Jimmy Clay by Patrick Sky sung by Graham Dodsworth m2s L5

A peaceful, poignant, romantic anti-war song by Patrick Sky. Pertinent, now, when emotionally retarded national leaders are more abundant than you'd hope. It was ever thus, however as we grew out of the 1960s, it began to look as if, when the residue of the hippies slowly grew into power, the 'times would be a changing'. They, we, just couldn't be bothered, I suppose. This song was written during, and about, that time in the hope we'd have more sense. PS - On the video titling, I used the spelling of Patrick's name used on my 1982 LP, however it has subsequently been pointed out that his surname does not have an 'e', so I've changed it everywhere I can without re-uploading the video. I often check these things, however, as I understood it, copyright, proofing, printing and manufacturing for the album and cover had been handled by the record company. They believed in me, for which I was grateful, and I believed in them. One of us got it wrong. Same goes for the realization that the performance was mostly likely circa 2009 and not 2004 as included on the video. I was more hasty with this production because: I found a random DVD disc, in the shed, labelled "Jimmy Clay - video". I didn't remember making any video of Jimmy Clay or possessing one. So I checked it out. I quickly discovered it was an authorised bootleg. Unfortunately the audio hadn't recorded well (way too trebly), I went searching for another recording of the song, (I've got dozens), hoping I might be able to match it up some how. The 'first' folder I checked, labelled 2004, had a version which was ok, decide for yourself. I knew I had better recordings but I dropped it on top of the bootleg video, just to see how difficult it would be to match it up. It turned out to be a desk recording of the same gig. Ten minutes earlier, I didn't know I had either a video or an audio recording of that gig. It's the quickest video I've put together lately. Better audio for this song can be found: http://www.dodsweb.com/c-wynde/html/cw-h2-set/dz11-free-mp3-set.htm . . . and at some point I'll upload some corny visuals with the better again audio from my 1982 vinyl offering, Summer Madness album (we eternally live in hope). Also, this song was written on the cusp of a time when 'What if they held a war and nobody came'' was a popular saying along with flowers going into rifle barrels, and when saying 'peace man' was acceptable. At that time, there was a fair amount of negativity being put on soldiers for going overseas and killing people, which was a form of victim blaming, in the case of conscripted soldiers, who not only lived through a traumatising hell over there but experienced relentless ostracisation upon their return. I know people who valiantly hid from conscription and others who became soldiers but still managed to object on conscientious grounds and not kill people. Both of these experienced more ostracisation than those who went. Songs like 'And The Band Played Waltzing Matilda' and 'I Was Only Nineteen' help changed the consciousness of Australians toward our returned soldiers significantly. Song 'do' matter. Art 'does' matter as it seems our children could again be facing many of the decisions faced by previous generations. While one could be forgiven for thinking there's a hint of soldier blaming in 'Jimmy Clay'. I don't think Sky was pushing that motif. This song describes to some degree, how it was for young impressionable men, to be in such an environment, at that time, the gamut of experiences and for many, an inevitable conclusion. It doesn't glorify, if demonstrates the ugliness of war and consequences of the beguiling hypocrisy of self interested political agenda.

Added 14 Jun 2026