The Teignmouth Electron - A single by Benjamin Akira Tallamy inspired by the tale of Donald Crowhurst

I first heard about Donald Crowhurst from my father. He told me the story of a round the world yacht race and the characters that were involved, painted a picture of eccentric men, each of  whom were driven to pursue something  tantamount to madness.

He told me the story and it almost entirely slipped my mind until years later.

I was talking with my friend Tanja, who had been slightly obsessed with story and when she spoke to me about Donald Crowhurst, something rang a bell.

This was eight years ago.

Since he was a boy, my dad had been in the habit of reading a book a week and when I asked him again about Donald Crowhurst, he produced a book, "A Voyage For Madmen" by Peter Nichols.  I read it in a single sitting, once again, captivated by the tale.

I wanted to write a song about it, about Donald Crowhurst, but no matter how hard I tried, all that I produced seemed trite and vulgar.  In trying to translate the events, something fundamental was lost, everything I produced showed little insight and proved I knew nothing of it at all.

And how could I know anything at all? After all, Donald Crowhurst's tale end's in an enigma, one clouded with deception.

Donald Crowhurst on The Teignmouth Electron

In 1968, The Sunday Times Golden Globe Race was held, a solo unbroken yacht race around the world - the first of its kind.
Journeys were to be made alone, in a single voyage, without once touching land.
Not only was it dangerous as a voyage, but the immense mental strain would be arduous, too much for most.

There were nine entrants in the race and of these was Donald Crowhurst - an electronics engineer who had designed and built a navigational aid called The Navicator.  Despite being knowledgeable about sailing he was largely inexperienced, as people said; a weekend sailor.
With his business falling into ruin however, he saw the Golden Globe Race and more importantly, the £5,000 cash prize as a means to save his family from bankruptcy.

Crowhurst's boat, The Teignmouth Electron was a Trimaran, an usual choice at the time.  With his back to the wall financially and with time running out before the start of the race, many of the features he wished to implement were abandoned and so he set sail on the last day permitted from Teignmouth, Devon on the 31st of October. His boat half-finished.

Things did not start well, equipment failed and his inexperience on open waters meant he soon found himself making half the speeds he needed to. Crowhurst was no fool and within those first few weeks of sailing,  he gave himself a fifty percent chance of survival.

With his house and business mortgaged to pay for the race, he was left with two options - quit the race and face bankruptcy and ruin for his family, or continue, likely dying in the process.

Then, however, a third option presented itself - one which might allow not only his survival, but a means of taking the prize money.

The route of the Golden Globe Race

In December 1968, Crowhurst began falsifying his progress, giving vague reports on his location, whilst forging a logbook that gave him a sudden lead on his opponents.  In truth, Crowhurst's boat was severely damaged, sailing somewhere in the Atlantic.

By now there were only three other competitors in the race, a French man named Bernard Moitessier and two other englishmen named, Robin Knox-Johnston and Nigel Tetley (fascinating stories in themselves and well-worth reading about).  In the public eye, Crowhurst's gain put him in a great advantage and it was believed by many that he would likely win.

Crowhurst's intention was to rejoin the race, slipping in as a runner-up, no questions asked. This way his forged logbook would not be scrutinised and he could still collect the cash for fastest time.

In March though, Montissier made an amazing decision.  As he came to close to the finish line, Montissier turned his boat around, deciding that fame and fortune were of no interest to him.  He dropped out of the race and continued on to Tahiti. His reasons for doing so, ""...because I am happy at sea and perhaps to save my soul."

Then in April, Knox-Johnston crossed the finish line, winning the race - however, having set off at a later date, Crowhurst and Tetley were still in competition for the fastest time.  In reality, Tetley was far in the lead, but Crowhurst's false reports, put him hot on his tail.  Beleiving he was losing the lead, Tetley pushed his boat on to destruction.

On May the 21st, Tetley's boat broke up and he put out a distress call, rescued the next day from his life raft.

By the 30th May, it was announced Crowhurst was the only contender still in the race. If he crossed the finish line, he would win the fastest journey and now surrounded by a media hubbub, his  logbooks would be examined by experienced sailors.  His deception would be discovered, his life and family ruined.

He was in an impossible situation.  The mental strain and the loneliness was unbearable, he had made a gamble and lost.  Plagued by guilt, Crowhurst had been keeping a new logbook - one that would cast his story into a deeper tragedy.

