Ralph McTell (born Ralph May, 3 December 1944) Folk singer-songwriter and acoustic guitar

Ralph McTell

Ralph McTell (vero nome Ralph May) (Farnborough, 3 dicembre 1944) è un cantautore e chitarrista inglese.
È stato una figura influente della scena folk britannica già a partire dagli anni sessanta. È conosciuto soprattutto per la canzone Streets of London, interpretata da oltre duecento artisti in tutto il mondo. Negli anni ottanta, ha composto e cantato canzoni per due programmi televisivi per bambini, Alphabet Zoo (che vedeva anche la partecipazione di Nerys Hughes) e, successivamente, Tickle on the tum (con la partecipazione di Jaqui Reddin). Da entrambe le produzioni televisive McTell ha tratto un album.
Lo stile chitarristico di McTell è stato influenzato da molti musicisti statunitensi di country e blues dei primi del secolo XX, tra cui Blind Blake, Blind Willie McTell e Robert Johnson.

Biografia

Ralph May nasce dal matrimonio di Winifred Moss During e Frank May, che si incontrano a Banbury, nell'Oxfordshire, durante la seconda guerra mondiale. Il ragazzo viene battezzato Ralph in onore del compositore inglese Ralph Vaughan Williams (Frank aveva lavorato come giardiniere nella casa di quest'ultimo prima della guerra). Dopo la nascita di un secondo figlio, nel 1946, Frank abbandona la famiglia (1947).
L'amore per la musica sorge in Ralph repentinamente. I primi passi avvengono con l'aiuto di una diamonica, e il nonno, che suona l'armonica a bocca, lo aiuta e lo incoraggia. Banbury e l'Oxfordshire del nord saranno un riferimento costante nella vita di Ralph, il quale richiamerà questi giorni d'infanzia nella canzone Barges.
Al piano superiore a quello dei May vive un giovane irlandese. Sembra che questa figura, significativamente sostitutiva del padre, abbia ispirato la canzone Mr Connaughton. Similmente, Mrs Adlam's angels rievoca la figura dell'insegnante della scuola domenicale: "Mi innamorai del cerimoniale e delle musiche: è possibile sentire l'influenza di quegli inni nella struttura di alcune mie canzoni".
Nel 1952, due giovani tentano di introdursi in un magazzino di Croydon (dove, intanto, i May si sono trasferiti). Derek Bentley finisce per arrendersi, ma l'altro (Christopher Craig) spara e uccide un poliziotto. A Bentley viene comminata la pena di morte. Molti anni dopo, la storia confluisce nella canzone Bentley and Craig.
May finisce in seguito a studiare alla John Ruskin Grammar School, senza brillare troppo come studente, anche perché l'ambiente non gli è troppo consono, essendo frequentato soprattutto da allievi di classi sociali superiori. Anche dal punto di vista musicale, i suoi gusti tendono a farlo sentire un outsider: è infatti molto innamorato dello skiffle e del rock and roll. Acquista un vecchio ukulele e una copia di The George Formby Method. È seguendo questo metodo che riesce a mettere insieme i primi accordi. Apprende diversi classici skiffle, come Don't you rock me, Daddy-O. In breve, forma un gruppo che si dedica a questo genere.
All'età di 15 anni, May, essendo assai ansioso di abbandonare la scuola, vede nella British Army una via d'uscita. È così che nel 1959 si mette in lista per il Junior Leaders Battalion of The Queen's Surrey Regiment. Gli bastano solo sei mesi per comprendere che anche la vita delle armi non è fatta per lui. Si iscrive nuovamente a scuola, ottenendo qualche buon risultato solo in arte.
Al college, May scopre la cultura beatnik degli anni sessanta (Jack Kerouac e Allen Ginsberg su tutti). Importante è anche l'incontro con la musica nera statunitense (jazz, blues e R&B). Sue muse divengono Jesse Fuller, Ramblin' Jack Elliott, Robert Johnson e Muddy Waters.
Con un gruppo di amici, diventa un assiduo frequentatore del quartiere londinese di Soho e dei suoi jazz club. Si reca, inoltre, con regolarità, a Brighton. Passa sempre più tempo fuori da Croydon, sostenendosi con lavori temporanei in fabbriche, lavanderie, hotel.
È durante i suoi viaggi per la Gran Bretagna che incontra diversi musicisti che segneranno la sua vita e la scena musicale inglese, come ad esempio Jacqui McShee (futura cantante dei Pentangle), Martin Carthy e Wizz Jones. Viene persuaso a prendere parte ad una band sensibile al bluegrass, chiamata The Hickory Nuts, che gira l'Inghilterra e che, nonostante le difficoltà e gli innumerevoli concerti da pochi soldi, finisce per meritarsi onorari decenti e un pubblico piuttosto numeroso (come alla Croydon's Fairfield Hall). Nel 1962 lascia casa per viaggiare all’estero: Francia, Belgio, Italia, Germania e poi in Grecia e Turchia. Ha fatto la sua strada facendo l’autostop e il suonatore ambulante. Parigi fu visitata spesso da Ralph ed in seguito nel 1965 affittò una stanza con un suo amico e, nel 1966 Ralph conobbe una studentessa norvegese di nome Nanna Stein. Prima di sposarsi Nanna e Ralph vissero in Cornovaglia dove nel novembre del 1966 si sposarono. Sempre in quell’anno Ralph cambiò il suo cognome in quello d’arte di McTell in onore di Blind Willie McTell.
Il 21 gennaio del 1967 nacque il primogenito di Ralph e Nanna, Sam Bjorn. Durante l’anno Ralph firmò un contratto con la Transatlantic Records ed alla fine del 1967 registrò il suo primo album: “Eight Frames A Second”, l’album fu arrangiato da Tony Visconti e pubblicato nel 1968. La pubblicazione di questo album portò molto lavoro a Ralph e per questo motivo suo fratello Bruce divenne il suo manager e promoter.
Nel 1969 furono pubblicati due album: “Spiral Starcase” (che include la prima versione di Streets Of London) e “My Side Of Your Window” ed a luglio Ralph si esibì per la prima volta al Folk Festival di Cambridge ed a dicembre tenne il suo primo grande concerto alla Hornsey Town Hall, a maggio, per la prima volta, Ralph fece il tutto esaurito alla Royal Festival Hall e ad agosto partecipò al festival dell’Isola di Wight accanto a Jimi Hendrix. Quando Bruce May si dimise da manager il ruolo fu assunto da Jo Lustig. Nel 1970 Ralph fece nuovamente il tutto esaurito alla Royal Festival Hall e pubblicò il suo quarto album “Revisited”.
Il 9 febbraio del 1971 nacque la figlia di Ralph e Nanna, Leah Hanna May. “You Well Meaning Brought Me Here” fu pubblicato su etichetta Famous. Tra le canzoni di questo album ricordiamo: “The Ferryman” ispirata al libro di Hermann Hesse: “Siddhartha”, sempre in quell’anno Ralph tenne la sua prima tournè in USA. La sua prima etichetta fu la Paramount, ma in seguito firmò con la Warner Brothers. Durante la sua tournè americana incontrò la band inglese, di rock popolare, Fairport Convention. Tra di loro si stabilì un’amicizia duratura.
Nel 1972 Tony Visconti produsse “Not Till Tomorrow” su etichetta Reprise, tra i brani si distinguono “Zimmerman Blues”, “First Song”, “Barges” and “Sylvia”. In quel periodo Ralph e Nanna vivevano a Putney e comprarono una villa in Cornovaglia.
