Although, like many others, born at an early age, John is a pathologically late developer. This has been true for just about every aspect of his life, but perhaps reaches its zenith in this attempt to launch a modest career in music, and become a folk-rock God, at the age of 65+ …. without even a beard !
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John probably reached his full potential as a human being when he finally learnt to walk, as evidenced by the fact that he never quite mastered the art of chewing gum at the same time. Fortunately, and against all the odds, good luck saw him enjoy a career in the metals industry and won him a wife and four sons; although to this day he remains a bit vague as to the mechanics of conception.
Having a more-than-full-time job, and a family, kept him from attempting a career in music earlier in life. For this he is eternally grateful, as he can now afford to have a career in music. At the same time, he is also grateful to all those gifted musicians who devoted their lives to music, lived and died in poverty, and were recognized only posthumously for their wonderful musical talent. These have been his musical inspiration, and he is the first to acknowledge the debt owed by him and all society to these free thinking and dedicated individuals; a debt he has no intention of ever repaying, of course. Well, you can’t really, can you. They’re dead.
Secretly quite shy and self-effacing about his own talent, with good reason, this launch of even a modest musical career is either an act of great bravery, or stupidity. While we all have our suspicions as to which it is, history will ultimately decide. John secretly hopes the history test will be a ‘multiple choice’ format, as it statistically represents his best chance of getting at least one correct.
Did I mention he was lucky ?
“If you can’t be clever, be curious. If you can’t be curious, be lucky. If you can’t be lucky, be kind. If you can’t be kind, keep the hell away from me !”
John Smillie
John’s mum
“John is wonderfully talented, and very handsome. He was always my favourite.”
Some guy John paid ₤5 to in order to say nice things about him
“John is really great. I really like his music. One of the best singer-song writers of his generation with that name, ….. and other nice stuff … can I have my money now ?”
John's Wife
“Tries hard, but could do better” …