Bert Jansch - Blackwaterside 1975

From the Danish TV film "A Man And His Songs" broadcast 1976.

[@vishekdas]

Life was so much better without mobile phones.

[@Jonpriley]

Yes, they didin't even have the internet back then! Or personal computers! Computers were the size of a small room! How the hell did we do without all that stuff? 🤨

[@w.l.graves7228]

fantastic artist ! funny as hell when he caught his key change in the beginning , only a master would laugh and go all in after that !

[@jameshanson4341]

A respectful audience. Very rare in today’s world

[@peelsmyth.7909]

coolest guitarist ever!great to see him in this footage and in his prime!

[@ianevans67]

The audience looked bored but I met Bert many times and I've sat in those audiences and to be honest most people were spellbound. RIP Bert wherever you are

[@S0lidState]

Looking bored is also a visual reaction of being spellbound.

[@sergioelliot9779]

Instablaster...

[@robertcronin6603]

@@sergioelliot9779 🤔

[@paulharty3081]

He is deep into trad folk, and overlays that with rock and blues rhythms and then improvises over that. Sounds simple, it is not. Bravo. The audience are respectful, as are most Europeans who appreciate artists.

[@douglasalan5783]

Bert’s fretting hand is always moving, the notes flowing from his fingers like a mountain stream.

[@billybigtime2808]

Despite the odd error and the clogs this is still class

[@neilross1746]

I also play this song and I have the clogs, but I'm no Bert! I love the fact that he goes off for a musical wander but manages to find his way home again. RIP Bert.

[@andrewmair7371]

Never mind the clogs (or the “errors”)… 🙄 He knew darn well what he was doing - 😎

[@R-11034]

I can still remember buying Bert’s first album over 50 years ago - an inspiration and still unequalled for originality and technique.

[@zootszabo2415]

One of a kind right here folks

[@MarkSeibold]

I saw Bert Jansch perform here in my hometown of Portland Oregon in about June 2012 at the Mississippi studios on the North side of the city. I took some younger friends of mine that were musicians because they'd never seen him before, and a lady friend of mine, I've known since the 5th grade elementary school. It was a spectacular concert, he just played alone and solo'd on the guitar. Some of the audience at times in the darkened Hall I could see holding back tears. I had brought my Pentangle album cover from the Sweet Child album. I thought he would come back out after the final number but then there was a lady rounding up the cables and putting the stage equipment away like a roadie. I asked her if Bert might come back out because I'd be so honored to have him autograph this Pentangle album cover and I wanted to let him know that his music changed my life when I was in my early twenties and bought this album. She said yes, I'll go back and tell him in a minute, as she kept rounding up electric cables and putting things away. So I asked her again are you sure he'll come back out? She says yes I'm sure he will, because I'm his wife. I was so humbled, I had to thank her and tell her I didn't know you were Bert's wife. He finally walked out and I shook his hand. He was very gentle and spoke with a very soft voice that reminded me of Eric Clapton speaking in a similar tone and British accent. I explained to him briefly how important this album was to me when I first bought it when I was about 21, and his performance on it was the greatest acoustic guitar playing that I'd ever heard, plus is great and heartfelt vocals. He autographed his photo on the inside cover where it shows the entire group and he told me his favorite banjo player in the world lives here in Portland Oregon. Later maybe a few months down the road, I was driving my car one night and playing some Pentangle music off the KZbin plugged through my car radio, and I saw the comments of people's laments about him passing away. I was so glad just to get to meet him and shake his hand and talk to him for a couple minutes. Others here had noted the look of the crowd as the camera pans across them, and they seem genuinely interested and sincerely entertained, especially the young British ladies, as they appear so serious.

[@mwj5368]

Great story. You're a good writer! This is the first time I heard of him so quite an experience and so nice to read your experience, sad too.

[@mlsjuge477]

Lovely story Mark. I’m from England and it’s wonderful to know Bert touched the lives of many across the pond also. Best wishes

[@whitetigress7448]

um. Herbert Jansch (3 November 1943 - 5 October 2011) hard to know how you could have seen him 2012. Christ. People never cease to disappoint me. Smelly gits.

[@Vingul]

@@whitetigress7448 are you familiar with the concept of "memory"? It is seldom perfect. He said "about" 2012. A friend of mine can remember the day of the week we attended some gig in 2011, I can hardly recall whether it was in 2009 or 2013.

[@Vingul]

I'd sure like to know the name of that banjo player, Mark. I don't suppose you remember it of course. Anyway, that's a lovely story.

[@tipp55]

Bert was peerless. That was wonderful to see and hear. Himself and John brought me such joy.

