Wishbone Ash can trace its origins back to Torquay, Devon, England, a seaside resort in the southwest of the country. It was there that Martin Turner and Steve Upton first performed together; Turner on bass, Upton on drums, before moving to London in 1969 to seek fame and fortune. In the capital the decision was made to place an advertisement for a keyboard player and a lead guitarist. The resulting audition threw up two guitar leads, but nobody could decide who to choose and the trademark twin-lead sound of Wishbone Ash was born.
Ted (David) Turner and Andy Powell soon went through the poverty and growing pains of a new band, but were fortunate that Miles Copeland was championing their cause and a fairly rapid progression was achieved. The first Album, Wishbone Ash, was released in December 1970 and their second, Pilgrimage, surfaced just six months later to reach #6 in the NME charts. Great things were just 11 months away with the release of Argus (1972) -- possibly the band's best album; certainly their most commercially successful -- which reached #2 in the UK charts and went gold. Argus is considered to be one of the great rock classics of all time. The next album, Wishbone Four, only 12 months later, went silver.
After these early highs, Ted Turner decided that he had had enough, and left the band to be replaced by Laurie Wisefield. Although Laurie’s style was not to everyone’s taste, he was generally well liked by the fans and brought a slightly harder edge to the folk-tinged progressive rock that was the Wishbone Ash formula. Wisefield was a dynamic player and became an excellent partner to Andy -- they were to play together for a very successful 11 years and the MKII version of the band is very well thought of for most of its output. About this time the band became more influenced by America and would eventually move there.
The next album, There's The Rub (1974), was recorded in Florida and produced by Eagles producer Bill Szymczyk. Once again it was to do well, achieving silver disc status. There's the Rub included the instrumental piece F.U.B.B. Steve Upton was arrested in New Zealand for announcing at a concert it's full title. In New Zealand, swearing in public is a criminal offense, and when Upton announced the title at an outdoor concert, a woman sunbathing in her garden nearby complained to the mayor. Upton spent the night in jail, and the album reached #3 in New Zealand due to the publicity.
It was inevitable that a turkey was due and to fans Locked In (1976) fit this bill. This record was not released -- it escaped! Fortunately things were much better with the quality of the following albums and although the high chart positions were gone, the fans were enjoying some competent, well-crafted output.
After 11 years in the band, Martin Turner decided to leave. This move began a period of frequent changes of bass player with the likes of John Wetton and Trevor Bolder being two of the better known; however, Wishbone Ash always has attracted musicians of the highest order. A much more controversial move was the introduction of Clair Hamill to fill in some of the vocal talent Martin had taken away with him. Clair was not popular with the fans which was perhaps a little unfair. She had contributed backing vocals on Just Testing (Turner's last album (1980), which he had also produced) and had co-written the excellent Living Proof, which is still a crowd favourite today. Her stay was short-lived with Andy Powell taking on more vocal duties. Wisefield left in late 1985 and the band continued to tour with various replacements, but were very much in limbo until 1987 when a miracle occurred. Miles Copland persuaded the original lineup to reform for a project for a music charity that he was helping, and a Hammersmith Odeon concert which the BBC recorded resulted. The project produced an instrumental album Nouveau Calls (1987), which was very well received. Even better received was the fact that three years of the original lineup were to follow.
Just when things were going so well, Steve Upton decided to quit the business entirely in 1990, to be replaced by Ray Weston. Martin Turner carried on for another year before leaving to pursue a solo career, and Ted left two years later. The next five years saw lots of personnel changes, but eventually resulted in a good period of stability with Ray Weston returning and Bob Skeet joining on bass in 1998.
The new millennium has also seen stability in respect of Andy's guitar partner, with the last 6 years being filled by Ben Granfelt and subsequently Muddy Manninen, both of whom come from Finland. 2005 saw Wishbone Ash celebrate their 35th year. 2006 heralded the new album Clan Destiny (the first featuring Muddy as guitarist). 2007 saw the exit of long-term drummer Ray Weston, due to the increasingly hectic pace of band life. Joe Crabtree (formerly of The David Cross band) stepped up to fill his place. With regard to new releases, 2007 saw First Light, which features original recordings of the songs featured on their debut album, as well as some outtakes. Also released that year was the new album The Power of Eternity (partly featuring Joe Crabtree on drums), which coincided with the Autumn tour.
