Interview with Richard Palmer-James in Calamity
Date Submitted: 24-Mar-2000
Submitted By: George Khouroshvili (calamity_news at hotmail dot com)
This issue of Calamity is dedicated to the 1972-74 King Crimson lyricist
Richard Palmer-James who is going to write lyrics for the forthcoming David
Cross album. Here is the interview with the man and there are tons of
interesting info in it. Enjoy.
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C. When did you start to write lyrics? Who was your major inspiration?
RPJ. I started to write lyrics when I joined Supertramp in 1969, because
nobody else in the band wanted to do it. It was a little bit like having to
do school work, you know... in fact, it still is. I didn't really take it
seriously at first. Playing guitar is a lot more fun. I wrote the words for
Supertramp's first album; after that, I began to listen to what real poets
were doing - Paul Simon, Dylan, Lennon, Joni Mitchell. Most of all, I wish I
could write words like Chuck Berry did.
C. Please, tell us about your first band.
RPJ. I started playing guitar at 13 or 14 and followed the musical trends of
the sixties with a group of school friends, which included John Wetton.
Apart from the Beatles, and then soul music (which has always been very big
in England) I learned a lot of blues stuff, the music I still enjoy playing
most. My first professional attempt was called Tetrad. John Wetton played
bass and sang. A guy called John Hutcheson played Hammond organ - he's now
an aeronautics engineer and lives in California. Bob Jenkins played drums; I
haven't seen him since 1969 but I understand he is a respected session
player. We didn't dare to play original material, so we stuck to our heroes:
Vanilla Fudge, ELP, Traffic, Graham Bond stuff - the prog rock music of the
time. It was very loud. We drove all over England for very little money and
gave up after a year.
C. What was / is more important for you: to write lyrics or music? Do you
feel yourself a poet or a musician?
RPJ. I think words and music should - ideally - be inseparable. The lyrics
to a song are of no interest standing there on the page. They should engage
in, and profit from, the mystery of the music and the singer's voice. I'm
not a poet. I'm a bad musician. I try to express in words things that are
impossible for me to articulate on a musical instrument.
C. You played in Supertramp for several months. How did you join this band?
RPJ. I answered an advertisement in the English pop newspaper Melody Maker
in August 1969, right after Tetrad had broken up. I went for an audition in
London. Rick Davies had chosen Roger Hodgson as guitarist the day before,
but the three of us seemed to understand each other, and Roger decided he
would learn to play bass - which he did brilliantly. Incidentally, I
auditioned for Wishbone Ash on the same day.
C. Why did you leave it?
RPJ. I left eighteen months later because our initial understanding had
disappeared, sadly. I didn't really fit in that musical situation. Although
I thought at that time that I knew everything about every- thing, I was in
fact a late developer, a slow learner. I admire Rick and Roger greatly as
performers and songwriters, but most of all I admire them for NOT GIVING UP
in the early seventies. They worked very hard indeed for their success,
which came after five difficult and frustrating years.
C. Correct me if I'm wrong but I think that at that time you moved from
England to Germany. What was the reason for such a decision? And why did you
choose Germany?
RPJ. Supertramp had played in Germany for several weeks in 1969-70, and I
found at the beginning of 1971 that I had more friends here than in England.
So I thought I would come over for a while, not having anything else to do.
I soon found that I could - more or less -make a living in Munich, playing
guitar here and there, and writing music for films. I was very interested in
cinematography, and I even tried to get into the Munich Film and TV School;
but my German wasn't good enough. Munich was booming culturally in the
seventies. I just sort of stayed. I had not had any connections or
affiliations with Germany beforehand.
C. You knew John Wetton from the 60s and it was he who invited you to write
for King Crimson. Was Robert Fripp aware of your previous works?
RPJ. No, I don't think so. Robert was already a legend as a guitar virtuoso
in our home area (Bournemouth, on England's south coast) in the late
sixties, but he and I had had no personal contact.
C. Your predecessor, Pete Sinfield, had a very unique writing style, which
brought a mystery to King Crimson albums. Your lyrics were very different,
there weren't any fantasy or fairy tales at all, I may be>wrong, but your
poetry seemed to be closer to the European existentialists. I wonder if you
felt comfortable writing for King Crimson for the 1st time?
RPJ. I had absolute carte blanche; I could write whatever I wanted;
wonderful! I haven't had that kind of freedom very often since. And it was
clear that simple love songs would not be required.
C. Did you hear KC music before John asked for your assistance?
RPJ. Oh yes, the marvellous first album was a sensation in musician's
circles at the time I started playing with Supertramp.
C. What was the first song you wrote for King Crimson?
RPJ. EASY MONEY or BOOK OF SATURDAY, I can't remember which.
C. The Night Watch is one of the most beautiful songs ever and your lyrics
for The Night Watch were always making me wonder, how on Earth could you
choose such a subject for a song?