Crowhurst's logbook

Excerpt from his final entry, July 1st 1969:

"Cannot see the 'purpose' in any game.

No game man can devise is harmless.

The truth is that there can only be one chess master...

There can only be one perfect beauty that is the great beauty of truth.

No man may do more than all that he is capable of doing.

The perfect way is the way of reconcilliation.

Once there is a possibility of reconcilliation there may not a need for making errors.

Now is revealed the true nature and purpouse and power of the game my offence I am

I am what I am and I can see the nature of my offence.

I will only resign this game if you agree that the next occasion that this game is played

it will be played according to the rules that are devised by my great god who has revealed

at last to his son not only the exact nature of the reason for games but has also revealed

the truth of the way of the ending of the next game that

It is finished-

It is finished

IT IS THE MERCY

It is the end of my my game the truth has been revealed and it will be done as my family require me to do it

it is the time for your move to begin

i have not need to prolong the game

it has been a good game that must be ended at the

I will play this game when I choose I will resign the game 11 20 40

There is no reason for harmful"

On the 10th of July 1969, his boat was found adrift, unmanned.  His body was never recovered. An examination of the logbooks revealed that Donald Crowhurst had lost himself in the journey.  It is believed he took his own life, casting himself to the ocean with a single logbook and the ship's clock.

He left behind him a wife and four children.

Crowhurst on the Electron

Nothing I could write would make sense of this story, the act of trying  was disrespectful. 
Songs were written, drafts abandoned - ideas skirmished and unfinished, each one distasteful to me.

I abandoned the project.

Then, many years later, one Christmas, a friend of mine, gave me a copy of a film called Deep Water.  Mark was an avid film lover and he had seen the documentary recently.

It was about Donald Crowhurst.

The documentary had come out years before (2006), in fact it had prompted Tanja to talk to me about it in the first place.  I was reminded again about why I'd wanted to write the song.  It wasn't about this man, or what had happened to him, but about something larger than that.

The Teignmouth Electron was just a boat, but Donald Crowhurst had staked his life on it. 
Whether or not his actions along the way were noble, he had risked everything.  To save his family from bankruptcy? Perhaps.  You tell me.

I couldn't write about Crowhurst, but I could write about myself.  I could write about the pangs of ambition, the weight of the past, our regrets, our hope for the future, the fear of loneliness - all those things.  It was succinct and it was clear in my head.

It took me an evening.

The Teignmouth Electron single - photo by Emily Ings

The clouds are no ocean,
the stars are no mask
we may peer into shadow,
we may claw at the past,

but to be lost on that motion,
to be cast on that flood,
to be washed in that silence,
is colder than blood,

if the world was an ocean,
And the stars were but dreams,
And all men were sailors,
with the heart and the means,

Then to follow that notion,
to be drawn to that call,
To be lost in that silence,
would be the mercy of all,

come lay me down,
sweetly wash away,
the fear in your eyes and hold,
draw us down,
in arms alone,
all for to sleep and to pray,

All these words,
All the woes,
will soon be forgiven I say,
come on home,
to stay.

Harbours close to some few lonesome travelers,
Silence clings to those who choose to pray,

we are the world and the world is the world we let in,
We are the words and the world is the words we we let in,
we are the way of a heart locked in timeless motion,
we are the want of all dreams in an endless ocean.

For the cover art, I chose a picture of the ocean at Dawlish, it meant more to me than the waters of Teignmouth, though it was arguably the same sea.

The video was shot and cut entirely by myself.  I had a very clear idea of it, I didn't want a narrative, or to see me playing the song as such. Music and words, conjur images - these are the things I saw in the music - inevitability, the passage of time.  I saw it in the photographs of my family and the items I had been given over the years, each heavy with memories.  The skyline I see each day from my window was the one I wanted to capture and so only one shot was filmed outside my house. Lights drifting in darkness, something reminiscant of restless wanderings, lonely journeys, hoping to return home.

The real Teignmouth Electron now lies in ruin on a beach in Cayman Brac, slowly reduced to debris by the elements.  Donald Crowhurst is often spoken of as if he were a character from a film, his life dwarfed by the events surrounding his death.

Donald Crowhurst was a man who lost his life in a situation that spiraled beyond his control, one worsed by notions of fame and success - elements that were stoked by the media and  people who stood to profit from his story. 

For whatever reasons, whether he was no longer himself at all by the end of it, Donald Crowhurst could never return home, and I wish, at least in part, he could have.

