24/06/2011

Transatlantic Westbound Jet



A previous column (The Airport Song) looked at the early allure of airports as a gateway to the romantic and exotic, flying off to places new and unknown. It was noted at the time that though there were relatively few songs about airports themselves, there were plenty about flying. Pop music has always co-existed with air travel and there was a time when it was easy to merge the novelty, sophistication  and excitement of flying with music: Come Fly With Me or Fly Me to the Moon. Often, of course, songs about flying were metaphors for something else, partly because the mundanities of an actual airplane flight itself would rarely make for an interesting song. Instead, they were about going away ( Leaving On a Jet Plane, One Day I’ll Fly Away); about wanting to go away (Early Morning Rain, Aeroplane),;about escaping poverty (Fly Like an Eagle); of, possibly, being high (Eight Miles High).

Beyond these the airplane itself has been one of the most mythologized forms of transport, taking on in some ways the romantic qualities of the train and the spirit of adventure. As Gordon Lightfoot pointed out in Early Morning Rain, ‘you can’t jump a jet plane like you can a freight train’ but that hasn’t stopped the airplane at times becoming its modern day musical equivalent. The song here, Transatlantic Westbound Jet by the Hollies, is one of those. The Hollies are one of the very few groups - perhaps the Stones and Searchers are the only others - who have survived from the first days of British beat without being confined as living artefacts in the time-warp of the nostalgia circuit. They had in Tony Hicks a tasteful and inventive guitarist, who also provided a forgotten but charming piece of British Psychedelia, circa 1967 – Pegasus - that was part of the flurry of songs about giant albatrosses, tin soldiers and the like referenced in the column on Taking A Trip Up to Abergavenny

They also had in Bobby Elliot one of the finest drummers to come out of British pop, adding – like Charlie Watts - a touch of jazz cool to his band’s sounds; and amongst their string of hits, songs like I’m Alive and I Can’t Let Go remain as timeless 3 - minute pop classics . Graham Nash, of course, left such pop fluff behind for weightier stuff with Crosby, Stills and Nash. Like...umm....Almost Cut My Hair (“It happened just the other day. It was getting kinda long, I could of said it was in my way. But I didn’t”).

Transatlantic Westbound Jet, originally on a 1973 album , isn’t one of their best songs, even with two versions: one with Mikael Rickfors, the Swedish singer who was group vocalist for a short period in the early 70’s and the second with Allan Clarke, who turns in a weaker vocal with a faux American accent. Yet though it is probably unrealistic to read too much into a minor album track, there is something in the song that sums up the ambivalent attitude of British pop to America –and to Britain - at a particular era. Ray Davies and the Kinks were something of an exception in their focus at that time on a very English perspective, the George Orwell view of England: of old maids cycling to Holy Communion through the morning mist. More typical was to look west and pick up the myths of America - which had become the myths of rock and pop. The cowboy-come-troubadour, here today and gone tomorrow: have guitar, will travel

This is what this song represents and in one way that is maybe odd for a British group, though not unusual. (One of the first British pop records proper, Rock Island Line, had Lonnie Donegan, born in Glasgow, making a valiant attempt to sound as if he was from a Southern state). The Hollies were a northern band, its members from the towns of East Lancashire – Burnley, Nelson, Clitheroe - mentioned in the Life in a Northern Town column: as was presumably the subject of their Jennifer Eccles hit. The song came out in the year that the BBC series Life On Mars, located in Manchester, was set, a year of a three-day week and work to rule by the Miners Union. A world far remote from that of the song.

Yet in another way it isn’t odd at all. Pop music isn’t necessarily about reality. In fact, it most easily inhabits the world of myths: that is what makes some pop records timeless. This track is one step removed from that, a British perspective on another country’s mythology. Maybe it was just the Hollies being wistful at the fame, fortune and perpetual sunshine that Graham Nash had flown off to. But it doesn’t really matter if the reality of a trip in a transatlantic westbound jet, heading off to JFK airport, fails to match the song’s imagery. If, for example, the transport taking you to JFK to catch an early morning Delta airline flight is stopped by police for jumping a red light and you nearly miss the trip back to Heathrow; or the turbulence makes you wonder why on earth you had spread your wings. You don’t always want to turn reality into a song.

