I post this comment having just heard the sad news that Rab Noakes has died on 11/11/22. And I am very moved to find this YouTube clip, as I was in the audience that Saturday morning on 5th December, 1970. It was over half a century ago, but it feels like a lot less time has elapsed.
I used to live in poverty back then, earning a pittance working for The Law Society in a boring clerical job, and finding all my wages went in rent for my bedsit at 46 Dawes Road, Fulham, and tube fares. I recall regular visits to a pawn shop in Leather Lane, and once living for three days on just a bag of apples.
Having no money for entertainment, I struck it lucky when someone at work recommended I apply for free tickets for all sorts of shows from the BBC Ticket Unit. OMG… it was such a godsend.
And of all the shows, my favourite was Country Meets Folk, which was recorded (at the Playhouse Theatre in Northumberland Avenue on The Embankment) as a live performance every Saturday late morning, and broadcast in the early evening some six hours later. Incidentally, it was a radio show, and not a television show as stated here.
The stars I saw for the first there are too numerous to mention. So many greats. I have them all listed, with the dates of their performances. But I particularly remember this edition.
There were a couple of good C&W acts, and also the young English folkie, Allan Taylor. But I most remember it for the three Scots greats that I saw that day… Archie Fisher, Rab Noakes and Barbara Dickson. They were immense.
And when the show ended and we all exited and walked past all the guys in their cardboard boxes looking for a friendly face and a few coins, I suddenly had a desire to walk across Westminster Bridge. And who should I see had beaten me to it? Why… only that great trio of Scottish folk excellence.
And as I walked past I heard Archie declaim to the others some lines from Wordsworth's sonnet "Composed upon Westminster Bridge, September 3, 1802", as they marvelled at the view. (It was a fluke that I recognised the lines: luckily I had studied it in A Level English 6 years earlier.) I have never forgotten that moment, and can even tell you that Rab and Barbara were wearing the fashion item of that year, viz… those shiny PVC (just-above-the-knee length) raincoats. Rab's was bright blue, and Barbara's an even brighter yellow.
I thought of Rab then as Britain's answer to the young James Taylor, who had just arrived in London, and bowled us all over. Rab was that good a performer, and as a songwriter, this song of his stood out as being very distinctive.
RIP Rab. Sepsis is a hell of a sudden killer.
You were just 9 weeks older than me… oh dear, it looks like I had better get up from the table while I am still winning. - Dai Woosnam, Grimsby
A Wee Guy from Fife
Robert Ogilvie Noakes (13 May 1947 – 11 November 2022) was a Scottish singer-songwriter. Noakes was at the forefront of Scottish folk music for over 50 years and recorded over 19 studio albums. He toured folk clubs and often performed at the Glasgow music festival Celtic Connections.
RAB NOAKES 13th May 1947–11th November 2022
I was in the car driving to Glasgow on 11th December when I heard the news about Rab Noakes. He was one of my musical heroes, a mentor, an inspiration and a big supporter of my work. I don't think there could be a bigger compliment than looking out into the crowd at the Glad Cafe and seeing Rab there, laughing in all the right places and singing along. He never even asked for a guest list ticket. He was a classy guy. A snappy dresser too.
His album Standing Up was released in 1994 and had a profound effect on me. Somehow a cassette copy found its way into our house. I'd read somewhere that
Bob Dylan decided to become a "Woody Guthrie" jukebox. He'd learn every song in his hero's back catalog and in doing so would learn how to craft songs and craft a setlist. Bob picked Woody and I picked Rab. I learned the whole album and most of Do You See The Lights, the only ones that were available to me at the time. My guitar playing and my ear wasn't quite good enough so I got help. Over the years Donald MacGregor, Brian Miller and Vic Linnemann helped with some of the trickier open tuned finger picked bits. An amazing new invention called the internet helped me figure out some of the chords on Allen Toussaint's "What Do You Want the Girl To Do". I downloaded and printed out the words and chords to that and "Psycho Killer" in Room 259 of the RSAMD took them home to my student flat and learned them playing along with the now stretched cassette. That tape, repaired with nail varnish and carefully rewound, was drifting further and further from A 440.
I can remember sitting in a caravan in Glenuig when Rab's chords for "Downtown Lights" fell under my fingers and I figured it out. I figured it out on my own. It's an exciting moment for any aspiring musician to figure something out from the record. When those notes fall under your fingers it's like finding a trail in the woods or walking in footprints in the snow. This is what they were thinking. This is how this was put together. Trial and error and the building blocks of song.
Next I'm wondering who are The Blue Nile? Who is Micheal Marra? What Bob Dylan album is "Absolutely Sweet Marie" on, I thought he only had two albums and a best of? What makes someone come up with something as brilliant as "Psycho Killer"? My mind was blown, my curiosity was piqued and I was off down a musical rabbit hole.
When Rab and I first met we had a great discussion about covering songs. Rab hated that word. A "cover" to him was a 50's and 60's record company trick of getting a song released in the UK before the official (usually American) version had been released. Get the song out quick to cash-in rather than making a carefully thought out interpretation of the song. He preferred the term "interpretation" which suggested care and respect for the original material. At the time I didn't have enough strong material so the idea that it was okay to fold a high quality cover (I still call it a cover... sorry Rab) into my set was really freeing. To this day my number one songwriting tip is to learn someone else's song and make it your own. Not as easy as it sounds but Rab's Standing Up and Standin Up Again albums are a good place to borrow ideas.