[@TheFlameTop]

Bert reveals it to be evident here of the influence that Skip James had upon him there in this renditions outro.

[@mountainfoot]

love his outfit

[@paulmckeown5672]

That is stunning!

[@67Pepper]

Would've been great to see Bert and Nick Drake on the same concert bill.

[@jamessim1858]

That would certainly put you to sleep or worse haha.

[@magicdave93]

I miss you so much Bert You were my main guitar influence, R I P ....

[@hassammahmoodq]

same here. He is just....pure magic. Miss him so much.

[@kingrobert1st]

R.I.P. Bert Jansch you were my first and last inspiration.

[@GreenManalishiUSA]

Not only did Bert have masterful hands...This video show that he had some pretty fine footwear as well :-) . Bert was brilliant. Thanks for posting.

[@Jonpriley]

It reminded me that I used to have a pair of clogs back then (75/6?). A very bizarre fashion: solid wooden soles, quite uncomfortable for any length of time, even if you could actually keep them on while walking. Just briefly - before we all saw sense again - men knew how women felt about the kinds of shoes fashion says they should be wearing. I don't really miss those flapping flares either....

[@lindsayheywood7195]

The real trick was to be able to run in them without falling and breaking your neck.

[@jhardycarroll]

Such great tone. No wonder Jimmy Page stole this!

[@soundhealer6043]

And so many others, lol.

[@criskatan]

I wonder if there was an agreement betwixt the two that would allow Jimmy to usurp this from Bert??

[@tessjuel]

@@criskatan There wasn't. Bert Jansch just never bothered to protect his copyrights. The song is an old traditional one anyay of course, it's the arrangement Page stole from Jansch.

[@conorsullivan8108]

Lovely how loyal the vocal is to Ma Briggs

[@conorsullivan8108]

Edit: Ms Briggs

[@chellelynton5450]

Lucky, lucky girls in that audience!!!

[@NirMehlmanGuitar]

Pure gold, thanks for sharing!

[@danielalexandermclachlanga3781]

Bert is a wee bit buzzed , hilarious ... when He began to sing , He was off key and picked and flubbed a few notes ... bloody brilliant , tha way He glides , and fumble graces through tha song ...

[@Jonpriley]

Yes, he hit the wrong fret as he travelled up the neck for the opening phrase. In this tune (as in many others) he is actually playing the notes he is singing (normally an octave above his voice), so obviously this threw him off, hence his laugh. But I agree, that's his coolness - a slight embarrasment, but laugh it off and carry on without a break. He'd been playing this song for 10 years by this point, so it would have been easy enough to just slot back in - in a fraction of a second. (I haven't checked in this case, but he did change his capo position over the years, so perhaps his fingers were remembering the fret they used to go to...)

[@danielalexandermclachlanga3781]

totally affirming and totally relate ... sang and picked through a few foibles , half drunk , playing originally written songs , forgetting lyrics , flubbing notes ... usually tha only people in tha audience noticing are friends ... Slainte

[@lennon_9dream133]

Con que grandes músico estuvo de novios mi Licorice Mckechnie (Bert Jansch & Robin Williamson). love Lic

[@TheGman858]

The audio and video quality is some of the best I've seen of jansch during this era Cheers and thanks for sharing

[@cjwaywell]

Given time anyone can learn to play that - but then try singing it whilst you're playing it LOL, he was the best.

[@tenyearsgone7577]

Thought I’d seen every one of Berts live videos. Thank you 🤘🏼

[@donnlarossa9173]

Another new one GOODIE lol Thanx

[@MilesBellas]

Clogs and funky socks = 1970's

[@ryan_deakin]

Wow... mistake at the beginning!! Must be the best live version tho

[@Jonpriley]

IMO the best live version (that's available on youtube anyway) is this one: kzbin.info/www/bejne/npy7aIRof5yeapo. (Not just because there are no mistakes. But I like the way he grins at it in this one. ;-) )

[@ryan_deakin]

@@Jonpriley I love the tone of the guitar on this vid

[@hassammahmoodq]

even the mistakes of great artists have musicality. I see that many people call out greats on these little things... Segovia videos have people commenting on "his slow technique" or something.

[@rhymeocerous]

Subjective obviously, but I'd say this live appearance is the best version out there kzbin.info/www/bejne/fHm8dmqbqdibpq8

[@ryan_deakin]

Norfolk Enchants yes it’s good. He’s a lot more gentle in his playing

[@lcdrg307]

[@TheJackocraft]

have you got the whole film?

[@peelsmyth.7909]

is there a full concert of this gig on you tube

[@debs4mysweetbaby]

great!! where can i see the rest of this film??

[@pierrebuffiere5923]

Excellent, but I prefer Sandy singing this.

