1 00:00:01,997 --> 00:00:05,277 This programme contains some strong language. 2 00:00:05,277 --> 00:00:06,477 LAPPING WATER 3 00:00:06,477 --> 00:00:08,597 We've been a bit short of music this season 4 00:00:08,597 --> 00:00:10,717 and tonight we're going to make up for it. 5 00:00:10,717 --> 00:00:13,517 The piece is called Tubular Bells. 6 00:00:13,517 --> 00:00:17,197 It was written by a young Englishman, Mike Oldfield, when he was 17. 7 00:00:17,197 --> 00:00:19,877 He worked for nine months to compose Tubular Bells, 8 00:00:19,877 --> 00:00:23,557 which takes up both sides of this LP. 9 00:00:23,557 --> 00:00:26,997 Oldfield used 20 instruments to make the original recording 10 00:00:26,997 --> 00:00:29,437 of that music, all of which he played himself. 11 00:00:29,437 --> 00:00:32,037 Grand piano, bass guitar, electric guitar, tin whistle, 12 00:00:32,037 --> 00:00:35,397 Hammond organ, it goes on like the Guinness Book Of Records... 13 00:00:35,397 --> 00:00:37,557 It's like yesterday. 14 00:00:37,557 --> 00:00:40,717 It doesn't feel a long time ago at all. 15 00:00:40,717 --> 00:00:44,957 It was such a special time in my life. 16 00:00:44,957 --> 00:00:49,277 It was strange - right after I'd finished it, I didn't 17 00:00:49,277 --> 00:00:53,437 want to know about it, because it was such a big thing. 18 00:00:53,437 --> 00:00:59,077 That kind of got it out of my system and for about, five, even ten years. 19 00:00:59,077 --> 00:01:01,757 I just...I didn't want to know about it... 20 00:01:02,917 --> 00:01:07,437 I find it astonishing that it's lasted this long and I'm here 21 00:01:07,437 --> 00:01:09,837 talking to you 40 years later all about it. 22 00:01:11,037 --> 00:01:14,997 It's very close and dear to my heart. I put on the old tapes, 23 00:01:14,997 --> 00:01:19,277 and it's like I'm instantly transformed back to 1972, November 1972, 24 00:01:19,277 --> 00:01:22,397 which was when I started working on it. 25 00:01:22,397 --> 00:01:24,717 MUSIC: "Tubular Bells" by Mike Oldfield 26 00:01:27,557 --> 00:01:30,317 Very few people knew who he was. 27 00:01:30,317 --> 00:01:32,837 It was sort of talked about in reverential tones. 28 00:01:32,837 --> 00:01:36,557 An album with one track on it, over two sides. 29 00:01:36,557 --> 00:01:39,037 You know - that's different. 30 00:01:39,037 --> 00:01:42,197 It sold millions in the first couple of years of release. 31 00:01:42,197 --> 00:01:46,837 But it never stopped selling, so they now quote the figure of 16 million. 32 00:01:46,837 --> 00:01:50,757 In the '70s, everyone had a copy of Tubular Bells. 33 00:01:50,757 --> 00:01:53,117 If you were in any gathering of people for any length 34 00:01:53,117 --> 00:01:56,517 of time, at some point Tubular Bells would come on the turntable. 35 00:01:56,517 --> 00:01:59,477 Virgin going into space most likely wouldn't have existed 36 00:01:59,477 --> 00:02:02,837 if we hadn't had that particular, that particular instrument. 37 00:02:04,597 --> 00:02:08,277 When we made it Michael was a mental wreck. 38 00:02:08,277 --> 00:02:12,237 He would walk round with his eyes wet with tears nearly all the time. 39 00:02:12,237 --> 00:02:14,117 He was in a terrible state. 40 00:02:15,557 --> 00:02:20,637 Mike had a very difficult time with the fame of Tubular Bells. 41 00:02:20,637 --> 00:02:23,917 Lots of people calling him saying, "We want you to do this, 42 00:02:23,917 --> 00:02:27,157 "we want you to do that..." 43 00:02:27,157 --> 00:02:29,317 "No, go away!" 44 00:02:45,797 --> 00:02:48,197 I was born in Reading, in Berkshire. 45 00:02:48,197 --> 00:02:50,637 In 1953. 46 00:02:52,557 --> 00:02:55,117 The name of the road was Western Elms Avenue. 47 00:02:56,397 --> 00:02:58,437 My father was a doctor, a GP. 48 00:03:00,237 --> 00:03:02,837 My mother used to be a nurse, before she had us. 49 00:03:05,397 --> 00:03:09,437 I've got two older siblings, a brother Terry and a sister Sally. 50 00:03:11,957 --> 00:03:15,717 He was very, very lively, very energetic, always dashing around 51 00:03:15,717 --> 00:03:18,757 and...creating things. 52 00:03:18,757 --> 00:03:22,517 He had a gang of friends and he was the ringleader. 53 00:03:22,517 --> 00:03:26,597 Telling jokes and...he was very outgoing, very extrovert. 54 00:03:31,077 --> 00:03:33,877 There was a little bit of music in the family. 55 00:03:34,877 --> 00:03:38,037 There was always a guitar hanging on the wall which my dad would take 56 00:03:38,037 --> 00:03:42,397 down every Christmas and he'd play three songs with three chords. 57 00:03:42,397 --> 00:03:44,677 I, you know, played folk guitar, 58 00:03:44,677 --> 00:03:47,477 so I showed Mike the three basic chords. 59 00:03:47,477 --> 00:03:50,957 And I thought, "Well, that will keep him quiet for a few months." 60 00:03:50,957 --> 00:03:53,637 And I think it was about two weeks later, and he was doing this 61 00:03:53,637 --> 00:03:55,117 extraordinary... 62 00:03:55,117 --> 00:03:58,437 you know, running up and down the keyboard, loads of other chords... 63 00:03:58,437 --> 00:03:59,637 He just taught himself. 64 00:04:02,437 --> 00:04:06,157 When I was about 14, and Mike would have been ten then. 65 00:04:06,157 --> 00:04:09,437 Our mother definitely had some problems. 66 00:04:09,437 --> 00:04:11,837 Because I have a lot of memories from that period. 67 00:04:13,877 --> 00:04:17,277 After me, she got pregnant again. 68 00:04:17,277 --> 00:04:21,317 I remember feeling her tummy and feeling the baby moving in there. 69 00:04:24,117 --> 00:04:28,757 One day, she just wasn't there and she was gone for a long time. 70 00:04:29,917 --> 00:04:32,677 All I know is we had a garage full of baby things, 71 00:04:32,677 --> 00:04:34,877 and the baby didn't come home. 72 00:04:34,877 --> 00:04:38,197 And we were told he had a hole in his heart 73 00:04:38,197 --> 00:04:41,037 and we were spun all sorts of yarns about it. 74 00:04:42,877 --> 00:04:46,157 Our dad told us that the baby had died 75 00:04:46,157 --> 00:04:49,877 and that Mummy wasn't coming home, she was going to go 76 00:04:49,877 --> 00:04:51,677 to a nice place by the sea. 77 00:04:54,077 --> 00:04:57,517 Then later found out that the boy actually survived for a year... 78 00:04:58,717 --> 00:05:02,637 And he didn't have a hole in his heart, it was Down's Syndrome. 79 00:05:02,637 --> 00:05:04,597 His name was David. 80 00:05:04,597 --> 00:05:08,237 He must have been very frail, cos he only survived for a year or so. 81 00:05:09,677 --> 00:05:12,797 But then when she came home eventually, it was then... 82 00:05:14,237 --> 00:05:15,557 ..the problems started. 83 00:05:18,557 --> 00:05:22,157 She started being prescribed barbiturates 84 00:05:22,157 --> 00:05:24,877 which are lethally addictive. 