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“I saw Lee perform this in Portsmouth just before he died. It was amazing but there was a terribly sad moment when he tried to perform a new song with the new Love band. It was obvious they all wanted to make new tracks with Arthur but … well, you could see in his eyes he didn’t believe in it.
They tried to play with with him, to cover up his timing and misplaced lyrics but the track fell apart. The crowd became a little restless and obviously wanted more from Forever Changes.
Lee declined to start the song a third time. There was this moment when a look came across his face that said ‘Ill never make anything as good or important as Forever Changes’.
Sounds weird but you could see how the genius of his youth weighed so heavily on his shoulders, he loved the music but knew he could never tap into that seam again. It was, as a music lover, the saddest thing I’ve ever seen on stage.
On the way home the Taxi driver (who had been to the gig) asked me what I thought and we had long discussion about it. He agreed with me and after 20 mins sat outside my house talking about what we had seen he refused payment on the grounds that we had shared a beautiful and yet deeply sad evening together.
Arthur Lee died a few weeks later… RIP
They say if you only do one thing … try not to let it ruin you.”
