Tucked away in a fold of history,
a band of poets as talented, life-enhancing and
influential as that legendary band from Liverpool
Click below to
John Webster
Welcome to my website! Growing up with The Beatles
- and feeling bereft when they split up - I discovered
some of their magic in the work of three great poets –
Keats, Shelley and Byron, plus their friend and supporter
Leigh Hunt. Over the years I've been giving their lyrics
a soft rock/indie folk makeover, with the help of musician Dave Eastoe.
Now I call them 'The First Fab Four', and see them
as anticipating, even paving the way for The Beatles in many ways.
If you'd like to check them out our compilation album
‘The First Fab Four’ gives easy access to their work.
Click on album cover to download; listen on Spotify here;
think yourself back into their world with info on the songs and their background
at Lyrics and Commentaries.
'The First Fab Four' opens with ‘Jenny Kissed Me’,
(a medley of their love lyrics); introduces Lord Byron
in ‘Lord B. in Motion’, and explores Byron and Shelley's
political side in Marathon, Rise like Lions and Wild Spirit.
After two song versions of Keats classics including
To Autumn, Shelley’s beautiful Italian love lyrics
and his thoughts on hope and mortality, the album
concludes with songs that see the group
passing into history.
TRACK LISTING:
1. Jenny kissed me (Medley of love lyrics from the Four)
2. Lord B. in Motion (Byron travels from Ravenna to Pisa)
3. Marathon (Byron dreams of freedom for Greece)
4. Rise like Lions (Shelley defends the British people after Peterloo)
5. Wild Spirit (Shelley renews his poetic vision)
6. To Autumn (Keats writes one of the world's classic poems)
7. On the Shore (Keats seems to anticipate his own early death)
8. The Pine Forest (A collection of late Shelley love lyrics)
9. Many a Green Isle (Shelley reaches for consolation in the midst of misery)
10. The Funeral (Trelawny tells the story of Shelley's death and funeral)
11. Adonais (Mary Shelley pays tribute to her late husband)
12. Epitaph (Byron assesses the impact of his life)
13. The World's Great Age (Shelley throws a progressive vision into the future)
14. So we'll go no more a roving (Byron's bittersweet lyric serves as the group's momento)