Lead guitar player for Ferre Grignard from 1965 to 1967. Began playing guitar at the age of 12 (1960). Original member of 'The Croaks' (1963-64) and then of the 'Ferre Grignard Skiffle Group' (1965). I was first taken to the Muze Jazz Club, as it was known at the time, by Marc Verhaegen (or Verhoeven, or similar - my memory it dimmeth), piano and electric organ player for 'The Chabrolls'. Ferre was unknown then (he was a painter at the Arts Academy, Antwerp), but was singing and playing the original Woody Guthrie, Leadbelly, Big Bill Broonzy and Lonnie Doneghan songs. What particularly surprised me was that Ferre knew the original lyrics of 'The House of the Rising Sun' as was sung by a woman ("... and I, poor girl, am one"), because 'The Rising Sun' was a brothel, unlike what the Bob Dylan version (which the Animals then rearranged/made famous) suggested. Ferre also knew the lyrics of 'John Henry', 'Rock Island Line', 'Jack O' Diamonds' etc., which was quite extraordinary in 1965 - when 'squeaky-clean' Pat Boone, Doris Day, Paul Anka, Cliff Richard, Elvis Presley, Dion, Frankie Avalon, Helen Shapiro etc. were still the record producers' models which everyone was supposed to look-up-to and respect (despite the embarrassingly unorthodox Beatles, Kinks, Them, Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan etc.) I was already playing Lightnin' Hopkins, Leadbelly, Big Bill Broonzy, Muddy Waters and Chuck Berry etc.; so we got playing together. I remember Ferre telling me once to 'go and play somewhere else', when I was playing my guitar too loud: so I didn't bother to bring it along after that. The next time he played at the Muze, Ferre asked me why I didn't have my guitar with me; well ... to cut a long story short, he went out and bought me a Gretsch 'Country Gent' Chet Atkins, ... which I then played wherever we went - at the Hamburg Star Club, the Paris Olympia, at the Jazz/Blues festivals (Comblain-la-Tour etc.), at the Belgian/French/Dutch/German/whatever-else TV studios and at the Polygram (Philips) recordings we made in Brussels.

If I may say so, nobody has ever come as close to interpreting the Blues as Ferre did. He was absolutely genuine. He sang from the 'heart', not from the 'script'. Sadly, only those who heard him sing and play live at 'De Muze' (15 Melkmarkt, Antwerpen) will know.


Our recordings for Polygram/Philips were subject to so-called 'constraints'. We were expected to produce commercially viable and marketable results (which none of us quite understood, although the sound engineers apparently did). Need I say more?

For the record:

(a) Ferre originally improvised "Hash Bamboo Shuffle" at the Blankenberge Casino. Not knowing what to do with this, I just added the "plonk-plonk-plenk-plonk-plink-plonk-plenk-plunk" riff to it. Ferre then asked me to repeat it at the Polygram recording studios. So I did.

(b) "Maureen" was improvised on the spot (first take) at Polygram, although we used to play an earlier version, live, at the Muze. (I borrowed George Smit's 12-string acoustic Gibson to record it at Polygram.)

(c) My mouth-organ on "Diggin' My Potatoes" was meant to be a test session (harmonicas need to be warmed-up a bit before use); but the sound engineers published the test recording instead of the warmed-up-harmonica one. So what?

For what my opinion's worth, there were two great original and genuine Blues singers in the 1960's: Bob Dylan and Ferre Grignard. Nobody can buy it: only those who have crawled up from the gutter - or crawled out of the sewers - know the Blues.

Do you know where "Jack O' Diamonds" comes from? Wild Bill Hickok (James Butler: 1837-76) was shot dead during a poker game. He held two black aces, two black eights and the Jack of Diamonds - since then known as the "dead man's hand".

Ferre knew all the lyrics of Jack O' Diamonds.

With affection for Nicole and for everyone else at the Muze.

