Charles
O'Hegarty
April
21, 1937-January
29-2010
February
12, 2010 --
Chris Roche in London has this moring confirmed that Charles died in
Hackneyat Homerton
Hospital of a heart condition aged 72, on Friday the 29th of January.
He
was cremated at East London Crematorium Plaistow on the11th
of February. This
is the beginning of a memorial page for him,
beginning with three unreleased original songs he recorded at Apostolic
Studios.
[We
will be putting up more songs and pictures (they’re hard to come
by), so if anyone has pictures, recollections of Charlie, or other
personal
memories/tributes,
please pass them along to townley@astrococktail.com and we’ll
post them here.]
I
met Charlie while I was still running Apostolic
Studios on Tenth Street in
Greenwich Village and immediately brought him into
the studio to do some demos for Epiphany Publishing. We performed as a
duet for
a time, and he and his wife Anna and young daughter Merika became
family
friends. I had the pleasure of producing him in two albums of The Starboard List
for Adelphi Records, and years later, after I moved to Virginia and
worked for the
Mariners’
Museum, Charles became a year-long member of my group The Press Gang,
replacing
Capt. George Salley for our yearly English tour including Liverpool,
Newcastle
Tall Ships ’86, Bristol, and other seaport festivals. I have
many fond memories
of singing and celebrating with Charlie, the last being when he helped
see me
off, along with fellow members
of the X Seaman’s Institute for a voyage across
the Atlantic on Polish tall ship Zawisza
Czarny
in 1992. Alas,
we fell out of touch after that when he
moved back to London, except for the occasional letter.
He
was always a convivial spirit full of humor and tales and
ready to create a spontaneous song at the drop of a hat. To
demonstrate, here’s
one we put together on a whim, on the back of a napkin, silly words
that (sort
of) fit the tune of (of all things) “Jesu, Joy of
Man’s Desiring”:
You
Went Away – to the tune of “Jesu, Joy of
Man’s Desiring”
w.
Charles O’Hegarty, m. J.S. Bach
Obligato
#1:
You
went away one day and left me here to stay
I
was
cool in my way I let you go away
Oh
what else could I say
The
sky was turning grey
How
could I know you would stay away
I
remain here to pray that you’ll come back to me one day
Oh
I
need you so.
Slow
chorus
part:
Oh,
why, why, I say to myself,
Why
can’t I be true to myself?
Obligato
#2:
I
heard the sound as the bus pulled around and out
On
its
way on its route
Strange
faces looked on as people were standing around about
I
was
too low and was feeling too down and out
To
shout goodbye now there was no more doubting
No
longer that you’d go away.
Charlie
was known for his wonderful, upbeat humor, and his songs often
reflected it,
but these three, recorded
at Apostolic Studios in 1969, are
from the quieter, more tender side of Charles, especially
the lullaby written for his daughter Merika (note
the reference to the planes in the sky –
Charles went through the London Blitz as a child). Click to play or
download complete track:
Morning Shadow
Merika’s
Lullaby
Love
Poem
(Charles
on guitar, lead vocal, Jerry Burnham bass and flute, John Townley
harmonies,
mandolin, fiddle) Copyright 1969 by Charles O’Hegarty,
Epiphany Publishing.
From The Starboard List album Songs
Of The Tall Ships, he penned:
Classic Yankee
Clipper
Love this cut...w/ Neil Diamond's drummer!
(by permission Adelphi Records)
And, here's a set of links to three Press Gang home recordings
done for my Concertina and Squeezebox
magazine's Readers Tapes
series featuring Charles singing one of his most popular (and often
lyrically
chameleon) songs, plus two others:
It’s
a Beautiful Day (O’Hegarty @1973).
Banks
of Sicily (Hamish Henderson / traditional).
Let Your Back & Sides Go Bare (traditional).
Somewhere I have a whole solo set of Charles from an Apostolic Family
concert at the Washington Square Methodist Church (which actually got a
NY Times review),
maybe even transferred to digital, but can't lay my hands on it at the
moment...
-- John Townley
An informative thread is also underway on Mudcat at
http://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=127190&messages=16
From Frank Woerner:
".....I was thinking the day most splendid
till I saw what the not day exhibited,
I was thinking this globe enough till there
sprang out so noiseless around me myriads
of other globes...."
Walt Whitman
".....And he will make the face of heaven so
fine that all the world will be in love with
night....."
Shakespeare
from David Jones:
Hello John and all,
I spoke with Anna this morning, Chris Roche did a great job in locating
her and Marika.
There is a thread on mudcat, started by John Roberts, I added latest
info. today. See Charlie O'hegarty (Obit?0). There is also a posting
from Marikas fiancee. They played Charlie singing "Farewell to Sicily"
from the SL recording at the memorial service. Louise and I tried to
visit with Charlie when we were in the UK, as did others, but it was
hard. We did speak on the phone from time to time, and did actually get
to see him a couple of times. Now, of course, wish we had tried harder.
Think there should be a "SINGOUT" obit, we could pool memories, and one
for the NYFMS news letter. Also a good old sing around at some point.
There is another Mudcat thread about Charlies beautiful day song.
Re. memorabilia. Anna says there is loads of stuff.
All the best,
David
From Dan Aguiar:
I am so sad to hear of Charles' passing. From the first time I ever
heard him perform I was a real fan. I still enjoy singing his
"Classic Yankee Clipper" from the first Starboard List album. His
vocal stylings and enthusiasm for performance could grab any audience
lucky enough to catch one of his sets. His great sense of humor and
storytelling abilities could keep you laughing for many a long ride
to distant gigs. I was lucky enough to collect a bunch of his live
performances on tape and present him with a copy once. He self-
consciously muttered "I was pretty good then." He was a lot more
than that to my mind. Safe harbor Charles. . .
From Herb Gart:
John, I am sorry to learn of Charles passing. I think it was before you
knew him but I took Charles into Rudy Van Gelder's Chapel and recorded
a single of Body In The Bag! Jerry Corbitt played his 12 string through
a little practice amp that had a damaged speaker that sounded great and
Charles, Jerry and some others, whose names I don't remember at the
moment, sat in a circle with no separation of any kind and Rudy got a
crystal clear recording with everything heard. It was a fun record and
I released it and got almost no airplay. Did Charles ever play it for
you? I am looking to see if I have a copy somewhere, which I would love
to contribute to his memorial.
From John Lind:
I sailed with Peter Marston and family and friends on his French Ketch
Mimi to
Newport RI. The Starbord List performed at an afternoon concert.
The attached photos are the best I could resurrect from my 30+ year old
photo albums. My wife Susan and I are on the West Coast now, but
remember Charlie and all the
crazy antics that happened at Winds of Change, Gloucester, MA.
That era is times gone by but fondly remembered.
NEW:
A Memorial Concert by friends and fans will be held on Tuesday
night June 1st at the South
Street Seaport Museum in New York City (12 Fulton St. - 5th
floor from 6-8pm).
Admission is $5 adults
/ $2 children
Proceeds to go to the NY Folk Music Club.
More to come... |
