Diary Of A Busker Day 599 Wednesday July 30th 2014 Winchester (1. Corner of Monsoon, Market Street, Time: 4:33-5:12pm, 2. Opposite Pavilion, Time: 5:17-6:12pm).
I must remember: avoid playing on Market Street from 4:30-5:30, as all the market people bring their vans around to load up. It’s only a little street and I had to stop and rescue the bucket 4 times or it would have been a crushed ex-bucket. And the money was terrible – I got less than £2 for almost 40 minutes playing. I shouldn’t have bothered. I packed up in disgust.
Down the corner and up the road (is this bit still Market Street?), I had a guardian angel who saved the day. This took the form of a hatted man who was sitting outside The Eclipse. He came up about 3 songs in, put a £5 note in ‘for some Zeppelin – I’ve heard you lots of times, I know you do some’. I said, ‘Of course, you must mean The Rain Song’, and said I’d do it. I mean, FIVE POUNDS – you must be joking! So I finished what I was doing, did Siboney, because I’m not going to drop everything straight away, then tuned down and did the request (he took a photo of me during it)…after which he gave me the thumbs-up. He then mentioned Little Wing, which, oddly enough, might be a bit like The Rain Song, ie: a good guitar piece on it’s own, without any vocal melody. So I thanked him for that.
A couple of songs later, during the Gymnopedie, he comes up again and this time drops a £2 coin in, so that’s £7! He says he loves Satie and has another suggestion – another Satie one – a waltz, something called Je Te Veux. I said I’d look into it. He goes back to his seat…then comes up again as I’m starting Ne Me Quitte Pas – not purely by accident: I reckon if he likes Satie, he might like the minor-key Brel one…and I was right. He says, ‘This is great, you’re playing my greatest song list – Jacques Brel!’
Now, before he came up, I was toying with the idea of doing the 5th Gnossienne, but decided against it as I haven’t done it in a couple of weeks, and I definitely DON’T want to make a hash job of it in front of an…aficionado. I finished with Dixie McGuire, which was terrible: the Focal Dystonia on the middle finger stops me from doing the main bit right. Bloody awful.
Earnings: £16.34p
P.S. My saviour also mentioned something about playing at his 60th, but these things never usually come off.*
* It didn’t.