Talk:John Martyn

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Contents 1 Date of birth 2 English guitarist? 3 Scotland based? 4 Suggested Biography Link 5 Shameless Plug? 6 Incorrect attributation

[edit] Date of birth

'The Great Rock Discography' by Martin C. Strong (5th edition) [Mojo Books/Canongate 2000] has Martyn's date of birth as 28th June 1948 and place of birth as Glasgow.

yep. but its wrong though sadlySamgb 09:18, 14 July 2006 (UTC)

[edit] English guitarist?

I frequently get pissed of with some of Wikipedia's narrow categorisations (eg English guitarists, rather than British guitarists). This seems especially unhelpful when applied to someone like John Martyn. We are left with an English guitarist with a Glaswegian sense of humour! I'm not sure what is supposed to define him as english: if it is being born in England, then Tony Blair is Scottish and Spike Milligan was Indian. I suggest re-categorising him as a British guitarist (and singer). Any other views? Bluewave 08:27, 17 July 2006 (UTC)

Dead right bluewave go for it. he should be classed as British as attested by the BBC documentary screened again last friday. His accent proceeded to waver between Surrey and Glasgow throughout. Very strange!Samgb 09:32, 17 July 2006 (UTC)

OK - changed! British he is. Bluewave 09:38, 17 July 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Scotland based?

Aforementioned BBC documentary (which was excellent!) clearly showed John living in Ireland. I got the impresssion that he has been there for some time......

--twitter 12:34, 17 July 2006 (UTC)

I think "Scotland based" reflects someone trying to struggle with the problems of national identity in the UK! There seems to be a marked reluctance to describe people as British (because it sounds old-fashioned??) Martyn can appear to be very Scottish but there is also a wikipedian reluctance to call people Scottish if they were not born in Scotland. In fact there is a strong wikipedian tendency to ascribe a nationality (or pseudo-nationality) based only on where people are born. Again, I would prefer "British" which is presumably Martyn's true nationality, rather than "Scotland based" which is highly misleading. Bluewave 12:56, 17 July 2006 (UTC)

I suspect that its the growth in Nationalism that leads people to be described as English or Scottish but British seems the best fit to describe someone like John (and even Tony Blair!). --twitter 13:16, 17 July 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Suggested Biography Link

Found this biography on the BBC site:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/cgi-perl/music/muze/index.pl?site=music&action=biography&artist_id=19348

I really feel that Mr Martyn deserves a much bigger entry here on Wiki but unfortunately I am not knowlegable enough to be able to write it! Best wishes to whoever takes it on! --twitter 13:16, 17 July 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Shameless Plug?

including a recent collaboration with UltanJohn on a soon to be released (September '06) EP called 'Really Gone. This may or may not be true. The Ultan John website makes no claims for a collaboration with John Martyn (John isn't even mentioned). But even if true it doesn't add much to a biography of John Martyn. When you consider the stature of artists that he has worked with but who aren't mentioned (Eric Clapton, Dave Gilmour, Paul Kossoff, Richard Thompson, Steve Winwood etc) it seems odd to refer to someone who is largely unknown. This just looks like a plug for a new single by Ultan John. I recommend that it be deleted.--twitter 09:05, 31 July 2006 (UTC)

I don't see why its a shameless plug - its a relevant addition to the biography as it is an update on a project that is currently being worked on by John Martyn and UltanJohn.--[Irksome]

But there is NO MENTION of any collaboration on that Ultan John link and there is no evidence of any joint project as far as I can tell. The Ultan John website does mention the Snow Patrol drummer but if this was a real story then surely John Martyn would have been referred to on there? If you can cite a reference for this collaboration then that may be different.--twitter 08:57, 7 August 2006 (UTC)

As discussed privately the addition to the biog has been reverted to include details of Really Gone & I added a link to John Martyns own website ----Irksome 19:29, 7 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Incorrect attributation

Seen John listed as one of the Martyn family of Galway. Removed him from the list as I know of no evidence of this, but would be delighted to be suprised. Cheers. Fergananim 13:55, 24 August 2006 (UTC)