John Martyn 1948-2009

They're dropping like flies this winter.

John Martyn was a major part of adolescence for me, and he's dead at sixty. That's bad.

I had a girlfriend who was the same age as John Martyn, once over. (Older woman, sigh...)

Somebody in my family sold him a narrowboat.
(I hope he enjoyed it.)

He was a bad tempered c*** who drank too much. (Let that be a lesson.) He was also the first white man ever signed to Island records.

And this is the song I saw him sing on the Old Grey Whistle Test, long, long ago, before I'd ever had my heart broken, and I shall go to sleep tonight singing it softly, and have a little cry.

May you never lay your head down
Without a hand to hold.
May you never make your bed out in the cold.
May you never lose your temper
If you get hit in a barroom fight.
May you never lose your woman overnight.

Well, you're just like a great, strong sister to me,
And I know that your love is true,
And you hold no blade for to stab me in my back;
I know that there's some that do.

So please, won't you please,
Won't you bear it in mind:
Love is a lesson to learn in our time.
Please, won't you please, bear it in mind for me.

Well, you're just like a great, strong brother to me,
And I know that your love is true,
And you never talk dirty behind my back;
I know that there's some that do.

So please, won't you please,
Won't you bear it in mind:
Love is a lesson to learn in our time.
Please, won't you please, bear it in mind for me.

May you never lay your head down
Without a hand to hold.
May you never make your bed out in the cold.
May you never lose your temper
If you get hit in a barroom fight.
May you never lose your woman overnight.
May you never lose your woman overnight.