RPJ. I wrote this piece along with LAMENT and THE GOOD SHIP ENTERPRISE in
the early seventies as part of an album project of my own which never got
beyond the demo stage. John took over the words for King Crimson songs,
fitting them to existing ideas he was developing with Robert, re-working the
music accordingly. Nobody understood the song at all when it appeared. But
there's nothing mysterious about it, it's just a brief historical commentary
on Rembrandt and his situation in 17th-century Holland. This is probably not
an ideal subject for rock music.) More people seem to realise what the
song's about nowadays. Rembrandt's supreme genius has enriched my existence
since schooldays. I eagerly went to see the exhibition of his self-portraits
last year at London's National Gallery, and was amazed to discover that
although the collection had been on show for three months, I had to wait
inline for an hour to get in. Even when seen over the heads of crowds of
people, the late self-portraits are awe-inspiring and sublime works of art,
which make the passing of centuries meaningless.
C. You contacted with the band via John. When did you meet the other band
members for the first time?
RPJ. I visited them in Command Studios, London, while they were recording
LARKS' TONGUES early in 1973. Later I accompanied them on tour in Germany
for a few days. We had no regular or intimate contact.
C. I know you had a project called Emergency in the 70s. Please, tell our
readers about it.
RPJ. This was a jazz-rock formation led by the Czech saxophonist and
arranger, Hanes Berea. We toured extensively and played very fast and
complicated pieces which were beyond my technical ability as a guitarist. I
learned a lot about the mechanics of music from Hanes. He was killed in a
car accident a few years later.
C. Are there any more albums from that period you participated in?
RPJ. Diez and Bischof - DAYBREAK; produced by Dieter Dierks; I wrote most of
the words. Also for two albums by MUNICH, a mainstream rock band from the
town of the same name; in the mid-eighties I played guitar with this outfit
and wrote two more albums with them. By the end of the seventies I was
working full-time as a lyricist, and was involved in dozens of pop albums
and singles productions.
C. Most of our readers have no idea on your work in 80s and 90s. Could you
give us some information, please?
RPJ. During the 80s I wrote literally hundreds of lyrics for all kinds of
productions in Germany, France, and Italy. I was lucky enough to participate
in chart successes with La Bionda, Gilbert Montagné, Mireille Mathieu and
Patrick Duffy, Moti Special, Michael Cretu, Sandra, and Munich (the band I
played guitar with in the mid-80s). More recently I wrote some stuff for
Haddaway, but mostly I've spent the 90's teaching myself computer-based
production and sound editing techniques; I moved out here to the Bavarian
countryside about ten years ago, to spend more time with my wife and two
sons. At the moment I'm trying to produce two very talented
singer/songwriters from this area. In the past two years I have at last
returned to regular guitar-playing, concentrating on the blues and country
styles which seem to have been at the roots of my career. I probably have
more enthusiasm than talent, but playing in clubs and bars is one of the
joys of my life. When I was writing for Crimso back in the early 70s, I
certainly had no idea that I would ever become involved in mainstream pop
music; nor did Pete Sinfield, I presume. But there's really no other way to
earn a living as a lyricist. And the main thing is, I have been able to make
music my profession.
C. The Wetton + Palmer-James album became a pure delight for many Crimson
fans. Your "Good Ship Enterprise" impressed me very much. The liner notes
say it was written in 1972 but recorded by John and Bill only in 1976. Was
it intended for King Crimson? Please, tell us about this song, how it was
written and how to interpret it?
RPJ. John wanted to do it with Crimso but Robert disbanded the group before
that could happen. It's about the survivor of a shipwreck, drifting on the
open sea in a small boat with a dead companion, not knowing whether he or
she will be found and saved. It's about the meaningless of human vanity in
an indifferent cosmos (a Russian theme?).
C. This album also features the 1st ever-released studio version of Doctor
Diamond, which was only available on The Great Deceiver box and numerous
bootlegs. Is there any more unreleased King Crimson song with your lyrics?
RPJ. There are two or three, but they are only fragmentary. If they had been
listenable, we would have put them on the MONKEY BUSINESS album.
C. You still work with John Wetton from time to time. Is there any news in
this field?
RPJ. We spoke last autumn about doing an album of new songs together, but
right now John's busy with Qango and the project is postponed.
C. How did the idea of you writing lyrics for a new David Cross album
appear? Did you keep in touch with him after King Crimson had disbanded?
RPJ. David simply phoned and asked me if I'd like to do it. I was very
pleased. No, we had not been in touch at all. We met for the first time in
25 years at the King Crimson Royal Albert Hall concert in London. A year
later I saw David perform with his group at the London Astoria, where John
also appeared, and we briefly discussed the possibility of a collaboration.
Also, I was in the studio when John sang EXILES for David's last album.
C. Have you heard his previous albums? What do you think of the music? Oh,
and the lyrics, of course?
RPJ. When I've finished writing the words for David's new album I'll look
forward to hearing all his stuff from the past few years.
C. Can you describe the lyrics you wrote for David's forthcoming album? Can
you give us an idea what are they about?
RPJ. It's a bit too soon to say, but the lyrical themes seem to concern
identities, the roles we all play. (I haven't finished yet.) The pieces are
extremely difficult to sing (and write) - David is searching for someone who
has the required phenomenal vocal technique. But because of this, the album
will be very unusual and I'm proud to be part of it.
C. What are your plans for the nearest future besides the work with David
Cross?
RPJ. Producing other people's work. Recording a bluesy album of my own. More
Stratocaster. More trying to sing. More badly-paid gigs in bars.
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PS. By the way, David is still looking for a singer to perform on his
forthcoming album. If you have any thoughts, proposals, etc. feel free to
contact him at noisynoisy at aol dot com
All the best,
George