Durante il 1973 McTell dà vita al suo primo tour da solista che culmina nel gennaio del 1974 in un concerto che fece registrare il tutto esaurito alla Royal Albert Hall. Alla fine del 1973 Ralph e Visconti si ritrovarono di nuovo in sala di incisione ed all’inizio del 1974 “Easy” fu pubblicato e “Streets of London” fu registrata nuovamente come singolo per la Reprise/Warner Bros. e divenne la numero 2 nelle charts inglesi. Milioni di vendite in tutto il mondo e la canzone divenne un classico tanto da far guadagnare a Ralph il prestigioso premio “Ivor Novello Songwriting Award”. Nel 1975 Ralph pubblicò l’album: “Streets” e decise di fare un tour con un gruppo, ma fu un incubo e l’esperimento non fu un successo. Partì per l’America per una pausa e quando tornò si sentiva rincuorato e tenne un concerto di Natale a Belfast, dove ottenne una standing ovation. Malgrado nel Nord dell’Irlanda ci fossero delle guerriglie Ralph era l’unico, tra i maggiori artisti inglesi, a suonare li regolarmente. Il 7 febbraio del 1976 nacque il secondo figlio maschio, Tom Stein May ed un altro album fu pubblicato: “Right Side Up” tra i brani maggiori: “Weather The Storm”, “From Clare to Here” e “Naomi”. Ralph tenne un altro concerto da tutto esaurito alla Royal Albert Hall e partì per il tour in Australia (Sydney Opera House). Da questi concerti ebbe vita l’album live: “Ralph Albert & Sydney” pubblicato nel 1977. Incontrò John Jonah Jones e la loro amicizia durò fino alla morte di quest’ultimo nel 2003. Si esibì nuovamente al Folk Festival di Cambridge.
Il 19 aprile del 1978 nasce Billy-Joe May, il terzo figlio. Il 1978 fu un anno sabatico e Ralph si potette godere la sua famiglia, trascorrendo le loro giornate tra Londra e la Cornovaglia. Nel marzo del 1979 Ralph suonò alla Royal Festival Hall con Dave Pegg e Dave Mattacks e pubblicò il nuovo album “Slide Away The Screen” su etichetta Warner Brothers. Nel 1980 Ralph e Bruce fondarono la Mays Records.
Durante il 1981 Dave Pegg, Dave Mattacks, Richard Thompson e Ralph formarono una band: “The GPs”, tennero circa una dozzina di concerti. La prima registrazione su etichetta Mays fu “England” un singolo che, Billy Connolly, in seguito, utilizzò come colonna sonora per il suo programma televisivo sui viaggi Nel 1982 “Water of Dreams” contenente “Bentley & Craig” fu pubblicato su etichetta Mays. La Granada Television chiese a Ralph di scrivere ed interpretare dei brani sugli animali per una trasmissione per bambini (Alphabet Zoo). Alcune di queste canzoni furono raccolte nell’album “Song From Alphabet Zoo”, sempre su etichetta Mays Nel 1984 in seguito al grande successo di Alphabet Zoo Ralph creò un’altra serie televisiva intitolata “Tickle On The Tum”. Bruce May stipulò un contratto con la Telstar Reconds, con cui Ralph registrò “At The End Of A Perfect Day” pubblicato nel 1985.
“Bridge Of Sighs” venne pubblicato nel 1986 su etichetta Mays e, tra gli altri, includeva “The Girl From The Hiring Fair” (in seguito un grande successo dal vivo dei Fairport Convention). Nel 1987 Ralph supportò gli Everly Brothers durante i loro concerti, questo fu un evento molto importante per Ralph poiché Don e Phil erano i suoi eroi musicali. Alla fine del tour Ralph comprò un pappagallo africano parlante: Albert
Era il 1988 quando Ralph ritornò alle sue radici blues e ragtime con “Blue Skies Black Heroes” pubblicato sulla nuova personale etichetta Leola. Bruce non fu ancora per molto tempo il suo manager ed il ruolo fu affidato a Mick McDonagh.
Nel 1989 registrò un album con la Castle Communications: “Affairs Of The Heart”, un doppio album con delle versioni riarrangiate delle sue canzoni. Ralph fece una serie di concerti per pubblicizzare l’album.
Nel 1991 un’altra raccolta di canzoni blues e ragtime intitolata “Stealin’ Back” fu registrata su Castle Communications.
Il 1992 fu testimone della pubblicazione del tour e del CD “Silver Celebration”, in onore del venticinquesimo anniversario del suo primo album, in esso è contenuta una selezione di brani preferiti: “The Ferryman”, “From Clare To Here” e “Streets Of London”. Il tour occupò la maggior parte dell’anno. Sempre nel 1992 venne pubblicato anche il progetto più ambizioso che Ralph avesse fino ad ora intrapreso: “The Boy With A Note”, un’evocazione in musica e parole della vita di Dylan Thomas commissionato, come lavoro musicale per la radio, dalla BBC. Nel 1993 Ralph esonerò dall’incarico il suo manager. Nanci Griffith pubblicò una versione di “From Clare To Here” e gli chiese di intervenire come suo ospite durante il tour londinese. Per la prima volta la collezione completa di “Alphabet Zoo” fu pubblicata su CD e su cassetta con etichetta ‘The Road Goes On Forever’. In autunno fece un tour intitolato “Black and White Tour” che riscontrò un interesse senza precedenti. Nel 1994 iniziò una nuova registrazione e Ralph smise di fumare dopo 37 anni. A giugno Ralph apparì con Christy Moore, Loudon Wainwright III, Tanita Tikaram ed i Bronte Bros alla Royal Albert Hall in un concerto in memoria di Ken Woollard, l’organizzatore del Folk Festival di Cambridge. Il mese successivo Ralph suonò con la band di Alun Davies: “Good Men In The Jungle” al Folk Festival di Cambridge The Road Goes On Forever pubblicò “Slide Away The Screen” su CD con tre canzoni mai pubblicate precedentemente. Durante questo anno Ralph va in Irlanda molte volte. Suona in Australia e Nuova Zelanda e fissa un paio di concerti ad Hong Kong. Al suo ritorno inizia il tour inglese e Ralph lavora fino alla metà di dicembre celebrando il suo cinquantesimo compleanno strada facendo, ma sempre senza fumare. Nel 1995 finisce la registrazione negli studi Woodworm Studios di Dave Pegg e firma un contratto con la Transatlantic Records di proprietà della Castle Communication. Ad Ottobre “Sand In Your Shoes” fu pubblicato su CD. “The Islands”, un brano dal CD fu utilizzato da Billy Connolly come colonna sonora per il suo spettacolo sulla Scozia. La direzione di Michael Bisping fu confermata. Sinead O’Connor pubblicò “Streets Of London”. Ralph suonò la sua canzone “Bentley & Craig” alla funzione speciale per Derek Bentley sepolto al cimitero di Croydon. Ralph fu invitato in Swansea al “Year Of Literature Festival” per suonare alcune canzoni dall’album: “The Boy With A Note”. Nel 1996 la BBC Radio 2 elegge “Sand In Your Shoes” come album della settimana. Ralph lavora di nuovo alla colonna sonora del tour di Billy Connolly in Scozia. In estate lavora alla BBC Radio2 come relatore e presentatore al Folk Festival di Sidmouth. Tiene alcuni concerti in Europa, USA. e Regno Unito. Un album dal vivo viene pubblicato su etichetta Leola: “Songs For Six Strings vol. II” Nel 1997 Ralph iniziò la sua unione artistica con la Tickety Boo. Suona “In The Dreamtime” per i ringraziamenti finali del programma di Billy Connolly. Venne pubblicata la prima biografia ufficiale scritta da Chris Hockenhull. Nel 1998 fu registrato e pubblicato dalla Leola su video cassetta un concerto al Croydon Town Hall. Nel 1999 il tour di Ralph fu registrato e pubblicato dalla Leola come doppio cd: “Travelling Man (The journey man)”. A maggio apparve sul quotidiano The Guardian un articolo su di lui. Nel 2000 Ralph pubblica “Red Sky” su etichetta Leola. L’album contiene 19 brani. Ralph pubblica il primo volume della sua autobiografia “Angel Laughter”. Il 25 giugno Ralph e Nanna diventano nonni. Nel 2001 Ralph presenta un tour speciale dal titolo: “National Treasure”. Un album con lo stesso titolo fu pubblicato dalla Leola. Ralph scopre di essere in possesso di circa 24 chitarre di cui una risonatore. Nel dicembre del 2002 Ralph pubblica il secondo volume della sua biografia “Summer Lightning”. La BBC Radio conferisce a Ralph il premio alla carriera “Lifetime Achievement award”. Nel 