DESMOND PINNOCK TRACKLIST Interview by Amanda Huxtable 00:00 Fifty Five Years in Huddersfield Desmond Pinnock arrived in Huddersfield in 1958 and has lived here for fifty-five years. 00:48 One Trip Only “I travelled by ship, SS Queen of Nassau... one trip only.” It took Desmond twenty-six days to travel to the UK from Jamaica. 01:33 First Impressions “It was strange, very strange, I didn’t know what to expect, I didn’t know what to, you know, to say, but as far as it goes, it was alright.” 03:54 Big Man Desmond left Jamaica when he was twenty-eight years old. In Jamaica, he had lived in St Thomas, a country parish. His mother sadly passed away when he was three years old, but he was raised by his aunties and uncles. 04:27 We Don’t Stop “When we started, we don’t stop, we dance all night, well not all night, but we dance almost right through, until intermission time.” Desmond listened to orchestral jazz music when living in Jamaica: “Jazz, quickstep, Walls, Rock and Roll, The Twist.” His favourite artists were Duke Ellington and Ella Fitzgerald, as well as all the Big Band Orchestras. 05:37 Jump and Jive “You want to see Jump and Jive? I have one friend... when he started jump and jive he said I almost reach the ceiling, it was wonderful.” Check out this tune by Cab Calloway and the Nicholas Brothers to get a flavour of the kind of dancing Desmond is talking about: youtube/watch?v=_8yGGtVKrD8 06:37 No Sound Systems “We never used the Sound Systems, we never heard of them really, it was only later on we heard about Sound Systems.” In the early 1950s, when Desmond was in Jamaica, orchestras of musicians was the main type of music, rather than Sound Systems. 07:09 Is He Gonna Leave Me? Desmond talks about an anxious first day in Huddersfield: “The first thing when I went home at Daisy’s at night, Aunty Daisy, the taxi dropped me from the Square to Upper George Street, took me five minutes, and the taxi driver waited and waited and knock and knock and there was nobody coming out and I thought, in my mind, ‘Is he gonna leave me?’ But he didn’t leave me, he waited half an hour, before somebody came out, and I think they were having a party, and they were drunk or something, and somebody actually came out and I was so happy then, so was the driver, and the next morning I went down the Square to tell him thanks and give another two bob, because I was scared you see, but it work out well.” 08:14 Different Full Stop “It wasn’t what I expected, some parts were very rough really... it was different, full stop, it were different. I didn’t have any experience of nothing like this.” 08:52 Hollidays Desmond found work at the dye company L.B Holliday’s, where his boss and workmates were kind and helpful. He started to go out to dances around the Huddersfield area. 11:10 Can’t Dance With The Girls “But when we start to dance, we can’t dance with the girls then... after one piece the fella, they drag them away.” 12:04 For The Children “Well, the reason why I came here you know, is for the children really. That’s my main reason why I came, because I had my own business, I didn’t have to come, but everybody’s going away, to America, Canada, even Guantanamo Bay, asking for people to work, and then England asked for people...” Desmond was a shoemaker but all his friends left for other places, so he decided to leave himself. He came on his own at first, leaving five children and his wife in St Thomas, who all came later. 16:02 Just To Have A Club Desmond was one of the founding members of the Cleopatra’s nightclub aka Venn Street: “It was easy, it was... Mr Bob, Mr Willie, Mr Johnson, myself, Reuben McTair, Mr Crew, Alexis and Rupert Joseph, that was all the fellows in it.” 16:41 Absolutely Fantastic “And it was absolutely, it was fantastic. It was good. Groups come from everywhere, that’s when it get settled you know, and people get to know about it, people come from everywhere, Manchester, Leeds, everywhere they come from, to go to the Cleopatra’s.” 18:05 Twist Right Down To The Floor “One night I dance a twist down there with my daughter, she’s died now, Volney, my God she could dance. I was playing the music then... just for the night, and I put a twist on and then Volney twist right down to the floor. I can’t even bend down to the floor now.” 20:02 All Big Stars These Over the years that Desmond was involved in running Venn Street, several top artists played at the club: “We have Gregory Isaacs, one of the top man, we have Marcia Griffiths... Bob Andy, Jimmy Cliff, Freddy Macgregor, Millie Small, Musical Youth, Pass the Dutchie, Desmond Dekker, Toots and the Maytals, John Holt as well... Delroy Wilson, Alton Ellis, Owen Gray, great man that, Ken Boothe, I didn’t remember him so much at all, Ken Boothe, Derrick Morgan, another top man as well, Johnny Nash, Mighty Diamonds, Maxi Priest, Misty In Roots...” Here’s a classic tune from Owen Gray: youtube/watch?v=DYGsVJUyRnc 22:32 A Long While To Change Desmond reflects upon how things have changed in the UK over the years: “It’s changed tremendous... people has changed... you know the white people or the English people... they changed...everybody has changed, because we [were] never used to them and they [were] never used to us. It took a while to change though, took a long while to change.” 23:01 A Smile Costs Nothing Desmond reads from a poem he has written: “A smile costs nothing, give them one of yours. It enriches those who receive without making poorer those who give. You see, if I smile to somebody here, and say ‘Hello’, they don’t answer, I don’t care, give my best smile again next time, because my teacher says ‘If a lady on the street, or if a teacher on the street, or a lady you should meet, from your head your cap you take... I don’t take my cap off but I always bow to people...” 24:36 The End Times of Venn Street “At that time it was really really good, we thought we’d have that place forever, but things has changed... the bad boys came in you see, we couldn’t manage them, even if we get police for them...” 26:53 Young People Today Desmond talks a little about young people growing up today and how the world has changed: “My views are different, really, really different, cos I was brought up in a different system... and what can you tell them now?” 28:39 The Best Day of My Life “Oh well there’s one thing I want to share because, from when I was going to school, I wanted to be a shoemaker. Mr Marshall the shoemaking man, he’s just up the road, I were living down there, and every morning I stopped there, you know, be a good boy and ask Mr Marshall about the shoemaking and say I want to be a shoemaker. He says to me ‘Have you any money?’ I said ‘No, I’m a schoolboy.’ And I went back next morning and he asked the same question and I says ‘I have no money.’ He say ‘How you gonna pay for your job here?’ In those days you have to pay to learn the trade. I says ‘Well I don’t know.’ And I finished my school at fifteen, about fifteen and a half really, and I, in the evening, me and my friend walked straight up to Mr Marshall, it was not far, and went into his shop and sat down. And just said ‘Oh, Mr Marshall, I’ve finished school now, I want to be a shoemaker and he still asked me the same question. And I went there the next day, same question. And I went there again, he get fed up and says ‘Alright, you can start’ and that was the best day of my life, when Mr Marshall says he’ll take me on...” Eighteen months later, Desmond set up his own shoe-making business.
Posted on: Tue, 30 Jul 2013 11:31:09 +0000
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