Graham Gouldman: United, my dad and me
If you don't know the name Graham Gouldman, you'll almost certainly know some of the famous songs he has written during many successful decades within the music industry.
The Salford-born songwriter's career took off in the mid-1960s when, while still a teenager, he penned a series of hits for acts like the Yardbirds and the Hollies.
Worldwide acclaim followed in the 1970s, when his own group, 10cc, produced a slew of memorable hits like I'm Not in Love and Dreadlock Holiday, with the latter enduring in popular culture for its cheeky refrain “I don't like cricket, I love it!”
Worldwide acclaim followed in the 1970s, when his own group, 10cc, produced a slew of memorable hits like I'm Not in Love and Dreadlock Holiday, with the latter enduring in popular culture for its cheeky refrain “I don't like cricket, I love it!”
It wasn't the only sporting reference in Gouldman's work. A decade earlier, he wrote a lesser-known song in which he dedicated a verse to football and his local team, Manchester United.
It's Nice to Be Out in the Morning was recorded by Herman's Hermits, a Manchester band, and released in August 1968 - just a few months after the Reds became the first English club to win the European Cup. It includes the lines:
“United's ground where the champions score
“A hundred goals to the Reds stand's roar,
“And Bobby Charlton, Best and Law...
“It's a most fantastic day when they play.”
Growing up less than a mile from our former training ground, The Cliff, perhaps it's inevitable that United would find a way into Gouldman's creative output. But when he spoke to us from his London home (Graham left Manchester in 1986), he revealed that his Reds-mad father, Hymie, had been the driving force behind the song's football references.
“The song was written for a film that Herman's Hermits did called Mrs Brown, You've Got a Lovely Daughter,” he explains.
“I wrote quite a lot of songs for that film, one of which was It's Nice to Be Out in the Morning. Now, at that time, my dad, who was an absolute Manchester United fanatic, helped me write songs. All the music was mine. But a lot of the lyrics are my dad's. He had a day job, and he later earned royalties through his work with me, but really his passion was writing lyrics and writing stories and anything else to do with the world.
“I wrote quite a lot of songs for that film, one of which was It's Nice to Be Out in the Morning. Now, at that time, my dad, who was an absolute Manchester United fanatic, helped me write songs. All the music was mine. But a lot of the lyrics are my dad's. He had a day job, and he later earned royalties through his work with me, but really his passion was writing lyrics and writing stories and anything else to do with the world.
“Sadly he's not here to talk to you, but if he was, he would tell you he was an absolute United fan. He couldn't have been a bigger football fan. I remember him coming home and talking about how he'd seen George Best play and sort of describing him in the way he moved with the ball in these very poetic terms. Almost like he was describing a ballet dancer, rather than a football player. He saw it in a different way maybe to a lot of of other people. He saw it as a sort of high art, or as very poetic football.”
Gouldman admits the football bug has somewhat passed him by, but he retains vivid memories of the obsession that United fired in his father and other mates.
“My dad used to take me to Old Trafford. I have to say it skipped a generation with me, because I wasn't that interested in football. But my two sons are very interested in it, albeit one is a Man United supporter and the other is an Arsenal supporter! A lot of people, and many of my friends, are still absolutely besotted. It's like a religion. I understand it but I haven't got it. It's not in my blood, but it was in my dad's blood and it's in my sons', but it missed me for some reason.
“My dad reminded me later that I spent a lot of time looking around the stands rather than the game. I was sort of fascinated by all the people around me, and the actual structure of the building.
“But one thing I do remember very well, which was very sad, was at the time of the Munich Air Disaster, my dad and his neighbour... my dad went round to his neighbour's house and they fell into each other's arms in tears because of what had happened. That was how important United was to them. It was a major thing. What year was that? 1958. So I was 12. It affected everybody. I think it was, in a way, to my dad and others like him, it was even bigger than the Kennedy assassination [in America]. It was [like they'd lost] part of their family.”
And what of Best – a footballer so entwined with the cultural developments of the times that some onlookers even dubbed him 'the fifth Beatle'?
“George was a good-looking guy," acknowledges Graham. “You could see why he would be linked [to the music] and called 'the fifth Beatle' because of the way he looked. None of the Beatles could play football like him, and I don't think George could play the guitar!
“But what it was, really, was emerging youth making its mark. The Beatles were a big part of that revolution. There were teenagers and people in their early 20s that became really important in business and sport and the arts and everything. They were recognised for that, rather than going from being a young lad straight to being an adult. It was a different time, and the Beatles certainly opened that up for us. I think the football was part of it too.”
The year of It's Nice to Be Out in the Morning's release, 1968, also saw the birth of Stockport's Strawberry Studios – a recording centre in which Gouldman would invest. In the years to come, it would not only provide a base for 10cc, but also offered countless legendary Mancunian bands recording opportunities. Notably, Joy Division's landmark Unknown Pleasures album was concocted there in 1979 by the band and iconoclastic producer Martin Hannett.
Several football songs were also developed at Strawberry. “We made quite a few. We did one for City, one for Everton [United also recorded two FA Cup final songs there, in 1983 and 1985]. For me, coming from a United family, doing a record for City could be looked upon as not very good! But we did it because it was good for the business of the studio.”
Several football songs were also developed at Strawberry. “We made quite a few. We did one for City, one for Everton [United also recorded two FA Cup final songs there, in 1983 and 1985]. For me, coming from a United family, doing a record for City could be looked upon as not very good! But we did it because it was good for the business of the studio.”
Strawberry Studios, and all that great work with 10cc and those important bands of the 1960s, will ensure that Gouldman's broad influence on popular music will endure far into the future. He's still touring now, at the age of 77, and will return to Manchester's Bridgewater Hall next year. But what makes the city such rich, fertile soil for musical culture and the arts in general?
“I'm asked this question a lot, and I don't know!” he muses. “With Liverpool, they said that the sailors used to bring back a lot of records [from overseas] that people heard. I think that affected Manchester to a certain extent.
“I don't know what it is about Mancunians, that they have a kind of an attitude and a love of the arts. Manchester has always been a cultural city. The libraries, the theatre, music, and all of the venues that were there. Maybe it's because it's a university city. There were lots of clubs when I was growing up, so there were places to play. Going to see these bands play in many of these clubs was very inspirational.
“But I can't give you the definitive answer on what it is about Mancunians. Manchester and Liverpool, in the popular music world, has definitely punched above its weight. I always love it when I come back.”
Graham Gouldman's latest album, Modesty Forbids, is out now. For more information and tour dates go to www.grahamgouldman.info.
Graham Gouldman's latest album, Modesty Forbids, is out now. For more information and tour dates go to www.grahamgouldman.info.
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