2016INTRODUCTION TO

Song For My FatherIAN CLAYTONPublished by Route, 2014

It all started with me wanting to write a book about being middle-aged. I had this idea of creating a series of stories about the thresholds we all have to step over as we grow; rites of passage you might say. I wanted it to be about leaving older, more ordinary worlds behind and discovering new ones, a bit like Christopher Columbus kicking off his shoes to dip a toe into the water at the other side.

I had written about a third of a book, when one morning my dad phoned me right out of the blue. ‘Now then, narrow… how are you going on?’ I had only seen him a couple of times in the previous forty years, but recognised his voice (and the way he called me ‘narrow’) straight away. I didn’t really know what to say back, so I just told him that I’d heard from my younger brother that he was poorly. ‘I’m riddled with cancer,’ he replied. ‘The doctor says I’ve got about six weeks, so I wondered if you’d like to see me before I pass to t’other side.’ My dad was very hard of hearing, so I found myself talking about his cancer at a volume that didn’t seem appropriate. I told him that I would visit him. He said, ‘Well don’t dawdle!’

I went three times before he died and phoned him on about a half-dozen other occasions. He told me a lot of stories that I didn’t know and we swapped a lot of reminiscence about when I was a lad. I started to write down these things and realised that I could combine this with the writing I had already been working on.

What transpired was a book about journeys; some of the book is set in Hull; other parts are in China where I travelled to work and America where I travelled for adventure. It is also a story of discovery; Song For My Father is about having a dad at the beginning and then not having one in the middle and then finally having a dad again just before the end.

Another humble masterpiece from our finest accidental historian Andy Kershaw

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2016

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authorities in the North of England

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QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSIONHow did you feel about the long period Ian and his father went without much contact and the way this is explained in the story?

How far do you think the book is about understanding your roots? And how does this relate to author’s travelling?

What did you think of the down-to-earth, honest and witty style of writing used throughout the book?

Did you relate to the way family relationships are described and revealed in the book?

An important part of the book is the authentic and natural dialogue. Did this help you to imagine the different scenes described?

RECOMMENDED READINGIan recommends a mix of ‘kitchen sink realism’, books about music, and English working class culture…

Saturday Night and Sunday Morning, Alan Sillitoe

This Sporting Life, David Storey

A Kind of Loving, Stan Barstow

A Kestrel for a Knave, Barry Hines

The Wild Party, Joseph Moncure March

Revolt Into Style: The Pop Arts in Britain, George Melly

Trout Fishing in America, Richard Brautigan

My Old Man: A Personal History of Music Hall, John Major

English Dialect Dictionary, Joseph Wright

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