Who Are You?

As requested, I did tape, 'The Seven Ages of Rock', on BBC2 last night, and when Robin got home, we settled down to watch.
It was great, full of fantastic vintage Hendrix footage, with comments from various musicians, journalists, biographers and the late Chas Chandler, Jimi's manager and former member of the Animals.
There were also some great clips of Cream, the Who, the Stones, Bob Dylan, The Beatles and many more.

By the time we had finished watching it was gone 1 am, so, Robin was banned from getting out his Stratocaster and blasting out 'Purple Haze', for fear of waking children and neighbours.
However, his sub-conscious must have been dwelling on all this as he slept, because this is a poem he wrote on waking this morning:

WHO ARE YOU?*

Messrs. Entwistle, Daltrey, Townsend and Moon,

Turn down a side street - the time is mid-June,

The 16 year old with huge head of hair,

Is calming himself with a pint of foam beer,

His heroes have finally come into town,

In a Ford Transit van of mighty renown,

In less than an hour they will be live on the stage,

At the end of their set they give vent to their rage,

Drum kits will fly, guitars they will splinter,

Is this in fact an artistic winter?

Not in the least - these guys are on top,

They're zeitgeist, their muse is unlikely to stop,

There's no substitute for my generation,

No wonder we hold them in great veneration.

ROBIN HILL May 2007

* When Robin was 16 the Who performed at what was then the Casino Club (it's currently a Quick Save supermarket....) on Crompton Way in Bolton. He still occasionally drives past the side street they would have taken to get to the stage door, and always looks, and remembers, their concert.