MALDWYN POPE

I’m often asked when writing songs which comes first, the music or the lyrics. Sometimes it’s neither…sometimes it’s the phone call.
This is the story of the commission to write a song fit for a Queen.

I used to think the saddest day in the Christian Calendar was Good Friday but these days I’m not so sure. I now think the saddest day of Holy Week is Holy Saturday or maybe that should be Hopeless Saturday. But there is good news…Sunday’s coming!

After a very long trip my friend Chris walked into what you would probably describe as a fairly modern looking, normal, average church. It took him a couple of minutes to work out exactly what was wrong with the scene before him.
Then it struck him, the room was full of old men, women and children…there were no young men. It was only then that he really realised the implications of being on the border of a war zone.

Now I often say that when people go to my website and read my CV the only person they won’t have heard of is me. It’s a bit like that with the Heritage Charts. This week I’m ahead of the Temptations, Boo Radleys and Matt Goss just behind Micky Dolenz, Tears for Fears and The Blow Monkeys!!!

This week marked the second anniversary of the first Corona Virus lockdown. I must admit the past 2 years have somehow blurred into each other. There have been momentous family events that have left their mark, but I really do have to think carefully when trying to remember things like; which year of lockdown did my father pass away and when did I start performing in public again. As I read the headlines on social media and saw the news reports this week marking the second anniversary of Lockdown I also held in my hand a test with the dreaded 2 lines showing I was corona virus positive.

It was Joseph Stalin, who said ‘One death a tragedy, a million deaths a statistic.’ Many commentators have said that Putin should fear the mothers of Russian soldiers more than the sanctions of the West because each death is a tragedy for that mother.

In one of the most powerful podcasts the boys have recorded Mal & Johnny chat to broadcaster Phil Steel about his career, coping with depression and personal tragedy and how he has found happiness once again.

I have to say over my career I have played in lots of unusual venues. Some I struggle to remember, others I try to forget. This week I’ve been to a couple of wonderful venues, one where I played a concert and to another where I hope I will get the chance to perform at some day in the future.

This time last week we were all sheltering from the gale force winds of Storm Eunice. For many years I had kept a very special bottle of whiskey at the back of the cupboard. But the bottle had kept a secret for over 20 years and I was about to find out!

It was Michael Gove who once said in a television interview that the people of Great Britain had had enough of experts…who consistently get it wrong. The thing is, these days, with a mobile phone in your hand or an internet connection at home, you are only a few clicks away from convincing yourself that you are an expert on any subject in the world.