2003 Ralph decide di concedersi una pausa per quanto concerne i concerti. Trascorre il suo tempo a scrivere e a godersi la sua famiglia. Nel 2004 Ralph organizza un tour in Australia, Nuova Zelanda, Regno Unito, Irlanda ed Europa. Riappare al Folk Festival di Cambridge, al Music Festival di Sidmouth ed a quello di Cropredy. Nel 2004 la Leola Ltd solidifica la sua posizione poiché ora cura molti aspetti della carriera di Ralph incluso il suo nuovo sito e la prenotazione dei concerti. Nel Novembre del 2004 viene celebrato il suo 60 compleanno con un concerto alla Royal Festival Hall di Londra, l'intero spettacolo viene pubblicato su DVD nel 2005 con il titolo “The London Show”. La Leola pubblica “Time's Poems - The Song Lyrics of Ralph McTell” alla fine del 2005. Dedicato "a Woody Guthrie, l’uomo che ha iniziato tutto per me", “Time's Poems2 contiene "... tutte le canzoni tutte le canzone che ho potuto trovare su appunti, ritagli di fogli, vecchie cassette, suregistrazioni e CDs”. Nel 2006 il tour denominato “Walk Into The Morning” registra il tutto esaurito creando lunghe code di persone nei suoi “meet and greet” dopo i concerti, nel giugno 2006 McTell annuncia che non farà più “meet and greet” dopo i concerti con i suoi fans. Per il tour denominato “Up close” nel Settembre 2006 propone al pubblico uno spettacolo chiamato “Dylan, Guthrie and The Country Blues”, cantando le sue covers di canzoni diWoody Guthrie, Bob Dylan e di artisti blues Americani come Big Bill Broonzy. McTell registra un album con queste canzoni intitolato “Gates of Eden”. McTell descrive la musica di questo CD come "… l’inizio del mio viaggio … queste canzoni sono sacre per me”. Un cofanetto di 4 CDs è pubblicato nell’Ottobre 2006. Ideato da David Suff da registrazioni eseguite tra il 1965 ed il 2006, “The Journey” viene pubblicizzato con molte interviste radiofoniche ed un tour comprendente due concerti “gala” alla Union Chapel di Londra. La confezione del cofanetto è ideata da John Haxby, che ha anche curato le fotografie della copertina. Nel 2007 McTell tiene una serie di concerti in Australia seguiti da un tour in Inghilterra denominato “The Journey Continues” Nell’Agosto del 2007 la “Sanctuary Records” celebra il quarantesimo anniversario della prima registrazione di McTell ripubblicando su CD con bonus track i suoi tre album, pubblicati con la “Transatlantic”. Nell’Ottobre del 2007 McTell pubblica un “audio libro” intitolato “As Far As I Can Tell”. I tre CDs includono anche delle letture della sua autobiografia intervallate da nuove registrazioni di canzone da loro ispirate Il triplo CD “The As Far As I Can Tell” è stato pubblicizzato con un tour che ha visto, tra le altre, una esibizione alla “St Mary’s church” di Banbury, una location che appare nel primo volume della sua autobiografia.
Nel Dicembre del 2007 viene pubblicata dalla “Highpoint” col titolo “The Definitive Collection” una raccolta di canzoni, scelte direttamente da McTell, che include la versione di successo di Streets of London”. Durante il 2008, McTell assembla i due volumi della sua autobiografia in uno unico, ampliato con nuovi capitoli e fotografie dall’album della famiglia May, intitolato”As Far As I Can Tell”.
Il 9 Ottobre 2008 McTell appare al canale nazionale della BBC1 nel programma “The One Show” dedicato alla canzone”Streets of London”. L’intervista è registrato A Parigi e condotto da Myleene Klass. Tale apparizione viene registrata per due video pubblicati dalla Leola Music Ltd su YouTube nei quali McTell parla di “Streets of London” ed includono dei brani registrati all’Institute of Contemporary Arts. Il concerto all‘Institute of Contemporary Arts viene pubblicato nel 2008 su DVD col titolo “McTell on The Mall”. In Ottobre del 2008 McTell intraprende un tour di trente date in Inghilterra. Il concerto alla “Town all” di Birmingham è inusuale in quanto vede la presenza di una band di supporto: The Dylan Project. A luglio del 2009 McTell pubblica il suo primo CD scaricabile intitolato “Streets of London and Other Story Songs”, comprendente dodici canzoni dal suo catalogo. Sabato 15 Agosto 2009 McTell appare al “Fairport's Cropredy Convention”. Nell’Ottobre del 2009, McTell viene onorato dal Parlamento Inglese “All Party Folk Music Group” con una cerimonia speciale alla “House of Commons”, per celebrare il suo perituro contributo alla musica folk. All’inizio del 2010 la Leola Music record pubblica un cofanetto di 4 CDs intitolato “Affairs of the Heart”, contenente canzoni d’amore, visto il contenuto, il cofanetto viene pubblicato il 14 Febbraio il giorno di San Valentino. La compilation non include nuove canzoni ma per l’occasione due canzoni vengono reincise e masterizzate digitalmente. Rory McGrath scrive una lunga presentazione che viene inclusa, come libretto, nel cofanetto, la copertina e la confezione vengono create da Peter Thaine. Durante il 2010, McTell registra il nuovo album in studio il primo dopo dieci anni: “Somewhere Down the Road”. Sul sito ufficia www.ralphmctell.co.uk è stato inserito il diario sul “work in progress” con dettagli sulla preparazione, registrazione e le sessioni. Sul sito ufficiale il CD viene descritto come “Il primo nuovo ed originale CD di Ralph McTell in una decade”, l’uscita è prevista per il 18 Ottobre 2010 (copie in prevendita sono disponibile dal 3 Settembre. In autunno è previsto il nuovo tour denominato con lo stesso titolo del CD. Il 21 Novembre 2010, McTell pubblica una canzone stagionale “The Things You Wish Yourself”, soltanto in versione download. Nel Maggio 2011 in occasione della celebrazione del 70º compleanno di Bob Dylan Mctell venne invitato a registrare una sua versione di una canzone per BBC RADIO2. “Don’t Think Twice It’s Alright” era anche il titolo dell’EP tributo di McTell a Bob Dylan contenente sei canzoni e pubblicato soltanto in versione download. Nel Settembre 2011 McTell inizia un tour di 36 date, nel Regno Unito, conclusosi alla Cadogan Hall l’11 Dicembre. Nella prima date del tour McTell presenta il suo nuovo boxset “Songs for six string”. Verranno pubblicati con una scadenza prestabiliti sei CDs, uno per ogni corda di chitarra, contenenti registrazioni live di sei canzoni di McTell. I CDs saranno disponibili per l’acquisto solo ai concerti o dal sito ufficiale. In Aprile e Maggio 2012, McTell effettua un breve tour in Australia. Il tour inglese del 2012, denominato “An English heartbeat”, inizia ad Ottobre e vede la pubblicazione del CD strumentale “Sofa Noodling”. In una intervista pubblicata durante il suo tour 2013 “One more on the road”, McTell dice: “potrebbe essere l’ultima volta che faccio un tour così lungo … questo è l’inizio di chiudere le cose lentamente” La primavera del 2014 vede McTell in giro per le regioni Celtiche delle isole britanniche e la pubblicazione di una compilazioni con canzoni ispirate alla cultura celtica: “Celtic Cousin”. La punta di diamante del tour è la perfomance del tributo a Dylan Thomas “The boy with a note” nella città natale di Thoman a Laugharne nel sud del Galles. Verso la fine dell’anno McTell commemora il centenario dell’inizio della prima guerra mondiale con la pubblicazione di un EP intitolato “The Unknown Soldier” . Il 7 dicembre 2014 McTell celebrerà il suo 70º compleanno con un concerto al Theatre Royal, Drury Lane di Londra.

