When I was a teenager, after a night on the town, if the morning was clear, following a fried breakfast in Fleet Street at five or six in the morning, I would stop on my way home at Alexandra Palace, which stands on a hill from where one could see eastwards across the Lea Valley to Epping Forest and across all of central London to the North Downs in the south and watch the sunrise. Watching the sun come up in Bernex this morning reminded me of those days from my youth at about the time Rolf Harris’ song “Sun Arise” was a hit. Rolf, who is Australian, made his career in the UK; he is a superb artist (painter cartoonist and singer musician) and was also an excellent entertainer. I’m sorry to read that he will have to face charges for indecent assault and for making indecent images of children, forty to fifty years ago. Despite the alleged charges against him, which will have to face in court in London at the end of April 2014, I still like him as an artist and enjoyed his shows in the 1960’s and 70’s. His Song “Sun Arise” was released in 1961 when I was 13 years old – I like this interpretation – youtube/watch?v=xRmw87YUoQw He uses original Australian Aboriginal music; the words, written by Harry Butler a naturalist, may have been a rough translation from one of the Australian Aboriginal language songs. I love the song; every time I see a spectacular sunrise it comes to my mind and takes me back to the early mornings sitting on the wet grass, with a couple of mates, a few steps in front of “Ally Pally” watching the sun come up over East London, enjoying the view, recovering from a night of crazy dancing in London’s West End and our enormous newspaper printer breakfasts. (Greasy spoon café - fried eggs, bacon beans, tomatoes, sausages, blood sausage followed by piles of toast, butter and marmalade, washed down with mugs of milky black tea so strong that we joked we could stand our spoons in them without the spoons touching the sides of the mug)
Posted on: Thu, 13 Mar 2014 10:26:36 +0000
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