31 comments:

  1. Interesting column as always Geoff, nice to be mentioned in the same column as the very great Hollies.

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  2. Wonderful column Geoff. And this did really happen??

    "If, for example, the transport taking you to JFK to catch an early morning Delta airline flight is stopped by police for jumping a red light and you nearly miss the trip back to Heathrow"

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  3. Love the Pegasus song you posted!

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  4. Ha ha:) Love your sarcasm here Geoff!

    "Like...umm....Almost Cut My Hair (“It happened just the other day. It was getting kinda long, I could of said it was in my way. But I didn’t”)"

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  5. Here are the lyrics:

    Spread your wings, I'm all set
    Trans Atlantic westbound jet
    Heading out to JFK
    I'll play my guitar along the way

    It's the only thing I can do
    Stick with me and we'll see it through
    Make the most, without delay
    I'm gone tomorrow but here today

    Travel through the nation
    In need of stimulation, Oh yeah
    Travel through the nation
    In search of situations, yeah

    Boogaloo well walk on through
    My prescription's good for you
    Be my guest and fly with me
    It's a way of life, a high for free

    Travel through the nation
    In need of stimulation, Oh yeah
    Travel through the nation
    In search of situations, yeah

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  6. Wonderful column Geoff, just went back and read your airport one too (which you wrote before I started reading the column I think).

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  7. It's a really interesting idea, that the song is about offering a British perspective on another country’s mythology. I think this may be a one-way relationship though; I can't for the life of me think of an American song that offers a U.S. perspective on Britain's mythology. Maybe it's that there is just so much American mythology that it's hard to avoid writing a song about it eventually. It is a nation of myths and symbols, more so than other countries perhaps. In other words: where is the "transatlantic eastbound jet" song?

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  8. I really like your column. You might enjoy my version of Gordon Lightfoot's "Early Morning Rain":
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hI78VP4PeGA
    Tim

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  9. Yes, it did happen , Tiffanye!
    I think you are right, Laura. I suppose there is Roger Miller's England Swings- 'Like a pendulum do, bobbies on bicycles two by two, Westminster Abbey, the Tower of Big Ben, the rosy red cheeks of the little children'! Which is a view of England I guess some Americans like to buy..

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  10. This was educational, Geoff!!! Thank you. I was told by a friend to avoid everything they did after 1967 - and focus on their mid-60s heyday.

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  11. That's an interesting viewpoint on the drummer - I always thought the group had a particularly weak rhythm section.

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  12. Wasn't the band also named as a tribute to Buddy Holly, suggesting another worship of American rock 'n' roll?

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  13. And I think in the early 1980s they even released a whole album of Buddy Holly covers.....

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  14. I think those lyrics prove my point though:) - "Like a pendulum do, bobbies on bicycles two by two, Westminster Abbey, the Tower of Big Ben, the rosy red cheeks of the little children'!" - it's such a throwaway approach to a country's whole mythology..........

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  15. Yes they did. I think there was also an Everly Bros influence in the early harmonies.
    I cant agree about the rhythm section! Apart from Bobby Elliots's drumming, they had a very strong bassist with Eric Haydock and a melodic one in Bernie Calvert.

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  16. Hello, I was on that record, Rock Island Line - we recorded it on July 13th 1954 in London. We thought Lonnie's was a surprisingly authentic-sounding American accent at the time.

    My jazz band is still going, and I just released a new album, Memories Of My Trip.

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  17. Hello again,

    Thanks very much for writing about us! I wrote in a few weeks back, suggesting this song. You're like us, doing requests at gigs!

