Like I've never been gone. Short story by Charles Roberts

 

This story is sadly, based on truth.

For his fourteenth birthday present, in nineteen sixty four, Jimmy’s oldest brother, Alan, had taken him to a concert; at the Regal cinema in Leeds, to see his hero Billy Fury performing live.  Jimmy knew all his songs off by heart, he had been bought all the records by his mum and dad and had nearly worn them out playing them on the record player Alan had got from someone at his work for him.  They were sitting in the auditorium waiting for the curtains to open, the ‘warm up’ bands had all been on, now it was time for the great man to walk on stage, and Jimmy could hardly contain himself.

Some girls near the front started calling for Billy to come out, but there was no movement on the stage, Jimmy joined in the calling for his idle to start his performance.  The band walked out and picked up their instruments and tuned them, then they played an instrumental number.  People were jumping up and down in their seats in anticipation of the great man coming out onto stage and giving his performance.

The backing band started playing the tune ‘Like I’ve never been gone,’ and suddenly there he was, coming from stage left, carrying his coat over his right shoulder.  Girls screamed, Jimmy screamed, he didn’t know why, he just got carried away with the excitement.  Alan put his hand on Jimmy’s shoulder to try and calm him down, without much success.

But something was wrong, the people at the front noticed it first, then the feeling started to spread to the rest of the audience.  The great man was staggering, he reached the centre of the stage and tried to sit on the stool which had been placed there, and fell off.  Someone shouted that Billy was drunk, and as he tried to sing the first line of the song everyone heard him slurring his words, that is when the booing started.  Only one or two people at first, but it quickly spread to the entire audience.  The band stopped playing and someone stepped forward and took hold of Billy’s arm and led him off stage. 

The booing increased in volume, tears streamed down Jimmy’s face as he watched his hero being un-ceremonially pulled from the stage.  Someone walked out onto the stage to say something, but he couldn’t make himself heard above the shouts, jeers, and booing.

Alan leaned to Jimmy and just said, “Why don’t you go down and sing, you know every one of his songs off by heart.”  Jimmy stopped crying and looked at Alan, then with a sudden movement he was out of his seat and running down the aisle towards the stage.  He reached the steps up to the stage and began to climb, slowly as the audience began to notice Jimmy they became quiet.

“What do you want?” the man who had tried to calm the audience down asked gruffly.

“I’ll sing Billy’s songs,” Jimmy said loudly, the backing band started to laugh, “I know them all, I know all the words and music.”

“Go back to your seat boy,” the man said, but Jimmy had spoken so loudly that the people in the front of the auditorium had heard him and someone called out to let the boy sing, they’d come to hear Billy Fury, but if this kid knew all his songs then let him sing them.  “I’ll give you all your money back,” the man called, but the shout for Jimmy to sing was growing in volume.

The man turned to the band, the leader of which nodded his head.  “Okay kid, do your worst.  It’s your funeral if they don’t like you.” And with that he walked off the stage.  The band leader adjusted the microphone for Jimmy and as he did he asked if Jimmy had ever sung in front of an audience before.  “Just at Christmas when all my family were there, along with all my mum and dad’s friends.”  Then he asked Jimmy what he used as a mic.  “I use a brush handle.” The band leader laughed and asked if the mic’ was a good height for Jimmy.

He told him that he would hold the mic’ and walk about the stage if that was all right, then said that he’d like to start with ‘Like I’ve never been gone,’

The band struck up the tune and Jimmy came in on cue, he didn’t need a microphone, he belted it out like a professional, and the audience went wild.  Jimmy sang his heart out for two hours, non-stop, going through the Billy Fury song book, finishing with ‘Jealousy’.  The band liked it, the theatre staff enjoyed it, but the audience loved it they went absolutely wild, screaming and shouting for more, standing on the seats and clapping until their hands were red raw.

As he was walking off stage, he felt like he was on cloud nine, as though it was all a dream.  Days later he got home from school and there was a stranger talking with his mum and dad.  “This man wants to be your manager Jimmy, he wants you to go to London and record a song.  What do you think of that?”

“Only if you say I can.”  They said that he could.  Six weeks later the record was released, but it wasn’t Jimmy’s name on the record, it was someone called Johnny Jewel.  Jimmy’s dad rang the manager and asked him who this Johnny Jewel was.  He was told that they changed Jimmy’s name to Johnny Jewel, because Jimmy Winterbottom wasn’t really a rock idles name.  The record reached the top twenty and though Jimmy released three more records, they didn’t make the ‘charts’ so when Jimmy finished school at the age of fifteen he started work for the local council and forgot all about Johnny Jewel.

He married a girl called Avril when he was twenty two, they had twins, a boy and a girl, but Avril died when the twins were twelve and Jimmy had to bring the two up on his own.

In twenty eighteen his son persuaded Jimmy to go to a pub with him, he told his dad that it was an amateur night and that was always a good laugh.  There was a woman on the small stage who played an electric keyboard, a chap behind her playing some drums, to accompany the singers.  “These are rubbish,” Jimmy said to his son, “I don’t know why agreed to come with you, you could sing better than any of this lot.”

A woman, of about Jimmy’s age was on the next table, she leaned over and said, “If you think that you can do better then get up and show us, or keep your big mouth shut.”  Jimmy looked at her for some time, then stood and walked to the front of the auditorium, the woman on the keyboard looked down at him and told him that she was going for a break and come back later.  Jimmy asked her if he could use her keyboard as he had one just like it at home.  She reluctantly agreed and Jimmy mounted the stage and made himself comfortable behind the instrument.

Then he started to play the intro to ‘Like I’ve never been gone,’ he followed this with ‘Halfway to paradise,’ then ‘Last night was made for love,’ with ‘Jealousy,’ bringing up the rear; all of course Billy Fury songs, and suddenly, he couldn’t tell you why, but he started to sing the song he’d recorded when he was fourteen and which took him into the top twenty as Johnny Jewel.  The audience clapped and stood when he’d finished and was walking back to the table where his opened mouthed son was sitting.  The woman on the next table looked at Jimmy and cried, “You’re Johnny Jewel.  I loved you when I was a teenager, I still have all your records, you are him aren’t you?”  Jimmy just smiled and took a long drink of his pint.

His son told him later, as they were walking home, that Wendy had lost her husband two years previously, he also gave his dad her ‘phone number.  Jimmy became a regular at the pub’s amateur night.  He and Wendy were married six months later.