Day 2740
Wednesday September 9th 2026
Southampton
Back to the big city (it just can’t keep me away) and set up in front of the mall entrance. And today I’m being very brave because I’ve brought along the mic, intending to do a bit of warbling, and that really is the right word for it. But it has to be done. I’ve been going through Nick Cave’s Into My Arms at home and it’s time it was inflicted on the general unassuming public. In addition to that, I can do Here Comes The Sun and a couple of original ones.
But I’d forgotten how nerve-wracking it is debuting a song, especially one I’m singing. I wanted to kick off with Into My Arms but became terrified in front of the mic so I delayed it until I’d done three others and once it was done, I was a bit better. In fact, I did it again an hour later and also The Pirouettist and Here Comes The Sun both twice and Portrait Of A Woman.
My companion for most of the time was a man who sat down on the circular concrete bench next to me. He put in a pound and a bit of silver and had a load of requests, none of which I could fulfil. In order, Rhinestone Cowboy, Great Balls Of Fire, Ernie The Fastest Milkman In The West and finally ‘Ow about Lady In Red, Chris De Burgh?’ – ‘Sorry, not that one either – I met him once.’
He sat there for a bit then chucked in five Werthers Original sweets, he then lit a cigarette, cracked open a can of cider, looked at his phone and left. The sweets lasted twenty minutes, if that, because once I’d had one, that was it. He came back, lit another fag then moved closer to me and chatted and I have to say the smell from someone’s breath when they’ve had a fag is pretty disgusting. Anyway, he didn’t think much of the Action Against Hunger charity workers – there were a group nearby, trying to get people to sign up.
‘See those in the green? Cunts. They’re not really doing it for charity, you know. They’re all in the corporate game. Some of the money they take, it never goes to the ones who need it.’
He then showed me his phone screen of a room with a dog lying down – ‘See? that’s my dog. If I press this button, I can talk to ‘im. ee’s a good dog.’
What did he think of the music? He thought I was very talented and he thought The Third Man sounded like ‘fairground music’ which I’ll take as a compliment.
Near the end he wandered off to sit down next to the homeless woman leaning against one of the pillars holding up the massive canopy. He cracked open a can of cider, offered her a ciggie, she showed him something on her arm and he showed her his dog in his living room.
The two hours went quickly, possibly due to the excitement of a slightly altered set and a new song, which always gets the adrenalin going, thought the coinage was terrible – a profit of £12.29. On the way back I literally had a blast from my past. There was a loud foghorn and on my left in the distance I saw the top of the Liberty Of The Seas. I know it was The Liberty Of The Seas because it’s name is on the top! I was on that very cruise ship in April 2013, playing in a Beatles group. Flew out to Lisbon on the 16th, boarded the next day, Cadiz on the 18th – our performance day, and left on the 20th on a flight from Barcelona Birmingham via Munich!
Unfortunately, by the time I got to Birmingham in the evening, there were no trains to Winchester and I had to find a place to kip and the only one I could find was a Comfort Inn right next to New Street and the bloke on the desk let me have it for £35 because that’s all I had in my account – the wages from the ship gig took a few weeks to arrive. More unfortunately, as I lay myself down in Room 403, I suddenly got a case of “ship’s arse” – I’d drunk the water from the tap in my stateroom on the ship – a no no, and ended up soiling my bed linen. I left a note on the bed, apologising and my phone number in case they wanted me to pay for any “damage” but I never heard from anyone. I bet they get it all the time. So thank you, Liberty Of The Seas, for my one and hopefully only time I’ll ever experience “ship’s arse” – that was the term my fellow bandmate and all together great scouser Chris O’Neil used. When I boarded the Serenade Of The Seas six months later, I knew better.