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.
She's The One
Roy Harper Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
She's so gone
She's the one who throws the skins at you
And says lets all turn on
She's the one
She's so gone
She's the one who throws her pants at you
She's the one
She's so gone
She's the one who takes the stomach
Makes the tea and cleans the jon
She's the one
She's so gone
She's the one who hands the blankets round
And comforts everyone
She's the one
She's so gone
She's the one who buys the comics
Drops the kids and knows the com
She's the one
She's so gone
She's the one who you don't miss
Until you find she's really gone
You say that it's got you beat
And you dont know which way to turn
You say that she's oh so sweet
But there's nothing left for you to learn
You say that it's not your fault
You've seen through all the doors
Ah but how can any man talk like you
With a wonderful wife like yours
You say that its all washed up
And as bad as it could ever get
You say that you've filled your cup
And you light another cigarette
You say its O.K. for me
But I don't see her claws
Ah but how can any man talk like you
With a wonderful wife like yours
You tell me that I can't see you problem
But I don't have to live with you to know
That she's a very beautiful young woman
And your a fool if you can let her go
You sit down and heave sigh
And say that you'd welcome death
You step out into the sky
And mutter underneath your breath
You thump tables, spit and curse
But I can't see the cause
Ah but how can any man act like you
with a wonderful wife like yours
You say that you've packed your bag
It must be a heavy load
You light yet another fag
And say its a long hard road
You say the wind is blowing you
To other distant shores
Ah but how can any man talk like you
With a wonderful wife like yours
You tell me that I can't see you problem
But I don't have to live with you to know
That she's a very beautiful young woman
And your a fool if you can let her go
Roy Harper’s She’s the One is a song about a man who takes his wife for granted, only realizing her value when it’s too late. The lyrics describe a woman who is the heart of her community, taking care of her family and friends, and staying strong for everyone. She’s someone who enjoys fun and adventure, and doesn’t shy away from taking risks. She’s the one who can turn on the party, throwing clothes and blankets around to make everyone feel comfortable. The singer admits that he has failed to recognize her value and has instead taken her for granted, until she's no longer there.
The song highlights the importance of love, trust, and commitment in a relationship. The singer is warned that he is making a mistake when he talks about leaving his wife, but he refuses to listen. He is blinded by his own selfishness and is unable to see that he is throwing away a chance at true happiness.
Overall, She’s the One is a poignant tribute to a wife who is the heart and soul of her community, and a warning that we should always remember to cherish the ones we love.
Line by Line Meaning
She's the one
She is the person he admires and loves above all else
She's so gone
She is deeply involved in the counter-culture movement
She's the one who throws the skins at you
And says lets all turn on
She is the one who shares and encourages drug-use with her partner
She's the one who throws her pants at you
And says O.K. you're on
She is the one who initiates and agrees to sexual encounters with her partner
She's the one who takes the stomach
Makes the tea and cleans the jon
She is the one who takes care of household chores and responsibilities
She's the one who hands the blankets round
And comforts everyone
She is the one who provides comfort and care for those around her
She's the one who buys the comics
Drops the kids and knows the com
She is the one who takes care of the children and buys their entertainment
She's the one who you don't miss
Until you find she's really gone
He takes her for granted until she leaves or is no longer around
You say that it's got you beat
And you dont know which way to turn
He is overwhelmed and unsure of what to do about his relationship problems
You say that she's oh so sweet
But there's nothing left for you to learn
He recognizes her good qualities but feels there is no growth or progress in the relationship
You say that it's not your fault
You've seen through all the doors
He blames external factors for problems in the relationship and feels he has already searched for solutions
Ah but how can any man talk like you
With a wonderful wife like yours
He is criticized for complaining about his relationship when he has a loving and supportive spouse
You say that its all washed up
And as bad as it could ever get
He believes the relationship has reached its lowest point and cannot be salvaged
You say that you've filled your cup
And you light another cigarette
He numbs his problems with addiction and feels like he has reached a limit
You say its O.K. for me
But I don't see her claws
He feels like he is judged unfairly as others do not see the negative qualities in his partner
You tell me that I can't see you problem
But I don't have to live with you to know
That she's a very beautiful young woman
And your a fool if you can let her go
Others can recognize the worth of his partner and suggest he would regret breaking up with her
You sit down and heave sigh
And say that you'd welcome death
He is deeply unhappy and feels like life is not worth living
You step out into the sky
And mutter underneath your breath
He tries to distance himself from his problems but cannot ignore them
You thump tables, spit and curse
But I can't see the cause
He is angry and frustrated but others cannot see the true source of his emotions
You say that you've packed your bag
It must be a heavy load
He is ready to leave the relationship but acknowledges the difficulty of doing so
You light yet another fag
And say its a long hard road
He continues to use addiction to cope with his problems and acknowledges the difficulties ahead
You say the wind is blowing you
To other distant shores
He feels like he is being drawn away from the relationship to other places or people
Contributed by Maria P. Suggest a correction in the comments below.