News Exercise #31

This week’s video isn’t news, but an extract from a documentary about emotion in music, focusing on the late singer/songwriter/guitarist John Martyn. Martyn’s accent is very difficult to catch, even for me. Next week I will post the entire script.

Questions:

Listen to the expressions 1)-5) and 7). What do they mean?

Can you summarize the paragraph at 6), about Martyn’s relationship with Beverly?

8) How did Beverly explain the reason for their breakup?

9) What does Hurt In Your Heart’ show?

10) What makes John write so much?

Answers:

Presenter: … It kind of makes me wonder if the deeper the emotion, the more powerful the music, but how deep can it go? What 1) happens when you reach rock bottom ? I think I know the very man to answer that question.

Song: “May you never lay your head down without a hand to hold…”

Presenter: (0:23)John Martyn has always 2) worn his heart on his sleeve. He wrote some of the defining British albums of the seventies, echoing blues and folk influences through unique guitar techniques, and he’s still going strong in the studio today. He’s always 3) been a spontaneous, incurable romantic, and we’ve heard all about his 4) his darkest moments through his music. Some people keep diaries; John makes records.

Martyn: (0:51) I’ve always written from personal experience. Normally, in my case, it’ll be two o’clock in the morning, drunk, on my own with a drum machine and an electric guitar. I’m just grieving, moaning to yourself, complaining, whinging everything out. It’s basically just like “Oh, poor, miserable me!” Great fun at the time mind you; very good for you – cleansing of the soul..

Song:” Tell me when the hurt in your heart has gone…”

Martyn: (1:34)That’s what I really like, it’s the power of the notes; very good for the head. Sometimes you don’t have to sing a damn thing as long as you’re playing, 5) the music says it for you .

Presenter: (1:48-2:16) John’s most heartfelt album was ‘Grace And Danger’, 6) released in 1980 as he’d separated from his first wife Beverly. Beverly and John had met and married in the 60s when both were rising stars of the folk scene. They collaborated on a number of albums and started a family, but sadly, by the end of the 70s, their relationship had fallen apart.

Martyn: It’s good to talk to other people about their divorces; mine was painful, because it’s an enormous change in your life; goodbye kids, goodbye missus, goodbye home, goodbye da, da, da, da, da, da, da…. and it’s finding the answer but you’ve still got to know it was inevitable. It’s a hard thing but the song is really good for you; moaning down the microphone and singing the blues is very good for you. Moaning down the mic and singing the blues is very, very cathartic, it does help.

Presenter: (2:46)So did you go into the whole thing, then, to write these songs as a part of a process?

Martyn: No, not at all – 7) straight from the heart. It’s important I think, when you’re in some ghastly emotional state to be truthful about it, because if you’re not, then you’ll hurt yourself.

Presenter: (3:04)John’s songs are an unavoidable consequence of his feelings. In fact, Beverly 8) complained that so much emotion left John through his songs that there wasn’t much left for her. ‘Hurt In Your Heart’ is the most emotional song on the album, and it shows 9) just how deeply John was affected, and still is.

Martyn: (4:35) The reference to the blues is true. Blues is like… that’s what it is, it’s like you’ve got a lot to keep from crying, and sometimes you have to cry just because you have to cry. That album was the most personal thing I ever did, and I’ve drawn my horns in a wee bit since then.

Presenter: You say it’s a personal thing yet it became a huge success as an album. How does that make you feel that people have this insight into your life and how you feel?

Martyn: (5:01)I must confess at the time it never occurred to me that it was that personal.

Presenter: John, the music and the emotion are inseparable. So much so that to play that song nearly thirty years on still upsets him. He writes because 10) that emotion needs a release.

Original Questions:

Listen to the expressions 1)-5) and 7). What do they mean?
Can you summarize the paragraph at 6), about Martyn’s relationship with Beverly?
8) How did Beverly explain the reason for their breakup?
9) What does ‘Hurt In Your Heart’ show?
10) What makes John write so much?

Presenter: … It kind of makes me wonder if the deeper the emotion, the more powerful the music, but how deep can it go? What 1)____________________________? I think I know the very man to answer that question.
Song: “May you never lay your head down without a hand to hold…”
Presenter: (0:23)John Martyn has always 2)________________________. He wrote some of the defining British albums of the seventies, echoing blues and folk influences through unique guitar techniques, and he’s still going strong in the studio today. He’s always 3) _____________________, and we’ve heard all about his 4)________________through his music. Some people keep diaries; John makes records.
Martyn: (0:51) I’ve always written from personal experience. Normally, in my case, it’ll be two o’clock in the morning, drunk, on my own with a drum machine and an electric guitar. I’m just grieving, moaning to yourself, complaining generally, whinging everything out. It’s basically just like “Oh, poor, miserable me!” Great fun at the time mind you; very good for you – cleansing of the soul..
Song:” Tell me when the hurt in your heart has gone…”
Martyn: (1:34)That’s what I really like, it’s the power of the notes; very good for the head. Sometimes you don’t have to sing a damn thing as long as you’re playing, 5)__________________.
Presenter: (1:48-2:16) John’s most heartfelt album was ‘Grace And Danger’, 6)________________.
Martyn: It’s good to talk to other people about their divorces; mine was painful, because it’s an enormous change in your life; goodbye kids, goodbye missus, goodbye home, goodbye da, da, da, da, da, da, da…. and it’s finding the answer but you’ve still got to know it was inevitable. It’s a hard thing but the song is really good for you; moaning down the microphone and singing the blues is very good for you. Moaning down the mic and singing the blues is very, very cathartic, it does help.
Presenter: (2:46)So did you go into the whole thing, then, to write these songs as a part of a process?
Martyn: No, not at all – 7)__________________. It’s important I think, when you’re in some ghastly emotional state to be truthful about it, because if you’re not, then you’ll hurt yourself.
Presenter: (3:04)John’s songs are an unavoidable consequence of his feelings. In fact, Beverly 8)_____________________. ‘Hurt In Your Heart’ is the most emotional song on the album, and it shows 9)___________________________.
Martyn: (4:35) The reference to the blues is true. Blues is like… that’s what it is, it’s like you’ve got a lot to keep from crying, and sometimes you have to cry just because you have to cry. That album was the most personal thing I ever did, and I’ve drawn my horns in a wee bit since then.
Presenter: You say it’s a personal thing yet it became a huge success as an album. How does that make you feel that people have this insight into your life and how you feel?
Martyn: (5:01)I must confess at the time it never occurred to me that it was that personal.
Presenter: John, the music and the emotion are inseparable. So much so that to play that song nearly thirty years on still upsets him. He writes because 10)_________________________.

Below are two videos showing John Martyn singing the same song more than 30 years apart.