Walking The Dog

I first moved to London...oooh...a long time ago now.  I came because, first of all, I had always loved it here and compared with Jedburgh, there was a lot happening.  I also came for the music.  I was lucky, my boyfriend, back in the day, had some uncles.  One had already been in a successful band in the 60's and went on to write an iconic song with his 80's band that is now starring in a very wet looking car advert, and was covered by one of the most recognisable 80's female singers.

His other uncle had a successful publishing company, started in Australia, but soon set for world domination.  Another two uncles were in yet another band.  Nobody could have foretold how huge they would get!  His brother, a hugely talented musician in his own right, was a member of a legendary Birmingham band, and no, not Black Sabbath, though I have had occasion to bump into them too (*inserts a bwahaha).  I wanted what my, by now ex boyfriend, but closest friend, had.  So, I decided to go it alone.

When I first moved down here, I lived in Queen's Club Gardens in Tim Hinkley's flat.  Tim was a session musician and writer, working with such luminaries as Elkie Brookes and Roger Chapman.  Great guy, though I think I still owe him a month's rent.  Tim, if you want to give me a nudge, I'll happily pay up.  It was NOT my idea to do the mad Chiswick run.  I worked at George Wimpey PLC so that I could pay the bills, but my office days would soon be over.  Unless, it was a record company office!

One of the things I loved most about that time was our local pub, The Golden Lion on Fulham Broadway.  This was before North London and the Funny Farm, that's another story.  On the first Tuesday of every month a rather special band would play there.  The line up changed depending on who was in town, who was in a recording studio, who was on tour and who was drunk.  It included Boz Burrell, an old and sadly missed friend, on bass, Simon Kirke on drums, Tim Hinkley or Polly Palmer on keyboards and on vocals, could be Roger Chapman or Paul Rodgers.  Other musicians popped up here and there in the Golden Lion residency.

One thing never ever changed though.  Every single time they appeared there, they played Walking The Dog. And every single time, the pub erupted and they would have to do it again.  It was a long hot summer, there were riots in Brixton, but in a pub in Fulham, we were still Walking The Dog.