Discografia

Album studio

• 1968 Eight Frames a Second (Transatlantic)
• 1969 Spiral Staircase (Transatlantic)
• 1969 My Side of Your Window (Transatlantic)
• 1970 Revisited (Transatlantic)
• 1971 You Well-Meaning Brought Me Here (Famous Music)
• 1972 Not Till Tomorrow (Reprise Records)
• 1974 Easy (Reprise)
• 1975 Streets... (Warner Bros.)
• 1976 Right Side Up (Warner Bros.)
• 1979 Slide Away the Screen (Warner Bros.)
• 1982 Water of Dreams (Mays)
• 1983 Songs from Alphabet Zoo (Mays)
• 1985 At the End of a Perfect Day (Telstar)
• 1986 Bridge of Sighs (Mays)
• 1988 Blue Skies Black Heroes (Leola Music)
• 1990 Stealin' Back... (Castle Communications)
• 1992 The boy with a note (Leola Music)
• 1995 Sand in Your Shoes (Transatlantic)
• 2000 Red Sky (Leola Music)
• 2002 National Treasure (Leola Music)
• 2006 Gates of Eden (Leola Music)
• 2007 As Far As I Can Tell (Leola Music) - 3 CD audiobook
• 2010 Somewhere Down the Road Leola
• 2011 Don't Think Twice It's Alright Leola (su Internet)

Live

• 1977 Ralph, Albert & Sydney (Warner Bros.) - riedito da Leola Music anche come Songs for Six Strings - volume I
• 1979 Live (Fantasy)
• 1996 Songs for Six Strings - Vol. II (Leola Music)
• 1998 Live at the Town Hall Leola 1998 (VHS, live)
• 1999 Travelling Man - The Journey, the Songs (Leola Music) (2 CD)
• 2005 The London Show (Leola Music) (DVD) concerto realizzato in occasione del suo 60º compleanno con vari ospiti
• 2008 McTell on the Mall (Leola Music) (DVD) concerto registrato nel 2000 all'Istituto di Arti Contemporanee di Londra
• 2011 Songs For Six Strings (1st - E) Leola
• 2012 Songs For Six Strings (2nd - B) Leola
• 2012 Sofa Noodling Leola

Raccolte

• 1983 Best of Alphabet Zoo (Mays) (selezione dall'album Songs from Alphabet Zoo con sei nuovi pezzi)
• 1986 The Best of Tickle on the Tum (Mays)
• 1989 Affairs of the Heart (Castle Communications)
• 1992 Silver Celebration (Castle Communications)
• 1992 The Best of Ralph McTell (Castle Communications)
• 2006 The Journey 4CDs Box (Leola Music)
• 2009 Streets of London and Other Story Songs Leola (su Internet)
• 2010 Affairs of the Heart Leola (4-CD box set)

Partecipazioni

• 1983 Just Guitars (CBS)

Ralph McTell (born Ralph May, 3 December 1944) is an English singer-songwriter and acoustic guitar player who has been an influential figure on the UK folk music scene since the 1960s.
McTell is best known for his song "Streets of London", which has been covered by over two hundred artists around the world, and for his tale of Irish emigration, "From Clare to Here".
In the 1980s he wrote and played songs for two TV children's programmes, Alphabet Zoo, which also featured Nerys Hughes, followed by Tickle on the Tum, featuring Jaqui Reddin. Albums were also released from both series. He also recorded Keith Hopwood's and Malcolm Rowe's theme song to Cosgrove Hall's adaptation of The Wind in the Willows, and this was released as a single in 1984 after the series was aired on ITV.
McTell's guitar playing has been modelled on the style of the US's country blues guitar players of the early 20th century, including Blind Blake, Robert Johnson and Blind Willie McTell. These influences led a friend to suggest that he change his professional name to McTell as his career was beginning to take shape.
McTell is also an accomplished performer on piano and harmonica, which he uses on a harness.

Biography

McTell's mother, Winifred (née Moss), was born in Hammersmith, London. During the Second World War she was living in Banbury, Oxfordshire, with her sister Olive when she met Frank May. They married in 1943 while Frank was home on leave from the army. Winifred moved to Croydon, Surrey, and McTell was born on 3 December 1944 in Farnborough, Kent. He was named after Ralph Vaughan Williams – Frank had worked as the composer's gardener before the war. A second son, Bruce, was born in 1946. Frank was demobilised, but after a year or so at home, he walked out on his family in 1947.
Winifred was left to support herself and bring up the boys unaided. She told McTell's biographer, "I remember Ralph saying to me quite soon after Frank left us, 'I'll look after you, Mummy'. I guess he'd got used to Frank being away all his short life." But despite their father's desertion and the consequent poverty, Ralph and Bruce May had a happy and fulfilled childhood in Croydon.
McTell's love of music surfaced early. He was given a plastic mouth organ and his grandfather, who played the harmonica, taught and encouraged him. The brothers spent many contented summer holidays at Banbury with their uncle and aunt and their grandparents. Banbury and north Oxfordshire would figure throughout McTell's life. Later, he recalled those childhood summers in his song "Barges".

Influences

Other childhood experiences shaped McTell's songwriting. A young Irishman and his family were the Mays' upstairs neighbours. Needing a father figure, McTell greatly valued the young man's friendship, which later inspired the song "Mr Connaughton". Similarly, "Mrs Adlam's Angels" recalls his Sunday school teacher: "I loved the ceremonial and the music," he says, "you can hear the influence of hymn tunes in my song structures."
In 1952, two youths attempted to break into a Croydon warehouse: one, Derek Bentley, surrendered to the police but the other, Christopher Craig, shot and killed a police officer. Yet at the trial Bentley was sentenced to death. "My mum knew the Bentleys," McTell recalls. "I was about eight, but even then I could see the horror and injustice of executing a teenager for a murder he didn't commit." Many years later, McTell expressed that sense of injustice in the song "Bentley & Craig".

Teens

After passing his 11-plus school examination, McTell attended the John Ruskin Grammar School. He hated his time there, and despite being a very bright pupil, he did not do well academically. Many of his fellow pupils were from wealthier backgrounds, and though having many school friends, he felt he didn't fit in.
Musically, his tastes tended towards being an outsider as well. He was captivated by skiffle and American rock'n'roll. Acquiring an old ukulele and a copy of The George Formby Method, he played his first chord. He later recalled, "I was thunderstruck – it was like magic!" Soon, he mastered skiffle classics such as "Don't You Rock Me, Daddy-O", and by his second year at school, he formed a skiffle band.
By the age of 15, McTell was very anxious to leave grammar school and the British Army looked like a way out, so in 1959 he enlisted in the Junior Leaders Battalion of The Queen's Surrey Regiment. Army life proved far worse than school. After six months, he bought himself out and resumed his education at technical college, passing several O level exams and an A level exam in art.
In 1963, McTell was working on a building site, and it is of this time that he wrote, in the mid-1970s, "From Clare to Here". "There was an Irish gang on the site, and the craic, as they call it, relieved the stress of the hard work. I was working with an Irishman called Michael, as so many of them are. And I said to him, 'It must be very strange to be here in London after the place you come from.' And he responded by saying, 'Yes, it's a long way from Clare to here.'"

Discovering African American music

At college, McTell became interested in the beatnik culture that flourished in the 1950s and early 1960s. Besides reading the works of writers such as Jack Kerouac and Allen Ginsberg, he discovered African American music – jazz, blues and R&B. Inspired by musicians such as Jesse Fuller, Ramblin' Jack Elliott, Robert Johnson and Muddy Waters, he bought a guitar and practised assiduously.
He and a group of like-minded friends became habitués of London's Soho jazz clubs and regularly went down to Brighton to "...sit on the beach looking windswept and interesting," as McTell put it. Soon he was spending much of his time away from Croydon, supporting himself with temporary work in factories, laundries and hotels.
During his travels, McTell met musicians who were destined to remain lifelong friends, among them Jacqui McShee (later to gain fame in the band Pentangle), Martin Carthy and Wizz Jones. He was persuaded to join a bluegrass-influenced band called the Hickory Nuts, who performed all over England and, despite playing in some dire places for pin money early on, ended up with decent fees and respectable crowds in venues such as Croydon's Fairfield Halls.

