Bless the Weather (+Beverley) by John Martyn - A Cover

Wee hours recording of a go by me at Bless the Weather with a 'loose take' on 'Beverley' as a 'lead in'. The latter is a work in progress, and JM played this usually adjacent to BTWeather-either ahead or after. Here I just tried for the gist (Beverley) using C minor scale aiming more or less at that characteristic 'motif'. [JM guitar nuttas: tuning is one tone down from dadgad, so in cgcfgc...hence the Cm scale. Main BTW part uses mainly Cm7, Fm (as I did it), so a i-iv tune, as per JMs original in dadgad that used Dm and Gm. Embellish and pull offs+ string flicks with left hand fingers all over the place-but esp 3rd string 2nd fret pulling off to open string repetitively on the Cm7 (the i chord) I used, so 0x3230 pulls off to 0x3030-and gives a Cm11 but no 5th after the pull off). The Fm (iv) chord is an inversion with root on open 3rd string and uses 0x3010 and sometimes 033010 that is a Fm add11. Used a Daphon piezo pickup for guitar (nice and cheap, clip-on & flat response but I like alot).] Merry Hogmany.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• John
• Martyn
• Acoustic
• Guitar
• Beverley
• Bless
• The
• Weather
• Fingerstyle
• Fingerpicking

[da1698]

Really is good that Ian. You can hear that your really there. What a thing to have in your reportoire. Respect.

[ianmcgeachy]

@da1698 Thanks for the sentiment. I havent fully got Beverley down tho' (no pun intended)..a developing thing...its a malleable piece anyway-John played it differently on live gigs...but a good one to do in sus4 (eg dadgad-but use pitches down from that-he did live, eg Csus4). BTWeather is one of few I dont mind singing to. The sound - uses inverted chords- I deduced eventually - eg his IV chord here (its mostly a i- IV vamp) is 0x3010 or 0x3210 at times. Good work out for the 'JM right hand'.

[nickcon22]

Really nice rendition of Beverley this.... captured the feel of it very well - keep em coming! Guitar tone sounds lovely too.....

[ianmcgeachy]

@nickcon22

Thanks very much for your apreciation & comment here. Still going to work more on Beverley-when I can get round to it!

[ianmcgeachy]

@worddeep3

Aye- lol many times!!- after all who the hell am I? Actually I look forwards to the new album and the biography of Beverleys. Two sides to every break up- so may be some thing about that I suppose- but she also must have some insights into early folk rock /progressive acoustic movement back then- as one of its premier stars in late 60s early 70s. That album will be interesting-a rediscovered original BMartyn/Drake song I believe. Cheers again!

[worddeep3]

@ianmcgeachy lol that would be great, but i think she is a busy woman at the moment she is recording a new album and releasing a book i believe.

[ianmcgeachy]

@worddeep3

Its ok-the tune 'Beverley' I think is a great one by John-but not widely known-cert' by its name by many. And (tho' I know you didnt mean this)- I'd really love if Beverley (Martyn) herself would accompany me and feature on my cover of Bless The Weather...of course, I should be so bleeding lucky/honoured !!

-cheers Ian

[worddeep3]

yeah sorry i posted this comment even before you started playing and then i realised. you was referencing the song lol, i thought you was saying bless the weather was featuring Beverley. my mistake

[ianmcgeachy]

@worddeep3

The first half of what I played-prior to playing&singing bit- is the 'instrumental' piece composed by John Martyn- known as 'Beverley'. This is originally on the Inside Out album. However it became normal for John in his live gigs to play this piece just before or after either Bless the Weather (which I played here at the end with singing) or Make No Mistake likewise. So theres 2 compositions of Johns played back to back here- Beverley is 'added' (hence + sign) as the intro to BTW

[worddeep3]

why does it say + beverley ?