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.
The Tallest Tree
Roy Harper Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
By the curse of the west
Who devour
Newpaper furniture
Paparazzia by the hour
But a man with a vision
Believed
That tomorrow's begun
And nobody here is reprieved
O Chico, Chico Mendes
The man in a million
Stood in the way
Stood his ground
For the earth
For the coming of day
The chorus of dawn
On the perch of each morning
Receives
A forest of tears
As the joy reappears
On their leaves
And believes
Sings his name
And the tallest tree
Forever stands
Beyond the flame(s)
North south east and west
We can all reach the rest
Every day
Now is the change
To set out together
For a beautiful day
Whoever saw it
A different way
Was a man in a nightmare
Too numb to the future
Of brilliant possibles
Ever to share
The same air
As the men in the clay
O Chico, Chico Mendes
There are men who are more that just men
The first verse of Roy Harper's song “The Tallest Tree” reflects the curse of the western world, which devours resources and disregards the environment. The song praises the Brazilian activist, Chico Mendes. Mendes stood in the way and fought for the preservation of the forest even though others might have chosen to look away, and he was shot dead by ranchers in 1988 while protesting deforestation in the Amazons. For Harper, Chico Mendes is a "man with a vision" who believed in a better tomorrow. Mendes' struggle and his activism are expressions of a larger effort to stand for the Earth and for the coming of the day. They demonstrate a desire for change, for a beautiful day in which respect for the environment prevails over greed and exploitation.
In the second verse, the chorus of dawn comes alive, tears are shed for the trees in peril, and joy is experienced when those trees return. The tallest tree represents Mendes, who will always stand beyond the flame, an eternal warrior for the cause. The final verse is a call for action. Harper suggests that men like Chico Mendes are not just ordinary men. Instead, they share brilliant possibles, while others only see a future of despair. The song lyrically captures the struggle of the Brazilian rubber-tapper Chico Mendes, who inspired many environmental activists around the world.
Line by Line Meaning
The earth is possessed
The earth is under the influence of something or someone
By the curse of the west
The destructive impact of westernization, capitalism, and modernization on nature
Who devour
Those who consume excessively without conscience
Newpaper furniture
The wastefulness of using paper to make disposable furniture
Paparazzia by the hour
The constant barrage of intrusive paparazzi taking photos for the sake of profit
But a man with a vision
One driven by a powerful dream or aspiration
Believed
Had faith that the impossible could be achieved
That tomorrow's begun
The future has already started and must be acted upon in the present
And has to be won
The future is not guaranteed, but must be earned
And nobody here is reprieved
No one is exempt from the responsibility of creating a better future for all
O Chico, Chico Mendes
A tribute to Chico Mendes, a Brazilian environmental activist who fought against deforestation and the exploitation of rubber tappers in the Amazon
The man in a million
A rare individual who made a significant difference in the world
Stood in the way
Acted as a barrier to prevent further destruction
Stood his ground
Resisted pressure to abandon his cause or give up
For the earth
For the protection and preservation of the natural world
For the coming of day
For a future where nature and humanity can coexist in harmony
The chorus of dawn
The natural beauty and serenity of each morning
On the perch of each morning
At the beginning of each day, when hope and possibility are the strongest
Receives
Is greeted or blessed by
A forest of tears
The collective sadness and mourning of nature's destruction
As the joy reappears
As the possibility of a better future becomes clearer
On their leaves
On the leaves of the trees, which symbolize life, growth, and renewal
And believes
Has faith in the power of nature and humanity to create a better world
Sings his name
Honors and remembers the legacy of Chico Mendes
And the tallest tree
The most resilient and enduring symbol of the natural world
Forever stands
Endures and remains, despite the challenges and threats it faces
Beyond the flame(s)
Outlasts the fires and destruction that threaten it
North south east and west
In all directions, across the entire world
We can all reach the rest
We can all work together to create a better world
Every day
Each moment is an opportunity to make a difference
Now is the change
The present is the time to act and make a difference
To set out together
To collaborate and work towards a common goal
For a beautiful day
For a brighter and more positive future for all
Whoever saw it
Anyone who witnessed the destruction and chaos of the world
A different way
Those who saw a different path or possibility for the future
Was a man in a nightmare
Felt trapped and overwhelmed by the destruction and despair of the world
Too numb to the future
Felt disconnected or indifferent to the possibility of a better future
Of brilliant possibles
Of the boundless potential and possibility for a better world
Ever to share
Unwilling or unable to see or participate in the realization of this potential
The same air
Unable to understand or connect with those who strive to make a difference
As the men in the clay
Sharing the same fate as those who have given up or accepted the destruction of the world as inevitable
O Chico, Chico Mendes
A reminder of the importance of fighting for the protection of the natural world and the people who depend on it
There are men who are more that just men
Recognizing the extraordinary courage, conviction, and inspiration of individuals like Chico Mendes who have changed the world through their actions
Contributed by Peyton C. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
VICTOR JORGE JORGE
Roy sings for causes. Great !!!
Sadeep Shrestha
Com todo meu coração . descanse em paz Chico Mendes
David Alexander
This makes me happy NO matter what