Bov

Lead guitar player for Ferre Grignard from 1965 to 1967. Began playing guitar at the age of 12 (1960). Original member of 'The Croaks' (1963-64) and then of the 'Ferre Grignard Skiffle Group' (1965). I was first taken to the Muze Jazz Club, as it was known at the time, by Marc Verhaegen (or Verhoeven, or similar - my memory it dimmeth), piano and electric organ player for 'The Chabrolls'. Ferre was unknown then (he was a painter at the Arts Academy, Antwerp), but was singing and playing the original Woody Guthrie, Leadbelly, Big Bill Broonzy and Lonnie Doneghan songs. What particularly surprised me was that Ferre knew the original lyrics of 'The House of the Rising Sun' as was sung by a woman ("... and I, poor girl, am one"), because 'The Rising Sun' was a brothel, unlike what the Bob Dylan version (which the Animals then rearranged/made famous) suggested. Ferre also knew the lyrics of 'John Henry', 'Rock Island Line', 'Jack O' Diamonds' etc., which was quite extraordinary in 1965 - when 'squeaky-clean' Pat Boone, Doris Day, Paul Anka, Cliff Richard, Elvis Presley, Dion, Frankie Avalon, Helen Shapiro etc. were still the record producers' models which everyone was supposed to look-up-to and respect (despite the embarrassingly unorthodox Beatles, Kinks, Them, Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan etc.) I was already playing Lightnin' Hopkins, Leadbelly, Big Bill Broonzy, Muddy Waters and Chuck Berry etc.; so we got playing together. I remember Ferre telling me once to 'go and play somewhere else', when I was playing my guitar too loud: so I didn't bother to bring it along after that. The next time he played at the Muze, Ferre asked me why I didn't have my guitar with me; well ... to cut a long story short, he went out and bought me a Gretsch 'Country Gent' Chet Atkins, ... which I then played wherever we went - at the Hamburg Star Club, the Paris Olympia, at the Jazz/Blues festivals (Comblain-la-Tour etc.), at the Belgian/French/Dutch/German/whatever-else TV studios and at the Polygram (Philips) recordings we made in Brussels.

If I may say so, nobody has ever come as close to interpreting the Blues as Ferre did. He was absolutely genuine. He sang from the 'heart', not from the 'script'. Sadly, only those who heard him sing and play live at 'De Muze' (15 Melkmarkt, Antwerpen) will know.


Our recordings for Polygram/Philips were subject to so-called 'constraints'. We were expected to produce commercially viable and marketable results (which none of us quite understood, although the sound engineers apparently did). Need I say more?

For the record:

(a) Ferre originally improvised "Hash Bamboo Shuffle" at the Blankenberge Casino. Not knowing what to do with this, I just added the "plonk-plonk-plenk-plonk-plink-plonk-plenk-plunk" riff to it. Ferre then asked me to repeat it at the Polygram recording studios. So I did.

(b) "Maureen" was improvised on the spot (first take) at Polygram, although we used to play an earlier version, live, at the Muze. (I borrowed George Smit's 12-string acoustic Gibson to record it at Polygram.)

(c) My mouth-organ on "Diggin' My Potatoes" was meant to be a test session (harmonicas need to be warmed-up a bit before use); but the sound engineers published the test recording instead of the warmed-up-harmonica one. So what?

For what my opinion's worth, there were two great original and genuine Blues singers in the 1960's: Bob Dylan and Ferre Grignard. Nobody can buy it: only those who have crawled up from the gutter - or crawled out of the sewers - know the Blues.

Do you know where "Jack O' Diamonds" comes from? Wild Bill Hickok (James Butler: 1837-76) was shot dead during a poker game. He held two black aces, two black eights and the Jack of Diamonds - since then known as the "dead man's hand".

Ferre knew all the lyrics of Jack O' Diamonds.

With affection for Nicole and for everyone else at the Muze.

Bov