When I think of my Granddad, one thing has always sprung to mind. It’s a song with the lyrics “you won’t get me I’m a part of the union, you won’t get me I’m a part of the Union…”. (Text really doesn’t mean much when you think of songs, so If I ever get round to it I’ll see if I can put an extract here too.)
My Granddad was a Union Man. I remember growing up and him talking about political things and I’m sure he must have mentioned the unions several times. I can’t remember anything specific that he said about the unions, but I have always associated that song with him. The song “PART OF THE UNION” was released by The Strawbs in 1973 – 3 years before I was born.
Fast forward a couple and a half decades. In 2003 I finally got round to having some guitar lessons. The teacher, Dave Lambert, used to teach my dad many years ago. Dave is an exceptionally good teacher. I also knew he’d had some songs in the charts many years before, including one called “Lay Down”. Now, I’ve never been very good remembering names, so I didn’t know that the band that recorded “Lay Down” were “The Strawbs”. Dave Lambert was (and is) a Strawb.
For several months I had no idea that I was being taught to play guitar by one of the musicians who recorded the song I associate with my Granddad.