Few survivors from the golden age of British folk-rock have kept their reputations intact. Of the generation of troubadours who came of age in the folk clubs of London in the mid-1960s, some have passed away, others have surrendered to the regurgitation of the blandest form of acoustic folk music. But among the survivors, there is one figure whose body of work, comprising 23 studio LPs and almost as many live and compilation releases, has come to stand for a particularly single-minded form of integrity. That man is Roy Harper.
Now officially ‘retired’, and living in a secluded corner of Ireland, Harper has recently been hailed as a key influence by a much younger generation of devoted starsailors who instinctively recognise his innovations, his refusal to compromise and his visionary world view. It is rumoured that Joanna Newsom insisted she’d only play her recent UK shows if he would support her. The likes of Fleet Foxes, Joanna Newsom, and Jim O’Rourke are avowed fans; and in previous decades he has enjoyed public endorsements and tributes from the likes of Led Zeppelin, Kate Bush, Pink Floyd’s Dave Gilmour and many more.
Biography
Born in 1941, Harper lost his mother within a few weeks of his birth and was brought up in the outskirts of Manchester by his father and stepmother, a Jehovah's Witness. Harper developed a deep hatred of organised religion and ran away, aged 15, to join the Royal Air Force. The rigid discipline required did not suit him. In order to be discharged early he pleaded insanity and was committed to an institution where he received ECT. A former participant in the skiffle revolution in the mid-50s, around 1964 Harper found himself joining the stream of bohemian rambler-buskers hitching and singing their way around Europe and North Africa. On his return to Britain he pitched in to the London coffee-house folk scene and secured a residence at legendary folk club Les Cousins, where he was spotted by the obscure Strike label.
Beginning with 1966’s Sophisticated Beggar, Harper’s music has consistently rattled the cage of received ideas. His versatile, poetic sensibility was employed in a wide range of song styles from romantic love songs to late-night mantras to blackly comedic throwaway numbers. A brilliant, percussive guitar stylist in his own right, he extended the form of folk music over the next few years, allowing himself the space to stretch out in long, lyrically dense and mantrically repetitive odysseys of poetic thought. “I was writing long poems in the 50s,” says Harper, “none of which unfortunately made it past the first few moves of living quarters. My first inspiration was John Keats’s Endymion.”
The first inklings of his expansive approach on record came on the ten minute “Circle” on 1967’s Come Out Fighting Genghis Smith – produced by Shel Talmy – and was vastly ramped up on the following year’s Folkjokeopus, which contained an 18 minute “McGoohan’s Blues”, named after the lead actor of TV’s The Prisoner and whose enigmatic verses were laced with anti-establishment rants.
By this time Harper was a favourite at the outdoor Hyde Park Festivals, where he was exposed to the wider attention of the underground scene. Now produced and managed by Peter Jenner, and signed to EMI’s progressive label Harvest, his 1969 LP Flat Baroque And Berserk reflected his reputation as a bloodyminded, truculent troubadour, reflecting turbulent times with anger, wrath and sardonic humour, singing – like the mistle thrush after which his next opus would be named – into the eye of the storm.
Stormcock (1971) is generally regarded as a masterpiece: a sprawling but focused suite of four lengthy tracks which explored the inner space of Abbey Road Studio to rhapsodic effect. Like Astral Weeks refracted through the pages of OZ magazine, the songs span an enormous spectrum of experience, from the frontline of social unrest to the secluded, birdsong-infested lanes of the English countryside. Led Zeppelin’s Jimmy Page added guitar, disguised as ‘S Flavius Mercurius’, highlighting a relationship with the group that had begun at the 1970 Bath Festival of Blues and Progressive Music. “Hats Off To (Roy) Harper”, an incoherent, gutsy blues workout on Led Zeppelin III, paid tribute to the singer’s status as a beacon of integrity for the underground scene.
Harper enjoyed a special relationship with Led Zeppelin, and his subsequent albums began to move into harder rock territory with the addition of various key collaborators including, as well as Page, orchestral arranger/keyboardist David Bedford, David Gilmour, Chris Spedding, Bill Bruford and John Paul Jones. Lifemask (1972) contained several songs written for the film Made, directed by John Mackenzie, which starred Harper as an edgy, high-maintenance rock star. Valentine (1974) was launched with a gig featuring Page and Bedford plus Ronnie Lane and Keith Moon. He was invited to sing lead on the single “Have A Cigar” from Pink Floyd’s classic album Wish You Were Here (1975). In the same year Harper released HQ, a rock based album notable for the closing track, “When An Old Cricketer Leaves The Crease”, an elegiac hymn to unchanging ways and mortality which BBC DJ John Peel insisted should be played in the event of his death.