[@wolfyweir]

Is that Eric Clapton in the front row at about 3.22?

[@Jonpriley]

I don't think so. There's a faint resemblance, but Clapton had a full beard in all the 1975 pics I've seen - and that guy's nose is not quite right.

[@wolfyweir]

@@Jonpriley I've always suspected that beard was false and now I have the proof! Thanks Jon.

[@Jonpriley]

@@wolfyweir LOL

[@kingrobert1st]

Unlikely he would have gone to Denmark to see Bert. I would have though!

[@DrBongos]

@@kingrobert1st Not so unlikely. I'm sure Eric appreciated good music.

[@nudebikergirl]

I love how he can screw up so much in a song because of whatever is going on around him, but still hold the essence so strong.

[@danielalexandermclachlanga3781]

aye , exactly

[@daciuk8]

Platform clogs.....NO!!!!

[@Jonpriley]

Ha! Oh yes, they were a thing back then, briefly. I had a pair myself that year. Wooden soles, really stupidly uncomfortable. Of all the dumb 70s fashions, must be the dumbest by far.

[@aberystwyth11]

what guitar is that?

[@Jonpriley]

It's a Yamaha, and I'm fairly sure it's an FG-1500. He was playing a 1972 model around that time, and he used it on L A Turnaround in 1974.

[@aberystwyth11]

@@Jonpriley fuck they rare, I cant find one anywhere

[@Jonpriley]

@@aberystwyth11 Indeed. But he went on to play an LL11-E when they started making them in the 90s. He liked Yamahas (for the necks), but he wasnt that fussy about the specific model. You can get LL11-Es quite easily and cheaply, or the LL-11 (without the internal PU). I bought mine on ebay for under £500, a beautiful guitar (fitted my own pickup in it). You can hear Bert's on his last two or three albums, or any of his late 90s/2000s gig videos. You can hear mine here:kzbin.info/www/bejne/eWavi2epadKDga8

[@captaincrash9286]

Bert had a good business relationship with yamaha, but I think his best sounding guitars were his Armstrongs. Look for a small 'A' inlay on the headstock. Rob Armstrong made one instrument a month to order, and never needed to advertise because his waiting list was always at least 12 months. Now he's retired, so they're pretty rare. The last one I saw for sale on the open market had belonged to Gordon Giltrap. Ps I just followed the above link to hear your guitar, 👌 nice, thanks

[@TheHumbuckerboy]

@@Jonpriley I own much cheaper Yamaha dreadnought acoustic and I really rate Yamaha guitars very highly 😃

[@johnfisher697]

Just my opinion but seems to be playing in a jazz vibe, best version of this song is Sandy Denny, way above any one.

[@Vingul]

Jansch did this one many times. Check out the version on his Jack Orion album. None better imo.

[@JulioLeonFandinho]

where the hell is the jazz? 🙄

[@S0lidState]

1:46 tennis ball in the socks of his high heels ?,,,lol

[@MIKE-TYTHON]

It’s his heal he’s wearing slip on’s I thought it was a tennis ball for a while too aha

[@justme-wh5li]

Anyone kidding themselves that Mr Jansch was showing himself at his best there needs a hearing check.... check the slip and self deprecating laugh at 30-31 when both vocal and fingers go astray. I've heard Jansch play this like it was the finest and last song ever played... why give eulogies for an also ran gig?

[@Vingul]

Eulogies? Must have missed it.

[@paulharty3081]

Also-ran gig? He made a mistake, most of us do. And admitted it. Et tu?

[@lat1419]

He was a relaxed and consummate musician. The fluffs and all are part of being a performer. I never saw a great creative musician who was note perfect. That's for the skilled but not original artists.

[@blindpew69]

Certainly the worst I’ve ever heard him play on video. But good to know he was human after all …

[@alanj9391]

Arrangement stolen by Led Zep and renamed black mountainside

[@BrotherLovenz]

everything they did was a steal... they saw themselves as being part of a grand tradition of thieves and robbers all popular music is a repackaged steal

[@BrotherLovenz]

Bert probably learnt it off some old gypsy anyway

[@ksmyth999]

@@BrotherLovenz Surely it would have been Anne Briggs?

[@BrotherLovenz]

@@ksmyth999 I bow to your superior knowledge

[@BrotherLovenz]

But I may never forgive them for stealing you need loving from the small faces

[@satoshi_arisaka]

出だしのミスなんて知るか。 ストラップなんて肩に掛けてやるものか。 どうせあんた等に俺の革新的な音楽など理解が出来る訳もないから、可愛い靴下でも見せとこ。 ほほぅ、意外と解ってるじゃん。