![]() ![]() But I wasn't sad-I was thinking, 'these are great shows!' The feedback I experienced from people was so touching. I've played farewell gig in Japan, France and the UK. When you have no future, all you can do is live in the minute you’re in. It was snowing gently and the sun was making the snow golden. I was standing on a balcony looking out over the roofs. I love Japan and went to a monastery outside Kyoto. I wasn’t in pain and I wanted to make the most of the time I had left. I walked back home feeling so alive. The doctor told me I had less than a year and chemotherapy would only give me an extra two months. When I found out I had inoperable cancer I was completely calm and accepted it. But in 2012 my son dragged me to my local hospital. I was ignoring this lump in my stomach-it was about the size of an apple. She was the most beautiful human being I’ve ever known. I’m still in love with her and think of her all the time. It was terrible to see her waste away in front of my eyes. In 1985 Irene was pregnant with our son Simon and I reformed the Wilko Johnson Band with Norman. ![]() Ian had all this stage fright, but we were having a really good time playing in front of thousands and thousands of people. He’s a really good bloke, a lifelong friend. I’d have them written down on a piece of paper and sometimes, I’ll confess, I just used to turn my guitar off and do the funny walk or something. There were so many chords in their songs. A couple of years later Ian asked me if I wanted to join The Blockheads. He performed so brilliantly without being flash-always playing just the right thing. I was flabbergasted by his bass player Norman Watt-Roy. One night I saw Ian Dury and The Blockheads on TV. I don’t know why but things had got really bad between me and Lee. What a feeling! In 1976 our live album Stupidity went straight to number one. The audience had great big banners saying “Dr Feelgood”. We made our first album, Down by the Jetty, in 1974. I had it all!īy then I’d changed my name from John Wilkinson to Wilko Johnson. I was doing well and had a lovely wife and little boy back home. Within a few months we were getting famous and Matthew was born the same year. We got some gigs up in London on the pub circuit. One of the best times of my life was 1973. "When you have no future, all you can do is live in the minute you’re in." I got a letter from my girlfriend Irene saying, “Can we get married?” Even as a child, I thought that Irene was the one thing in the universe I was sure of. I ran the poetry magazine instead and got very interested in medieval literature and old Icelandic sagas. I couldn’t find a band so I stopped playing. I went to university in Newcastle to study English. My scheme was to save my dinner money and pay off a bit each week, but my future wife Irene paid for most of it. The local music shop had a Telecaster in the window, but £100 was a fortune. The lead guitarist Mick Green played a Fender Telecaster and had this way of playing-picking and strumming at the same time. I remember hearing I’ll Never Get Over You by Johnny Kidd and the Pirates. I’m left-handed but taught myself to play right-handed. The Rolling Stones put me on to music and I fancied myself with a guitar. My dad was uneducated and violent and I hated him. She devoted herself to looking after us, but there wasn’t much affection in our home. She was an intelligent woman-a teacher in the later part of her life. I got the sense from my mum that there was something shameful about coming from Canvey. It was all fields and wild open spaces then. He’s defied cancer, made a hit album with Roger Daltrey and starred in Julien Temple’s The Ecstasy of Wilko Johnson. ![]() Wilko Johnson co-founded Dr Feelgood and played with Ian Dury and The Blockheads. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |