{"id":2710,"date":"2014-07-16T14:56:11","date_gmt":"2014-07-16T13:56:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/?p=2710"},"modified":"2014-07-16T14:57:05","modified_gmt":"2014-07-16T13:57:05","slug":"songs-that-made-life-in-the-cages-easier-sultans-of-swing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/?p=2710","title":{"rendered":"Songs That Made Life In The Cages Easier: Sultans of Swing"},"content":{"rendered":"

SONGS THAT MADE LIFE IN THE CAGES EASIER<\/strong><\/p>\n

SULTANS OF SWING<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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Around mid 1978 we in Compound 21 were in the formative stages of a kind of perestroika\u2014well\u2014at the least the UVF version.\u00a0 The special category system had been granted nigh on 6 years and the loyalist side of the jail was probably at its fullest.\u00a0 Apart from 21, 19 and 18 were also in existence to house sentenced prisoners.\u00a0 A large percentage was life sentence men and there were many serving very long sentences.\u00a0 We still got the odd trickle of men coming through who had been sentenced after the cut off date of March 1976, but by and large, it was the same old gubs we looked at each day.\u00a0 The militaristic regime was starting to give way to a more relaxed environment..something welcomed by most..although we still had our inspections and parades, the obligatory lectures and classes had gone.\u00a0 Education had taken over and by the next year the Open University would see a new dawn in the edification of many of the men.
\nOn the whole the body of prisoners relied heavily on the television..And to a lesser extent the radio..To provide the bulk of the entertainment.\u00a0 There were those who had their favourites..documentaries..wild life programmes..avid news watchers..those who watched anything..including The Dot…and contrary to popular belief I don\u2019t remember anyone standing for the Queen at the end of the night…..Well…not outside their cubicles anyway. \u00a0\u00a0Football of course was the thing that assured most seats on bums although thinking back now it\u2019s a wonder we were able to differentiate between two teams who looked like they were playing in slightly different shades of grey kits.\u00a0 Such were the delights of black and white televisions.\u00a0 Music played a major part in everyday life behind the wire and the whole array could be heard during a 24 hour period.\u00a0 There were only a few music programmes on TV around this time and of course Top of the Pops would have been the most popular.\u00a0 Thinking back to those days and to the drivel that adorned the charts I firmly believe that the only motivation for watching TOTP could have been to see Pans people..or perhaps they were Legs and Co by that stage.\u00a0 For those who had an alternative genre to sugar coated pop there was always The Old Grey and the dulcet tones of Whispering Bob.
\nIn July 1978\u2014in between Argentina winning the World Cup and us preparing..bulling and shining for the 12th<\/sup> day..a new\u2014short lived programme appeared on ITV.\u00a0 A late night \u201cprogressive and asthetic\u201d show..seen as an alternative to the TOTP generation.\u00a0 Revolver aired on a Sunday evening and had the comedian Peter Cook as a co-presenter.\u00a0 Great things were predicted but sadly the plug was pulled after only 8 shows.\u00a0 During that short run though we were lucky enough to catch acts like Ian Dury…replete with Blockheads…a new and exciting Jam…Elvis Costello….Siouxsie…..Kate Bush and many others who previously we had only caught a glimpse of.\u00a0 The acerbic Cook may well have been the reason for the brief run as I recall he could be very disparaging towards some of the acts.
\nIn our hut ..the middle one..Messines..there was quite a few of us who considered ourselves to be music aficionados.\u00a0 We exchanged NME\u2019s and Melody makers and lent each other the new albums..to be played during your allotted time on the record player which sat in the study hut.\u00a0 If memory serves me the most played albums around July 1978 were Bat out of Hell and Fleetwood Mac\u2019s Rumours which had came out the year before.\u00a0 Street Legal by Dylan had only came out and it\u2019s fair to say that it became another one that \u201cdone the rounds\u201d.<\/em><\/strong>
\nOn one of the first shows..it may well have been the first in fact…a dozen of us sitting watching..had our ears well and truly pricked with the introduction of a \u201cnew\u201d<\/em><\/strong> band.\u00a0 Dire Straits.\u00a0 Even the most knowledgeable amongst us drew a blank here, so didn\u2019t know what to expect.\u00a0 Being late at night the television was turned down to a very low level of volume..to placate those who went to bed early.\u00a0 Even still, when Mark Knopfler starting picking and strumming his was through Sultans of Swing we collectively knew we were hearing something different…a new rawness..a departure..and something that heralded a vibrant, burgeoning talent.\u00a0 The lyrics, on first hearing were a divergence from the saccharin sweetness of what was being served up in the Top Forty…after all John Travolta and Olivia Newton John were firmly planted at the top of the pile at this time with Rod Stewart on their coat tails with the Scottish World Cup anthem.\u00a0 The lyrics delivered in a sexy gravelly tone, were street wise and immediate.\u00a0 There were instant comparisons to Dylan and other memorable singer songwriters of the time.\u00a0 Those who weren\u2019t seated with us for Revolver, soon appeared.\u00a0 The peeked out through their cubicle curtains…they shuffled in behind us clad only in Y Fronts .\u00a0 Before the song ended most of the guys in the hut had gathered.\u00a0 Save those who were sleeping or the ones that couldn\u2019t see past Jim Reeves and Charlie Pride.\u00a0 The rest of Revolver that night was tendered inconsequential and was lost in a babble of approval and a chorus of intent..to buy the album..of the same name..at the earliest opportunity.\u00a0 Bobby Hat\u2014the hut OC\u2014poked his head out the curtain…not to join in the revelry..but rather to tell us all to \u201cturn that TV and get into bloody bed.
\nIt being a Sunday many of us wouldn\u2019t have visits for 6 or 7 days.\u00a0 And being a time before mobile phones the done thing was to write a letter to inform your folks to have the album in your next parcel.\u00a0 This was done as a matter of urgency\u2014many writing letters that night—for fear of being the tube that didn\u2019t get the album.
\nFrankie C went one better.\u00a0 He put his name down in the welfare book and got a phone call out to his Mum..who was able to get the album on Monday morning and have it brought up with the papers the same day.\u00a0 How we were tortured that night..when he refused to let any of us hear it….Get Yer Own!!<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0 One by one as we got our visits and parcels we got the album..LP\u2019s they were called in those days.\u00a0 And one by one we trooped out to the study hut to take our turn on the ancient Danzette…we even carried our own needle too…so we couldn\u2019t accuse the previous participant of gathering a fur coat on the end of the communal needle.\u00a0 Sultans of Swing was an anthem that summer.\u00a0 It inspired those hitherto guitar buffs to go back to the drawing board..or in some cases the Bert Weedon manual.\u00a0 First thing in the mornings the ablutions echoed to the refrains of the chorus..hummed and sang.\u00a0 Today it is as relevant as ever…at least to me.\u00a0 It still retains that immediacy that made me shift in my hard plastic sheet all those years ago, and sagely nod my head in recognition of something special.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey don\u2019t give a damn about any trumpet playing band-
\nIt aint what they call Rock and Roll……..\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

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Beano<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

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