RALPH, ALBERT & SYDNEY

Ralph McTell Books
Autobiography
Song Lyrics
Official Biography
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As Far As I Can Tell - A post-war childhood in south London


From the Preface:
"...the two volumes (of McTell's autobiography) have been combined and, with some additional passages and a selection of photographs, published by Leola Music Ltd. As Far As I Can Tell takes the reader from my early childhood to meeting Nanna and the brink of my career as a professional musician and songwriter. From that point on my musical career ran in tandem with my life with Nanna and my family. That is our story: this autobiography, however, is mine."

Publication details:
Title: As Far As I Can Tell- A post-war childhood in south London
Author: Ralph McTell
Published by: Leola Music
ISBN: 978-0-9549540-2-4
Format: Softback, Royal, 590pp
Category: Autobiography
Publication date: 2008

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SUMMER LIGHTNING
AUTOBIOGRAPHY VOLUME TWO


ABOUT THE BOOK
Summer Lightning is part two (after Angel Laughter) of Ralph McTell's autobiography, covering the years from his release from the Infantry Junior Leaders Battalion of the army at the age of 15 to the first tentative steps towards a musical career.

Title: Summer Lightning
Author: Ralph McTell
Imprint: Amber Waves
ISBN: 1-902684-03-6
Format: Hardback, Royal, 336 pages
Publication Date: 12 December 2002

Summer Lightning:
Autobiography Vol. 2
Ralph McTell Amber Waves ISBN 1 902684 03 6
Review from
Folk Roots
October 2003 - Issue No. 244
by Maggie Holland

This book continues the autobiographical account of Ralph McTell's life, the first 16 years of which are given in Volume One, Angel Laughter. It only covers about six further years (starting in 1960), but six years very intensively lived and recalled. During the period McTell worked at numerous menial and poorly paid jobs, kept idolising Woody Guthrie, played the guitar, fell in and out of lust numerous times and seriously in love twice. He hitched twice through Europe, busking to earn some money only when his hunger became more extreme than his crippling self-doubt and terrible stage fright. The writing is very evocative of place, whether it's the muddy building site in New Addington, the (in)sanitary arrangements of the Hotel du Commerce in Paris, or the smells of food in the narrow streets of Istanbul. His memory for people, incidents, conversations, is positively elephantine.

The work seems to have more structure than Angel Laughter, perhaps because the process of a rather ignorant and gauche young lad slowly and unsurely coming of age naturally propels the story in a forward direction. Family and neighbours feature less prominently and are replaced by a bizarre and ever-changing crowd of likely Croydon lads, posh art students, beatniks, alcoholic building labourers, lascivious lorry drivers. The music is there all the time, a constant thread running through the otherwise quite chaotic story. The wider world only occasionally intrudes, with Kennedy's assassination and the Watts riots providing a sort of time scale, but most of the narrative is imbued with the intense self-awareness that is characteristic of the human teenager. The grown-up Ralph, however, writes with great honesty and humility, never seeming to gloss over incidents that show him up in a less than perfect light. 

The boy in this book would probably never have thought that he would ever write a book about himself - and certainly wouldn't have believed that it could be this good.
Maggie Holland

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ANGEL LAUGHTER
AUTOBIOGRAPHY  VOLUME  ONE

ABOUT THE BOOK
The first in a set of two autobiographical works from the highly respected contemporary singer-songwriter Ralph McTell.
Britain in the period after the Second World War was a time of reconstruction both of buildings and families, the bleakness and austerity of life being tempered by feelings of happiness that the conflict was finally over.
Angel Laughter opens with McTell's childhood memories of growing up in this environment, where bomb craters, rationing and the struggle to make ends meet were daily facts of life for Ralph, his brother Bruce, and his mother (and Tyler the dog). A deep impression is made early in the book when we find the young 3 year-old Ralph witnessing the final row between his mother and father, and his promise to his mother to "look after you" is described with the poignant directness of a child.
The story is told with grace and humour, and as the book and Ralph's life progresses, the reader is treated, with extraordinary recall, to a wealth of experiences along the often painful road to adulthood, including, in the first few chapters:

-the dawning of adolescent yearnings as he and his pals watch their friend Georgina trim the privet hedge with provocatively blunt shears
-the start of his spiritual enquiries through his introduction to God (in the form of a Green Line bus driver) and subsequent Sunday School adventures
-his friendship with, and modelling for, Cicely Mary Barker, the renowned children's illustrator
-the romantic lure of travelling life in a 1950s fairground, opening the eyes of a young boy to wider horizons and opportunities.

