"When Diana Paints the Picture" was one of many songs co-written with MySpace friend Tom Payne - I was the words, he was the tune: play us. You can find some of his work at http://www.myspace.com/tompaynes. After several disappointing trips to the Denmark Street of the sixties we found that two music companies, Pan and Mills Music, were actually fighting over the publishing rights to "Diana". We eventually opted for the bigger concern, Mills Music; on reflection we could have made the wrong choice - we learned later that Gerald Benson of Pan Music had already given the song to Cilla Black's arranger with a view to her recording it as a single. There was great excitement in June 1968 at my recording session arranged by Mills Music at Regent Studios London. The final production left a lot to be desired however and in the end the single was released in US only on the Sidewalk Label with "Soul of a Man" - a song I had learned in minutes with the words on the back of an Embassy cigarette packet - as the A side. It was written by Ralph Murphy, later vice-president of ASCAP, and Vic Smith (later Vic Coppersmith-Heaven, Jam producer). We were told it did very well in Sacramento - the words "number one" were even whispered in a conspiratorial hush. If anyone from that area and era could confirm that rumoured success, it would be much appreciated.
Thirty years later - and now with a son of my own carrying on the good work by drumming for the Brighton band, smallwhitelight - we had all but forgotten about the episode, until we discovered both songs were much sought on the internet and featured strongly in several radio playlists, such as "Chocolate Soup FM". To our great surprise and delight, both songs were also included in 60s Popsike compilations "Fading Yellow vols 3 and 4" on Flower Machine Records. You can even buy them on Amazon - fame at last! In the years between, songwriting took second place to the day jobs and families, but now that Tom and I are retired, we have respectively taken up once again the keyboard and the pen, with Tom in particular making good use of the advances in music technology. Some brand new tracks will be appearing on MySpace site soon. I have kept my hand in with the odd karaoke performance - have a look at the videos - and am always ready for the call to make a long-awaited comeback! Also included on Fading Yellow Volume 4 was another of our favourite songs called "Gospel Lane" - recorded in our home studio in 1969. We were thrilled when this song was chosen to feature in Serge Bozon's film "La France" to be released in November 2007. You can see (and hear) the trailer on the link:- http://www.lafrance-lefilm.com/ Hope you agree it doesn't sound nearly forty years old! "La France" won the Prix Jean Vigo, and went on to feature in the Directors' Fortnight at this year's Cannes Film Festival; we wish it every success. Don't forget to buy the soundtrack CD.
Robbi 2010
Influences
Buddy Holly, Jim Webb, Tom Payne, Paul Simon, Neil Young, Cat Stevens, Elton John, and more recently The Bush Tree and Me and the next big group, (despite their name) smallwhitelight. Other influences include the rain, Birmingham City, Thomas Hardy, etc. Favourite film is "La France" (mais naturellement).
The 1968 US-only released single - The Soul Of A Man - A Sidewalk Production
You can still get this on E-bay
When Diana Paints the Picture, written by Rob Ashmore and Tom Payne, Sidewalk Records 1968
La France Soundtrack
'Gospel Lane' is track 13 on the soundtrack album. Available on French Amazon!
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