{"id":1461,"date":"2017-12-21T07:39:57","date_gmt":"2017-12-21T07:39:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/timarnold.co.uk\/?p=1461"},"modified":"2018-01-09T12:09:34","modified_gmt":"2018-01-09T12:09:34","slug":"midge-ure-answers-to-everything","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/timarnold.co.uk\/midge-ure-answers-to-everything\/","title":{"rendered":"Music and Movies that Made Me &#8211; Midge Ure"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_1462\" style=\"width: 1034px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1462\" class=\"wp-image-1462 size-large\" src=\"https:\/\/timarnold.co.uk\/\/data\/apps\/ta\/htdocs\/public\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/MIdge-Blog-pic-1024x768.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1024\" height=\"768\" srcset=\"https:\/\/timarnold.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/MIdge-Blog-pic-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/timarnold.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/MIdge-Blog-pic-600x450.jpg 600w, https:\/\/timarnold.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/MIdge-Blog-pic-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/timarnold.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/MIdge-Blog-pic-768x576.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-1462\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Tim Arnold with Midge Ure\/Ultravox Single collection in Spain, 2017<\/p><\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3>Without doubt, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.midgeure.co.uk\">Midge Ure<\/a> is the reason I chose, at the tender age of 10, to live the rest of my life writing songs and singing quite often about <em>love <\/em>and\/or\u00a0<em>social activism.<\/em>\u00a0 I recognise the importance of celebrating great musicians when they have shuffled off this mortal coil, but I think it\u2019s equally, if not more important to celebrate those who deserve acknowledgement for their musical contributions whilst they still walk among us. \u00a0And I refer in particular to Midge\u2019s <em>music<\/em>, not even the extraordinary humanitarian work he\u2019s been involved in throughout his career.<\/h3>\n<h3><\/h3>\n<h3>I was blessed to grow up with an older brother who owned an eclectic record collection, although between The Doors, Bowie, Mahler and Ian Dury long-players, it was his girlfriend\u2019s collection, dominated with early eighties imagery that grabbed my attention: Steve Strange\u2019s nods and winks to Lindsay Kemp, Siouxsie Sioux\u2019s Geisha poses, Toyah, Japan and with more romance than a classic, heroic matinee idol: <em>Midge Ure<\/em>.\u00a0 The look was arresting, but the music is what hooked me.\u00a0 My cassette copy of <em>Ultravox \u2013 The Collection <\/em>(the first cassette I ever bought) was seldom out of my Sony Walkman in 1985.\u00a0 I digested every instrument, every guitar riff, classical motif, synth pattern, piano chord and lyric until I couldn\u2019t fit anymore in to my 10 year-old brain.\u00a0 His lyrics conjured up a romance that, even at ten, had me already dreaming of singing to that one special woman when I grew up.\u00a0 As soon as I did fall in love for the first time (at 17), the songs began to make their way out of me, and they have never stopped to this day. \u00a0Ultravox songs like <em>Dancing with Tears in My Eyes<\/em>, <em>All Fall Down and All In One Day<\/em> also connected me to the anti-war movement that Lennon also sung about. \u00a0It instilled in me the idea that music should be employed as a <em>weapon of awakening and compassion<\/em> in a world constantly threatened by war and unjust laws.<\/h3>\n<h3><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/ix1W065XA0k\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/h3>\n<h3>In 1985, Midge released his single\u00a0<em>If I Was<\/em>.\u00a0 The release coincided with a difficult time of my childhood when I had to leave England to live in Spain with my mother. \u00a0It was hard saying goodbye to my brother, his girlfriend and their treasure chest of music.\u00a0 Before getting on the plane to Spain, my brother gave me a mixtape.\u00a0 The first song was <em>If I Was<\/em> with a personal message from him that he recorded before the song began.\u00a0 Sometimes I think perhaps the connection to my brother at that time gave the song extra meaning as I went on to live a new life without him. The family became splintered, but the song and the tape became a lifeline, made of the music I had just started to discover in England. The music would become my route back home.<\/h3>\n<h3><\/h3>\n<h3>I can still remember being in the back of the car as my mother drove around the Spanish mountains to our new home, calling out \u2018Look how beautiful the view is Tim!\u2019 and I would turn the volume up on my Walkman and sing along to <em>If I Was <\/em>defiantly<em>. <\/em>It got to a point when her friends would ask what kind of music I liked.\u00a0 By way of an answer, she would launch into singing the chorus of <em>If I Was<\/em>.\u00a0 Although she meant it affectionately, I had not yet developed a sense of humour and I can remember sulking quite heavily when she did that!<\/h3>\n<h3><\/h3>\n<h3>22 years later, I finally braved performing the song at an <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/timmarcusarnold\/videos\/10155079060860911\/\">intimate gig in Toronto<\/a>.