John Howard --- "Magdalena Merrywidow (for April Ashley)" (2007)

This is track 6 from John Howard's 2007 album Barefoot With Angels (Hanky Panky Records).

"This song was written as my tribute to April Ashley. The lyric isn't about her per se, but was inspired by her. I knew April in the '70s when I performed regularly in her Knightsbridge restaurant AD8. It was a glamorous place, film and TV stars would frequent the restaurant and were often there till the early hours. At some point in the evening we would hear April's rich resonant tones, 'Good evening, darling,' as she came down the stairs from the mews behind the restaurant to greet her customers and friends. She was a truly beautiful woman, and when I was told her life story by the manager I was enthralled by her bravery, her tenacity and the absolute success she had made of her sometimes difficult life.

"Although this song isn't 'about April,'' as I say, it's more my tribute to her in the guise of my character Magdalena, quite recently April was on TV talking about her new autobiography and she was discussing her gender change operation in the '60s. I had no idea the operation was done in Paris and that the first word the doctor said to her when she woke up was 'Bonjour!' --- yet there, in my lyric, I had written of Magdalena's time in Paris where all the local beauties would shout out 'Bonjour!' to her each day. As I have said before, lyrics often arrive from out of the ether, they present themselves to me as I sit at the piano, and that's when I think they must have originated somewhere, lived somewhere else, before they came into my head. Or is it merely coincidence...?" ---JH

The song and the album are available on iTunes and other digital music providers.

To order the CD of the album, visit Amazon, Cargo Records' website or write for details to neil@shootthepianist.co.uk

Video by John Lumea.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Magdalena
• Merrywidow