When An Old Cricketer Leaves The Crease by Roy Harper
“Tea with strawberry jam,cream and scones. A blue sky dotted with fluffy white clouds. The smell of new mown grass. A slight chill in the air. The distant sound of church bells. A pint of slightly warm beer. The crack of a ball on willow. Summer in England.”
1 loveThis jam was posted by 32 people
but crumble27 was first
Tea with strawberry jam,cream and scones. A blue sky dotted with fluffy white clouds. The smell of new mown grass. A slight chill in the air. The distant sound of church bells. A pint of slightly warm beer. The crack of a ball on willow. Summer in England.
The first mention of John Peel I can find in my shortwave radio logs is from 1977. I started listening to him on the BBC World Service in 1977. He shaped (warped) my musical taste.
He had an agreement with his longtime producer, John Walters, that when he died, Walters would air this song on the BBC. Sadly, Walters died before Peel. It was left to Andy Kershaw to end his tribute to Peel on Radio 3 ("instead of a minute of silence, an hour and three quarters of noise") with his final request.
Ever since, I've associated the song with death and loss. So this is my #lastjam.
I'll miss you, TIMJ. I'll keep jamming at Let's Loop, Nusiki, and probably God's Jukebox as well (haven't signed up there yet) with the same ridiculous handle. Hope to see you there.
3
Time to go home and put my feet up.
Perfect end of summer song.
4
Another of Peel's all-time favorites. In the event of his death, Peel asked his longtime producer John Walters to play this both as an on-air tribute and at his funeral. Walters ultimately predeceased Peel in 2001, and Peel himself played the song as a tribute to Walters on 31 July 2001. Following Peel's death, his BBC colleagues Rob da Bank and Andy Kershaw both played the song on their programmes.
1
Time for a re-jam of this fabulous song...