85 00:05:24,877 --> 00:05:28,957 The doctors prescribed them for insomnia. 86 00:05:28,957 --> 00:05:32,637 Sometimes I would go into my mother and father's bedroom 87 00:05:32,637 --> 00:05:35,757 and I'd see her sitting on the bed just rocking 88 00:05:35,757 --> 00:05:39,117 backwards and forwards howling. Almost inhuman. 89 00:05:41,597 --> 00:05:45,277 Then it became very dark, very difficult. 90 00:05:46,557 --> 00:05:49,277 We tended to lock ourselves in our bedrooms 91 00:05:49,277 --> 00:05:52,557 and do our own things, and, I think, that's when Mike... 92 00:05:52,557 --> 00:05:56,877 really started to hone his craft. 93 00:06:00,357 --> 00:06:02,717 Mike just used to play and play and play. 94 00:06:04,637 --> 00:06:07,517 He sort of shut himself in his room a lot. 95 00:06:07,517 --> 00:06:08,997 And we didn't see him. 96 00:06:08,997 --> 00:06:12,117 Whenever you went into his bedroom, he would be... 97 00:06:12,117 --> 00:06:16,557 incredibly fast guitar-playing and he became a prolific 98 00:06:16,557 --> 00:06:18,677 guitarist very, very quickly. 99 00:06:25,397 --> 00:06:28,317 We used to travel around with my friends playing in folk clubs 100 00:06:28,317 --> 00:06:30,637 from a very early age. 101 00:06:30,637 --> 00:06:34,677 Got paid £2 a night for a gig there. 102 00:06:36,797 --> 00:06:40,677 I was 16/17, and Mike was 12/13. 103 00:06:42,357 --> 00:06:45,117 We all, actually, at this point were looking up to him. 104 00:06:45,117 --> 00:06:48,277 And, I suppose, being envious of the fact he could 105 00:06:48,277 --> 00:06:51,637 just do this so naturally without seemingly having to put in 106 00:06:51,637 --> 00:06:54,997 any effort or work into it, it just came out of him. 107 00:06:54,997 --> 00:06:56,957 And we were all... 108 00:06:56,957 --> 00:06:59,917 busting a gut, as it were, to try and keep up with him. 109 00:06:59,917 --> 00:07:02,877 MUSIC: "A Sad Song For Rosie" by Sallyangie 110 00:07:12,357 --> 00:07:15,957 It was 1968 and that was a very, very powerful year 111 00:07:15,957 --> 00:07:17,877 in the '60s. 112 00:07:19,117 --> 00:07:22,917 If you wanted to do something, you tended to just go and do it. 113 00:07:26,957 --> 00:07:29,317 I was just coming up to do my Finals and I said, 114 00:07:29,317 --> 00:07:30,797 "I don't want to do this any more. 115 00:07:30,797 --> 00:07:33,117 "No, I'm going to be a pop singer. 116 00:07:33,117 --> 00:07:36,597 "I'm going to get a record deal, I want to make record now." 117 00:07:36,597 --> 00:07:38,797 So, I was going to go and see Transatlantic. 118 00:07:38,797 --> 00:07:41,437 I had my demo. Walked in to see... 119 00:07:41,437 --> 00:07:45,517 it was Nat Joseph, who was the MD, and he listened and said, 120 00:07:45,517 --> 00:07:48,117 "Oh, that's interesting, that's really unusual. 121 00:07:48,117 --> 00:07:50,197 "Yes, I'm interested. 122 00:07:50,197 --> 00:07:53,317 "But we need some musicians, I don't think just you and the guitar's 123 00:07:53,317 --> 00:07:55,117 "quite enough." 124 00:07:55,117 --> 00:07:58,357 And I said, "No problem, I've got a younger brother, 125 00:07:58,357 --> 00:08:00,957 "he's a brilliant guitarist, shall I bring him in?" 126 00:08:00,957 --> 00:08:03,517 MUSIC: "Banquet On The Water" by Sallyangie 127 00:08:05,277 --> 00:08:08,797 I first came across Mike Oldfield when he was in this duo 128 00:08:08,797 --> 00:08:11,557 with his sister, Sally, called the Sallyangie. 129 00:08:13,997 --> 00:08:17,157 He was a very fine guitarist - there's no 130 00:08:17,157 --> 00:08:19,517 getting away from that - and he knew it. 131 00:08:19,517 --> 00:08:23,077 And he wanted to be treated with respect. 132 00:08:23,077 --> 00:08:25,557 And he was only bloody 15, you know, come on! 133 00:08:30,557 --> 00:08:34,037 I remember one particular instance, Sally berated him... 134 00:08:35,437 --> 00:08:38,117 At that time, he thought - "I'll hit 1,000 notes," 135 00:08:38,117 --> 00:08:39,677 and Sally would stop and say, 136 00:08:39,677 --> 00:08:42,717 "Too many notes, Michael, you've got too many notes!" 137 00:08:43,877 --> 00:08:48,197 London was full of virtuoso guitar players, and he was such 138 00:08:48,197 --> 00:08:51,957 a precocious little prick, he really got up my nose, 139 00:08:51,957 --> 00:08:56,157 but he had a great potential. I was quite disappointed 140 00:08:56,157 --> 00:08:58,597 that we didn't hear anything more of them. 141 00:09:02,077 --> 00:09:03,757 The demise started 142 00:09:03,757 --> 00:09:07,197 when I had the bright idea that we ought to do a bit of styling. 143 00:09:08,517 --> 00:09:12,317 Unfortunately, went to see a dressmaker and asked her advice, 144 00:09:12,317 --> 00:09:14,837 and she came up with this idea of, er, 145 00:09:14,837 --> 00:09:18,797 pink velvet for me, lime green for Mike. 146 00:09:19,797 --> 00:09:21,557 It didn't go down well at all! 147 00:09:22,757 --> 00:09:25,717 Mike was on to better things by that time! 148 00:09:35,117 --> 00:09:37,997 I next came across Mike when he joined Kevin Ayers' band, 149 00:09:37,997 --> 00:09:40,277 The Whole World. 150 00:09:40,277 --> 00:09:43,837 The Whole World was part of a different scene, a general scene. 151 00:09:45,197 --> 00:09:47,357 # I just came in off the street 152 00:09:48,877 --> 00:09:51,397 # Looking for somewhere to eat... # 153 00:09:51,397 --> 00:09:53,037 Kevin was the front man. 154 00:09:54,957 --> 00:09:56,037 # I find a small cafe... # 155 00:09:56,037 --> 00:09:57,757 Tall, looking film star-ish. 156 00:09:59,757 --> 00:10:01,917 # Then I say, may I? 157 00:10:03,477 --> 00:10:05,757 # Sit and stare at you? # 158 00:10:05,757 --> 00:10:08,157 Mike was a good bass player. 159 00:10:08,157 --> 00:10:11,517 He had very clear ideas the way he wanted the bass to play. 160 00:10:11,517 --> 00:10:15,197 He said, "I don't want it just going, boom, boom, boom, boom!" 161 00:10:15,197 --> 00:10:17,357 # Sit and stare at you 162 00:10:18,397 --> 00:10:20,037 # For a while... # 163 00:10:20,037 --> 00:10:22,437 You've got to remember, I was only 16 when I joined. 164 00:10:22,437 --> 00:10:25,957 To have two strings taken away from me and just four bass strings. 165 00:10:25,957 --> 00:10:28,637 I wasn't happy with that, so I would keep hitting 166 00:10:28,637 --> 00:10:32,917 the bass note of the chord in between, I'd play little melodies. 167 00:10:32,917 --> 00:10:34,517 # That's all. # 168 00:10:37,557 --> 00:10:42,677 Around that time, Mike, Sally and I experimented with LSD. 169 00:10:42,677 --> 00:10:48,037 Our present opinion about LSD is that LSD is something like an amplifier 170 00:10:48,037 --> 00:10:53,677 or catalyst which just manifests the unconscious processes in the brain. 