Fire brings to life 'The Magic Shoemaker'

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Fire brings to life 'The Magic Shoemaker'
by Peter Lindblad - March 17, 2009

Fire was Dave Lambert, Dick Dufall and Bob Voice

For months, Decca had sat on “Father’s Name Was Dad,” the debut single from Fire, at the time one of the brightest hopes of the U.K.’s late-’60s progressive/psychedelic underground.

With the agonizing patience of Job, Fire waited for its release, and finally, in March 1968, the track — with its cleverly constructed hooks, earnest melody and richly metaphorical, socially conscious lyrics — was out and getting radio play.

Even the almighty himself couldn’t have persuaded the band to pull the song off the air and go back into the studio with it, though, perhaps, it needed some tweaking.

On the other hand, back then there was some question as to whether God, or rather Jesus, was as big as The Beatles, and nobody in their right minds would refuse a helping hand from Paul McCartney... if it was offered.

Having just recently signed a publishing deal with The Beatles’ pet label, Apple Records, Fire, was in no position to say “thanks, but no thanks” to whatever McCartney proposed.

“Singles were always released on a Friday in those days, and you would get radio play during the week leading up to that Friday,” recalls David Lambert. “I got a call from Apple over the weekend to say that Paul had heard the track on the radio and loved the song and the riffs but thought the recording could be improved and suggested some changes. So, by the Monday, we were back in the studios working on the track again.”

Among the changes, Lambert added “... a new lead vocal which had a more ‘in your face’ attitude” and an octave part to the riffs, with Lambert playing those riffs over the fade-out.

“(Bassist) Dick (Dufall), (drummer) Bob (Voice) and I added extra vocal harmonies, the whole thing was mixed and that was that,” says Lambert, probably best known for his work with the British progressive-folk institution The Strawbs. “I remember (Decca staff producer) Tony Clarke (of Moody Blues fame) being quite bemused by all this; he couldn’t understand what was wrong with the first version. By the end of that week, the new version was sent out to the radio stations and released. I’ve never heard of such a thing happening before or since; it shows the power that Apple could wield at that time.”

Even the McCartney magic couldn’t transform “Father’s Name Was Dad” into a hit. And yet, somehow, the song has endured, occasionally — as it did in 2004 when the Pet Shop Boys sampled it, joining the legions of artists who’ve covered it or otherwise utilized parts of it over the years —emerging from the dark closet of mothballed pop music to peek its head out and say “Hello” in the form of a remake. Which is exactly what Fire did in 2007, returning after a 37-year hiatus, to play two triumphant reunion concerts.

Fire played, in its entirety, its fanciful 1970 concept album The Magic Shoemaker, and Lambert, taking liberties with the original script, was able to weave “Father’s Name Was Dad” — and other Fire standouts, including the marching, mind-melting, psych-pop confection “Treacle Toffee World,” not on the record — into the timeless tale of Mark the shoe cobbler. In October, the Angel Air label released Fire’s The Magic Shoemaker Live, further evidence that Fire — even after all these years — still burns.

“The two performances were magical for me; it was so good to be onstage with those guys again after such a long time,” says Lambert. “Since speaking to people who saw both, I get the impression there wasn’t much difference between a 1968 Fire performance and a 2007 one.”

And whatever went on before — from unwelcome delays to ridiculous record label interference — now seems like water under the bridge.

The history of Fire, whose original version of The Magic Shoemaker — at least partly inspired sonically and spiritually by The Who — on the Pye label is exceedingly rare and very pricey, can be traced back to a place not so far from Heathrow Airport, namely Hounslow, Middlesex. It was 1966, and Lambert remembers playing drums with a bagpipe band called The Pride of Murray. One particular Saturday night, Lambert got a call from an old friend. His services were required.

“Bob Voice, my old Boys’ Brigade pal, rang me at about 7 (o’clock) to say that the local pub, The White Bear, had booked an accordion player, and he hadn’t turned up,” recalls Lambert. “He asked me if I could bring my guitar along and play a few things with him backing me up on the pub’s drum kit.”

Uneasy about the last-minute gig, Lambert, nevertheless, went on with the show.

“To be honest, I wasn’t very keen,” he says. “I’d been out all day with the pipe band, and I just wanted a quiet, restful evening.”

With his old Vox Shadow in hand, fear gripped Lambert on the way. In the pipe band, he hadn’t played much guitar leading up to that point, and “... Bob had only ever played marching drums with (Boys’ Brigade).” Casting aside all apprehension, the pair performed and were a hit.

“We played a load of standards: ‘I Got My Mojo Working,’ ‘Hootchie Coochie Man,’ some Beatles, Stones, Who, Spencer Davis — anything that I could play and knew the lyrics of,” says Lambert. “It soon became clear that the crowd was growing; people were coming in from the other bars, and the place started to heave.”

Flush with excitement, Voice and Lambert saw potential in their act. Lambert, who had been playing ukulele and guitar since he was seven, had already written some songs as a hobby. But, a third was needed to round out the combo. After going through auditions with singers who couldn’t carry a tune or play guitar, Lambert and Voice found Dufall. Initially, Lambert had gone to Dufall to buy a guitar amp. Upon discovering that Dufall played bass, Voice pitched him the idea of joining their band. Dufall signed on, and in late 1966, the three became Friday’s Chyld.

