In 2017, I was commissioned by 'Northern Voices' to write a song for 'The Pitman Poet of Percy Main', a celebration of the life and work of Joseph Skipsey in words and pictures to mark the 185th anniversary of his birth in Percy Main.
My contribution, 'A Dream of Joseph Skipsey', was included in the resulting book 'The Pitman Poet of Percy Main', published by Northern Voices.
'A Dream of Joseph Skipsey' literally came to me in a dream, playing out in my head like a cinematic experience. When I awoke, I simply wrote down all that I'd dreamt, describing everything through the lyrics of the song. So, for example, in the dream I did indeed find myself sailing down a Norwegian fjord together with Joseph Skipsey in the prow of a viking ship, with waterfalls flowing down steep pine-forested hills under a majestically starlit night sky.
I performed 'A Dream of Joseph Skipsey' along with a song written by Joseph Skipsey himself, 'The Collier Lad', to which I had added my own specially-composed tune, at two celebratory launch events at St John's Church, Percy Main, on 7th September 1997 and at.
I have subsequently written several more songs about Joseph Skipsey, including 'Unlocked Gate' and 'Show Me', and these, along with 'A Dream of Joseph Skipsey', now make up a part of my 'Northern Grit' project in collaboration with Helen Temperley.