength of feeling and purpose, solidarity, having your back, that spirituality was something I always identified with in ‘The Big Music’ which makes it one of my all time favourite records.
Choosing all these records has been really difficult because there are so many to choose from obviously, but then putting them onto this theoretical desert island, where you could be in paradise, you could be in despair and sometimes both maybe, so what kind of records are going to want through all those different times? ‘The Big Music’ is one of those records.
Jon
Yes… you’ve made it more a question of what records could you not imagine never hearing again, which is a perfectly valid premise…
We'll pick back up again with Phil next week as he runs down his final four choices, plus a bonus choice he came up with when I asked him if he thought all modern music was rubbish! - Jon.
Compassion In World Farming
In the meantime if you'd like to find out more about the work Compassion In World Farming do, please visit their website ciwf.org.uk.
If you'd like to donate towards their work in banning live exports and putting an end to factory farming, you can do so from the website too.
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