As an artist I always endeavour to write as if my work will never be seen, as if it is only of value in its self.  I attempt to find detail and reward in the process and not work with the mindset that i must prove anything, gain acceptance or praise from the people around me.  I fear these notions are born of vanity will cloud my judgement and ability to produce anything of quality.

I often fail in these endeavours, and that is fine also.

This being said, The Teignmouth Electron is a film, a song and an idea which, to me, has been executed with a precision which I hope to refine some day, but am very proud of for now. The story of The Teignmouth Electron made me look deeply at myself and the people in my life who matter to me and I see some value in the result.

We are told we live in a culture which doesn't value music anymore, that art has met consumerism in a world of iPods and Youtube Vine, six seconds here, three minutes there.  Though the technology is different, I don't believe this is a new culture or even that it is particularly true as a concept. We have different means to access art and a wider pool to draw from and I'm sure if we looked at the results, we would still find we are no-less a species obsessed with music and literature, film and art.

In ourselves though, we can give antidote to those ideas by how we see our own work, to cherish each step, through to the end. There is treasure here, though it may only be of worth to me, I am glad to have found it.

Thank you for reading my post and taking the time to hear my music.  If you don't enjoy it, dear reader, I apologise for wasting your time.

x

Substance & Shadow Theatre's 'Christie In Love' by Howard Brenton

I was approached by the wonderfully talented Midge and Rosie Mullin of Exeter's Substance &Shadow Theatre to produce a trailer for their upcoming production of Howard Brenton's Christie In Love.

I wasn't familiar with the play but I knew of the titular character, having seen the haunting film 10 Rillington Place, many years ago - a brilliantly made dramatisation of the story.

10 Rillington Place

Christie In Love is not a retelling of these events, but an analysis of the media furor surrounding the case of serial killer, John Christie.

John Christie

John Christie is believed to have murdered at least eight women during the 1940s and early 1950s but his tale is also remembered as a gross indictment of capital punishment.  Timothy Evans, who rented from Christie, was put on trial for his wife and daughter's murder and later hanged for the crimes.  In reality, it was Christie who had killed the woman and infant child.  Instead of being apprehended for these crimes, he instead became a principal witness on the trial.  Some suggest that his previous position as a Special Police Constable, may have helped him.

It is surmised that had the police conducted their investigation better it would have not only spared Timothy Evans from the gallows, but also prevented the murder of four women who were later to become Christie's next victims. The police failed to find the bodies of Christie's victims in the 10 rillington place, despite a human femur being used to prop up a fence in the garden.  It is also believed they manufactured Timothy Evans' confession which was later used as evidence against him.

Christie was finally convicted in 1953 for the murder of his wife, Ethel and later sentenced to death.

The 'set'

For the trailer, we wanted to avoid using any of the actual staging or dialogue from the play to avoid infringing on copyright.  We were also reluctant to try and illustrate anything from the real case, as not only did it run the risk of being distasteful, it also would be misleading, given the play's deeper themes.

Instead, we decided to go for a trailer that featured no dialogue and instead aimed to build on atmosphere, painting the broader strokes of the characters.
We dressed a corner of the basement in a local pub with various artifacts that suggested or mirrored objects from the play and Christie's life.  The shoot took place in one day and the edit and sound design were completed within 48 hours.

As inspiration, I could recall the opening of the 1960's TV series Callan from my childhood (reruns can sometimes be wonderful things) and the brooding oppressive atmosphere it generated.

This meant we had an example that anyone could see, rather than wax lyrical over vagaries locked in my own head.

Instead of a bare bulb, torchlight (which features heavily in the play) would illuminate glimpses of the characters and setting, before a final reveal showed us the scene. Everything else would be in the sound design.

There would be no dialogue, no music - just building soundscape and silence.

When working on any creative project, it is centrally important for me to have it already complete in my head. It's important to remain reasonable and flexible always, but I find it best to have largely seen the finished product before I start work.  If you can't see the finished product, it is often a slow and  long-winded affair to try reverse-engineer the path to that goal.

That being said, one must always be open to feedback and suggestions and not precious of ideas, otherwise you squander the talent of those that work with you.
If a mind is closed to input, the finished piece will always be an exercise in vanity rather than an exercise in taste and the result will be something greatly diminished as a result.

The input by  Sam Pike, Midge Mullin, Rosie Mullin and Mark Dishman was invaluable and many of the tweaks and subtle nuances in the trailer were gained thanks to them. 

