People who won’t have consciously known of his work will certainly have seen it (if they are of a certain age.) He contributed album covers to the work of both Billy Connolly and – his partner in the Humblebums – Gerry Rafferty, both in his time with Stealers Wheel and his solo work.
Indeed Rafferty wrote a song, Patrick, in Byrne’s honour. (In Byrne’s early days he used his father’s – and his own middle – name.)
It was as a playwright though that Byrne made most impact on the public consciousness, firstly with the stage play The Slab Boys, for which he drew on his experiences in the paint shop of a carpet maker’s, and subsequently with the TV series Tutti Frutti and Your Cheatin’ Heart of blessed memory.
Hie art work is distinctive. You can rarely mistake a Byrne painting for one by someone else.
The video below is illustrated with some of Byrne’s art works.
The Humblebums: Patrick
John Patrick Byrne: 6/1/1940 – 30/11/2023. So it goes.
Michael Parkinson, who died during the week, once bestrode the Saturday evening TV schedules (after the football highlights) as almost essential viewing.
He first came to my attention, though, hosting the Granada TV programme Cinema, as an enthusiast for the form a natural progression for him from his journalistic beginnings. I remember his relishing the description of the final scene of a Western (most likely Duel in the Sun) as “lust in the dust.”
He of course became most famous for his eponymous chat show, where his professional Yorkshireman attitudes occasionally ruffled feathers.
On one occasion I recall he asked Paul Simon how he went about writing a song. As if that process could be distilled into a short demonstration. Simon’s discomfort was evident.
He is said to have given Billy Connolly his big break. Perhaps in the wider UK, but Connolly was huge in Scotland well before his first appearance on Parky.
His interviews with Mohammad Ali and the one with Miss Piggy stick in the memory but the less said about him being attacked by a (large) glove puppet the better.
In later life, though, Parkinson became more notable for being the star (and later referrent) of life insurance adverts.
Michael Parkinson: 28/3/1935 – 16/8/2023. So it goes.
The newpapers, television and radio have been full today with obituaries and tributes to Paisley born Gerry Rafferty who died yesterday.
His first well known appearances were with The Humblebums, a group of folk oriented musicians which included a certain Billy Connolly as a member.
When they split up Rafferty set out on his own for a while. Mary Skeffington, a song apparently about his mother, shows his folkiness at the time of his first solo LP, Can I Have My Money Back?, recorded before he joined the group where he had his first big success, Stealer’s Wheel, effectively a collaboration between Rafferty and Joe Egan.
The big hit, Stuck In The Middle With You, needs no introduction nor explanation but on that LP I liked more Rafferty’s quirkier song Benediction, a web friendly version of which unfortunately I cannot source. Also a hit was Star, said at the time to be a reflection of Rafferty’s fractured relationship with Connolly but in fact written by Egan. Any rift with Connolly was later repaired.
Stealer’s Wheel’s second LP was the unusually named Ferguslie Park, after a well known Paisley housing estate.
Rafferty’s biggest success came of course after the demise of Stealer’s Wheel when he resumed his solo career and recorded the LP City To City. There is barely a dud on there. My particular favourites are the title track, Mattie’s Rag and that fantastic ballad Whatever’s Written In Your Heart.
The blockbuster was Baker Street with its signature saxophone playing from Raphael Ravenscroft. (No. It wasn’t Bob Holness.) This recording was, as I recall, the first ever winner of a Brit Award for a single (though it may have been a similar award that was the Brits’ precursor.)
The two subsequent LPs Night Owl and Snakes And Ladders still saw Rafferty at the peak of his powers but a reluctance to tour and a shrinking from fame meant more big hits weren’t forthcoming.
[Edited to add:- Rafferty’s last brush with chart success came with his production work on The Proclaimers’ Letter From America (for an unusual take on which see here.) That recording’s final musical flourish – after the drawn-out “Lochaber no more” – seems to me to be pure Rafferty.]
A sad descent into alcoholism followed in his latter years.
Everyone will be featuring either Baker Street or Stuck In The Middle but I’m going with a song each from those latter two LPs where Rafferty was still in his pomp.
Gerry Rafferty: Get It Right Next Time
Gerry Rafferty: The Royal Mile (Sweet Darlin’)
I’ve just listened to Whatever’s Written In Your Heart again.
I can’t not put it in.
Gerry Rafferty: Whatever’s Written In Your Heart
Gerald (Gerry) Rafferty, 16/4/47-4/1/11. So it goes.
