Notes

Table of Contents:
CONTENTS Notes 1 Blossom Dearie Joni Mitchell Tubby Hayes Jack Bruce John Mayall Chuck Berry Doris Day Paul McCartney George Martin John Lennon Anita O'Day Roy Rogers Bob Dylan Brian Wilson Bob Harris Buddy Holly Sam Phillips Cleo Laine Elvis Presley Graham Nash Jimi Hendrix Robert Johnson Phil Spector Cyril Davies Peter Green Eric Clapton Notes: 2

About the Author :
John Murphy was born in Kingston-on-Thames, UK. He entered Essex University as a mature student graduating with a PhD in American poetry. He has lectured in English and American literature and creative writing, and has published poems in many journals and magazines. Notes is his third book, the first was The Thing is...(2009) and the second was Home, (2022). He has played in many bands over the years and he is now retired. He keeps busy editing The Lake, an online poetry magazine.

Review :
John Murphy's new collection deals with a surprisingly eclectic mix of mid-twentieth century music legends, American and British. Notes includes over two dozen paeans to some of the great blues, jazz and rock artists of the second half of the twentieth century. Coming from the same generation as Murphy, I found them particularly satisfying, though I grew up in America and he in the UK. Indeed, that shift in perspective makes the topic even more appealing, coming from a fresh angle. These poems are personal, the experience they capture genuine...Though not mawkish in the least, Notes expresses a satisfying nostalgia for a bygone era, at least for this septuagenarian rock and roller. Coming from Murphy's perspective, the poems have an authenticity that captures that magical era in music. Excerpt from a review by Charles Rammelkamp published in The High Windows, 31 March, 2025. Notes interweaves two of John Murphy's loves drawn from a lifetime as a poet and musician. This engaging, eclectic collection spans best-beloved songs, singers and producers in a personal homage to the power of popular music. Choosing exemplars from Doris Day to Dylan his writing honours its massive contribution to contemporary culture and expresses the personal significance music has had in his life. These poems evoke the sheer pleasures of listening: Murphy writes with affection about Blossom Dearie's voice blowing bubbles 'that popped like a marshmallow/bounce on the ears' while he imagines the notes coming from Tubby Hayes' sax as 'cream buns, summer clouds'. There are also more sombre poems however which don't shy away from the darker elements of the music scene and the emotional rawness and honesty which draws us to the songs in the same way we are drawn to poetry. The book is an original celebration of these complementary art forms and includes, in the second section, illuminating short autobiographical essays which respond to each subject featured in the first. A highly personal and richly-imagined collection Pippa Little, author of Time Begins to Hurt