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Love at the Downbeat (live 2021)

by Martin Craig

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about

A big slice of Newcastle’s cultural history, the Downbeat Club was one of my teenage (ok, under-age) haunts in the early 1960s. It began as a jazz club, but like many venues at that time it eventually moved towards rhythm & blues. Eric Burdon, Alan Price & other musicians who went on to form The Animals cut their musical teeth there. This song is my homage to all the great Tyneside venues, and the great times we had there!

This version of ‘Love at the Downbeat’ was recorded (& filmed) during one of my many #AfternoonInTheBorders live-stream shows during the Covid-19 pandemic in 2021, when the future of live venues (& musicians’ livelihoods) was and still is under threat. But, like the song says, the Beat goes on!

If you want to know more about the thriving Tyneside music scene in the 1960s, click this link: www.clubagogo.co.uk where you’ll find the excellent Downbeat magazine, and much more!

lyrics

LOVE AT THE DOWNBEAT

One red lightbulb at the top of the stairs
Nowhere to sit, but nobody cares
They've raided the Marimba
So they'll leave us alone
Start the music quick
Before that girl goes home
Looking for love
Looking for love at the Downbeat

I'm looking for love at the Downbeat
Black mohair sweater
Points on my feet
Choking through every kind of
Weird cigarette
From Balkan Rough
To Sobranie Palette
Looking for love
Looking for love at the Downbeat

(Spoken: “Here come the art school girls...”)
Beatnik beauty in a black leather skirt
Oil paint splashes on her brother's old shirt
She can look right through you as she dances slow
Face won't tell you if it's 'yes' or 'no'
She's looking for love
Looking for love at the Downbeat

Pink Lane Lucy, blue silk dress
Waiting in the line, Barbecue Express
Wearing white stilettos
Scarf on her head
Late last night
She spent the morning in bed
Looking for love
Looking for love at the Downbeat

Well now the pictures are out
It's starting to rain
Lucy kicks through the chip papers
Lying in the drain
Sees the bingo crowd
Coming out in a trance
Remembers when the gang
Used to go there to dance
Looking for love
Looking for love at the Downbeat

I'm looking for love at the Downbeat
Looking for love at the Downbeat
I - I’m looking for love at the Downbeat
Well I'm looking for love at the Downbeat
Watch out!

credits

released October 6, 2021
Words & Music ©️Martin Craig, 1976, 2021.

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about

Martin Craig Scotland, UK

Martin Craig has been playing music live for over 60 years, since he and his pals formed a skiffle group in his parents' garden, aged 10. His songwriting explores current themes; often humorously, sometimes satirically, always musically.

Martin lives 'two-thirds off-grid' in a former shepherds' bothy in a remote part of rural Scotland.
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