munkiman.bsky.social profile picture

Bryan Thomas @munkiman.bsky.social

#OneAlbumADay; This was English singer-songwriter Clifford T. Ward's second LP, helped by the success of the single "Gaye", a Top 10 hit in July '73, but it's not even the album's best song; the title of the album is taken from the poem "Home Thoughts from Abroad" by Robert Browning. More: alt text

Clifford T. Ward 'Home Thoughts' (Charisma, 1973) Quirky, British and highly personal are the words that sum up Clifford T Ward’s song writing. Born in Stourport, Worcestershire, Ward studied literature and "Home Thoughts From Abroad" re-interprets the Browning poem substituting Browning’s romanticism for 1970s British domesticity. In 1962 Ward formed a beat band Cliff Ward and The Cruisers. Popular in Birmingham they were also on demand at American Army bases in France and during a spell abroad Ward wrote "Home Thoughts." He had married his childhood sweetheart and with two children money was tight. As Ward recalls: "...the other men were able to pocket their money and have nights out in Paris. I would mail my money to my wife to help pay the rent and feed the kids. I used to walk in the forests of Fontainbleau and I remember working on 'Home Thoughts from Abroad' on a lovely sunny day there." The song went on an album of the same name released on the Charisma label in April 1973. One of tracks released from that album "Gaye" reached #8 in the UK chart. He continued to write and record but reluctant to travel far from home made fewer and fewer performances. As the rock and punk rock took over in the late seventies onwards Ward’s albums made less headway. In 1984 he was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis and despite the frustration of his growing disability he continued to write and record at his home studio. He released his last album Julia and Other stories in 1994. "I'm like a bat" he told journalist Spencer Leigh, "I function best at night, but I had to make some of it on all fours." Clifford T Ward died of pneumonia on 18th December 2001. (Words by BBC.co.uk)
2

Replies

No replies yet