171 00:10:53,677 --> 00:10:58,517 When he was very, very young, he did LSD, and I think that probably had 172 00:10:58,517 --> 00:11:00,517 an effect on him that he... 173 00:11:00,517 --> 00:11:04,197 probably still has resonances even now. 174 00:11:04,197 --> 00:11:06,397 DISCORDANT MUSIC 175 00:11:06,397 --> 00:11:09,797 I was living in a little flat, actually - number one Victoria Square 176 00:11:09,797 --> 00:11:11,397 in Pimlico. 177 00:11:12,917 --> 00:11:18,557 And I do remember one extremely disturbing evening where... 178 00:11:18,557 --> 00:11:21,997 people didn't look like anything recognisable. 179 00:11:21,997 --> 00:11:26,437 They almost looked like machines, biological machines. 180 00:11:26,437 --> 00:11:29,757 And it completely...disturbed me. 181 00:11:31,837 --> 00:11:33,757 SHRIEKING 182 00:11:35,957 --> 00:11:39,517 You never believed a bad trip existed until you had one. 183 00:11:40,757 --> 00:11:43,437 Just your worst fears, your worst nightmares. 184 00:11:43,437 --> 00:11:46,117 You know, hallucinating and all that, you think it's cool 185 00:11:46,117 --> 00:11:49,757 and really good fun until it starts going wrong, and then you think, 186 00:11:49,757 --> 00:11:51,997 "Wow, this is not good." 187 00:11:53,397 --> 00:11:56,357 At the time, when I was 17, it was the end of the world for me. 188 00:11:56,357 --> 00:11:59,717 I didn't know what was going to happen, I was going to cease to exist. 189 00:11:59,717 --> 00:12:03,597 "Am I going to die...?" It scared the life out of me. 190 00:12:06,317 --> 00:12:09,757 From that time on, I think he had trouble. It triggered 191 00:12:09,757 --> 00:12:12,117 something in him which created an instability, 192 00:12:12,117 --> 00:12:14,277 which took him years to get over. 193 00:12:14,277 --> 00:12:17,757 He had to transform all that misery 194 00:12:17,757 --> 00:12:19,957 into something... 195 00:12:19,957 --> 00:12:22,797 you know, in his own psyche that kept him sane. 196 00:12:23,837 --> 00:12:27,557 What it did was it made me retreat even more into my music. 197 00:12:27,557 --> 00:12:32,597 In a way, music was more real to me than, erm, normal reality. 198 00:12:34,077 --> 00:12:38,757 Here's this guy who finds life so hard... 199 00:12:38,757 --> 00:12:40,397 and music is his only escape. 200 00:12:41,637 --> 00:12:45,597 He described the music as a creature. 201 00:12:47,077 --> 00:12:49,597 It's this lovely creature... 202 00:12:49,597 --> 00:12:53,797 who...cuddles up against me and makes me feel better. 203 00:12:59,997 --> 00:13:01,557 I moved into the house 204 00:13:01,557 --> 00:13:04,517 with Kevin Ayers on the top of Seven Sisters Road. 205 00:13:06,677 --> 00:13:09,157 The deal was - Kevin would do the cooking, 206 00:13:09,157 --> 00:13:10,837 and we had to do the washing up. 207 00:13:11,997 --> 00:13:16,037 That lasted - not that long - maybe six, nine months, I suppose. 208 00:13:16,037 --> 00:13:18,437 And then one day, erm, Kevin came to me 209 00:13:18,437 --> 00:13:21,517 and he said, "This is not working for me..." 210 00:13:21,517 --> 00:13:23,917 And he, basically, disbanded the group. 211 00:13:23,917 --> 00:13:25,157 And, erm... 212 00:13:25,157 --> 00:13:28,957 but part of that, he offered to lend me his tape recorder. 213 00:13:28,957 --> 00:13:32,117 It was a simple tape recorder - two tracks. 214 00:13:32,117 --> 00:13:34,517 "I can make some demos, I've got a tape recorder." 215 00:13:34,517 --> 00:13:35,957 So, I took it up to my little room. 216 00:13:37,397 --> 00:13:41,797 I also borrowed the Farfisa organ from the keyboard player. 217 00:13:43,637 --> 00:13:44,797 And then I was thinking, 218 00:13:44,797 --> 00:13:48,837 "I want to make some repetitive thing at the front." 219 00:13:48,837 --> 00:13:51,757 Thought of A Rainbow In Curved Air, Terry Riley... 220 00:13:54,517 --> 00:13:56,317 This sort of underground synthesiser 221 00:13:56,317 --> 00:13:58,197 or the birth of the synthesiser. 222 00:13:59,877 --> 00:14:04,037 And, erm, I just played it straightaway, like this... 223 00:14:04,037 --> 00:14:06,517 MUSIC: "Tubular Bells" by Mike Oldfield 224 00:14:08,077 --> 00:14:11,637 That is the Farfisa organ, these are the original tapes. 225 00:14:13,157 --> 00:14:14,597 For Tubular Bells. 226 00:14:16,437 --> 00:14:19,437 I made the demos, I took them to EMI. 227 00:14:19,437 --> 00:14:22,557 There was a chap there called Nick Mobbs who kind of quite liked it, 228 00:14:22,557 --> 00:14:25,677 and he said he'd get back to me but never did. 229 00:14:25,677 --> 00:14:31,197 Erm...I remember taking them to CBS who just thought I was crazy, 230 00:14:31,197 --> 00:14:35,237 cos it...it didn't have any vocals, didn't even have any drums. 231 00:14:35,237 --> 00:14:36,837 And I gave up then. 232 00:14:39,077 --> 00:14:43,677 So, what's interesting about this story is how the two main 233 00:14:43,677 --> 00:14:46,317 protagonists come to meet. 234 00:14:46,317 --> 00:14:50,957 You have Mike Oldfield, retreated in his bedroom writing 235 00:14:50,957 --> 00:14:56,477 his masterwork, and there you have Richard Branson who is also obsessed - 236 00:14:56,477 --> 00:14:59,557 he's obsessed with getting on with his future. 237 00:14:59,557 --> 00:15:01,637 He's been doing the Student magazine 238 00:15:01,637 --> 00:15:05,277 and he's looking for a business opportunity. 239 00:15:05,277 --> 00:15:08,517 I decided not to risk launching the first issue of Student 240 00:15:08,517 --> 00:15:12,717 unless we had managed to get hold of enough cash from advertising 241 00:15:12,717 --> 00:15:15,077 to cover both printing and paper costs. 242 00:15:15,077 --> 00:15:19,677 He started a magazine called Student which was a DISASTER! 243 00:15:19,677 --> 00:15:23,597 Nothing he'd done up until then had really succeeded. 244 00:15:23,597 --> 00:15:27,197 We'd started a mail-order company that would sell any record 245 00:15:27,197 --> 00:15:32,477 from any record manufacturer for 10%, 25% less than the commercial price. 246 00:15:32,477 --> 00:15:37,317 He was a chancer. He was prepared to gamble and go for it. 247 00:15:37,317 --> 00:15:41,157 He was perceived as a visionary, putting it all together. 248 00:15:41,157 --> 00:15:45,517 But, really, he was importing records illegally and flogging them. 249 00:15:45,517 --> 00:15:48,277 He was a second-hand car salesman. 250 00:15:48,277 --> 00:15:51,597 Being independent, one of the major advantages we have is that 251 00:15:51,597 --> 00:15:54,117 we can make policy decisions quickly. 