    In terms of the American influence, we were influenced by Bobby Vee, The Everly Brothers, and Elvis Presley. I loved Scotty Moore, Elvis’s guitarist. The group wasn't named deliberately as a tribute to Buddy Holly though.

    And as for Graham leaving, Graham and I are still great mates. When he went off, Graham’s life was a mess. He didn’t have the happiest of home lives and he got ripped off by some. So he decided "I’m off" and he got very, very lucky.

    Come and see us play, we're touring this year.

    Tony

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  18. ps - Hi Marty and Chris! Throw in a few beers, and this would be a great night at the pub with some familiar faces!

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  19. The Hollies were rather underrated (like Manfred Mann) probably because all they wanted to do is to put out great songs.

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  20. During the early 80s I remember buying all of The Hollies singles on Parlophone when I was in my late teens and couldn't believe how GREAT their B-Sides were.

    Back then every town and City had at least 5 second hand record shops and I raided The Hollies sections for months until I had every release.

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  21. Was it not one of The Hollies who once mused "We're about as psychedelic as a pint of brown ale"? No sitars in sight for most of their musical life.

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  22. Totally agree Geoff. He’s one of the best drummers I’ve seen. Not like some sticktwirling fancy show-off, but solid as hell and he’s got that swing that these modern metal drummers lack in my opinion (like that clown from Metallica).

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  23. The Hollies' string of hits in the 60's was rivaled by few in the decade. Love them. Thanks Geoff!

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  24. Here's our version of the Hollies' Look Through Any Window
    www.youtube.com/watch?v=Up3gVVVaADE

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  25. An underrated band imho, I don't think many people take them that seriously.

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  26. I've been wondering too if you should write a "bus" column - to accompany the trains, cars, planes you've done.

    For example, "Roll Bus Roll" by Jeffrey Lewis: in this song, Lewis talks about how on a long distance bus you can roll up a sweatshirt and use it as a pillow against a window


    "You're Crazy for Taking the Bus" by Jonathan Richman: also about long distance busing. Jonathan explains to his friends that the bus just makes more sense for him cause his guitar can ride along right beside him. On a crowded bus, though, a driver might point out that bags don't pay, so maybe his guitar would end up riding in Jonathan's lap.

    "Kiss Me on the Bus" by the Replacements: if you're a frequent bus rider, things like fighting with your girlfriend happen on there. The bus is a pretty interesting social space cause you're in close quarters with people who sometimes have very different ideas about what it's appropriate to do or talk about in public. Some people don't want to talk to anyone at all, and some people want to talk to everyone. Some people are drunk at 2 in the afternoon.

    "Waiting for the Bus" by the Violent Femmes: the Femmes are pissed about waiting for that damn bus. I love the details they give about who's on the bus and how they're all going to be late. Sometimes waiting for the bus can be a drag, and sometimes the driver's in a real bad mood.

    The song "Bus Stop" by the Hollies made me think of this. This is where a man and a woman meet frequently at a bus stop, share an umbrella when it rains, and eventually fall in love. I like this song cause it's not about riding the bus, but talks about the thing you end up doing a lot when you're a bus rider, which is waiting for the bus. And they're not mad about it, like if the bus were late they could just flirt more.

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  27. Here's another British song about America:)
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lyHSjv9gxlE

    Pretty much sums up the mythologising you wrote about:)

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  28. The Hollies have always been one of my guilty pleasures. I guess because they're considered lightweight to the other bands of their time.

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  29. They had more hits than The Beatles. Truly The Hollies helped shape the world of Pop and Rock as we know it today.

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  30. Ah, the New York Supershuttle service......If I had a dollar for everytime they run a red light / speed / make an illegal uturn / get stopped by the cops, well, then I'd be rich enough to never use Supershuttle again!:)

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  31. Thats a telling quote, Chris -they never looked quite right in kaftans!
    Interesting to see the influences that Tony mentions. Bobby Vee-who commented in an earlier column-wouldnt have come to mind.
    It would have to be a specific bus, though, Jim, which might be tricky!

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