PAUL WHEELER

Paul and I shared just one year together at Caius College Cambridge, 1968/9, as described in Paul's memoir on this site.

 

It was my final year and his first year, and we had every intention of continuing our friendship...and, guess what?  It took a bit of a left turn into history, and wasn’t resumed until fifty years later.  

 

Yes, Dear Reader, that’s half a century!

 

The reasons for this hiatus are manifold: a) we were evidently lamentable at keeping addresses, contact details, etc, intact, if at all; b) The Internet was just a twinkle in some US General’s eye at that time, not to come along with its umpteen communication possibilities for another 30/40 years; c) life, Dear Reader, life, including marriages tried and failed, children produced and raised, jobs, mortgages, multiple preoccupations.  The usual good, bad, and occasionally ugly.

 

During these many long years I could always recall Paul’s verbal dexterity and pungent, penetrating wit on many, many topics, our shared love of poetry, and his highly original, beguiling songs and guitar playing. 

 

As Paul describes in his memoir, we had many friends in common, Nick Drake, Robert Kirby, Mike Schuetzer-Weissman, Pete Russell, to name the most frequent frequenters of our college rooms.  Heady days…..

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Cut to the present. I eventually collared Paul in the Autumn of 2018 via his music website, prompted by a mention of our friendship group in Trevor Dann’s biography of Nick, Darker Than The Deepest Sea, which set me on the trail of definitively tracking down the elusive Wheeler bird.  This time successfully. Thereby has ensued an almost year-long flood of emails, messages, recordings, photos, jokes, anecdotes, poems, and the sheer delight of mutual rediscovery after such a long time.

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I am aware that my main intention here is to introduce you to the world of Paul’s music. Across his albums you will find a spellbinding mix of songs from the 60’s up to the near present-day. You will hear beautiful melodies sung in a lovely, pitch perfect, immaculate voice, sometimes with harmony accompaniment that is equally exquisitely pitched.  Wide ranging lyrics will beguile you, covering a truly human and humane span of emotions.

 

Alongside the beauty of the voice is the ever present guitar, or guitars, covering just about every role that the guitar is supposed to play, always with taste, touch, and tone to die (or live) for. Brilliant sidemen and women will also pop up in the mixes; speaking of mixes, the stellar role of Chris Matthews must be acknowledged for his gorgeous arranging and production contributions throughout.  Chris is the George Martin to Paul’s Beatle, the Brian Wilson to Paul’s Brian Wilson.

 

I have responded privately (and publicly on Facebook) in poetic terms to Paul to show my deep appreciation of his albums and many individual songs, and it would be next to impossible for me to nominate favourites; the quality is so high right across all of the recorded output, as you will discover for yourself by delving in. Anywhere, any album, any song, you are guaranteed to be delighted. Or your money back (see Paul).

 

It feels appropriate to finish on a poetic note, as I have found Paul’s music to be hugely inspirational on a personal level.  Paul once memorably said to me, half a century ago, a propos of poetry, “You have got to love words.”  Simple, wise words that have resonated with me throughout a lifetime’s writing.

 

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sometime in the summer

or the winter

autumn spring

 

you may catch a certain singer

who brings the hum of

the brush of zephyrs wings

 

who fills your memory

with days of ecstasy

days of yearning trust and youth

 

with melodies

that set you free

be they ballads or born of the blues

 

and chords that ache and speak

of a heart that seeks

of a seeker after truth