252 00:15:54,117 --> 00:15:56,677 If we want to produce a record we don't have to have 253 00:15:56,677 --> 00:15:58,757 a mass of meetings, we can immediately say, 254 00:15:58,757 --> 00:16:00,837 "Yes, let's go ahead and produce it." 255 00:16:00,837 --> 00:16:04,597 So, the saga continues that Richard Branson looks to investing 256 00:16:04,597 --> 00:16:09,597 in The Manor, the first proper live-in, recording studio in Britain. 257 00:16:15,837 --> 00:16:20,957 I found The Manor in... it was in the Country Life magazine. 258 00:16:22,357 --> 00:16:25,277 Richard was 19, I was 29... 259 00:16:29,837 --> 00:16:32,397 We'd bought his old manor house in Oxford. 260 00:16:32,397 --> 00:16:35,077 I'd managed to get a mortgage from the bank and then 261 00:16:35,077 --> 00:16:37,517 on the second mortgage managed to find... 262 00:16:38,877 --> 00:16:42,517 ..er, an aunt to lend us 10,000 on a second mortgage. 263 00:16:45,517 --> 00:16:50,437 We thought that silver-spoon Richard had got all this easily, 264 00:16:50,437 --> 00:16:52,317 but he had to pay back 265 00:16:52,317 --> 00:16:56,277 about 5% above the bank rate to Auntie Joyce on a regular basis. 266 00:16:56,277 --> 00:16:57,917 She gave him no favours at all. 267 00:16:57,917 --> 00:17:01,877 And, lo and behold, who goes there but Mike Oldfield. 268 00:17:01,877 --> 00:17:04,077 Doing some recording as a session man. 269 00:17:05,237 --> 00:17:07,837 Michael came to me with this little reel. 270 00:17:07,837 --> 00:17:10,757 He was very bad at social intercourse. 271 00:17:10,757 --> 00:17:12,757 And he poked his face and he was like, 272 00:17:12,757 --> 00:17:15,037 "You've got to listen to this!" he said. 273 00:17:15,037 --> 00:17:16,317 And I said, "Ah!" 274 00:17:16,317 --> 00:17:18,437 - HE LAUGHS - "All right, I'll listen to this." 275 00:17:18,437 --> 00:17:21,117 - And it was a little three-inch reel. - Yeah. 276 00:17:21,117 --> 00:17:24,517 The sort of tape you used to send to your mummy in Australia - 277 00:17:24,517 --> 00:17:26,837 "Hello, Mum." You know, that kind of stuff. 278 00:17:26,837 --> 00:17:29,037 BOTH LAUGH 279 00:17:29,037 --> 00:17:33,117 And I said, "All right, I'll listen to it." "Now!" he said. So, I... 280 00:17:33,117 --> 00:17:36,437 I...we were all stopped, so I took it upstairs anyway. 281 00:17:36,437 --> 00:17:40,157 And listened to it on a tape recorder I had upstairs. 282 00:17:40,157 --> 00:17:44,117 - And I was just captivated. - It was the most beautiful piece of music. 283 00:17:44,117 --> 00:17:47,117 I mean, to this day, I can still hear it in my head. 284 00:17:47,117 --> 00:17:48,997 They made a copy... 285 00:17:48,997 --> 00:17:52,797 They kept a copy and they said, "We'll speak to...Richard... 286 00:17:52,797 --> 00:17:55,037 "Simon Draper, and we'll let you know." 287 00:17:59,397 --> 00:18:02,397 I took it into London next time I went to London. 288 00:18:02,397 --> 00:18:06,477 And played it to Richard...no, I didn't play it to Richard, actually, 289 00:18:06,477 --> 00:18:09,157 because we all knew that Richard wouldn't know... 290 00:18:09,157 --> 00:18:12,637 - No, no, we didn't play it to Richard. - No! We played it to Simon. 291 00:18:12,637 --> 00:18:14,797 - Yes. - The other Simon, Simon Draper. 292 00:18:17,357 --> 00:18:21,437 Tom played me the demo and I loved it and I thought 293 00:18:21,437 --> 00:18:26,117 this was absolutely bound to be...successful. I had no... 294 00:18:26,117 --> 00:18:28,197 real means of gauging what success meant, 295 00:18:28,197 --> 00:18:30,397 but I just knew this thing would make an impact. 296 00:18:30,397 --> 00:18:34,077 We discussed the problem of Richard being...being Richard! 297 00:18:35,117 --> 00:18:38,437 Whose favourite record was Bachelor Boy. 298 00:18:38,437 --> 00:18:41,757 # He said, son You are a bachelor boy 299 00:18:41,757 --> 00:18:44,677 # And that's the way to stay... # 300 00:18:44,677 --> 00:18:47,917 When I went to work at Virgin, I had quite strong views 301 00:18:47,917 --> 00:18:51,037 about what sort of record label we should start. 302 00:18:51,037 --> 00:18:54,517 The only person there who knew very little about music was Richard. 303 00:18:54,517 --> 00:18:57,237 I don't think he even had a record player at home. 304 00:18:58,357 --> 00:19:03,877 I got a call from Simon Draper, who had heard the demo tape 305 00:19:03,877 --> 00:19:07,997 of Tubular Bells, and he was excited by this tape 306 00:19:07,997 --> 00:19:11,517 and wanted to come over to the houseboat to play it to me. 307 00:19:11,517 --> 00:19:14,317 PHONE RINGS 308 00:19:14,317 --> 00:19:17,517 I picked up the phone, and it was Simon Draper. 309 00:19:17,517 --> 00:19:20,037 And he said, "We've been listening to your demos..." 310 00:19:20,037 --> 00:19:21,677 I said... 311 00:19:21,677 --> 00:19:24,437 And he said, "We'd like you to come over to Richard's boat 312 00:19:24,437 --> 00:19:27,397 "to have dinner." And I said, "Oh, all right, then." 313 00:19:28,437 --> 00:19:32,637 We said we loved it, we didn't really have any spare money 314 00:19:32,637 --> 00:19:36,477 to record his album, but we told him just to go and live at The Manor, 315 00:19:36,477 --> 00:19:40,837 and in between recording sessions, he could record his album. 316 00:19:40,837 --> 00:19:43,757 I said, "Well, I am going to need some instruments." 317 00:19:43,757 --> 00:19:46,797 And he said, "Just write down what you need, and we'll get it for you." 318 00:19:50,397 --> 00:19:53,197 We were a bit astounded at all these instruments that Mike was ordering, 319 00:19:53,197 --> 00:19:55,397 cos he needed a lot of instruments. 320 00:19:56,757 --> 00:19:58,397 Acoustic guitar... 321 00:19:58,397 --> 00:20:02,037 Spanish guitar... Electric guitar, bass guitar... 322 00:20:02,037 --> 00:20:05,317 And they looked horribly expensive to me. 323 00:20:05,317 --> 00:20:07,957 And later on, there was a concert timpani... 324 00:20:07,957 --> 00:20:09,877 there was a glockenspiel... 325 00:20:09,877 --> 00:20:11,677 Glockenspiel... 326 00:20:11,677 --> 00:20:14,797 £9. Possibly mandolin, I'm not sure. 327 00:20:14,797 --> 00:20:16,717 We didn't know anything about anything. 328 00:20:16,717 --> 00:20:18,877 We were fighting to survive in those days. 329 00:20:20,317 --> 00:20:24,197 There was a truck which was, erm, delivering my stuff and taking 330 00:20:24,197 --> 00:20:28,477 out stuff of the previous musician, who was John Cale. 331 00:20:29,557 --> 00:20:32,557 As they were taking his stuff out, I just watched this set 332 00:20:32,557 --> 00:20:37,197 of Tubular Bells going past, and I just said to the chap, 333 00:20:37,197 --> 00:20:39,877 "Er...can you leave those?" 