Of course, most importantly, the entire shoot was an afternoon spent with good people and I look forward to seeing Howard Brenton's work come to life in their more-than-capable hands.

Sam Pike and Midge Mullin in Christie In Love

Midge Mullin as John Reginald Christie

Christie surrounded by squalor

Sam Pike as the Policeman

Sam Pike

Christie In Love - by Shadow & Substance Theatre

Please check out Substance & Shadow Theatre, via their facebook page: www.facebook.com/SubstanceShadowTheatre

The Demagogues - Cocaine Blues

Cocaine Blues - The Demagogues

Single is available from iTunes and all good digital retailers

Here's a video for my band The Demagogues single 'Cocaine Blues'  -I wrote this arrangement based around the traditional song Bad Lee Brown or Little Sadie. It's a popular song and the most famous version is probably Cocaine Blues by Johnny Cash.  Though the title was drawn from the beautiful ragtime version which i first heard on an Arlo Guthrie live recording, the song of course cut by his father, Woody, back in the day.

In this song, our anti-hero murders the woman he loves and attempts to evade the police, whilst in a narcotic-induced stupor. I felt the Cash version lacked the tonality of the songs themes and although i grew up with the Dylan version of Little Sadie (all of them) I always pictured the song in my head more like the end of I Am A Fugative From A Chain Gang:

"How do you live?"
"I Steal"

Our hero has fallen from whatever small grace was given to him, kicked down in the dirt, rubbing shoulders with the rats.  He's not bouncing along, he's played the worst hand of his life and now the only deal left to cut is the one that puts him at the end of a rope.  It's not a song of redemption, but a song of regret - the words of a drowned man.

When you want to sing these songs well (and I'm not claiming that I do) I believe you have to pull out the guts and climb inside. Whatever's left in there along with you, whatever bits that still fit once you wriggle between the bones - that's the essence that you want to keep, the way you see it, the way you always thought it should be.

It should never be an exercise in writing the best version of a song, that is vanity, but it should be an exercise in writing your best version of a song - the one that is truest to you.  And this is what I always heard when those lyrics rattled through my head as a kid, or near enough as dammit.

It came together quickly as these things often seem to when they've been brewing behind the scenes, here's roughly what made sense at the time:

 To make the video, we took advantage of circumstance.  At that time Lizi and I were in Four Of Swords production of Jekyll and Hyde at Poltimore House, a dilapidated Georgian Mansion, deep in the Devon countryside. With the help of local filmmaker Darren J. Coles and the fabulous cast and crew of the show, we were able to slip in some filming between performances.

As always, I am indebted to the talent and kindness of the people around me, who have the patience to join me, as ever, on this strange journey.

Shields Of Justice Official Trailer

The new trailer for Shields Of Justice released today and here it is in all its glory:

Aled Jones Did Not Sing On The Snowman

Being the start of the Christmas Season, I thought I'd add my single: Christmas Is A Sham (Elegy For Aled Jones) to the blog roll.

The track is available on iTunes

Christmas Is A Sham

Recorded in 2010, this single is perhaps the only festive lamentation for the popular misconception that Aled Jones sang on The Snowman.

It was of course sung by Peter Auty.

Here is the official video:

The track is available on iTunes 

And for those who wish to sing along:

It’s Christmas
Very merry, merry Christmas,
It’s Christmas
Though I wrote this in September
I'm so happy, I could just lie down and cry,

It’s Christmas
Very merry, merry Christmas,
It’s Christmas
I'm so very ecstatic at the prospect that,

I will now drink myself into the joy of alcoholic coma,

The great escape is on TV,
Oh my lord, we're just oh so very happy.
Thank you for Christmas, we are going to celebrate,
By spending money that we don't have, on things that we don't need,
Just like it says in the bible.
God is good, god is great,
Hallelujah

But lock your doors and say your prayers,
Steel thyself for a shock,
For last night I learnt a terrible thing,

Aled Jones did not sing in the snowman,
He just sang it on the album,

And if this is a lie, then what else is a lie,
And if this is not true, then nothing is true,

Christmas is a sham,

Aled Jones thou art a liar,
You believe in god and yet you lie,
I want all the children to awake on Christmas day and sing,

Aled Jones, thou art a liar,
Aled Jones, you lied to me as a child (when you were but a child)
Aled Jones, thou art a liar,
Aled Jones, you lied to me from the past whilst you were still but a child,

But in the spirit of Christmas,
And in the likeness of our lord,
I’d just like to say,

I forgive you,
Aled,
And if I can forgive you Aled, probably god might too,

I forgive you,
Aled,
And if I can forgive you maybe so will the other guy, who isn't as famous as you,

Aled, thou art forgiven.

