Alan Green Interview

Interview with Alan Green

Barntrup meets London 25.08.2012

Today I met Alan Green, famous folksinger with a great sense of humor, from Manchester who appeared at *Barntrup meets London*, organised from the *Lebenshilfe*, which celebrated their annual summer fete with The Olympics as their theme. The ‘Lebenshilfe* is an organization which looks after people with disabilities.

Alan had time for a Interview and this is what he told me:

Q: Alan, where are you from and where do you live?

A: Well, I am originally from Manchester and when I was quite young, my father decided to emigrate to Israel, for political reasons. So I grew up actually in Tel Aviv, but I didn’t like it. Well, I liked Israel but I don’t like the politics of the country.

Q: Was that the reason why you came back to England?

A: No, I was actually deported.

(After a funny interruption of a Scotsman who was just getting ready to play his bagpipes, we continued with the Interview…)

I was there for about 18 years and I was really unhappy there, so I was going backwards and forwards between Israel and England and then I decided to travel a bit to India, Naples and Thailand and I was just a lost soul in a fish bowl ( smiles ). After travelling a bit, I went back to Israel and lived in Sinai for a while and then met a German girl, which was the very thing to do at the time because it was like having a Mercedes you know, *well I got a German girlfriend*, (and laughs), but actually it was love at first sight, yes she had lots of Traveller’s cheques and that’s how I ended up in Germany, in a town called Soest, a very pretty, a very beautiful middle-old middle-aged town.

Q: So, how did you adapt to German life then?

A: Very well. You see, anybody from England, especially a musician, is considered exotic and we’ve got what you call in German: Narrenfreiheit ( a jester’s licence) which means that you are allowed to be an idiot without anybody thinking you are one ( and we both laugh), so I get on quite well here.

Q: Which takes us to the next question: catchword: Lebenshilfe- why are you here today?

A: Well, I was here about six years ago and actually I am a social worker and I am a street-worker and have got a mentally-handicapped brother-in-law and I do a lot of Benefits for the Walburgis Haus, which is a centre in Soest and I love doing stuff like this.

Q: As you know The Olympics is the theme here today at the Lebenshilfe. Have you been watching the Olympics?

A: I did actually. I found it quite nice. The best part of the Olympics of course was the opening ceremony with Paul McCartney and the closing ceremony with The Who and all those great guys and the beautiful memorial to John Lennon which moved me to tears when I saw it. It was just pure Gänsehaut (goosebumps).

Q: What are we going to hear from you today? Your repertoire?

A: Well, it’s a mixture. I fell in love with the Irish music. My great-grandfather used to have a factory. He was working for Dunlop and he went independent and had a factory in Dublin and as I was a kid, we used to go over there and he was my babysitter and he used to sing the olden Irish rebell songs, I think just to get on the nerves of my grandfather, and years later when I started to play guitar and everything, all this Irish stuff came out and the problem is, even a hard-core Irish folk fan can’t hear the stuff all night. My first great love besides the Irish music is the Beatles and Bob Dylan and Donavon and actually anything from the sixties. So I mix my programme between Irish and oldies so I don’t get bored you see. (and we both laugh)

Q: Have you got a new CD out at the moment?

A: No, I don’t like studios. My last CD was simply one of my concerts live-recorded, without any mixing. I don’t write my own songs. I try to do deep-meaningfull songs and end up singing about drunken sailors. I don’t know, maybe the chance will come some day somebody will record one of my concerts and bring out another CD.

Q: Ok, what’s next on your agenda?

A: Oh, yes, next week I have a gig at the Stadtfest ( city festival ) in Unna. It will be the eleventh year there. I love the audience in Unna and we just have good fun. And then, there are gigs all over the place. I am just kind of warming up for the Christmas market ( and laughs again).

Q: Got one last question for you Alan. What do you miss the most, meaning British things.

A: Humor. They say that there are three very thin books. One of them is the Rights of women in Islam. The second is the art of English cooking. And the third is German humor. I don’t want to insult any Germans, God forbid, I do miss the humor. It’s crazy, eccentric, so come on guys, loosen up, loosen your ties and don’t drink so much German beer. You can still laugh. But apart from that, I like Germany. It’s a great country.

Ok, Alan, Thanks for the interview. Alan says: Thank you, nice talking to you and where is my money? (laughs) That’s Alan allright, a British folksinger with a brilliant sense of humor.