[Slowhand] Gary Moore vs EC (not entirely OT (NEOT))

[René Aagaard]

Hi Kevin and all

I know you mean Gary Moore's "Parisienne Walkways"! 

In the early 1978 Gary was working on his second solo album and one day at Phil Lynott's house he played the lead line, and Phil said he thought it sounded French. Lynott wrote most of the - sparse - lyrics including the line "I remember Paris in '49" (Lynott's father's name was Parris and he (Lynott) was born in 1949 even if he at the time lied himself younger, saying he was born in 1952).

The song must have been written in very early 1978 and when Gary's solo album came out "Walkways" was a great chart success as a single. But at that time he had joined Thin Lizzy and in April 1979 Lizzy released a video with the song. Gary had a solo spot on all Lizzy concerts with that great song, and his hardest fans used to travel around with the band, timing the "long note"! 

So it predates the live "Just One Night", but to my ears EC did not steal from that one, even if I would love to claim it, being the President of The Danish Gary Moore Society!!

Unfortunately Gary never got a chance to follow up on his chart success, because Lizzy came first. After he left in July 1979 "Walkways" was far away and in fact considered a Lizzy song! To me that song has the same quality as "Yesterday" or his own "Still Got The Blues". When you hear it for the first time, you think you know it, and you can remember it immediately. Really hit potential. 

To this day, in fact on his on-going tour, he still plays "Parisienne Walkways" as the last song, and still keeps that looooooooong note.

Well, you got me rambling.....and you are right about EC "shunning" Gary. EC has played with almost everybody in the world, but not Gary. I think their styles are too far from each other to make a listenable "duet", but of course it could be fun. 

Gary - with his "Still Got The Blues" album - paved the way for the resurrection of the (white boy-) blues in the 90's (and also for EC's "From the Cradle"). On "Still Got.." he even duets with George Harrison on "This Kind Of Woman" the same song that George and EC later on recorded for the Romanian Appeal CD.


all the best

René 
Denmark

prez of DDGMS
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