The busker

By now, McTell had begun travelling abroad, busking around Europe with his guitar. He spent time in France and visited Belgium and Germany. Other trips took him to Italy and through Yugoslavia ("I felt a madness there, even then") to Greece.
Paris was a city which McTell revisited frequently. Late in 1965 he and a friend from Croydon took a room in a cheap hotel on the Left Bank, earning their rent by busking cinema queues. After braving a bitterly cold Paris winter, McTell met a young American, Gary Petersen, who had studied with the legendary guitarist Reverend Gary Davis. "There was a great anticipation every time I got to play with (Petersen)," McTell recalled. "Each time I learned something new, and through him I learned how to play ragtime properly."
In the spring of 1966, McTell met another émigré to Paris, a student from Norway named Nanna Stein. The pair soon became inseparable. Back in England, they lived in a caravan in Cornwall. McTell and Wizz Jones were regular performers on the Cornish circuit, especially at The Folk Cottage in Mitchell. It was Jones who suggested the stage name 'McTell', "...after Blind Willie McTell, whose 'Statesboro Blues' we both loved".
Cornwall captured McTell's heart – a place whose "unique spirit got to me" – and the county has always remained a place for him to retreat to. By the end of 1966, Ralph and Nanna were expecting their first child. They married on 30 November in Norway and returned to live in Croydon with Winifred. Ralph and Nanna's son, Sam, was born on 21 January 1967.
After an unrewarding spell at teacher training college, McTell decided he'd try to make it full-time in music. As well as his vocal and instrumental talents, he was developing as a songwriter and was in demand in folk clubs and festivals.

Record deal

During 1967, McTell landed a deal with Transatlantic Records and by the end of the year was recording his first album. Arranged by Tony Visconti and produced by Gus Dudgeon, the album, Eight Frames a Second, was released early in 1968. It came to the attention of the BBC and was featured on radio programmes including Country Meets Folk in August and John Peel's Top Gear. The release of the album meant more live work so McTell's brother Bruce became his manager and booking agent.
His second album Spiral Staircase, recorded for Transatlantic in late 1968, included the first recording of "Streets of London", which was recorded in one take by McTell on guitar and vocals.
The third album, My Side of Your Window, released in 1969, became Melody Maker magazine's Folk Album of the Month. In July, McTell had appeared at Cambridge Folk Festival for the first time and at the end of the year headlined at Hornsey Town Hall.

Into the 1970s

By 1970, "I'd got a family," McTell recalled in an interview, "and found I had a musical career, somehow." He was getting extensive radio play, and the audiences at his concerts were growing.
By May, he was sufficiently successful to fill the Royal Festival Hall in London. In August, McTell played the huge Isle of Wight Festival alongside Jimi Hendrix, Joan Baez, and Leonard Cohen.
Bruce May had bowed out and McTell was now being managed by impresario Jo Lustig. In October 1970, McTell sold out the Royal Festival Hall again and the album Revisited was released. This remixed compilation was originally intended to introduce McTell to American record-buyers but was released in the UK. It has still not been released on cd, even though all the other Transatlantic albums have been remastered.
Ralph and Nanna's daughter Leah was born on 9 February 1971.
You Well-Meaning Brought Me Here was released on the Famous label in 1971. Among the highlights of this fourth studio album was "The Ferryman", inspired by the Herman Hesse book Siddhartha. That year also saw McTell's first tour in the United States.
Initially, Paramount Records had been McTell's American label but had not been supportive, and he later signed with Warner Bros. Records. While in the US, McTell hung out with the British folk-rock band Fairport Convention, establishing a lifelong professional relationship as well as personal friendships.
Paramount put a new recording of "Streets of London" on the US release of You Well-Meaning Brought Me Here, and, in April 1972, issued it as a single in the Netherlands, where it charted, climbing slowly to No. 9 in May.
McTell's fifth album, Not Till Tomorrow, was produced by Tony Visconti, and released on Reprise in 1972. His UK concert tour played to packed houses and he met one of his guitar heroes, the Rev Gary Davis. By the end of the year, he'd parted company with Jo Lustig and his brother Bruce was again managing his career.
Although living in Putney, south west London, Ralph and Nanna bought a derelict cottage in Cornwall during 1972.

The Royal Albert Hall

During 1973, McTell undertook two major tours. The spring tour culminated in a sell-out concert at London's Royal Festival Hall on 5 May, whilst the winter tour was completed in front of a full-house at London's Royal Albert Hall on 30 January 1974. By the end of the year, McTell was in the studio with Visconti again working on his next album. Released early in 1974, Easy won critical acclaim and became McTell's first album to do well in the charts. It was promoted by lengthy tours of Britain and Europe with Danny Thompson and Mike Piggott as backing musicians. Despite the civil unrest and violence in Northern Ireland, the tour included concerts in the province – in fact, McTell continued to play there regularly throughout 'the Troubles'.

The hit and the band

McTell re-recorded "Streets of London" with bassist Rod Clements and backing vocalists Prelude. Released as a single (recorded on the Reprise label) on 7 December 1974, it rocketed up the charts to No. 2 in the first week of 1975, became a worldwide million-seller, and won McTell the Ivor Novello Award.
In early 1975, McTell released the album Streets..., which sold strongly and spent twelve weeks in the album charts. Backing musicians on the album included Lindisfarne's Rod Clements, Fairport Convention's Dave Pegg and Jerry Donahue, and Maddy Prior from Steeleye Span, who inspired McTell to write the song "Maddy Dances". He decided to tour with a band to promote the album, but the experiment was not a success. That tour, he recalls, "became a nightmare." It was time for a break. McTell went to America with his family where he spent time relaxing and writing. Refreshed, he returned to the UK.
During 1976, McTell topped the bill at Montreux Jazz Festival and played another sold-out concert at The Royal Albert Hall. This was followed by his first tour of Australia and the far east. At McTell's insistence, local buskers were given free tickets for the flagship concert at Sydney Opera House.
Ralph and Nanna's son Tom was born on 7 September 1976.
McTell's eighth album, Right Side Up, was released late in 1976 and the year ended with a packed-out Christmas concert in Belfast where he got standing ovations both before and after the show.
The concerts at the Royal Albert Hall and Sydney Opera House had both been recorded and in 1977, Warner Bros. Records released the live album Ralph, Albert and Sydney.
During the year, McTell met John 'Jonah' Jones, a popular figure on London's music scene. It was the start of a close friendship that lasted until John's death in 2003. After tours in the US and Britain, McTell again appeared at Cambridge Folk Festival.

Quieter times

Ralph and Nanna's son Billy was born on 19 April 1978. Professionally, it was a quieter year and Ralph spent time with his family in their homes in London and Cornwall.
In March 1979, McTell played The Royal Festival Hall accompanied by Dave Pegg and Dave Mattacks of Fairport Convention, and Nigel Smith and Mike Piggott.
McTell had written a lot of new songs and went into the studio with backing musicians including Richard Thompson, Dave Pegg and Simon Nicol. The resulting album, Slide Away The Screen was released by Warner Bros. Records.
The recording contract with Warner Bros. Records expired in 1980 so Ralph and Bruce set up Mays Records as an 'own brand' label. It would be a year or more until they had an album to release but meanwhile McTell continued to tour.
During 1981, McTell, Dave Pegg, Dave Mattacks and Richard Thompson formed an impromptu band called The GP's. They performed half-a-dozen concerts but contractual restrictions meant the band couldn't be developed further.
The first release on Mays Records was the 1981 single "England", a song later adopted as the theme for a television travelogue presented by comedian Billy Connolly, a long-standing friend of McTell's. Mays Records' first album release was Water of Dreams, which featured "Bentley & Craig", the song that led to McTell's support of the campaign to grant Derek Bentley a posthumous pardon.