\u00a0 Nerves did set in which is pretty unusual for me, but there\u2019s not any other song that I have more reverence for than <em>If I Was<\/em>. I look forward to giving it another go at my next gig now that I&#8217;ve broken it in.<\/h3>\n<h3><\/h3>\n<div id=\"attachment_1464\" style=\"width: 750px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1464\" class=\"wp-image-1464 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/timarnold.co.uk\/\/data\/apps\/ta\/htdocs\/public\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/Tim-Toronto.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"740\" height=\"475\" srcset=\"https:\/\/timarnold.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/Tim-Toronto.jpg 740w, https:\/\/timarnold.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/Tim-Toronto-600x385.jpg 600w, https:\/\/timarnold.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/Tim-Toronto-300x193.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 740px) 100vw, 740px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-1464\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Tim Arnold performing If I Was, Toronto, December 2017<\/p><\/div>\n<h3><\/h3>\n<h3><\/h3>\n<h3><\/h3>\n<h3><\/h3>\n<h3><\/h3>\n<h3><\/h3>\n<h3><\/h3>\n<h3><\/h3>\n<h3><\/h3>\n<h3><\/h3>\n<h3><\/h3>\n<h3><\/h3>\n<h3><\/h3>\n<h3><\/h3>\n<h3>My timing of discovering Ultravox could not have been better.\u00a0 After listening to all their hits for a year between \u201984 and \u201885, I believed I had discovered a great secret, but suddenly the lead singer was No 1 in the charts. After that, the great unravelling happened \u2013 I realised that Midge has also written <em>Do They Know it\u2019s Christmas? \u00a0<\/em>and <em>Fade To Grey<\/em>.\u00a0 The discovery of his song-writing alone categorically made me decide that when I grew up, I would do the same thing that Midge did.\u00a0 Write honestly, poetically and powerfully about love, peace and everything that matters to me.\u00a0 It also informed my appreciation of writers.\u00a0 I was never drawn to frontmen or musicians in bands as much as the <em>writers<\/em> in the band.<\/h3>\n<h3><\/h3>\n<h3>Although with Midge, it seemed that you could be drawn to all three at the same time. It\u2019s well documented how influential and innovative he has been as a producer as well.\u00a0 On my 13<sup>th<\/sup> Birthday, my mother and brother got together to buy me a Yamaha DX7 keyboard \u2013 that I painstakingly learnt how to program and try to emulate most of the synth sounds Midge had used on his songs. I realised at the time how much effort had gone into the <em>sounds <\/em>he created for his songs. I use strings on most of my albums.\u00a0 Even my first album with <a href=\"https:\/\/timarnold.co.uk\/jocasta-no-coincidence\/\">Jocasta<\/a> was a classical\/rock crossover project, and pretty much everything I have done ever since, right up until <a href=\"https:\/\/timarnold.co.uk\/i-am-for-you\/\"><em>I Am for You<\/em><\/a>\u00a0and of course my own classical music project <a href=\"https:\/\/timarnold.co.uk\/sound-to-pictures-volume-1\/\">Sounds To Pictures<\/a>\u00a0are soaked in string arrangements.\u00a0 That\u2019s all down to Midge and Ultravox.\u00a0 Classical, epic form and structure with sharp electric edges.\u00a0 Billy Currie obviously also plays a large part in that influence as well.\u00a0 But it\u2019s Midge\u2019s lyrics that complete the first picture of pop music that I ever engaged with on a profound level.<\/h3>\n<h3><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/embed\/user\/sohohobo\/playlist\/07WYYPAY2uZaXXP2FW5jr7\" width=\"300\" height=\"380\" frameborder=\"0\"><\/iframe><\/h3>\n<h3>In 1993, after I formed Jocasta, I learned that my drummer\u2019s brother Jerry Meehan was playing bass for Midge.\u00a0 He invited me to an acoustic show at the old Hemel Hempstead Pavillion. \u00a0I shall never forget how Midge filled in everything that was missing from the recordings with just his voice and guitar.\u00a0 I got to meet him afterwards and it remains a beautiful moment for me, having been away from England for many years and then returning, starting my own band and then meeting the man who had played a part in me choosing the life I now lead in music.\u00a0 Jerry Meehan went on to produce my first single <a href=\"https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/track\/6sbHgPwLDvbKncwiNZ5CcJ\">&#8216;Go&#8217;<\/a>.\u00a0 The song debuted on radio on Steve Lamacq\u2019s Evening Session on BBC Radio 1 in 1995.\u00a0 So the path that began with me listening to Midge Ure on a Sony Walkman on the way to Spain at 10 years old resulted in a happy and poignant musical conclusion by the time I was 20.<\/h3>\n<h3><\/h3>\n<h3>Nowadays, people are often referred to as an <em>artist<\/em> when in truth there are at least 4 to 12 other people responsible for creating the actual <em>art<\/em>.\u00a0 If you\u2019ve ever been critical of \u2018artists\u2019 who lip sync live or who actually just cannot cut the mustard with their voice in a live performance, listen to Midge Ure live.\u00a0 He is without doubt one of the greatest vocalists to ever have emerged from the United Kingdom. \u00a0Phrasing, annunciation, timbre, tone, range, character &#8211; he has everything a great singer needs.