Merry Christmas Everyone!

 

The imagined village and other stories...

I've been very quiet on here of late and it is due mainly to the rather hectic nature of my projects. At present I'm in the seemingly perpetual state of 'almost finished' on a number of things.

Currently I am going through the extremely mundane task of colour-correcting the latest Shields Of Justice Trailer, which should go live at the end of the year.

That's right! Shields even features a desert scene!

As projects go, Shields Of Justice has been a biggie, draining hundreds, maybe even thousands of man hours.  We should hopefully wrap shooting in the next month or so and with the rough cut already complete, there will no doubt be many hours of colour-correction and foley work ahead...

On top of Shields, the other major projects I have been focusing on, are my book and album.

The Peasant's Songbook, is a thirteen track studio album featuring songs centred around poverty and hardship - two particularly entertaining subjects in my opinion. The album is planned for a late spring release, though planning is often a fool's errand on these things. The quality of production is tenfold improved over The Melody Of Distaste.  The album will be a follow-up to my single Prince Of The Holy Sacrament, though this track will remain exclusive and not be featured on the album.





My follow-up to Cold Highways, is currently being editing after completing the drafting process this year.  Centring around a family living in depression-era America, it thematically flanks my album in some ways.  It's a fairly intense work if i do say so myself, dealing with themes love, morality and the burden of choice.
It's original title 'War Of Ages', will no doubt change before completion. I was always on the fence about it, as the title could potentially seem misleading.  However, I've recently learnt that a metal band has the same name, so I'll try and come up with something more original in good time.

So, what adventures have I been up to since my last posting? Well, in the world of Shields, there have been many as we churned our way through the rather exciting Vietnam War Sequence.

The Bionic Badass - Vladamir Khlor from Shields of Justice.

We also have had a few radio spots as well as a video interview for Devon and Cornwall film:

I myself have also been doing the rounds, musically speaking. I did a solo spot on the regional BBC radio, as well as several local stations such as Phonic and Riviera FM.

One of the more exciting happenings this year was where i was given the opportunity to play with The Imagined village. I must admit, I have rarely been so nervous, but the band were a  lovely bunch and it was an extreme pleasure to meet them all. It was  amazing to sit in on a rehearsal and hear some of their new songs live.





All in all 2012, has been a fun and exciting year. I'm about ready to be done with some of these projects though. I am especially keen to try and find the time to concentrate on some more musical endeavours.

Anyway, as always, check out my website and do chime in to follow me on facebook and twitter for less stilted updates!

Featurettes... Of Justice.

The last few months have been pretty frantic as Shields Of Justice has taken over my life.

We've just finished the first of several shoots for our Vietnam sequence and are lining up the last few shoots that will wrap the project.

One thing we have just put out though is a duo of mini featurettes - basically to identify the difference between Crash and Burn in the film.

Here they be...er, are!

And some outtakes:

Tallamy on the radio.

I recently appeared on Jackson Cooper's Radio show and played a few songs live.

Jackson Cooper and Ben Tallamy

Below is a couple of links to the show and a video that was taken in the studio.

Nick williams is on at 21:00 and Ben Tallamy is on at 1:12 – of course, you’ll want to listen to the whole show!

To find out more, about Jackson Cooper's show, visit this link:

Jackson Cooper's Riviera Showcase

Flandyke Shore

Here's a clip from a new little thing I'm doing - videoing a few songs and popping them on Youtube.

Flandyke Shore is a traditional song and this version is most similar to the arrangement by Nic Jones.

I learnt this years ago and have never really played it, so I think there are a few changes that aren't quite right - either way I was never able to play it to Nic Jones' standard so those limitations have created this arrangement.

Anyone interested in the tuning will want to tune their guitar to what I believe is called Cmodal - CGCGCD.

And for anyone else interested, to my knowledge (and probably defective memory) this song is a variation of Flanders Shore which came from a tune called The Ploughman's Love For The Farmer's Daughter, though the war that it features was a good hundred years before so it is probably older.

I have no idea why the light is 'springing from her clothes'