![]() ![]() Wilko has left a legacy of brilliance in music. Wilko knew what he didn’t want to do: prog rock or concept albums, all the rage in the mid 1970s, when Dr Feelgood emerged one of my fondest stories is of Wilko and a group of friends sitting in the Monaco pub on Canvey in 1975 having a good laugh at Bohemian Rhapsody, which was on the radio. Wilko Johnson rose to notoriety in the 1970s as a founding member of the maverick, back-to-basics rock ’n’ roll band Dr Feelgood - his trademark no-nonsense guitar chops shooting straight from the hip in contrast to a soon-outdated backdrop of musical grandiosity. We just blew it right at the wrong time.” Wilko always denied that it was this song that made the band split up but, looking at the lyrics, it is clear that the ballad Wilko had created was going in a different direction.Īs Wilko once said: “It was perfect. Feelgood who had an unexpected career renaissance after being diagnosed with terminal cancer. The ideas, the rhythm and pace of the poetry he loved are there in his words.īy the time it came to the album Sneaking Suspicion and the song Paradise, the lyrics became autobiographical. By The Associated Press LONDON Wilko Johnson, the guitarist with British blues-rock band Dr. He went on to perform with Ian Dury in the Blockheads, but consistently played for his fanbase. When you look at Wilko’s handwritten lyrics to She Does it Right, Roxette, All Through the City and Another Man, there are very few alterations. Remembering English rhythm-and-blues singer and musician Lee Brilleaux on his birthday ( April 7, 1994), co-founder of Dr Feelgood in 1971, with Wilko Johnson, and the bands lead singer, harmonica player and occasional guitarist. Feelgood in 1977 with lead singer Lee Brilleaux amid tensions in the band. At uni he edited a poetry magazine and contributed three or four poems per edition. When he went to the University of Newcastle to study English he discovered medieval literature, Chaucer, Anglo-Saxon and Icelandic sagas. Another great pub rock version of this rhythm and blues standard from 1962. Wilko Johnsons choppy guitar style defined the sound of the band Dr Feelgood. Blow Your Mind, Wilkos first solo album of original material in 30 years, is available to order now. Wilko’s love of words came first from studying Macbeth and Henry V at O-level and taking A-levels in English literature, studying Shakespeare’s A Winter’s Tale and the poetry of Milton.Īs Wilko said: “So I played my Telecaster, read my Milton and scribbled in my notebook.”īy the time he was offered a place at Queen Mary College in London to take economics, he realised he had chosen the wrong subject - but “I was a communist, so I used to like doing that, winding people up.” MUCH has been written about Wilko Johnson’s contribution as a stage performer and musician, from the creation of Dr Feelgood to his Solid Senders, to being one of the Blockheads to the Wilko Johnson Band.īut these achievements should not overshadow another important component to Wilko’s life, that of a lyricist. Feelgood Lead guitar, piano (1971-1977) Solid Senders GB Related: Salvatore Ramundo Drummer in Wilko Johnsons band.
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