With the dawn of the 1980s Harper took part in a musical exchange with Kate Bush, who guested on The Unknown Soldier (1980), while Harper returned the favour by appearing on Bush’s hit single “Breathing”. Harper rode the unsteady waves of the music industry during the early 1980s but kept up a productive output that saw his music taking on a prophetic role, expressing more explicit concerns with environmental disaster, religious fundamentalism, urban poverty and the first Gulf War, on releases like Once (1990) and The Dream Society (1998), through to his most recent studio album, The Green Man (2000). In 1994, exhibiting typical desire for autonomy and self-sufficiency, he set up his own record label, Science Friction, to curate and rerelease his entire back catalogue, along with a clutch of CDs of live and unreleased material covering his entire career. In his book, The Passions Of Great Fortune (2003), he published his complete lyrics together with photos, annotations and re-evaluations of every one of his songs.
With a new series of reissues in 2011, Roy Harper’s incredible, visionary catalogue of work enters the digital domain in time for his music to take on a new, urgent and timely appeal, in an age in which the hypocrisies and injustices he railed against are more present than ever before. It’s been a damned good innings and he’s still not out.
How Does It Feel
Roy Harper Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
How does it feel to be a voter
How does it feel to be a voluntary heel
I wonder who's it is
I see you queuing up outside Saint Peter's gate,
You can feel bonafide if you ride with the tide
But it's not real
How does it feel to be thinking
How does it feel to be out on the run
With the mindless world at your heels
I wish I had no answers to put to you
Cos they got me so high tied I feel
like most of me has died
And it's real
And outside on the dragon
And inside in the cold
Mammy's on the bandwagon, daddy's just getting old
And through the blood spew heavens
The roar of lust complains:
Please let me in I have no sin, but you know I'm not real
And how does it feel to be the master's right hand nose
How does it feel to be lieutenant
How does it feel to be stood on someone's toes
With a leech bleeding you for rent,
When you say you want a bit more rank
You wanna be a big wheel
You can feel magnified if you hide in
your pride... It's not real
And how does it feel with a white flag in your fist
How does it feel to have two faces
How does it feel with your god strapped to your wrist
And him leading you such a chase
You got one set of words for him,
and you got another for me
You're gonna feel mystified when you're identified
Don't worry kid it's not real
And outside on the dragon
And inside in the cold
Mammy's on the bandwagon, daddy's just getting old
And through the blood spew heavens
The roar of lust complains:
Please let me in I have no sin, but you know I'm not real
And through the blood spew heavens
The roar of lust complains:
Please let me in I have no sin, but you know I'm not real
The lyrics of Roy Harper's song How Does It Feel are a commentary on the various facades we construct for ourselves in trying to fit into societal norms. The first verse contemplates the concept of political participation and how being a "voter" and a "voluntary heel" (someone who blindly follows authority) can lead to a sense of unreality. The second verse explores the idea of individualism, and how it can lead to isolation and being pursued by a "mindless world". The chorus both frames and disrupts these introspective musings with the repeated refrain of "it's not real", calling attention to the illusory quality of the roles we play.
The following verses continue with this theme of constructed identities, touching on topics such as career ambition ("master's right hand nose"), religion ("god strapped to your wrist"), and conformity ("stood on someone's toes"). The imagery throughout the song is often surreal, from the "dragon" and "blood spew heavens" to the parents on the "bandwagon". This emphasizes the sense of disconnection from reality that can come from trying to live up to societal expectations. Harper's use of rhetorical questions in the lyrics invites the listener to consider their own position in relation to the topics being explored.
Overall, How Does It Feel is a thought-provoking commentary on the ways in which we are influenced by and struggle against societal norms. The repetitiveness of the chorus, combined with the surreal imagery of the verses, serves to emphasize the sense of detachment that the singer is feeling.