334 00:20:41,237 --> 00:20:44,037 Never though that the word tubular bells was going to play 335 00:20:44,037 --> 00:20:47,557 such an important part in our lives, and even for the fact that, 336 00:20:47,557 --> 00:20:50,797 I suppose, that...like Virgin going into space most likely wouldn't have 337 00:20:50,797 --> 00:20:52,997 existed if we hadn't had that particular... 338 00:20:52,997 --> 00:20:55,437 that particular instrument! 339 00:20:55,437 --> 00:20:59,037 And, erm, there I was in a real studio, which I could use... 340 00:20:59,037 --> 00:21:02,637 a proper multi-track studio, 16 tracks. 341 00:21:02,637 --> 00:21:07,037 And I was amazed that so quickly Mike had gone from this little 2-track 342 00:21:07,037 --> 00:21:10,757 in his bedroom to this huge mixing desk, cos in those days, 343 00:21:10,757 --> 00:21:12,037 they were vast. 344 00:21:13,357 --> 00:21:15,637 This is the original master. 345 00:21:15,637 --> 00:21:19,717 The piano was recorded to a clockwork metronome ticking away. 346 00:21:19,717 --> 00:21:22,357 And, erm, I've got live bass here... 347 00:21:24,197 --> 00:21:26,757 And, er, can play around with some keyboards. 348 00:21:26,757 --> 00:21:29,477 Starts off with the piano, familiar piano... 349 00:21:29,477 --> 00:21:32,757 then a glockenspiel comes in, and the Farfisa organ, so... 350 00:21:35,117 --> 00:21:37,397 MUSIC: "Tubular Bells" by Mike Oldfield 351 00:21:39,677 --> 00:21:41,197 And the glock... 352 00:21:42,357 --> 00:21:43,717 And the Farfisa... 353 00:21:51,597 --> 00:21:53,357 It's the same old pattern here... 354 00:22:02,357 --> 00:22:04,077 And I've got the live bass now... 355 00:22:28,237 --> 00:22:30,277 And a little harmony comes in there... 356 00:22:33,237 --> 00:22:34,917 And then we wanted to have... 357 00:22:34,917 --> 00:22:37,557 it was supposed to be... you know when... 358 00:22:37,557 --> 00:22:41,317 Erm, horns go "Ba!" like in, you know, those... 359 00:22:41,317 --> 00:22:45,637 big-band sound, but we couldn't have a horn section, so I just sort of... 360 00:22:45,637 --> 00:22:47,477 organ, miked it up. 361 00:22:47,477 --> 00:22:51,917 Played it really loud like "DA!" like that, you see. 362 00:23:20,597 --> 00:23:22,437 HE COUGHS 363 00:23:22,437 --> 00:23:26,397 And then...this is the introduction of that 3/4 time. 364 00:23:26,397 --> 00:23:28,237 To me, that represented a human heartbeat 365 00:23:28,237 --> 00:23:30,197 made on the left-hand of a piano. 366 00:23:32,517 --> 00:23:35,117 If you can listen, the piano's going... 367 00:23:37,397 --> 00:23:39,117 "Dum," like a heartbeat. 368 00:23:46,957 --> 00:23:47,997 And then, erm... 369 00:23:50,077 --> 00:23:53,957 Bit later on...just coming up, guitars start, 370 00:23:53,957 --> 00:23:56,397 the thing builds up to a big climax. 371 00:23:56,397 --> 00:23:59,277 What we are listening to here is unmixed, so it's just completely 372 00:23:59,277 --> 00:24:00,957 as it was recorded. 373 00:24:03,357 --> 00:24:07,917 But, erm...I can plug in my guitar and I'll show you that if you like. 374 00:24:07,917 --> 00:24:09,717 Hang on a minute... 375 00:24:09,717 --> 00:24:12,197 - CLATTER - Ah! 376 00:24:12,197 --> 00:24:13,837 Whoops. 377 00:24:13,837 --> 00:24:15,717 LAUGHTER 378 00:24:15,717 --> 00:24:17,557 Idiot. 379 00:24:24,757 --> 00:24:27,077 There's the guitar, I missed it, you see. 380 00:24:53,317 --> 00:24:55,317 Then... 381 00:24:55,317 --> 00:24:57,317 Then we've got these two, erm... 382 00:24:57,317 --> 00:24:59,397 fuzzy guitars coming in in a minute. 383 00:25:00,397 --> 00:25:03,077 And it builds up to the big climax. 384 00:25:03,077 --> 00:25:04,797 I think those start on this... 385 00:25:28,917 --> 00:25:30,917 And then there's a lead up... 386 00:25:33,157 --> 00:25:35,437 The melody comes in, the flute comes in... 387 00:25:35,437 --> 00:25:38,357 and then, I was telling you yesterday about this organ chord 388 00:25:38,357 --> 00:25:39,797 that's supposed to go... 389 00:25:39,797 --> 00:25:42,757 "Whoo...!" like that. There it is... 390 00:25:42,757 --> 00:25:44,917 And the big beautiful melody comes... 391 00:25:55,997 --> 00:25:58,837 The point really, I suppose, that people would not understand 392 00:25:58,837 --> 00:26:03,437 was that when we made it, Michael was a mental wreck. 393 00:26:03,437 --> 00:26:06,157 He would walk round with his eyes wet with tears nearly 394 00:26:06,157 --> 00:26:08,477 all the time, he was in a terrible state. 395 00:26:09,797 --> 00:26:12,117 He found it an enormous disquiet. 396 00:26:13,317 --> 00:26:17,717 About the idea of being mortal flesh. And yet what was going on 397 00:26:17,717 --> 00:26:22,397 in his head was...eternal and beautiful and everlasting, you know. 398 00:26:23,637 --> 00:26:27,037 And that really...my heart went out to him. 399 00:26:31,277 --> 00:26:33,157 He always had fag packets in his pocket 400 00:26:33,157 --> 00:26:37,557 and he would suddenly stop and he would write in tiny little writing - 401 00:26:37,557 --> 00:26:41,837 he'd slash five staves on it and write a little tune on it. 402 00:26:41,837 --> 00:26:45,557 And put it back in the fag packet and then...carry on. 403 00:26:45,557 --> 00:26:49,517 So...he was constantly...you know... 404 00:26:49,517 --> 00:26:50,757 er, working. 405 00:27:03,157 --> 00:27:05,557 What's so interesting about Tubular Bells, if you view it 406 00:27:05,557 --> 00:27:11,797 in totality, it's like a compendium of tunes, textures, ideas. 407 00:27:13,437 --> 00:27:15,517 There's a honky-tonk piano, you see. 408 00:27:15,517 --> 00:27:18,037 That's all the kitchen staff from The Manor. 409 00:27:18,037 --> 00:27:19,357 CROWD HUMMING 410 00:27:19,357 --> 00:27:21,677 Got them all in from their cooking and... 411 00:27:21,677 --> 00:27:24,197 that was a honky-tonk piano like my grandma's. 412 00:27:24,197 --> 00:27:28,397 Oldfield had been sort of working up to this point for a number of years, 413 00:27:28,397 --> 00:27:29,997 so not surprisingly, 414 00:27:29,997 --> 00:27:32,677 therefore, you get elements of the school band in it. 415 00:27:32,677 --> 00:27:35,597 You remember that - "Dum, de, dun, de, dun, da, da, da"? 416 00:27:49,037 --> 00:27:50,077 I like this bit... 417 00:27:51,317 --> 00:27:52,597 I'll turn it up... 418 00:27:59,037 --> 00:28:01,917 You see, it's got everything in it. It's got the pub piano, it's got 419 00:28:01,917 --> 00:28:03,717 the, you know, the thrash rock. 420 00:28:09,157 --> 00:28:12,477 The big question when you've got this compendium of tunes 421 00:28:12,477 --> 00:28:16,077 is how do you find a kind of climax point? 422 00:28:16,077 --> 00:28:19,917 How do you find a tune which is going to burn a hole in people's souls? 