NEWS: Heath Common's Viral Verses in support of the NHS, where poetry, music and our contemporary life combine.

HEATH COMMON

‘2 COVID VERSES’

HEAR ‘POWIS SQUARE AT 4AM’ 

& ‘WHEN THE DOG BITES THE MONKEY’
 

RELEASE ON HI4HEAD RECORDS

6TH NOVEMBER 2020
 

TAKEN FROM THE ANTHOLOGY: ‘VIRAL VERSES’

IN SUPPORT OF THE NHS

Invited by Stephen Linstead from York University, who has overseen the compiling of the modern poetry anthology entitled ‘Viral Verses’ - Heath Common has set to music and recorded two of his poems/lyrics which feature in the ‘Viral Verses’ anthology, which was released in a bid to raise funds for the NHS and maintain positivity in these unprecedented and troubled times.

‘Powis Square At 4am’ is a lyric concerning the time in 1969 when Heath was living and struggling in the Notting Hill Gate area of West London. One night when returning home during the very early hours of the morning he came across Mick Jagger who was being filmed in Powis Square as part of the movie in which he was starring entitled ‘Performance’. Heath’s reflections on coming across Jagger in such surprising circumstances prompted him to write about everything that was going on around me in the Notting Hill Gate era of that magical time and how he struggled to keep my head above water. “It’s essentially a study in survival!”  he says.

‘When The Dog Bites The Monkey’ reflects upon how normally compliant people can be pushed just so far before they rise up in protest as a result of them reaching breaking point. Heath says, “It happened during the Miners Strike of the early 1980s for example and I believe it could well happen again in the very near future as a result of the confusion and resentment currently being felt by so many towards figures of authority during this Covid pandemic. It’s not a prediction - it’s a warning to get things sorted out before everything explodes!”

About Heath Common:

Heath Common was born in Normanton, West Yorkshire. Soon after birth alongside his family, Heath began a life of constant travelling, moving from place to place throughout Britain, never staying anywhere too long. Despite this somewhat ‘rootless’ existence, certain places made a particular impression on the young, Heath’s mind – in particular, the respective times he spent in Halifax, West Yorkshire and Notting Hill Gate, West London.

Heath Common was lost. Somewhere west of Notting Hill, somewhere south of '69. Heath was lost but now he's found and the Renaissance can begin. This is a rebirth re-emerging from the darkness. A song-cycle reaching back to the Beats and drawing on the energies generated in those highly charged times before dope-dancing on to the days of the Freak. This is an Odyssey which looks back and then steps forward at one and the same time. Never trust a hippy? Sure thing, but only if you wanna lose track of where you're coming from and where you're tripping to. Hare Krishna Humphrey!

Heath Common began his musical career playing in New York City with Robert Lockwood and Johnny Shines – the stepson and close friend, respectively, of the legendary blues musician, Robert Johnson. Following this, Heath Common worked with – and was greatly influenced by – many major figures in the New York ‘Art Rock’ scene of the 1980s and early 1990s. Subsequently, Heath Common formed a duo with the Thin Man before both men went on to work with a diverse number of musicians ranging from the guitarist John Fahey to the British indie act, The Rhythm Sisters. Heath Common continues to work closely with many of the surviving figures from the Beat Movement and he is a published poet.