FIFTY YEARS OF KNOCKING THE POWERFUL DOWN A PEG
Thompson’s sharp storytelling continues to take aim at political life
Roughly five years ago, Richard Thompson wrote a Celtic folk ballad about an unscrupulous businessman and his shady dealings in Scotland.
It’s called Fergus Laing and, to say the least, is a little bit cheeky.
“Fergus he builds and builds, yet small is his erection. Fergus has a fine head of hair, when the wind’s in the right direction,” Thompson sings.
There was probably little doubt as to who Fergus Laing was inspired by, even if this rule-bending American businessman wasn’t president yet and the details about his controversial development of a golf course on environmentally sensitive lands were better known in the United Kingdom than North America.
But when Donald Trump took over the White House in 2016, Thompson thought the song might take on a new life.
“I continued to sing it a little bit as he rose to prominence in the political sphere,” says Thompson in an interview from a tour stop in Wisconsin. “I very quickly realized that I could just not keep up. There was too much information every day. I’d have to write a new verse a day. I just had to stop singing that song because it was out of date immediately.”
A songwriter with a knack for sardonic humour and sharp storytelling, Thompson’s political output includes everything from 1991’s stinging Margaret Thatcher rebuke Mother Knows Best to 2007’s tormented Iraq War anthem Dad’s Gonna Kill Me.
So it says something about the political atmospheres in both Thompson’s adopted country and his native England, which is currently engulfed in its own circus-like, Brexit-inspired chaos, that the songwriter feels unable to properly reflect them in song.
“The political situation in America and in Britain is so strange and so unprecedented in both countries, you have to be a very nimble songwriter to keep up,” says Thompson, who now lives in Los Angeles. “So far, I haven’t managed to. As much as I like writing political things and deflating political egos, I haven’t managed to keep up lately.”
Still, Thompson is nothing if not prolific. So it’s possible these songs may be pending. In any case, biting political commentary is just one of many colours Thompson has in his songwriting palette. Next month, New West Records will release Thompson’s score for Erik Nelson’s Second World War documentary The Cold Blue. While Thompson is no stranger to soundtrack work, fans might be surprised that it features a relative dearth of guitar. Instead, Thompson enlisted a small chamber orchestra featuring French horns, a string quartet, double bass, oboe, clarinet, harmonica and percussion to musically back Nelson’s film about the brave pilots of the Eighth Air Force.
Meanwhile, as of this week, Thompson is also busily working on songs for both an acoustic album and his next full-band release.
“I’ve got two piles of songs,” Thompson says. “We’ll see which one wins, which one is the next record.”
Currently on an acoustic tour that brings him to Calgary’s Bella Concert Hall Thursday, Thompson says the set lists reflect his entire career. He has a lot to draw from, going back to pioneering folk-rock group Fairport Convention in the late 1960s and including a series of classic records released with thenwife Linda in the 1970s and early 1980s. His 40-year run as solo artist has produced more than a dozen timeless records, from 1983’s Hand of Kindness to 1991’s Rumour and Sigh to 2007’s Sweet Warrior and 2015’s Jeff Tweedy-produced Still. In 2018, he self-produced 13 Rivers, an album filled with slashing rockers and heart-wrenching ballads he penned in a remarkable, three-month burst of songwriting prowess.
“I think of stuff that I am excited to play and also stuff that I think the audience would like to hear,” says Thompson about his approach to set building these days. “Also, I have to bear in mind that there are people in the audience who have followed what I do since the ’60s. It’s a lot of decades. So I really try to represent a historical perspective as much as I can and keep it interesting, keep it moving and keep it challenging for myself.”
Thompson is certainly wellknown for his formidable chops and astonishing range as a guitar player. Whether it be the blazing, mind-bending riffs and solos he offers on electric or fleet-fingered runs on acoustic, his style has influenced everyone from Mark Knopfler to Radiohead and Bob Mould.
But he is equally revered as a songwriter. A songwriter’s songwriter, Thompson had Mould, Loudon Wainwright III, The Stranglers’ Hugh Cornwell, Pink Floyd’s David Gilmour, ex-wife Linda and son Teddy join him for a concert at Royal Albert Hall to celebrate his 70th birthday late last month. Mould offered his stellar cover of Thompson’s Turning of the Tide, which he recorded for a Thompson tribute album more than a decade ago. It would be hard to find a songwriter who has been covered by such a wide array of artists, with everyone from Five Blind Boys of Alabama to Elvis Costello and Dinosaur Jr. putting their stamp on Thompson classics. Thompson is a fan of Mould’s take and he is also partial to Bonnie Raitt’s Dimming of the Day and Dinosaur Jr.’s I Misunderstood. But as with many songwriters who are widely covered, he enjoys some interpretations, doesn’t enjoy others and is simply confused by some.
“I’m mostly really happy to get cover versions, it’s just occasionally you get something and think, ‘Ouch,’” Thompson says. “I think Joni Mitchell said that your songs are like your children. If someone records it, it’s like your children have gone off to stay with the wicked uncle for a couple of weeks. They come back swearing and smoking and drinking. You’re not always sure what you’re going to get back.”