Television

In 1982, McTell's career took an unexpected change of direction. Granada Television commissioned Alphabet Zoo, a series of children's programmes built around songs written and performed by McTell. Although initially reluctant to accept the offer, the fact that one of his heroes, Woody Guthrie, had composed dozens of songs for children, convinced him it was worthwhile. The first series, broadcast in 1983, was a big success. A second series followed and Mays Records released two albums of the material – Songs From Alphabet Zoo and Best of Alphabet Zoo.
During 1983, McTell presented his own music series on BBC Radio 2. His guests included Billy Connolly, Georgie Fame, Simon Nicol with Dave Swarbrick, and Mike Harding.
In 1984, McTell fronted another children's TV programme, called Tickle on the Tum, again built around his songs. McTell featured in three series alongside guests including John Wells, Willie Rushton, Kenny Lynch, Penelope Keith and Nerys Hughes. Mays Records released The Best of – Tickle on the Tum in 1986. The first series was released on DVD by Revelation Films in 2010.
McTell was still playing concerts between his television commitments and he toured during 1984 at home and in Canada and the United States. After composing the music for a Skol lager advertising campaign, he decided to concentrate on his musical career and turned down further television work.

Commercialism

Bruce May negotiated a deal with Telstar Records, a company that pushed its products heavily with major advertising and hyping campaigns. McTell was persuaded to record an album which mixed his own material and 'classic songs' such as "Penny Lane", "Morning Has Broken" and "Scarborough Fair". The result, At the End of a Perfect Day, released late in 1985, was one of McTell's least satisfactory recordings. It was "a totally commercial venture and a miserable failure," he said later; "...while I was reluctant to do it, the possibility of getting the kind of back-up that Telstar were offering was too good to miss."
The next year McTell was back on form with Bridge of Sighs. Released on Mays Records in 1986, the album gathered together a lot of hitherto unfinished songs. It included "The Girl from the Hiring Fair" (originally written for Fairport Convention, and in whose core repertoire it remains to this day), and "The Setting", influenced by Seán Ó Faoláin.

Homage

As well as tours in his own right, McTell secured a prestigious support slot in 1987 opening the shows on The Everly Brothers' UK tour. He greatly enjoyed working with Don and Phil who, he admits, were musical heroes of his.
McTell's end-of-tour gift to himself was Albert, a grey parrot. In years to come, the bird would not only learn to talk but, by mimicking its owner's cough, would spur McTell to give up the hand-rolled cigarettes he'd smoked all his adult life.
After tours in Europe, the US and Australia, McTell was back in the studio in February 1988 to record the album Blue Skies Black Heroes. Released on his own Leola Music label, the album was a homage to the blues and ragtime musicians who had so influenced his playing.
"Nearly all my guitar heroes are black, American, usually blind and most of 'em dead," McTell explained. All the tracks on Blue Skies Black Heroes were recorded as live takes, four with Danny Thompson on bass. The follow-up tour that summer saw McTell on the road with a veritable arsenal of guitars.
1988 also saw the release of a compilation album, The Very Best of Ralph McTell. Issued by Start, it was McTell's first album to appear on CD.
McTell was a regular visitor to, and occasional performer at, Fairport Convention's annual music festival in the village of Cropredy, near Banbury. The location inspired him to pen the ballad "Red and Gold" about the English Civil War, which has become another staple of Fairport's repertoire.
At the end of 1988, Bruce ceased to be McTell's manager, the post being taken by Mick McDonagh.

Castle compilations

In 1989, McTell signed a deal with the label Castle Communications to produce a compilation of his love songs. For contractual reasons, some songs had to be re-recorded in Dave Pegg's Woodworm Studio in Barford St. Michael. The resulting album, A Collection of His Love Songs, was subtitled 'Affairs of the Heart'.
To support the album's release, McTell undertook an extensive tour in the autumn and early winter. The tour was well-supported with PR material and was managed on the road by John 'Jonah' Jones.
The next year, 1990, Castle released Stealin' Back, another collection of McTell's blues and jug band numbers.
In 1991, McTell shared the billing with Donovan on a tour of Germany. He also toured in his own right in the UK.
A second Castle compilation was released in 1992 to celebrate McTell's 25 years of recording. Silver Celebration featured a selection of tracks including "The Ferryman", "From Clare To Here" and "Streets of London". A very extensive Silver Celebration tour occupied much of the year, again managed by 'Jonah' Jones.
Castle had by now obtained the rights to the Transatlantic catalogue, and released a "Best of" CD with 24 tracks from McTell's earliest albums. Castle subsequently licensed the early McTell back-catalogue to other labels, resulting in the release of several CD compilations under such titles as The Best of Ralph McTell or Streets of London.

The Boy with a Note

McTell completed a major project when in 1992, the BBC commissioned and broadcast The Boy with a Note – 'an evocation of the life of Dylan Thomas in words and music'. It was re-recorded and released on McTell's Leola label as an album. McTell is very proud of this ambitious piece. "Two or three years went into that," he said. "It's grown-up work."
During 1993, McTell toured Australia and the Far East, and back home he undertook The Black And White Tour. Road Goes on Forever Records released The Complete Alphabet Zoo, presenting the songs from the two television series in alphabetical order. McTell and Mick McDonagh parted company.
In 1994 McTell took part in a concert at the Royal Albert Hall to commemorate the life of Ken Woolard. Ken was the founder of Cambridge Folk Festival and McTell assembled a band, Good Men in the Jungle, to play at that summer's festival. He also celebrated his fiftieth year by giving up smoking.
Slide Away The Screen was released as a CD by Road Goes on Forever Records with three previously unreleased songs added.
Sand in Your Shoes was recorded at Woodworm, by now relocated in Barford St Michael near Banbury. The album came out on the Transatlantic label during 1995.
McTell performed his song "Bentley & Craig" at a special service for Derek Bentley held in Croydon cemetery with the Bentley family. Sadly, Bentley's sister Iris died before he was pardoned and, at her request, McTell performed at her funeral a few years later.
A high point of 1995 was an invitation to perform songs from The Boy with a Note at the Year of Literature Festival in Swansea, in south Wales.

Tickety Boo

In 1996, Ralph McTell presented BBC radio's coverage of Sidmouth Festival and toured the UK, Europe, and the US.
McTell's long-standing sound engineer, Gordon 'Doon' Graham, had captured many of McTell's concert performances on the desk, and an album of live material from 1976 to 1995 was released on Leola as Songs for Six Strings Vol II.
Early in 1997, McTell began his association with Tickety Boo, the company which produced Billy Connolly's 'World Tour of...' television series. "In The Dreamtime", the song played over the closing credits to Billy Connolly's World Tour of Australia, later featured on McTell's album Red Sky.
In the same year, McTell was the subject of a major feature in The Independent newspaper. An authorised biography of McTell, entitled Streets of London, was published by Northdown Publishing. McTell's concert at Croydon Town Hall was filmed, and released on videocassette as Live at the Town Hall by Leola in 1998.
By now, Leola had taken most of McTell's management arrangements in house. Two sell-out concerts in London's Purcell Room were recorded by McTell's tour manager and sound engineer, Donard Duffy, and released on Leola as a two-CD set. Entitled Travelling Man, the double album came out in time for McTell's 1999 spring tour. A two-page feature about McTell appeared in The Guardian newspaper in May 1999.