Readers who know McTell's musical work will recognize his sideways approach to storytelling, his sense of poetic rhythm and timing, and his attention to the sound of words. Those unfamiliar with his songs will delight in being led by a master craftsman through the awkward and enriching experience of forming and developing childhood relationships.
Ralph McTell's creative career started when he learned the harmonica at the age of five, and continued with his first guitar some ten years later. From these beginnings, and a love of storytelling, he developed into a prolific songwriter, penning some of the most socially reflective and astute songs of recent times. In 1974 he won the prestigious Ivor Novello songwriting award for his moving indictment of city homelessness, Streets of London;and in 1992 the BBC commissioned and broadcast his unique radio play, The Boy with a Note, an evocation in words and music of the life of Dylan Thomas.

Publication details:
Title: Angel Laughter
Author: Ralph McTell
Imprint: Amber Waves
ISBN: 1-902684-02-8
Format: Hardback, Royal, 288pp
Category: Autobiography
Publication date: 3 October 2000

Book Reviews

"Ralph's wit and determination shine through the grime and hardship of post-war south London. While it will appeal to the over-40 age group, nobody can fail to be moved by the love and devotion of his mother in raising two young boys - and dog! Of all the many books I've read in the past year, this is the one I remember with most affection."
Brian Tansley, BBC Radio Nottingham

"It's a vivid and touching evocation of [postwar south London] as viewed by an anxious, insecure little boy - the dark flat, the street outside, the neighbours and the local children. The young McTell seems to have been rather prone to illness and injury and occasional fits of religious fervour - it doesn't sound like a very happy childhood, although there's plenty of humour in the retelling. The harmonica he learned to play seems to have been one of its few redeeming features. The story ends with his ill-fated sojourn in the army.
"It's very anecdotal in style, and hence somewhat formless; but it's a real child's eye view, delivered warts and all in an uncomplicated conversational style... McTell's prose is not as eloquent as Flora Thompson's, but there's something in the vivid, powerful evocation of another time and place of the sort that I get from reading Lark Rise.
"I found it an extremely enjoyable read."
- Maggie Holland, Folk Roots

"What we have here is a beautiful social history of life in post-war south London, with the young Ralph May acting as the still centre of the narrative. Neighbours, friends, relatives, pets and personal fears come and go and shape his early years. In the opening chapters McTell adopts an extremely interesting fragmented approach to his writing. He sadly abandons this as this narrative gathers pace, but this is a minor quibble, as his take on growing up in Croydon is never judgmental and always full of acute insight and gentle humour.
"It's impossible to read it without recognising many of the characters that populate his pages. Some seem from another age, perhaps Dickens'; others are all too familiar as we enter a new century. Above all, McTell proves himself, to borrow the title of one of his songs, to be a First and Last Man. I look forward to further instalments. High time for a reappraisal of the man, isn't it?"
- Bill Bellamy, Taplas magazine


"Bar the title (borrowed from a song) there is nothing in this first volume of autobiography - extraordinarily rich in detail and cathartically honest in tone - to reveal its author's ultimate career. While Ralph may not be the most enigmatic performer among Britain's folk milieu, his booze'n'drugs free life (unless, of course, volume two has something to reveal there) has clearly helped to maintain an exceptional power of recall - not only for the facts, but for the very sights, sounds and smells that accompanied them.
"Given Ralph's already celebrated qualities as a story-teller, it is the dreamlike objectivity - almost as if writing about someone else - that most surprises and impresses. This poignant, compelling tale of post-war poverty through adolescence and ultimately towards a rationalisation of life through music is essentially that of every British troubadour of a certain age. Yet an interest in music from the reader is actually not at all necessary to become wholly involved in a work that should be regarded alongside the social history of Angela's Ashes as much as the cultural history of British music."
Colin Harper, MOJO magazine

"McTell is a natural raconteur and the book is unashamedly anecdotal, recounting the author's childhood and adolescence in postwar Britain in a readable and whimsical style."
Andy Farquarson, Birmingham Post

