Jackie Leven: 1950-2011 | reviews, news & interviews
Jackie Leven: 1950-2011
Jackie Leven: 1950-2011
Remembering one of our most distinctive and original singer-songwriters
The passing of Jackie Leven, who died last night from cancer, comes with a sense of real sadness. One of our most distinctive and original singer-songwriters, the Fifer maintained a doggedly low commercial profile throughout almost four decades spent weaving his rich, rather brave musical tapestry.
With the abrasive, unclassifiable pre-punk band Doll By Doll and later as a solo artist, Leven often specialised in difficult subjects. A song on one of his recent solo records was called “The War Crimes of Ariel Sharon”, and his music was typically peopled by Serbian prostitutes, Earls Court taxi drivers, conflicted prisoners and damaged Dundonian bar-stool philosophers, all of whom he seemed to identify with in various ways. Even at his most forsaken, however, he was always striving to find "beauty in his wounds". His songs sought out truth, however ugly, and were grounded in an empathetic awareness of our shared humanity. The best of them, such as “Poortoun” and “Universal Blue”, contained an almost transcendent quality and a rare emotional power.
A former heroin addict, brawler and an enthusiastic drinker, Leven led a far from blameless life but he had his reasons. His voice was creamy and soulful, but it could also bark and growl. He was a superb guitar player but saw no need to try too hard to prove it. Latterly he liked to throw woody folk textures up against cheesy synthetics and let them fight it out.
His many records were sometimes superb, though in recent times frequently patchy, and he was always worth catching in concert, where his between-song ramblings veered from scatalogical vignettes about defecating for a photographer in a Glasgow alleyway to getting pissed with Laurence Olivier. He will certainly be impossible to forget.
When I last saw him play, in Edinburgh in August, he was physically diminished and complained (with customary bluntless) of having a bladder problem, but his performance and his banter were as deep and characterful as ever; sufficiently so to suggest he was simply going through a spell of moderately rough weather rather than something more grave. Alas not.
Watch Jackie Leven perform "Poortoun"
Share this article
Add comment
Subscribe to theartsdesk.com
Thank you for continuing to read our work on theartsdesk.com. For unlimited access to every article in its entirety, including our archive of more than 15,000 pieces, we're asking for £5 per month or £40 per year. We feel it's a very good deal, and hope you do too.
To take a subscription now simply click here.
And if you're looking for that extra gift for a friend or family member, why not treat them to a theartsdesk.com gift subscription?
Comments
God bless the big man , a
Jackie you are a special
Oh no! The
Oor Jackie was a marvellous
I've followed Jackie for 10
How sad! His voice his songs
Just heard the sad news from
Genuinely sad to hear of
sad news indeed his gothic
Deeply saddened by the news
Just heard about this. This
I first discovered Jackie
i have loved jackie's songs
We've followed Jackie and
A fine man and a grand
A true original. I'll
I had the pleasure of working
I first saw Jackie in
A talent now lost... RIP
So long kid, takea a bow. See
Jackie was a one off ,no one
Only saw Jackie once (a few
saw jackie about 6 times the
Happy wanderings Jackie and
Wor Jackie...heart like a
I was drunk on a night