New century

McTell had been busy writing during the previous couple of years and the result was Red Sky. Recorded at Woodworm and released in 2000 on the Leola label, the album contained 19 listed tracks plus "Tickety-boo" as an instrumental hidden track.
McTell's output was not restricted to songs, however. He had been working on an autobiography for some years and the first volume, entitled Angel Laughter, was published by Heartland Publishing in 2000.
To promote Angel Laughter, McTell undertook a tour of bookshops and libraries .
Ralph and Nanna's first grandchild, Ezra, was born on 25 June 2000.
In 2001, McTell undertook a special tour of the UK. Billed as 'The National Tour', it gave McTell a chance to present concerts featuring his newly acquired National Steel resonator guitar. Two live recordings from the National Tour made their way onto the 2002 Leola album National Treasure.
Heartland published Summer Lightning, the second volume of McTell's autobiography, in 2002. Another highlight of the year was the Lifetime Achievement Award for Songwriting presented to McTell at the annual BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards. By then, McTell had written and recorded well over 200 songs.
McTell had been touring extensively at home and abroad for many years so in 2003 he decided to take a break from the road. He split the year between his London and Cornwall homes and spent the time writing, travelling and spending time with his grandchildren – by the end of the year there were seven of them.
Early in 2004, McTell co-headlined on Steeleye Span's tour of Australia and New Zealand as well as touring in the UK, Ireland and continental Europe.
McTell appeared at the fortieth Cambridge Folk Festival (the performance was broadcast on BBC Four television) and also played at the fiftieth Sidmouth Festival. He made a guest appearance at Fairport's Cropredy Convention in August.

The Journey

McTell celebrated his 60th birthday with a concert at London’s Royal Festival Hall in November 2004. The entire show was filmed and released on DVD in 2005 as The London Show.
Leola published Time's Poems – The Song Lyrics of Ralph McTell towards the end of 2005. Dedicated "to Woody Guthrie, the man who started it all for me", Time's Poems contains "...all the songs I could find in notebooks, on scraps of paper and old tapes, on records and CDs".
In 2006 McTell's 'Walk Into The Morning' tour was a sellout success, creating such long queues to talk to him at his customary 'meet and greet' sessions after concerts, that he was forced to announce in June 2006 that he would no longer be coming out into the foyers after shows to chat with fans.
For his 'up close' tour in September 2006, McTell performed a set billed as 'Dylan, Guthrie and The Country Blues', featuring his covers of songs by Woody Guthrie, Bob Dylan and black American blues artists such as Big Bill Broonzy. He also recorded an album of the material, titled Gates of Eden. McTell described the music on this CD as "…the beginning of my own journey… these songs are almost sacred to me".
A boxed set of four CDs (accompanied by an extended essay on McTell's songs by Paul Jenkins) was released in October 2006. Compiled by David Suff from recordings made between 1965 and 2006, The Journey was promoted with several radio interviews and a major tour that included two 'gala' concerts at London’s Union Chapel. The box set's packaging was designed by John Haxby, who also took the cover photograph.
A solo tour of Australia early in 2007 was followed by 'The Journey Continues' tour in the UK. In August 2007, Sanctuary Records recognised the 40th anniversary of McTell’s first recording contract by re-releasing his three Transatlantic albums as CDs with bonus tracks.

As Far As I Can Tell

In October 2007, McTell released an 'audio book' titled As Far As I Can Tell. The three CDs included readings from the autobiography interspersed with new recordings of the songs they inspired. The As Far As I Can Tell treble CD was promoted by a tour that included a concert at St Mary’s church in Banbury, a location that featured in the first volume of autobiography.
A compilation CD comprising McTell’s own selection of songs, including the 'hit' version of "Streets of London", was released in December 2007 on the Highpoint label as The Definitive Collection.
During 2008, McTell combined the two volumes of his autobiography into a single volume under the title As Far As I Can Tell for publication to coincide with his autumn tour. The new edition featured additional chapters illustrated by photos from the May family album.
On 9 October 2008, McTell appeared on BBC1 TV's nationally-broadcast magazine programme The One Show in a pre-recorded package about the song "Streets of London". The interview was filmed in Paris and conducted by Myleene Klass.
The appearance on The One Show was the springboard for two 'official' McTell internet videos. Made by Leola Music Ltd and published on YouTube, the videos featured McTell talking about his work and about "Streets of London", with concert footage shot at the Institute of Contemporary Arts.
The Institute of Contemporary Arts concert footage was released during 2008 as a full-length DVD titled McTell on The Mall.
McTell embarked on his most extensive UK tour for many years in October 2008, visiting thirty venues throughout England. The concert at Birmingham Town Hall was unusual because McTell, who rarely appears with a supporting act, shared the bill with The Dylan Project.

Story songs

McTell released his first downloadable album in July 2009, titled Streets of London and Other Story Songs, comprising twelve tracks from his back-catalogue.
McTell's summer 2009 festival appearances included a solo set at Fairport's Cropredy Convention on Saturday 15 August. He also joined Fairport Convention onstage during their set later the same evening.
In October 2009, McTell was honoured by the UK Parliament’s All Party Folk Music Group at a special award ceremony in the House of Commons, to celebrate his lifetime's contribution to folk music. This was only the second time such an award had been made, the previous recipient having been Tom Paxton.
In early 2010, McTell's Leola Music record label released Affairs of the Heart, a four CD box set of love songs in a presentation package. In keeping with its theme, the album was released on Valentine's Day, 14 February. There were no previously-unrecorded songs among the fifty-six tracks on the set. Two tracks were specially re-recorded but the remaining fifty-four were digital remixes of previous recordings. Comedian Rory McGrath contributed extensive sleeve notes in the set's accompanying booklet. The sleeve design and set packaging concept were by designer Peter Thaine.
During 2010, McTell recorded an album of new songs, his first for ten years, and released in October as Somewhere Down the Road. He kept an on-line diary of the album’s progress which described assembling the material, the recording sessions and preparing for release. McTell’s UK autumn tour was branded with the same title.
On 21 November 2010, McTell released a seasonal song, "The Things You Wish Yourself", as a download-only single.

Tribute

McTell was invited to record his own interpretation of a Bob Dylan song for the BBC Radio 2 celebration of Dylan’s 70th birthday in May 2011. Don’t Think Twice It’s Alright was also the title of McTell’s own six-song tribute to Dylan, which was released as a downloadable EP.
McTell embarked on a 36-date UK autumn tour in September 2011, culminating in a concert at London's Cadogan Hall on 11 December. On the first night of the tour, McTell launched his new Songs For Six Strings boxed set. Eventually there will be six CDs, one for each guitar string, and each with live recordings of six McTell songs. They are available to purchase only at live concerts and from the official McTell website
In April and May 2012, McTell undertook a short tour of Australia. McTell's 2012 UK tour, branded “An English Heartbeat”, commenced in October, and saw the release of a CD of guitar instrumentals called Sofa Noodling. In an interview published ahead of his 2013 “One More for the Road” tour, McTell said, “It could be the last time I do a big tour... this is the beginning of slowing things down”.
The spring of 2014 saw McTell touring the Celtic nations of the British Isles, and the release of a CD compilation of Celt-themed songs, Celtic Cousins. A high point of the tour was a performance of McTell's tribute to Dylan Thomas, The Boy With a Note, in Thomas's adopted home town of Laugharne in south Wales. Later in the year, McTell marked the centenary of the start of the first world war with a four-song EP, The Unknown Soldier.
McTell celebrated his 70th birthday with a concert at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, London, on 7 December 2014. A DVD of the concert was released in 2015.

About Time

2015 saw little sign of "slowing things down", as McTell played more than 30 solo shows over the year. Towards the end of the year McTell started a recording project with one of his earliest performing partners, Wizz Jones. The resulting CD was released in June 2016 with the appropriate title About Time. McTell's fifty years as a recording artist was marked by Martin Guitars with a 'signature' Ralph McTell guitar, built to McTell's specification and marketed as the Martin RM50.
McTell played a special show at the Royal Albert Hall in May 2016. Billed as a 'Loyal Command Performance', the set list was voted for by McTell's fans, and McTell performed the 20 songs that received the most votes. Summer highlights included McTell's first appearance at the Glastonbury Festival and a return to Fairport's Cropredy Convention. In the autumn McTell undertook an extensive tour of the United Kingdom and Ireland. The sixth and final CD of McTell's Songs for Six Strings boxed set was released during the tour.
During 2017, McTell and Jones toured their About Time album, which was so well received that they recorded and issued a follow-up album, About Time Too. Ahead of his solo autumn tour, McTell invited applicants to submit recordings of original music, from which McTell would select performers to open for him in an ‘open mic’ format at the shows. McTell then chose one act to open his London Palladium concert in October. Since 2014, McTell had played an annual benefit concert for the UK homeless charity, Crisis at Christmas, and in 2017 McTell invited The Crisis Choir to sing ‘’Streets of London’’ with him at his Palladium concert. McTell also recorded his iconic song with The Crisis Choir and guest vocalist Annie Lennox, for release in the lead up to Christmas. The song charted at No.94 in the Official Singles Chart (for downloads, CDs and streams), and at No. 1 in the Official Physical Singles Chart (for CD sales).
In September 2018, McTell made his debut on BBC's music show Later... with Jools Holland, on which he performed two songs, including the Bob Dylan-inspired "West 4th Street and Jones". In a short interview segment with Holland, McTell announced a new tour and album for 2019.