423 00:28:25,077 --> 00:28:28,957 DEEP BASS CHORDS 424 00:28:28,957 --> 00:28:32,557 - I mean, the tension there, you see. - Yeah, it's phenomenal, isn't it? 425 00:28:32,557 --> 00:28:34,197 This is the build-up to the riff. 426 00:28:34,197 --> 00:28:36,877 This is the build-up to the bass guitar riff... 427 00:28:41,517 --> 00:28:43,597 The bass line was very hard work. 428 00:28:45,037 --> 00:28:49,317 Because the one I hired wasn't particularly nice to play. 429 00:28:49,317 --> 00:28:53,557 I had to play it all in one go for about seven minutes. 430 00:28:53,557 --> 00:28:56,917 And that whole part, right from there to the very end, 431 00:28:56,917 --> 00:28:58,357 was all in one take. 432 00:29:26,517 --> 00:29:28,197 See, even now... 433 00:29:28,197 --> 00:29:30,597 my muscles are starting to tire. 434 00:29:30,597 --> 00:29:33,357 Feel a little bit of sweat coming out of my... 435 00:29:34,397 --> 00:29:36,197 But I had to keep going on... 436 00:29:45,797 --> 00:29:48,557 So I'm starting to get tired now. 437 00:29:48,557 --> 00:29:50,557 Had to keep going... 438 00:30:04,477 --> 00:30:07,677 The accident of getting Vivian Stanshall involved in that 439 00:30:07,677 --> 00:30:08,717 was great as well. 440 00:30:10,437 --> 00:30:12,797 Vivian was with the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band, 441 00:30:12,797 --> 00:30:14,717 and they'd been recording already. 442 00:30:14,717 --> 00:30:16,877 Vivian was around and getting drunk, 443 00:30:16,877 --> 00:30:19,837 cos he could drink a bottle of brandy, you know, for tea. 444 00:30:22,117 --> 00:30:24,797 You couldn't keep him out of anything, he would just blunder in 445 00:30:24,797 --> 00:30:26,957 and, "Hello, dear boy, what's going on in here?" 446 00:30:26,957 --> 00:30:31,357 - HE IMITATES GUFFAW - And that was it, you had to give in to him. 447 00:30:31,357 --> 00:30:36,277 HORN MUSIC 448 00:30:36,277 --> 00:30:40,957 And from behind the magnificent 20th-century Norman portal, 449 00:30:40,957 --> 00:30:44,677 you'll find the downstairs lavatory and me seated, 450 00:30:44,677 --> 00:30:46,397 toying with my worms. 451 00:30:46,397 --> 00:30:49,557 Michael said to me, "Wouldn't it be great to get Vivian to introduce 452 00:30:49,557 --> 00:30:51,517 "the instruments?" 453 00:30:51,517 --> 00:30:52,997 I said, "Well, go and ask him?" 454 00:30:52,997 --> 00:30:55,477 "I'm sc... Oh! I can't do that, I'm scared!" 455 00:30:56,557 --> 00:30:58,117 BOTH LAUGH 456 00:30:58,117 --> 00:31:00,557 And eventually, I made him go and ask him. 457 00:31:00,557 --> 00:31:02,357 I said, "Go and ask him, go and ask him. 458 00:31:02,357 --> 00:31:04,437 "Ask him. Say you want a slug of his brandy." 459 00:31:04,437 --> 00:31:07,317 While you're watching, why not have a glass of Chateau Tilbury? 460 00:31:07,317 --> 00:31:09,637 At river temperature, it's absolutely delicious. 461 00:31:09,637 --> 00:31:12,397 I just gave him the words and... I wrote them down... 462 00:31:12,397 --> 00:31:14,197 just the cast in order of appearance. 463 00:31:14,197 --> 00:31:15,717 It starts with the grand piano. 464 00:31:15,717 --> 00:31:18,397 We could not cue the fucker at all. It was a nightmare. 465 00:31:18,397 --> 00:31:20,997 - He was impossible. - He was... 466 00:31:20,997 --> 00:31:24,677 "Oh, grand piano!" In completely the wrong place, you know. 467 00:31:31,237 --> 00:31:34,277 Next comes in at the beginning, reed and pipe organ. 468 00:31:34,277 --> 00:31:35,637 - VIVIAN: - Reed and pipe organ. 469 00:31:35,637 --> 00:31:36,957 "Reed and pipe organ." 470 00:31:36,957 --> 00:31:38,837 - HE LAUGHS - I love it! 471 00:31:48,197 --> 00:31:50,757 I couldn't believe my luck, especially when he said, 472 00:31:50,757 --> 00:31:53,237 "Plus tubular bells," and the bells hit. 473 00:31:53,237 --> 00:31:56,277 I-I was over the moon, cos he just sounded so perfect. 474 00:31:57,397 --> 00:31:59,637 Plus...tubular bells. 475 00:32:06,517 --> 00:32:10,077 The thing about the tubular bells is that it's an instrument 476 00:32:10,077 --> 00:32:12,957 that normally is quite far back in an orchestra. 477 00:32:13,957 --> 00:32:17,957 And, you know, in this case, we wanted the tubular bells to be 478 00:32:17,957 --> 00:32:19,317 the loudest instrument. 479 00:32:20,397 --> 00:32:23,357 We had a lot of arguments about that, me and Tom. 480 00:32:23,357 --> 00:32:25,997 He was asking for the impossible, virtually. 481 00:32:25,997 --> 00:32:30,157 - Within the technology we had. - Nearly came to blows about it, you know. 482 00:32:30,157 --> 00:32:33,237 It's got to be loud, and the bell's got to be that loud. 483 00:32:33,237 --> 00:32:36,317 I don't care if we had to bring the whole track down... 484 00:32:36,317 --> 00:32:39,317 And then he would say, "Then it will sound too quiet on the radio." 485 00:32:39,317 --> 00:32:41,117 It doesn't matter...the bell... 486 00:32:41,117 --> 00:32:44,117 Let them turn all...all them turn their radios up. 487 00:32:44,117 --> 00:32:45,757 I said... 488 00:32:45,757 --> 00:32:49,757 Cos they come with this neat little hammer with the leather on one end. 489 00:32:49,757 --> 00:32:52,317 And copper on the other end, I think, and it was... 490 00:32:52,317 --> 00:32:54,877 even hitting it with the copper didn't work. 491 00:32:54,877 --> 00:32:58,117 - So, we got a real hammer. - Got a real claw hammer, a bloody great... 492 00:32:58,117 --> 00:32:59,477 BOTH LAUGH 493 00:32:59,477 --> 00:33:03,637 ..12-ounce claw hammer. I said, "Look, just hit it..." 494 00:33:06,117 --> 00:33:08,037 Here we have the bell... 495 00:33:08,037 --> 00:33:09,837 Tubular bells... 496 00:33:09,837 --> 00:33:11,717 BELL CHIMES 497 00:33:29,357 --> 00:33:30,717 We worked all night, 498 00:33:30,717 --> 00:33:33,677 finished side one about eight or nine in the morning. 499 00:33:35,477 --> 00:33:39,837 And, erm...a copy was sent off to London, and I didn't hear 500 00:33:39,837 --> 00:33:41,877 anything until... 501 00:33:41,877 --> 00:33:42,957 that evening. 502 00:33:45,117 --> 00:33:48,837 Richard's reaction to the first side of Tubular Bells was, 503 00:33:48,837 --> 00:33:50,557 "It hasn't got any vocals on it." 504 00:33:51,677 --> 00:33:56,757 It was a major nightmare in his head about what we do with this. 505 00:33:58,517 --> 00:34:02,237 We went to the Midem Music Conference in Cannes 506 00:34:02,237 --> 00:34:05,237 in order to try and gauge interest in our product. 507 00:34:05,237 --> 00:34:07,037 We hadn't released anything, 508 00:34:07,037 --> 00:34:09,637 obviously, at this point. And see whether we could set up 509 00:34:09,637 --> 00:34:11,277 overseas licensing deals. 