"I knew from the title I'd love Angel Laughter and I was right. Amongst the glut of me-me-me celebrity autobiographies this is absoutely charming. You don't have to know Ralph's songs to appreciate his book - it stands alone. I can't wait for volume two."
Judi Spiers, BBC Radio & Carlton TV

"Evocative of Laurie Lee, it's an affectionate childhood memoir, from toddler to the bitter experiences of being a bullied army cadet. Full of pain, love and laughter, it recalls such familiar experiences as school bullying, puberty, being caught swearing and (very funny) that first fumbling date in the cinema.
"[An] enriching journey from boy to tentative adulthood..."
- Mike Davies, Birmingham 'What's On' magazine

"[Angel Laughter] will swell waves of nostalgia in any reader of 40 and over, and curiosity in younger readers. His honesty is impressive and he skilfully captures the angst of young adolescence."
Roger Bing, Croydon Advertiser

"Ralph writes well about childhood, particularly on the way that a child perceives the adult world... A moving, often very funny account which will throw light on the lyrics of some of Ralph's songs, though it is an enjoyable read simply as an autobiography of a young man growing up in the post war period. I very much look forward to Volume 2."
Grahame Hood, Traditional Music Maker magazine
 

"I read it at one sitting. It's tremendous."
Mike Harding, BBC Radio 2 

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Time's Poems - The Song Lyrics of Ralph McTell


Ralph writes:
"So here they are, all the songs I could find in notebooks, on scraps of paper and old tapes, on records and CDs. Some are not finished; some never will be; some are preludes to lyrics; some are attempts at poems. All of them try to be poetic and I offer them in the hope they will resonate with you."

Publication details:
Title: Time's Poems - The Song Lyrics of Ralph McTell
Author: Ralph McTell
Published by: Leola Publications
ISBN: 0-9549540-0-9
Format: Hardback, Royal, 448pp
Publication date: 2005

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STREETS OF LONDON - The Official Biography of Ralph McTell
BY CHRIS HOCKENHULL


ABOUT THE BOOK
Singer and songwriter Ralph McTell is best known for a single composition, 'Streets Of London', which he recorded in 1969 and was a Number 2 hit five years later. It has gathered many accolades since then, is now the most purchased sheet music title of all time, and has been covered by acts as diverse as calypso king Harry Belafonte, jazz diva Cleo Laine and agit-punks the Anti Nowhere League. Needless to say, despite the efforts of The Big Issue and others, the song's message on society's attitude to the homeless is as relevant as ever in the 1990s.

Yet McTell has done much more than rely on one song, however renowned, for his 30 years as a recording artist. As well as his ongoing muscial career, other roles have included children's TV host of Alphabet Zoo, Radio 2 presenter, and composer of music for Billy Connolly's TV travelogues. Connolly supplies the introduction to the book, giving his own unique perspective on a man he's admired for a long time and often shared a stage with.

The text is an eight-year labour of love by Chris Hockenhull, one of McTell's most knowledgeable followers, and has been edited by legendary music historian John Tobler. Hockenhull has spoken in depth to family members, musicians, managers, critics and associates as well as McTell himself to produce a fascinating picture of a man who may well be the nearest this country has come to Bob Dylan.

It's a book that pulls no punches, chronicling the disappointments alongside the successes. It also highlights his stylistic links with black blues music: born Ralph May, he adopted his name from the legendary Blind Willie McTell, has recorded two tribute albums to his early influences and is a renowned finger-style guitarist.

Through his three decades in music, McTell has survived showbiz with his credibility and compassion intact. His forthright views on life, plus the mark he's made on fans and contemporaries like Nanci Griffith, Mary Chapin-Carpenter, Donovan and more, runs through every page. This first ever book on McTell is illustrated by a fascinating selection of photographic material and memorabilia from the author and the subject's archives, including over 120 pictures (most previously unseen).

Publication details:
Title: STREETS OF LONDON - The Official Biography of Ralph McTell
Author: Chris Hockenhull
Published by: Northdown Publishing
ISBN: 1900711 02 8
Format: Softback, A4, 160pp
Category: Biography
Publication date: 1997

"Streets of London" has long sold out - except for the last few copies that Chris has found and is willing to sell for £20.00 each including postage & packing. It's first-come-first-served, so, if you want a copy, please Email Chris to reserve one for you.

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