Eight Vignettes of 1968

63/68 A Visceral History – 8 chapters from 68 by Fred Garnett

Chapter One1968-1 Itchycoo Park

Are you Fred? Yes!Are you Bunch? Yes!Come in! Come in then, everyone's told me about you!A tanned smiling face poked round the corner of door to the Music Room; I didn'tthink of it as my Music Room yet. The Music Rooms were two carrels jammed between the serenity of the chapeland the madness of the kitchen at the East End of the Boarding House at Archieson the Hull Road in York. Well, they were rooms if you could call a four-foot byeight-foot space a room. My Music Room had an abandoned tea-trolley in onecorner, probably left there by Cook after being asked to make tea once too often,or even once, and a bench. It was the sort of wobbly, wooden bench thatprofessional footballers on the maximum wage would have sat on in the 1960s. Inthe end, we decided it was less comfortable than the floor and Bunch wouldsmuggle in sofa cushions for us to sit on. Today, however, sunlight beamed inthrough the narrow window at the end of the room. It was that preternaturallybright sunlight that we associate with an Indian summer and which leaves anafterglow in the memory. My record player was parked on top of the Tea Trolley,the record collection occupied the crockery area, and together they providedsome class to lift the bareness of the room.Wow, is that a stereo record player? Yes.Is that Sgt Peppers? And Are You Experienced? In stereo? Yes. You've got the albums in stereo? They are all in stereo, of course! And you've really got to hear the effects. They are brilliant on Pepper and on Hendrix, especially on Third Stone from theSun. Do you want to listen to them?I love Third Stone from the Sun! What stereo effects on Pepper do you like?Good Morning! Good Morning!Good Morning? Good Morning? Why? You know, that bit at the end where all the animals chase each other roundthe stereo. I used to play it every morning in my dorm when I got up. I wokeeveryone up in the dorm with Pepper last term!What? You could play records in your dorm at Boarding School? Yeah! Of course! Mind you, all of us were fifth formers, so that's why wewere allowed. It was such a great term last summer, despite the exams. Tell me about it, bloody O-levels! Yeah, awful!So how did you manage to get a record player in here then, in the MusicRoom? It's never had a record player before.I asked that fat bloke...

63/68 A Visceral History by Fred Garnett; Chapters 21-38 – August 31 2009fred.garnett@gmail.com

63/68 A Visceral History – 8 chapters from 68 by Fred Garnett

Sweeney? Yes... he said that I could put it in here, as long as I let anyone who hadrecords use it as well.What did you say?Well I said that as long as I am in the room when they use my stereo then Ididn't mind.And he agreed? Yeah, and then Andy helped me set it and here we are, a Music Room forPop Music!Sweeney let you have the room, and then Andy helped you set it up? Yeah! Why not? What's so special about that?I've been trying to get a place to play records here for five years! Whathappened, did Andy thrash you at Table Tennis and then feel sorry for you?22-20 in the final set thank you! The whole house was watching by then so Ifigured it wasn't a good idea to win; just let him know I could go close if I wantedto.But he's captain of the school Table Tennis team, and captain of most of oursports teams. Yeah so I found out... Close call there! Is he a runner too? Yeah, captain of the cross-country team. Why?Never mind; still at least I am in the school Table Tennis team now.When did all this happen?On my first day here.On your first day here! No wonder you're famous.Famous? What do you mean famous?Well, I've only talked to three kids since I got back and they all said, “You'vegot to meet Fred”Well everyone said to me you've got to meet Bunch, so we're quits there!Bunch?Sugar Pie Honey Bunch, he said with some reluctance.Four Tops? Tamla Motown!We shared our first smiles.What's that under your arm?Oh, three new singles I bought on my way back from the station. I haven't aclue if they're any good or not as I haven't heard them yet; do you mind if I useyour record player? You haven't heard them yet?No. I've been in Nigeria all summer and I haven't heard any new Pop Music. We smiled at the shared incantation; three singles, two smiles, one friendship...My kind of bloke Bunch, gets off the train, walks straight to the record store andbuys three records he's never heard before. Then has to get the bus to schoolcarrying all his bags, as he's broke. Brilliant!And they won’t let me out of school again til next Saturday so I knew I had

63/68 A Visceral History by Fred Garnett; Chapters 21-38 – August 31 2009fred.garnett@gmail.com

63/68 A Visceral History – 8 chapters from 68 by Fred Garnett

to buy them as soon as I got here or I'd go nuts waiting for something new.I was impressed; this was a guy thinking ahead. And for all the right reasons.So how did you pick them then if you hadn't heard any of them?Well, Small Faces! Yeah, Obviously. You like the Small Faces?Sha la lee! Is it Itchycoo Park? Yeah? Put it on then!!Bunch took over as though we had been doing this for years.Great drums!

Over bridge of sighsto rest my eyes in shades of greenunder dreaming spiresto Itchycoo Park that's where I've been

Where's Itchycoo Park then? You bought the record! You're English!I'm not a cockney though; may-tee!!I tried, unsuccessfully, to drawl with a Cockney accent.Stevie and the other little Faces went into the intricate kind of lead singer call andresponse with the rest of the group that Tony had pointed out that The Beatleswere doing on From Me To You. It lifted the record and lead it into their incantatorybelief in how

it's all too beautiful;

the real title of the record after all.

What did you do there?I got highWhat did you feel there?Well I cried But why the tears there?I'll tell you why!It's all too beautiful

It's all too beautiful! See it's a hippy song! Fantastic.Its not very RnB though is it? They've really changed haven't they? Yeah! But in a good way, they've gone progressive like the Beatles andHendrix...

It's all too beautifulIt's all too beautifulIt's all too beautiful

63/68 A Visceral History by Fred Garnett; Chapters 21-38 – August 31 2009fred.garnett@gmail.com