510 00:34:12,837 --> 00:34:15,877 I definitely remember when I took the tape 511 00:34:15,877 --> 00:34:18,637 around some record companies, one of the record company bosses 512 00:34:18,637 --> 00:34:21,037 saying he wanted to put some vocals on it. 513 00:34:22,717 --> 00:34:26,317 If we put some vocals on it, he would sign Mike up. 514 00:34:26,317 --> 00:34:29,837 What Richard did when he came back. He said, "Should we try and put vocals on it?" 515 00:34:29,837 --> 00:34:31,917 And he may well have mentioned it to Mike, 516 00:34:31,917 --> 00:34:34,397 but I don't think anyone else thought this was a good idea. 517 00:34:34,397 --> 00:34:35,797 And...certainly Mike didn't. 518 00:34:45,917 --> 00:34:48,637 Eventually, it was decided I could stay on in the house, 519 00:34:48,637 --> 00:34:51,757 and whenever the studio wasn't being used, I could go in 520 00:34:51,757 --> 00:34:53,597 and work on Side Two of Tubular Bells. 521 00:34:54,877 --> 00:34:57,237 I had all the sections mapped out. 522 00:34:57,237 --> 00:35:02,237 I had the Caveman mapped out. I had the beautiful, peaceful tune. 523 00:35:05,517 --> 00:35:09,797 When the time came to choose the sleeve, the design and so on, 524 00:35:09,797 --> 00:35:11,917 we introduced Mike to Trevor Key. 525 00:35:13,077 --> 00:35:14,597 He did all this on his own. 526 00:35:15,837 --> 00:35:18,237 And I just looked at it and went, "Oh, wow!" 527 00:35:19,237 --> 00:35:23,237 My jaw dropped at just how amazingly beautiful it was. 528 00:35:23,237 --> 00:35:25,757 This is a real...an actual real object, 529 00:35:25,757 --> 00:35:29,277 which was built, but then it was chromium-plated... 530 00:35:29,277 --> 00:35:32,437 As I understand it, it didn't have a back, so it wasn't like... 531 00:35:32,437 --> 00:35:35,477 completely solid all the way round. 532 00:35:35,477 --> 00:35:37,837 Trevor asked me, "What kind of typeface?" 533 00:35:37,837 --> 00:35:41,037 And I said, "I don't want it big, plastered all over it. 534 00:35:41,037 --> 00:35:43,237 "Leave this beautiful picture. 535 00:35:43,237 --> 00:35:44,717 "You can put Tubular Bells..." 536 00:35:44,717 --> 00:35:48,077 I chose the colour... "And put my name very small." 537 00:35:48,077 --> 00:35:52,637 Cos I didn't want the type to destroy the image, you see. 538 00:35:53,797 --> 00:35:57,797 Tubular Bells became the premiere Virgin release, there it was. 539 00:35:57,797 --> 00:36:01,117 V2001, 25th of May 1973, 540 00:36:01,117 --> 00:36:05,397 the label was launched with this piece of music. 541 00:36:05,397 --> 00:36:08,717 An album with one track on it, over two sides. 542 00:36:08,717 --> 00:36:10,317 You know, that's different. 543 00:36:15,957 --> 00:36:17,517 Richard Branson rang me up - 544 00:36:17,517 --> 00:36:20,317 "How would you like to come up to my recording studio 545 00:36:20,317 --> 00:36:21,997 "and meet Mike Oldfield?" 546 00:36:23,517 --> 00:36:25,317 Now, Mike was hard work. 547 00:36:25,317 --> 00:36:31,157 He didn't want to answer the sort of questions I wanted to ask. 548 00:36:31,157 --> 00:36:33,357 - (MUMBLES) - You know what I mean... 549 00:36:33,357 --> 00:36:38,717 I remember I hated it. He was asking me all these personal questions. 550 00:36:38,717 --> 00:36:40,237 "Tell me about Tubular Bells." 551 00:36:40,237 --> 00:36:42,317 Mumble, mumble, mumble. 552 00:36:42,317 --> 00:36:44,957 He was not the greatest interviewee in the world, 553 00:36:44,957 --> 00:36:46,277 especially at this time. 554 00:36:46,277 --> 00:36:48,237 "Why did you write Tubular Bells?" 555 00:36:49,997 --> 00:36:51,357 What a weird question. 556 00:36:51,357 --> 00:36:53,037 It's a bit silly, isn't it? 557 00:36:53,037 --> 00:36:54,397 I think it is. 558 00:36:54,397 --> 00:36:58,517 I can't imagine me asking such a question, it's a stupid question. 559 00:36:58,517 --> 00:36:59,917 Er... 560 00:36:59,917 --> 00:37:02,797 I racked my brains for 20 minutes and I couldn't think... 561 00:37:02,797 --> 00:37:04,957 There wasn't a reason. 562 00:37:04,957 --> 00:37:06,357 I didn't want to have a... 563 00:37:07,517 --> 00:37:10,117 I didn't do it for that, you know, it's just... 564 00:37:11,797 --> 00:37:13,077 HE SIGHS 565 00:37:14,077 --> 00:37:15,877 And at the end, I said, "How was that? 566 00:37:15,877 --> 00:37:17,637 "It wasn't all that painful, was it?" 567 00:37:17,637 --> 00:37:19,837 He said, "I feel as if I've been raped." 568 00:37:22,757 --> 00:37:26,637 I was taken into a room by Richard, Tom... 569 00:37:26,637 --> 00:37:29,157 I think the lot of them, and they sat me down and said, 570 00:37:29,157 --> 00:37:31,877 "You are going to have to do this live." 571 00:37:31,877 --> 00:37:33,997 I said, "No, absolutely not." 572 00:37:33,997 --> 00:37:36,637 I'd become a bit of a rebel by that time. 573 00:37:38,237 --> 00:37:42,957 I hadn't realised quite how big a problem that we had with Mike. 574 00:37:42,957 --> 00:37:45,957 To be frank, he had a sort of mental problem 575 00:37:45,957 --> 00:37:48,237 and he wouldn't disagree with that, 576 00:37:48,237 --> 00:37:49,437 at that time. 577 00:37:50,597 --> 00:37:54,317 He said he didn't want to go on tour, but he agreed to do one concert. 578 00:37:55,797 --> 00:37:59,397 I was pushed and pushed, and there was no getting out of it. 579 00:37:59,397 --> 00:38:01,637 "Oh, what have I let myself in for?" 580 00:38:01,637 --> 00:38:03,997 We assembled a group of musicians, many of whom were signed 581 00:38:03,997 --> 00:38:07,357 to the label by this time, so it was members of Hatfield 582 00:38:07,357 --> 00:38:11,197 and The North, Henry Cow, and then Mick Taylor played guitar on it. 583 00:38:13,877 --> 00:38:18,757 The Queen Elizabeth Hall was suggested - nice size, 584 00:38:18,757 --> 00:38:21,197 predominantly a classical venue. 585 00:38:21,197 --> 00:38:24,997 Interesting, isn't it, that Branson decided that for the one live 586 00:38:24,997 --> 00:38:28,437 appearance of Tubular Bells, it should be in one of the great, 587 00:38:28,437 --> 00:38:31,397 hallowed bastions of culture. 588 00:38:31,397 --> 00:38:33,877 Yeah, he wouldn't put it in a rock venue. 589 00:38:33,877 --> 00:38:36,917 So, it's quite a strong statement behind that, I think - he wanted it 590 00:38:36,917 --> 00:38:39,237 to be seen as a piece of...artwork. 591 00:38:41,717 --> 00:38:46,517 I'd started getting nervous about it by then, cos I was thinking, 592 00:38:46,517 --> 00:38:48,797 "Oh, my God, I've got to do this live." 593 00:38:49,797 --> 00:38:52,077 There was no sampling then, no backing tracks, 594 00:38:52,077 --> 00:38:53,237 you had to... 595 00:38:53,237 --> 00:38:55,117 you all had to play everything. 596 00:38:55,117 --> 00:38:58,797 As we got closer to the gig, Michael got more and more scared, I mean, 597 00:38:58,797 --> 00:39:00,437 he was really scared. 