Richard Thompson, OBE

[Goaty]

edit button???

It's labelled Modify, to the top right of your post, between Quote & Remove.

Thanks but I only see Quote, do I need to update something somewhere perhaps?

No, the option of modifying or removing a post expires after a certain time.

[Bob Barrows]

I see The Guardian refers to "guitarist and songwriter Richard Thompson, once of Fairport Convention but also a writer of lyrics for Robert Plant and Elvis Costello".

Did I miss something?!!

Maybe. Are you aware that Percy covered RT's House of Cards on his latest release, Band of Joy? And that Elvis has covered a few of his songs ... 'course RT wrote more than the lyrics, so the article is inaccurate in that respect,

[Edthefolkie]

I'm really chuffed for Richard, it's splendid news (but maybe it should have been a CBE).

Somehow I have this mind picture of a tall figure in a long black coat and topper, walking into the audience chamber playing the hurdy gurdy and singing "Calvary Cross". AAARGH!  

Happy New Year everybody!

[Pugwash]

Well done that Thompson and folk importance recognised as well

[Jamie]

I see The Guardian refers to "guitarist and songwriter Richard Thompson, once of Fairport Convention but also a writer of lyrics for Robert Plant and Elvis Costello".

Did I miss something?!!

Maybe. Are you aware that Percy covered RT's House of Cards on his latest release, Band of Joy? And that Elvis has covered a few of his songs ... 'course RT wrote more than the lyrics, so the article is inaccurate in that respect,

Indeed. I would, perhaps pedantically, point out that 'being covered by' is different from 'writing lyrics [and/or music] for'. It just annoys me when journalists don't do their research - it wouldn't have taken too much digging to get it right.

[quodlibet (Ian)]

Let joy be unconfined. A genuine piece of good news that I, for one, heartily applaud.

[the_willing_sinner]

About bloody time - Congrats to RT

 

[StephenGiles]

From the Daily Telegraph New Year's Honours List:

Richard Thompson. Folk Musician and Songwriter. For services to Music.

Great news indeed - we are not allowed much good news by the media, so we should make the most of it.

[StephenGiles]

Immediately after posting I don't have an edit button - I must type more slowly.

[Dr Clive]

I see The Guardian refers to "guitarist and songwriter Richard Thompson, once of Fairport Convention but also a writer of lyrics for Robert Plant and Elvis Costello".

Did I miss something?!!

Maybe. Are you aware that Percy covered RT's House of Cards on his latest release, Band of Joy? And that Elvis has covered a few of his songs ... 'course RT wrote more than the lyrics, so the article is inaccurate in that respect,

I assumed Jamie's original comment was referring to the complete omission of any reference to Richard performing his own songs...

The Guardian is usually more accurate than this, having had one of the best writers on folk/roots music (Robin Denselow) on its staff for donkey's years; I can only assume the original Guardian piece was written by the Court Correspondent  

DC

[T2k (Tracy)]

Bloody Fantastic

Now which song should he sing to celebrate this...?

[PLW (Peter)]

should have told them where to stick it

Charming.

[Dr Clive]

Bloody Fantastic

Now which song should he sing to celebrate this...?

Now be Thankful?

DC

[Harbottle (Martin)]

Well done... Good to see someone out of the mainstream recognised.

I believe you can't actually turn down a honour - you are asked if you'd be interested in receiving one before you're awarded one... At least that's what someone told me.

As RT has accepted, he's clearly honoured to have been asked...

[Dan O.]

By the way, as he's also been nominated for a Grammy, wouldn't it be fabulous if he did the double and won his category as well ?

[delfini (Diane)]

From the Daily Telegraph New Year's Honours List:

Richard Thompson. Folk Musician and Songwriter. For services to Music.

Great news indeed - we are not allowed much good news by the media, so we should make the most of it.

Seconded........well done RT.

[Bridgwit (Bridget)]

Excellent news! First John Martyn and now Richard Thompson - seems the awards committee are getting their acts together.  

Congratulations Mr T  

[Jim]

bread and circuses

[H (Heather Smith)]

Congratulations that man.

[Shane (Skirky)]

I see The Guardian refers to "guitarist and songwriter Richard Thompson, once of Fairport Convention but also a writer of lyrics for Robert Plant and Elvis Costello".
Did I miss something?!!

Maybe. Are you aware that Percy covered RT's House of Cards on his latest release, Band of Joy? And that Elvis has covered a few of his songs ... 'course RT wrote more than the lyrics, so the article is inaccurate in that respect,

Indeed. I would, perhaps pedantically, point out that 'being covered by' is different from 'writing lyrics [and/or music] for'. It just annoys me when journalists don't do their research - it wouldn't have taken too much digging to get it right.

Although technically correct, I think this probably refers to a couple of under-publicised court cases from the mid-eighties. Around the time that Led Zep were being pulled up for 'borrowing' certain lyrics (the most famous being either the lemon-squeezing reference or Howlin' Wolf's You need love refrain) the blanket case also threw up a few other examples - one of which was the blatant cut & pasting of certain RT lyrics into The Battle of Evermore. At the time there was an attempted defence that Sandy Denny had simply unconciously repeated a few phrases from unfinished Fairport demos, but the case was settled out of court for an undisclosed sum. This is also the reason they never used another outside singer again, for fear they would be landed in the same position vis a vis legal fees.
Similarly, passages from Henry The Human Fly's The Angels Took My Racehorse Away turned up in Elvis Costello's The Angels Want To Wear My Red Shoes and the case was quietly settled without recourse to m'learned friends, one of the conditions being that Costello record a number of RT songs in order to provide a secondary stream of income from the subsequent publishing rights.
 It is no coincidence that shortly after these two settlements were reached Thompson was able to afford to move to California. In a similar vein, should Simon Nicol ever become enobled, there will probably be some reference to him writing songs for Tom Robinson, after segments of M1 Breakdown (from the eponymous first album) were used in 2-4-6-8 Motorway.
 It's all there on Wikipedia, so lazy, but not necessarily innaccurate reporting! I blame the sub-editor.