John Martyn - I'd Rather be the Devil

This guys good, anyone else think dave Gilmore borrowed a note or two for "run like hell"?

cAN ANYONE TELL ME WHAT GUITAR THAT IS?

@ALfaDuB101 I'm 19, so you might argue I'm a kid. Hendrix is my hero. And I love this.

@ALfaDuB101 a-men :)

@ALfaDuB101 psshhh, Kids having idols who speak out against homophobia and racism. What hope do they have? But seriously, you might actually want to go and look for proper artist that are about at the moment rather than just naming the equivalent to Donny Osmond and David Cassidy. Also it's probably been a while since you've been in education so sort out your punctuation.

@ALfaDuB101 It's not meant to hurt, it's meant to help you get a cohesive statement across. My statement is not a contradiction. I have made a point that lady gaga, at least, is not a bad idol and she tries to remove all boundaries of sexual orientation and race. I then point out that your statement is invalid as your generation too, had a load of mass produced music of which none of the artists seemed to have much talent.

@ALfaDuB101 This is exactly my point. I'm not even a gaga fan. I just have the respect to dislike music and not call it a huge turd because it's not rock/progrock that came from the 'good old days'

@ALfaDuB101 Lady gaga probably has effected many young minds which are the most susceptible to influence. Having a "cool" person say that homophobic behaviour is wrong will probably change views of hundreds of young adults, as well as influence those not yet old enough to grasp the problem. I'm not trying to police your opinions, just trying to help you not sound ignorant. Your grammar does seem to have sharpened up a little so I would have to say I've been effective in that respect at least.

@ALfaDuB101 You're obviously too smart, cool and outlandish for me.

@Bossness123 Looks to be a fairly standard accoustic guitar with a DiMarzio DP Super Distortion Humbucker Pickup bolted into the hole and he's fading between the pickup and the microphone out in front. But I could be wrong!

@26354BladeRunner Thank you! I Shall try and do that to my guitar :D

@Prometheus1st You are not alone I had never heard of him until I happened on a rerun of this OGWT on TV last week

Truly trippy

John Martyn a visionary song writer from the 60's onwards. I expected greater appreciation of this man's unique talents.God knows why.

That was all done live. Including amazing video mixing. Thanks.

great!

Unbelievable

Good job with the music

love the bit about coming and going with spliffs.. an thoroughly entertaining comment, as i roll my spliff.

Commenters! shutup! stop distracting me from listening to this.

Cool

Deadly :)

think he means he would rather be the devil... because only the devil knows my woman, or something.

soo dope

This music makes me want to explore space.

Maestro echo plex,vox wah and a big muff.
Genius

Beautiful x

Reading some of the comments, I wish to state the following.
Nobody is perfect in this world nor ever has or ever will be. We all have our faults and probably so did JM. Yes he always wore his heart on his sleeve in some brilliant performances and songwriting. Look to the music he produced and let it speak for itself. John Martyn - Singer, Songriter, OBE. Most of us don't come anywhere near it.

The Edge from U2 took his entire sound from this dude
The insane delays and arpeggios

I'd rather be the devil and I will leave my woman's ?mane?
Yes, I'd rather be the devil and I will leave my woman's ?mane?
'Cause nothing but the devil knows my baby's
Nothing but the devil knows my baby's
Nothing but the devil knows my baby's name

Well, I laid down last night and I was trying to take my rest
Yes, I laid down last night, I was trying to take my rest
But my mind starts a-rambling like the wild geese in the
My mind starts a-rambling like the wild geese in the
Mind starts a-rambling like the wild geese in the west

The woman I love, though she's evil all the time
Yeah, the woman I love, oh she's evil all the time
Studies so much evil, just add it on
So much evil, just add it on
So much evil, just add it on to mine

The woman I love, I stole her from my own best friend
The woman I love, I stole her from my best friend
But I know you'll get lucky, steal her back
I know you'll get lucky, try to steal her back
I know you'll get lucky, steal her back again

I know he"ll get lucky & steal her back x-3

Takes me right back to when I was 18 and living in Brighton with Mark Reilly. Yer,

7.02 of classic original greatness.

If Mr. Martyn felt like calling it something different, no problem, but this is a heavily reworked interpretation of Skip James' blues classic "Devil Got My Woman".

...at least, it uses some of the same lyrics. With blues, you really never know.

referred by Rob Young as" Skip James' possessed blues incantation 'I'd Rather be the Devil' - here revisionist rather than reverential, reconstituting British folk blues as a glittering slew of mud flecked with gold dust." Hear, hear...

No other guitarist I've ever seen has the gift of TOUCH that he had and the broad range of it from thunder to the most delicate pressure on the strings. Love how this video allows us to appreciate it.

Jhjh

It's really mind boggling how much this genius (a word l rarely use to describe musicians) was overlooked here in the US.
Sometimes genius goes unrecognized l suppose

Skip James?

Just be there in the moment and be there for the second kind.

This was the first time I was ever aware of JM when I saw this on The Old Grey Whistle Test in 1970, maybe early 1971, and this really turned my head. I hadn’t caught his name, so had to go searching about the Folk & Rock LP sleeves until I found what looked like him in the Folk section on the sleeve for ‘Solid Air’, which I purchased of course! I saw JM more than any other artist, well into double figures, all around the country; saw him do a really great performance at the Kendal Brewery Arts Centre, which was his last there before he passed. I’m 64 now, so when I consider that he was only 60 years old - what a waste, but he certainly lived life like he meant it! 😁

Such an esoteric soul sound, will never be repeated ever ! Still love you John, never forgotten, always remembered

My friend

very well ,done ,, nikos tarantella taverna xersonisos kreta

love this, guise probly a pirahnah though

wowwow that's the real deal

I'm listening to the audio of the book "I'd Rather be the Devil" so had to check out the song! Cool. Looks like a plain old guitar but such different sounds! So cool!

Have several versions of this on vinyl and CD...but the BEST version is the one I recorded on my Walkman at Cropredy in 1987: its an absolute blinder, better than "Live At Leeds" - and it includes John marching up - mid set - to the sound tower to have a few "choice words" with the sound guy. He and Danny Thompson are absolute giants during this set: one of the best musical experiences of my entire live-gig life, 1972-present (this includes Zappa & the Mothers, Santana, + many other notables...)

used to turn everyone I met on to him. RIP