I listened to Standing Up a lot in the days after Rab died, realising that I had learned how to push chords and other little rhythmical tricks from "Open All Night" and "Love Is A Gamble". Both those songs were staples in my own live set for years. I reckon I learned how to lift a chorus out of the verse and into the chorus from listening to those songs over and over again.
We met for lunch about a month before my 40th birthday. I was feeling a bit strange about the big four-oh. "You're turning forty!" he became really animated and said "Turning forty was the best thing that ever happened to me.." and proceeded to tell me all the wonderful things that had happened to him after turning forty. It was all the reassurance I needed. It's not over, it's only just begun, I've Hardly Started Yet. He was 71 at the time and full of energy and ideas so I don't know what I was worried about.
I'm extremely grateful for all the things I've learned from him, the times we've hung out and blethered and the songs we've shared. He's gone now and, for me anyway, the best thing to do has been to listen to his music. Please do me a favour and start with "Somebody Counts on Me" from his first album Do You See The Lights. How did a wee guy from Fife make a record that sounds this good in Scotland in 1969? Amazing!
So long Rab, Gently Does It. Findlay Napier
In 1970 he released his first album Do You See the Lights, a blend of easy-going country rock, and included songs "Too Old to Die", "Together Forever" and "Somebody Counts on Me". In 1971 Noakes was a founding member of the folk rock band Stealers Wheel, along with Gerry Rafferty and Joe Egan. He played on Rafferty's Can I Have My Money Back, notably "Mary Skeffington". He recorded with Lindisfarne in 1972, on songs "Turn a Deaf Ear", "Nicely Out of Tune", "Together Forever", and "Fog on the Tyne". He performed with Lindisfarne for a John Peel concert and in 1995 produced a BBC Radio 2 programme The Story of Lindisfarne. One of his best-known recordings, "Branch", from his Red Pump Special album, received airplay on BBC Radio 1. Noakes' songs have been covered by Lindisfarne and Barbara Dickson.
Biography
Robert Ogilvie Noakes was born in St Andrews, Fife, on 13 May 1947, and brought up in Cupar.
In 1963 Noakes moved to London and worked for the Civil Service, where he played folk clubs at night. He returned to Scotland in 1967 and began a duo with Robin McKidd; they played their first gig at the Glasgow Folk centre, and in the same year he secured a month's residency in Denmark.
Noakes released his first album Do You See The Lights in 1970, with a line-up that included ex-partner Robin McKidd on electric guitar and Scottish jazz bassist Ronnie Rae. This recording included the songs "Too Old to Die", "Together Forever", and "Somebody Counts on Me".
Noakes was a founding member of the folk rock band Stealers Wheel, along with Gerry Rafferty and Joe Egan in 1971. He sang backing vocals and played on the first solo album by Rafferty, Can I Have My Money Back, most notably on "Mary Skeffington", a song about Rafferty's mother. After these sessions he became an early member of Stealers Wheel, while he left them before the release of the band's first album.
Noakes recorded and performed with Lindisfarne, whom he supported on a national tour in 1972, and recorded his songs "Turn a Deaf Ear" on their first album, Nicely Out of Tune, and "Together Forever" on their second, Fog on the Tyne. Barbara Dickson recorded "Turn a Deaf Ear" on her album Do Right Woman, on which Noakes performed.
In May 1972, the British music magazine NME reported that Noakes was to appear at the Great Western Express Lincoln Festival on 26 May that year. Other acts to perform in the 'Giants of Tomorrow' marquee included Budgie, Skin Alley, Tea & Sympathy, John Martyn, Warhorse, and Gnidrolog. One of Noakes's best-known recordings, "Branch", was released as a single in the summer of 1974 from his album Red Pump Special, which was recorded in Nashville, Tennessee, and produced by Elliot Mazer, attracted considerable airplay on BBC Radio 1, but without making the UK Singles Chart.
Noakes became the senior producer for music programmes on BBC Radio Scotland. He left to create the production company Neon.
In November 2007, his album Unlimited Mileage, again with the Varaflames, was released. In 2012, CDs of Standing Up Again made in 2009 and Just in Case (recorded in 2007) were made available; those albums only having been available to download up until then.
In 2015, he released the album I'm Walking Here. It was his 19th solo album and many of the songs tell the story of his working life as a songwriter and performer. It is a double album containing 26 songs. The first set consists of new compositions that show his gift for melody and love of Americana, and include "Out of Your Sight", influenced by Buddy Holly, a tribute to a 1920s minstrel singer, and a poignant lament for Rafferty. The second album is dominated by "interpretations" (he hated the word covers) of songs from early Cliff Richard to Garbage and Beck, along with the skiffle standard "Freight Train", on which he was joined by Jimmie MacGregor, and a finely sung treatment of the traditional "The Two Sisters".
On 20 July 2017, he appeared on the BBC quiz programme Eggheads.
Personal life
In 1988, he met Stephanie Pordage and they married in 1998. She became his muse, manager and collaborator. They both left the BBC to set up their own production company Neon in 1995. Pordage died from the effects of Parkinson's disease in 2021. Noakes was diagnosed with tonsil cancer in 2015, but treatment was effective and he was back recording The Treatment Tapes in 2016. He also toured in 2017 – at the Leith folk club and with a full band at Celtic Connections. In 2022, Noakes continued to tour and work in collaboration with other singers.
Noakes died on 11 November 2022, suddenly, at the age of 75, in hospital in Glasgow.