<\/h3>\n<h3><\/h3>\n<div id=\"attachment_1469\" style=\"width: 1034px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1469\" class=\"size-large wp-image-1469\" src=\"https:\/\/timarnold.co.uk\/\/data\/apps\/ta\/htdocs\/public\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/maxresdefault-1024x576.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1024\" height=\"576\" srcset=\"https:\/\/timarnold.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/maxresdefault-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/timarnold.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/maxresdefault-600x338.jpg 600w, https:\/\/timarnold.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/maxresdefault-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/timarnold.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/maxresdefault-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/timarnold.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/maxresdefault.jpg 1280w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-1469\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">MIdge Ure, live in K\u00f6ln, September 2017<\/p><\/div>\n<h3>When you understand that he also wrote all the words he sings, you begin to grasp what it means to be a <em>genuine<\/em> artist, and one who is, in my humble opinion not acknowledged nearly enough.\u00a0 One of the most valuable experiences I had as a child was listening to the title track from his debut solo album <em>The Gift. <\/em>I remember listening to it over and over again wondering \u2018What is he talking about?\u2019, \u2018What gift?\u00a0 \u2018That <em>who <\/em>gave?\u2019.\u00a0 I thought it was another love song.\u00a0 You know: <em>\u2018The gift that you gave\u2019. <\/em>Luckily,\u00a0Tanith, (my brother\u2019s girlfriend at the time), explained that <a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/8bKeeIPDd3Y\">the song<\/a> was a tribute to the great Scottish architect Charles Rennie Mackintosh. \u00a0I listened to the song again, and ever since, I have looked at buildings and structures curiously, always wondering how they were built, questioning how an artist makes the choices they make, and why.\u00a0 I became interested in Gurdieff And Ouspensky because of Kate Bush, Lindsay Kemp and Kabuki Theatre because of Bowie, Antonin Artaud and The Theatre of Cruelty because of Jim Morrison, Carl Jung because of Sting and architecture because of <em>Midge Ure<\/em>.<\/h3>\n<h3><\/h3>\n<h3>The art of learning is built in to all the greatest music. The kind of music made by genuine artists. \u00a0This, to me, is pure <em>treasure.<\/em> \u00a0Not having children of my own (yet), I have no idea if this is still the same for ten year olds listening to popular music today.\u00a0 I suspect not, but I don\u2019t want to make a judgement on a survey I haven\u2019t done.\u00a0 What I do know is that I was blessed to grow up during such a rich period of popular music and even luckier that Midge Ure is still making records and performing live today.\u00a0 I hope we\u2019ll meet again one day. \u00a0Until then, I keep looking to his music for answers. Not <a href=\"https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/track\/3TTQgbYTa4JsZvxi7lcNBg\">answers to <em>nothing.<\/em><\/a>\u00a0Answers to <em>everything<\/em>.<\/h3>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp; Without doubt, Midge Ure is the reason I chose, at the tender age of 10, to live the rest of my life writing songs and singing quite often about love and\/or\u00a0social activism.\u00a0 I recognise the importance of celebrating great musicians when they have shuffled off this mortal coil, but I think it\u2019s equally, if&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1462,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[152,163,156,155,175,174,178,170,162,168,159,157,169,181,164,166,154,165,176,171,150,153,160,158,39,180,173,161,167,29,177,151,172],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/timarnold.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/MIdge-Blog-pic-scaled.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/timarnold.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1461"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/timarnold.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/timarnold.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timarnold.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timarnold.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1461"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/timarnold.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1461\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1537,"href":"https:\/\/timarnold.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1461\/revisions\/1537"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timarnold.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1462"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/timarnold.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1461"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timarnold.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1461"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timarnold.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1461"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}