Posted on by Dave Haygarth

A Lockdown story – Getting the band together for a party.

Strange times. We all agree. And like everybody, Coronavirus-compromises have been made, and good times put on hold.

Amongst the irritations for me this spring was the 50th birthday party I had planned for 100 or so friends on Easter Saturday.

Part of the evening’s fun was to get some music friends together to play some of my favourite songs. People who had never played in the same band or together, but all of whom had played music with me at some time in my 50 years.

A Plan emerges

With the party off limits, the WhatsApp group was sparked to life by this chain of events

  • my friend Dips (school friend), who suggested we tried to all play together on Zoom. A (very) quick assessment of the technology made us realise it’s way beyond us. But … then …
  • Phil (bro) suggested we tried to all record one of the songs. Then …
  • Angus (nephew) threw us all off the scent by putting together a very cool drum pattern…. then …
  • Alan (ex-neighbour) tidied it up on his computer, so then
  • I (me) recorded some guitar, which
  • Alan (ex-neighbour) tidied it up on his computer, so then
  • Phil (bro) sent some harmonica recordings, which
  • Alan (ex-neighbour) tidied it up on his computer, then
  • I (me) pestered Matt (nephew) to record some bass, which
  • Alan (ex-neighbour) tidied it up on his computer, then
  • I (me) wrote (then rewrote) some lyrics (below), then recorded (then re-recorded them), then
  • Alan (ex-neighbour) blew up his computer, so then it all paused. Then
  • Alan (ex-neighbour) and I (me) did some scheming and with a bit of to- and fro- mixed this track.

The lyrics

I’ll go into detail over a pint if anyone’s interested. 🙂

Never odd or even – a neighbour in-between
More slippery than butter, as cheap as margarine

A decent descent from a decade of decadence
A virus relative to relatives’ relevance

The more you cry, the more broken your heart
The more they try to keep us apart

A party for old times would just be the ticket, but
I can’t organise a piss up in a cricket club

Lock down !
Not Now!
Get Away!
Not Here !
Maybe some time next year

When it’s all done
When I’m 51
When once again we can share a beer

This is not a rehearsal
This is not Rock n Roll
Trying to make things work
Shirking from home

Members of the band all seem
so distant these days
I understand that this is how
all the best tunes are now made

Lock down !
Not Now!
Get Away!
Not Here !
Maybe some time next year

When it’s all done
When I’m 51
When once again we can share a beer

(When I first saw you, I liked you
And now I like you mo re
But this time next year …)

Thanks also

Oh, and the footage – well… all of it relevant, close to me in some way…

  • I always enjoyed Tomorrow’s World [link] (no permission given to use this so thank you kind licensing people at the BBC archives)
  • A guy called Mike from Gloucester who did stunts on his bike because he couldn’t afford a motorbike [link] (no permission given to use this so thank you kind licensing people at the British Film Institute)
  • A bit of cine from my youth, with my dad Norman and brother Phil [link]