TL-DR Dept. - Skiffle Cures Tuberculosis Claim Upheld

"Is there a Seymour Butts here?"

Four Or Five Guy© JJ Wombat [SWELL TRADING CARD AT LEFT! - ED.] chisels this screed into the rock face of our collective consciousness.

First Gig What I Remember (or how I got to love music)

I suppose a fever hospital is the weirdest place to be your first rock’n roll gig but that’s what it was like in the 'fifties.  Our local infectious diseases hospital was built between 1899 and 1901 and, by the time I had my first rock’n’roll experience, it catered for tuberculosis patients.

So where did the rock’n’roll come in?

I remember an open-air concert at the hospital in 1957 featuring Nancy Whiskey and the Chas McDevitt Skiffle Group and hearing them sing their big hit song Freight Train (written by Libba Cotten).  I can hear the song now (it’s playing on the Tube) but, in my mind, I can still hear their second encore and the thunder of applause.
That was, probably, the first million-selling record by a Scottish artist.  They even performed on the Ed Sullivan Show on a tour of the States in the 'fifties.  

But this was Skiffle NOT rock’n’roll.
 
How did this tune become rock’n’roll?  According to Mark Lewisohn, in The Complete Beatles Chronicles [YAWN - Ed.], the Quarrymen performed it live from 1957 till at least 1959, if not later, with John Lennon on lead vocal.  So, in 1957, I was hearing what would become the foundation of the setlist of one of rock’n roll’s greatest bands.

In 1964, I went to see the Beatles in Blackpool.  They didn’t sing Freight Train that evening, and I wouldn’t have heard it anyway for all the screaming girls, but this was another indelible mark on my journey through listening to music.
I still love music and go to gigs but I can’t forget my first live gig sixty-three years ago.  And I can’t forget Freight Train - Garcia and Grisman are playing it now on my stereo!