Wishbone Ash are still performing 150 gigs a year in the U.S. and Europe. They get very supportive crowds with good numbers turning out all over Europe -- the U.S. tends to attract smaller audiences, but very committed fans. If you want to hear classic Wishbone Ash, get ahold of Argus. Visit their web site www.wishboneash.com, where tour dates and albums, etc. can be obtained.
Blowin
Wishbone Ash Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
And all because I seen her
I thought I had a girl
And all because I seen her
Her hair was golden brown (yes it was)
Blowin' free like a cornfield
She was far away
She told me you can try
But it's impossible to find her
In my dreams everything was all right
In your schemes you can only try
The lyrics to Wishbone Ash's song Blowin describe the story of a man who becomes infatuated with a girl he sees from afar. He initially believes that he has a chance with her because of her physical beauty, particularly her golden brown hair blowing freely like a cornfield. However, as he tries to get closer to her, he realizes that she is not easily attainable and that there are obstacles in his way. Despite her words of warning to him that it is impossible to find her, he continues to pursue her in his dreams, but realizes that it is all just a fantasy and not the reality of the situation.
The song's lyrics convey the theme of unattainable love and the emotions of longing and desire. The lyrics suggest that the man is aware that he may never truly have this girl, but he continues to hold on to hope that he may one day be able to reach her. The line "In your schemes you can only try" implies that the girl may be purposely making it difficult for the man to get close to her, perhaps indicating that she is not interested in him.
Line by Line Meaning
I thought I had a girl
I believed that I found love
And all because I seen her
Merely because I laid eyes on her
Her hair was golden brown (yes, it was)
She had long, flowing, light-brown hair
Blowin' free like a cornfield
Her hair was free and wild, like the windswept cornfields
She was far away
She was distant and difficult to approach
I found it hard to reach her
It was challenging to make contact with her
She told me you can try
She advised that I attempt to pursue her
But it's impossible to find her
But ultimately, she was unreachable and unattainable
In my dreams everything was all right
I found solace and comfort in daydreaming about her
In your schemes you can only try
Despite your best efforts, you can only make attempts to achieve your desires
Lyrics © EMI Music Publishing, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Written by: ANDREW POWELL, DAVID TURNER, MARTIN TURNER, STEVE UPTON
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
kenneth
I'll be 70 next month and I still love songs like this.The 60s and 70s were amazing decades for rock.
K.-H. K.
The BEST my friend!
David Dragavon
I am 68 and it's still a go-to song for me. It took a long time for me to buy this. I loved the cover, but had not a clue what was inside. I took a chance and was gobsmacked! Not long later, in snowy Pullman Washington, this was the air guitar song of choice at Waller Hall. My best friend and I had much more hair and could really spread on broom handle
David Dragavon
Shred, not spread..sheesh
Thomas Hutchinson
65+ and still full of memories
David Dragavon
@Thomas Hutchinson I will 69 real soon. When are we supposed to forget the cool stuff and just remember Perry Como or Nat King Cole?
Steve Dodder
I'm 68 too, and my first band covered this song, along with BTO Takin' Care Of Business and others, in Wisconsin, 1974. Great memories!
David Dragavon
@Steve Dodder Wisconsin. You are familiar with cold winters, too. What fun you had your own band. I never played, just imagined. Out tiny high schools dance band played: Cream, Alice Cooper, Traffic, Iron Butterfly and Jethro Tull. They were pretty good! Closet I got was running the music library at KUGR radio. Writing play lists and has my own show! I am jealous you actually played!
QueenBitch
This song came into my head after decades and I had to revisit it. I wasn't disappointed. It's still sound great.
jakestaylor
Y'know its really nice to see other people of around my age on something like this. I'm 21 myself and my dad got me into these, I ain't looked back. One of the great underrated bands of the golden age of music