Immediately, the band began rehearsing, and Voice and Dufall convinced Lambert to take over lead vocals. Having evolved into something more noisy and rock-oriented than what the name Friday’s Chyld implied, a name change was needed. “By the middle of ‘67, we were playing more and more of my songs, and the band started to take on a very solid image,” says Lambert. “I considered the name Friday’s Chyld to be wrong for us by this time. It was a bit fey and feeble; we had become almost a punk band.”

Fire was chosen, and soon, the band’s demos would secure Fire an audition and then a recording contract with Decca.

“You know, I have most of those demos, and it’s very interesting to listen to them now,” says Lambert. “I can hear the band developing almost month by month.”

“It’s Not Easy Falling Out Of Love,” an up-tempo ballad written during the formative days of Friday’s Chyld, was the first track Fire recorded. “Six months later, we get to ‘Father’s Name Is Dad,’ and Fire had an identity,” says Lambert.

Lambert found inspiration for “Father’s Name Was Dad” in a strange place.

“In early ’67, I still had a day job at Heathrow Airport and most (of the) day I would have to drive around the perimeter track in order to visit the various airlines,” explains Lambert. “I would use those drives as songwriting time, and I soon found that the drone of the engine and the rhythm of the road was inspirational. I wrote ‘Father’s Name Was Dad’ and ‘Treacle Toffee World’ whilst driving a green Mini.”

In an ironic twist, “Father’s Name Is Dad” was the song that originally caught the ear of Decca. “I still find it unbelievable that Decca didn’t want to release the single,” says Lambert. “They had signed us on the strength of the record and then refused to release it.”

All that changed when Fire struck a deal with Apple. Mike Berry had seen a Fire show in South London, and Apple was seeking writers and acts for its label. “We obviously impressed him, because the following Monday we were in the Baker Street offices talking with Mike, Terry Doran and Neil Aspinall,” says Lambert.

Apple signed Lambert to a three-year songwriting deal, and with Apple in Fire’s corner putting pressure on Decca, “Father’s Name Is Dad” was finally loosed from its moorings. “I think Decca also saw an opportunity be associated in some way with The Beatles’ organization,” says Lambert.

A product of the racial and political unrest of the times, as was “Treacle Toffee World,” “Father’s Name Is Dad” was about “equality,” according to Lambert. Clarke was impressed hearing the song for the first time at a Fire rehearsal in late ’67, and it got Fire its Decca deal. As it turned out, dealing with Decca was an exercise in frustration. So, while “Father’s Name Is Dad” was in limbo, Lambert continued writing; he recorded material with Clarke, much of which would end up on Fire’s Underground and Overhead LP.

“Decca rejected all our efforts, and neither Tony nor I could understand what Decca wanted from us,” says Lambert.

Berry knew what he wanted from Fire, and it would lead the band into what Lambert called “Fire’s darkest hour.” The three-piece had recorded a Lambert composition titled “Will I Find Love?” As fate would have it, Fire was committed to a six-week tour of the U.K. after recording it, and the overdubs would have to wait.

“Decca and Tony were so keen to get the record out, and they went ahead with other musicians and finished it off,” says Lambert. “It was a great-sounding track, definitely one of our best, but eventually, we were told it wasn’t going to be released.”

Lambert never got an explanation why. In time, Fire wound up in the studio with Berry, who had written a song called “Round The Gum Tree.” Berry pushed for Fire to record it as a single.

“This was a piece of pure bubble-gum to be recorded with ‘Chipmunks’ voices and all the trappings of formula pop,” relates Lambert. “I feel embarrassed now that I encouraged Bob and Dick to go along with this, but I had done everything I could to write something that Decca would release, and we’d been knocked back at every turn.”

There was one more indignity Fire faced: “The biggest insult and final straw was, they insisted on putting one of our managers’ songs on the B-side; Fire did the backing track, and we left it to the writers to put the vocals on,” says Lambert.

Lambert vowed to never to put himself or his bandmates in that situation again. Undeterred, Lambert continued working, and in late 1968, he came up with the concept — and live staging — for The Magic Shoemaker. “This would comprise a series of character studies (of) people who lived or worked in the same small town, so the show would be a visit to that town,” Lambert says.

Assisted by Strawbs frontman Dave Cousins on banjo and guitarist Paul Brett, from Elmer Gantry’s Velvet Opera, Fire’s opus led to the band’s departure from Decca and Apple. Fire’s original manager, Ray Hammond, greased the wheels, hoping to land the LP for a lease deal with Pye.

Again, however, Fire would find commercial success wanting, and the group disbanded. But, with Fire now reborn and the unexpectedly long shelf life of “Father’s Name Was Dad,” perhaps the band has received some vindication.

Peter Lindblad
Peter Lindblad is the editor of Goldmine magazine and has been writing about music for the past five years. To see more of his work, and to read his blog, World's Forgotten Boy, visit Goldmine Magazine

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