Line by Line Meaning
How does it feel to be completely unreal
What is it like to have no real identity or purpose
How does it feel to be a voter
What is it like to have your voice heard, but still feel powerless
How does it feel to be a voluntary heel
What is it like to willingly be a scapegoat or villain for someone else's gain
I wonder who's it is
Reflecting on the unknown ownership or control of a situation
I see you queuing up outside Saint Peter's gate
Observing society's fixation on validation and acceptance from a higher power
You can feel bonafide if you ride with the tide
The temporary sense of legitimacy that comes from following the crowd
But it's not real
Recognizing the lack of genuine meaning and value in societal validation
How does it feel to be out on your own
What does it feel like to have autonomy and make independent choices
How does it feel to be thinking
The introspection and contemplation that comes with personal freedom
How does it feel to be out on the run
The constant pursuit to escape societal pressure and conformity
With the mindless world at your heels
Feeling pursued and pressured by a society that lacks true consciousness or awareness
I wish I had no answers to put to you
Acknowledging the inability to provide solutions or direction to others in the same situation
Cos they got me so high tied I feel
Personal struggle with feeling trapped and powerless in the same societal system
like most of me has died
Reflecting on how societal pressures and expectations can kill one's true sense of self
And it's real
Contrasting the genuine struggles of personal autonomy with the false sense of security provided by societal validation
And outside on the dragon
Observing the false sense of security and status symbolized by societal hierarchies
And inside in the cold
Feeling isolated and vulnerable despite outward appearances of security or status
Mammy's on the bandwagon, daddy's just getting old
Recognition of societal conformity as a generational cycle
And through the blood spew heavens
A poetic depiction of societal chaos and confusion
The roar of lust complains:
Society's unending desire for validation and satisfaction
Please let me in I have no sin, but you know I'm not real
Society's hypocrisy and lack of genuine values or morals
How does it feel to be the master's right hand nose
The feeling of subservience and lack of autonomy despite apparent proximity to power
How does it feel to be lieutenant
The recognition of being a pawn in someone else's power structure
How does it feel to be stood on someone's toes
Feeling the negative impact of someone else's actions or decisions
With a leech bleeding you for rent
Being taken advantage of for someone else's gain
When you say you want a bit more rank
Ambition for power or status within a tyrannical system
You wanna be a big wheel
The desire for status and power within a societal hierarchy
You can feel magnified if you hide in your pride... It's not real
False sense of power and status gained through pride or ego within a societal hierarchy
How does it feel with a white flag in your fist
The struggle between personal autonomy and society's demand for conformity
How does it feel to have two faces
The necessity of modifying one's behavior to fit in with societal expectations
How does it feel with your god strapped to your wrist
Symbolizing the weight of societal expectations and religious conformity
And him leading you such a chase
The futile pursuit of meeting societal expectations and gaining validation
You got one set of words for him, and you got another for me
The necessity of code-switching to fit in with different societal groups or expectations
You're gonna feel mystified when you're identified
The eventual realization that societal validation is an illusion
Don't worry kid it's not real
Advice from someone who has experienced the struggle and recognized the falsehood of societal validation
Contributed by Gavin G. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
@sophierognat935
Me too ! I just discovered this wonderful song while watching The Handmaid's Tale! Magnificent discovery ! ❤❤
@behr121002
Yes, inspired, uplifting in such a dark society.... song and scene made me cry--
@ghtsie9104
I am thankful for The Handmaid's Tale... it really was something, this scene; HOPE ❤💕
@tubeyrich
That scene with this song was so perfect, right? I watched it twice, then came to hear this song. Can't get over how perfectly they made that scene. And this song is just, wow.
@merlinambrosius4398
What?
@merlinambrosius4398
How shallow... Are you aware of this ornery man writing ornery songs for ornery people?
Wow...
TV...
Opium for the masses.
@ghtsie9104
@@merlinambrosius4398 excuse me, have you seen the scene i am referring to? because i am talking about how the song was fitting for that specific scene, since the character was attempting to kill herself! making it her only "hope" of escape!
@merlinambrosius4398
@@ghtsie9104 no. I have not. And Roy would rant and rave and rail against his music being used for such banality. And, yes,. I have met him many, many times.
You dug your own hole... A character blah blah blah.
@callicoat1
Just heard this watching Handmaids Tale and I love it. So surprised I hadn’t heard it before.
@jemarks
First saw & heard Roy in the mid-60s in Manchesrer, UK. His music inspired a whole generation of British, Irish & American musicians. He is brilliant.