 

Ralph McTell Streets of London - YouTube

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DiWomXklfv8

Lyrics

Have you seen the old man
In the closed down market
Kicking up the papers
With his worn out shoes?

In his eyes, you see no pride
Hands held loosely at his side
Yesterday's paper
Telling yesterday's news

So, how can you tell me you're lonely
And say for you that the sun don't shine?
Let me take you by the hand and lead you through the streets of London
I'll show you something to make you change your mind

Have you seen the old girl
Who walks the streets of London
Dirt in her hair
And her clothes in rags?

She's no time for talking
She just keeps right on walking
Carrying her home
In two carrier bags

So, how can you tell me you're lonely
And say for you that the sun don't shine?
Let me take you by the hand and lead you through the streets of London
I'll show you something to make you change your mind

And in the all night cafe
At a quarter past eleven
Same old man
Sitting there on his own

Looking over the world
Over the rim of his tea cup
Each tea lasts an hour
And he wanders home alone

So, how can you tell me you're lonely?
Don't say for you that the sun don't shine
Let me take you by the hand and lead you through the streets of London
I'll show you something to make you change your mind

Have you seen the old man
Outside the seaman's mission
Memory fading with
The medal ribbons that he wears?

In our winter city
The rain cries a little pity
For one more forgotten hero
And a world that doesn't care

So, how can you tell me you're lonely
And say for you that the sun don't shine?
Let me take you by the hand and lead you through the streets of London
I'll show you something to make you change your mind

Songwriters: Ralph Mc Tell

Streets of London lyrics © Essex Music International, Essex Music International Inc., Essex Italiana Edizioni Musicali S.r.l., Westminster Music LTD

Artist: Ralph McTell

Album: Spiral Staircase

Released: 1969

Genre: Folk

 

Ralph McTell- Michael in the Garden (Live) - YouTube

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GgYE1RcbZD4

Lyrics

Out in the garden, amongst the bushes, Michael is crying.
Caught in a spider's web, its broken wings beating, a butterfly dying.
Oh la, la, la, la, la, la, la,
la, la, la, la, la, la, la
And they in their wisdom say
"Michael's got something wrong, wrong, wrong with his mind".
Well they must be blind, if they can't see what Michael sees.

Michael is silent, talking to no one of things that he sees.
But out in the garden, he talks in soft whispers, like the wind in the leaves.
Oh la, la, la, la, la, la, la,
la, la, la, la, la, la, la.
And they in their wisdom say
"Michael's got something wrong, wrong, wrong with his mind".
They've seen the signs, but they can't see what Michael sees.

And inside the building someone is calling his name through the halls.
But he doesn't answer, though he easily hears each leaf as it falls.
Oh la, la, la, la, la, la, la,
la, la, la, la, la, la, la.
And they in their wisdom say
"Michael's got something wrong, wrong, wrong with his mind".
Well they must be blind, for they can't see what Michael sees.

Michael where are you?
Michael where are we,
We who see that there's something wrong with your mind?

And inside the garden Michael is smiling, at peace in his world.
At one with the insects, the flowers, and the trees, and the wind and the birds.
Oh la, la, la, la, la, la, la,
la, la, la, la, la, la, la.

Oh Michael sees all
Behind the high walls
Surrounding his kingdom,
Whilst we in our wisdom
Still trapped in the spider's web
Far from the flow and ebb
Of life in the garden
But Michael has pardoned
Us for he sees
That really he's free
And there's nothing to mend
For his wings are not broken

And they in their wisdom say
"Michael's got something wrong, wrong, wrong with his mind".
They've seen the signs, but Michael feels fine inside the garden.

Songwriters: Ralph Mctell

Michael in the Garden lyrics © Bucks Music Group Ltd., Essex Music International

Artist: Ralph McTell

Album: My Side of Your Window

Released: 1969

Genre: Folk

 

 

 

Ralph McTell - hesitation blues - YouTube

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4kmcYFh_uk0

 

Lyrics

Got my hesitation stockings, hesitation shoes,
Lord almighty got them hesitation blues.
And tell me how long, oh, must I have to wait?
Can I get you now, oh no, must I hesitate.

A nickle is a nickle, and a dime is a dime,
I got a house full of kids, one of them must be mine.
Oh how long, must I have to wait?
Can I get you now, oh no, must I hesitate.

And I'm standing on the corner with a dollar in my hand,
Looking for a woman who's looking for a man
How long, Good God must I wait?
Can I get you now, oh no, must I hesitate.

Never been to heaven, but I've been told,
Old Saint Peter knows how to jelly-roll,
How long, must I have to wait?
Can I get you now, oh no, must I hesitate.

Hesitation, got my hesitation,
Lord almighty got my hesitation.
How long, must I have to...
Can I..., oh no, must I hesitate.

Standing on the corner with a dollar in my hand,
Looking for a woman who's looking for a man
How long, Good God must I wait?
Can I get you now, oh no, must I hesitate.

Hesitation Blues.

Songwriters: Ralph Mctell

Hesitation Blues lyrics © Essex Music International

Artist: Ralph McTell

Album: Eight Frames a Second

Released: 1968

Genre: Folk

 

 

Ralph McTell - blind blakes rag - YouTube

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sIpbWsMwsx0

 

Artist: Ralph McTell

Album: Eight Frames a Second

Released: 1968

Genre: Folk

 

Ralph McTell - Spiral Staircase 1973 - YouTube

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x1bLYVcfG04

▶ 2:30

Jul 6, 2014 - Uploaded by fritz51347

Ralph McTell - Spiral Staircase 1973 I'm running up a spiral staircase, Drilling a hole in the ground. And the ...

 

 

 

 Lyric

I'm running up a spiral staircase,
Drilling a hole in the ground.
And the staicase is winning,
And my head is spinning,
And I don't even dare to look round.

I'm running up a spiral staircase
I can't reach the top.
I'm running up a spiral staircase
And I'm too scared to stop.
And there's nothing anybody can do
To stop the staicase, like a giant corkscrew,
From spinning around and around and around and around.

Now in the beginning I only saw you
When the staircase hit your vision line.
But now that it's moving around so fast
I can see you all of the time.

I'm running up a spiral staircase
I can't reach the top.
I'm running up a spiral staircase
And I'm too scared to stop.
And there's nothing anybody can do
To stop the staicase, like a giant corkscrew,
From spinning around and around and around and around.

Now in the beginning it was moving so slowly
I never noticed it at first.
But now that it's moving round so fast
I think my head is gonna burst.

I'm running up a spiral staircase
I can't reach the top.
I'm running up a spiral staircase
And I'm too scared to stop.
And I believe that I'm gonna shot through
To stop the staicase, like a giant corkscrew,
From spinning around and around and around and around.

Now without a doubt I'm a-wearing out
And I'm really beginning to tire.
I know the staircase is steel but it just about feels
As though it's gonna catch on fire.

I'm running up a spiral staircase
I can't reach the top.
I'm running up a spiral staircase
And I'm too scared to stop.
And I believe that I'm gonna shot through
To stop the staicase, like a giant corkscrew,
From spinning around and around and around and around.

Written by:

Ralph McTell