Monday, September 10, 2007

Scotrail Are Bastards

Well not really, but I am not well disposed towards their HR people tapping away on their keyboards and asking inane but psychometrically relevant questions. They killed a dream of driving trains that I have harboured for oh, what must be well over a week after seeing a recruitment ad offering 32k year.

Still, when it comes to songs about trains this is one of my favourites. Edinburgh based Swamptrash toured the North of Scotland in the 80s and were a tremendous live act. So much so my mate and I drove up to Dingwall to see them once. Before the gig they were milling around and I got talking to Harry Horse. A very nice guy who seemed to be genuinely surprised that we made such an effort to see them. When on stage he was in Billy Joe mode with the fake American drawl. He dedicated a song (Foggy Mountain Breakdown) to my mate Brian and I, thanking us for our efforts. It was a great gig. An old church with a sizable crowd of over two hundred. Much manic dancing was done.
The next I came across Harry Horse was one of his cartoons that appeared in an Economics textbook at University. That was what he moved on to - a cartoonist for the Scottish broadsheets amongst many other related pursuits.
I had been searching for this TV appearance (from BBC Scotlands 1987 one series wonder FSD) on You Tube for a while. Unfortunately I only found it earlier this year after hearing of his death. He killed himself in a suicide pact with his wife (she was 39 and deteriorating with MS).The guy only made a fleeting 15 minute appearance in my life, but the decency shown towards a 17 year old teuchter music fanatic over 20 years ago seems to tie in with the jist of the heartfelt tributes from his friends that filled the pages on the Sunday after his death. Very sad.
Like on this T.V. clip, they always started off with Reubens Train - a reworking of the Holy Modal Rounders tune of the same name. A statement of intent that filled the floor early on.