598 00:39:03,157 --> 00:39:06,837 I remember the rehearsals, we were going over and over this piece, 599 00:39:06,837 --> 00:39:10,437 and Mike suddenly burst into tears and left the room, 600 00:39:10,437 --> 00:39:13,317 because he just couldn't handle it, he was so emotionally... 601 00:39:14,397 --> 00:39:16,117 ..it was so difficult for him. 602 00:39:19,877 --> 00:39:24,157 I'd been given an old beaten-up Bentley for my wedding present. 603 00:39:24,157 --> 00:39:28,317 So I was driving him to the concert, and suddenly he turned to me 604 00:39:28,317 --> 00:39:34,357 and said, "Richard, I'm sorry, I just can't do it. I just can't do it." 605 00:39:34,357 --> 00:39:36,597 And this was about an hour and a half... 606 00:39:36,597 --> 00:39:40,357 and the concert was sold out, and I kept driving, and he just said, 607 00:39:40,357 --> 00:39:43,997 "Richard, you're not taking me seriously. I'm not going on stage." 608 00:39:43,997 --> 00:39:46,797 And I was just desperately trying to think, 609 00:39:46,797 --> 00:39:48,717 "What the hell do I do now?" 610 00:39:48,717 --> 00:39:51,757 And then I just turned to him and said, "Look, Mike, if I give you 611 00:39:51,757 --> 00:39:54,397 "the keys to this car, and you can drive this car off after 612 00:39:54,397 --> 00:39:58,597 "the concert, do you think you can overcome whatever's bothering you?" 613 00:39:59,917 --> 00:40:03,197 ANNOUNCER: Our Live from London radio concert comes tonight from 614 00:40:03,197 --> 00:40:05,117 The Queen Elizabeth Hall. 615 00:40:05,117 --> 00:40:09,437 And features Michael Oldfield performing his composition, Tubular Bells. 616 00:40:09,437 --> 00:40:11,437 We got up on the stage and started... 617 00:40:11,437 --> 00:40:13,757 MUSIC: "Tubular Bells" by Mike Oldfield 618 00:40:15,157 --> 00:40:19,277 David Bedford came in out of time, and Mick Taylor's guitar 619 00:40:19,277 --> 00:40:20,917 wasn't quite in tune... 620 00:40:30,197 --> 00:40:34,437 I was just waiting for the silence and the boos. 621 00:40:34,437 --> 00:40:38,037 Fruit they were going to throw at me, cos it was so awful. 622 00:40:38,037 --> 00:40:40,877 And the...just to my amazement, there was this roar. 623 00:40:42,197 --> 00:40:45,597 APPLAUSE AND WHISTLING 624 00:40:45,597 --> 00:40:48,757 Everybody...standing ovation, straightaway, it was instant. 625 00:40:48,757 --> 00:40:51,597 We all had tears in our eyes, and, you know, 626 00:40:51,597 --> 00:40:54,717 Tubular Bells was born, Mike Oldfield was born, 627 00:40:54,717 --> 00:40:56,477 Virgin Records was born... 628 00:40:56,477 --> 00:41:00,237 He couldn't understand it. He said, "What the fuck are they standing up clapping for? 629 00:41:00,237 --> 00:41:03,917 "That was crap!" I mean, he was really amazed. 630 00:41:03,917 --> 00:41:06,397 I felt that I'd done it so badly that... 631 00:41:08,077 --> 00:41:10,157 ..perhaps I didn't deserve that... 632 00:41:11,797 --> 00:41:14,477 ..you know, that reaction, that reward. 633 00:41:15,877 --> 00:41:18,717 John Peel came to the boat one day. 634 00:41:18,717 --> 00:41:20,997 Simon and myself played him the whole album, 635 00:41:20,997 --> 00:41:24,477 and he absolutely loved it and he chose to play the whole album 636 00:41:24,477 --> 00:41:27,837 on his radio show, which was unheard of. 637 00:41:27,837 --> 00:41:30,477 I've been introducing Top Gear for nearly six years now, 638 00:41:30,477 --> 00:41:31,837 but I think that that is... 639 00:41:31,837 --> 00:41:34,837 certainly one of the most impressive LPs I've ever had the chance 640 00:41:34,837 --> 00:41:36,557 to play on the radio. 641 00:41:36,557 --> 00:41:39,077 Really a remarkable record from Mike Oldfield 642 00:41:39,077 --> 00:41:42,437 and one of the first releases on the new Virgin label. 643 00:41:42,437 --> 00:41:46,037 John Peel was responsible for breaking so many bands. 644 00:41:46,037 --> 00:41:49,477 It was a very influential club, it was a very select club. 645 00:41:49,477 --> 00:41:51,557 It was like, "Let me let you in on this secret." 646 00:41:53,757 --> 00:41:58,357 I remember a kid coming into school with a copy of Tubular Bells, 647 00:41:58,357 --> 00:42:01,997 and us all just looking at the sleeve and thinking, "What is it?" 648 00:42:03,757 --> 00:42:07,397 We had a mate's house we'd go to. He lived near school. 649 00:42:07,397 --> 00:42:10,517 So we were able to get a fix at lunchtime, as well. 650 00:42:10,517 --> 00:42:12,677 And we'd go off and listen to it there. 651 00:42:12,677 --> 00:42:15,557 Records used to happen through word of mouth then. 652 00:42:15,557 --> 00:42:18,957 Somebody would buy it, take it home, play it, and another person 653 00:42:18,957 --> 00:42:20,317 would then want to buy it. 654 00:42:20,317 --> 00:42:22,797 There was no internet or no communication like that. 655 00:42:22,797 --> 00:42:26,117 It just began to explode, it evolved. 656 00:42:26,117 --> 00:42:29,437 I can remember going to an Italian restaurant in Little Venice 657 00:42:29,437 --> 00:42:32,117 with Richard shortly before the record actually came out. 658 00:42:32,117 --> 00:42:34,637 And we were trying to guess what it would sell 659 00:42:34,637 --> 00:42:37,397 - and we absolutely had no idea. - We knew nothing about the industry 660 00:42:37,397 --> 00:42:39,477 but thought we might sell 4,000 copies. 661 00:42:40,797 --> 00:42:44,117 It took a while, you see. It crept and crept and crept. 662 00:42:44,117 --> 00:42:48,117 It didn't do it like things do nowadays, they go in at number one. 663 00:42:48,117 --> 00:42:50,197 It took about, probably, a year. 664 00:42:50,197 --> 00:42:52,637 It was quite a warm summer, and I can remember hearing it 665 00:42:52,637 --> 00:42:53,917 coming out of windows, 666 00:42:53,917 --> 00:42:56,557 and you thought, "Boy, this is happening. 667 00:42:56,557 --> 00:42:57,637 "This is word of mouth." 668 00:43:00,477 --> 00:43:03,197 But I think what made it different was the fact 669 00:43:03,197 --> 00:43:04,637 it sort of kept on going. 670 00:43:05,797 --> 00:43:07,037 It started to attract 671 00:43:07,037 --> 00:43:11,157 much bigger audiences. It became a talking point. 672 00:43:11,157 --> 00:43:14,877 I suppose as it started getting successful, I was thinking, 673 00:43:14,877 --> 00:43:17,557 maybe I'd had the opportunity 674 00:43:17,557 --> 00:43:21,037 to not get involved and do the... 675 00:43:21,037 --> 00:43:24,157 be a star or anything but just to get out, go away. 676 00:43:25,557 --> 00:43:31,197 Mike had a very difficult time with the fame of Tubular Bells. 677 00:43:31,197 --> 00:43:35,077 He locked himself on the top of the remotest hill he could find 678 00:43:35,077 --> 00:43:36,917 in Wales! 679 00:43:37,917 --> 00:43:40,677 And lots of people calling him, saying, 680 00:43:40,677 --> 00:43:43,317 "We want you to do this, we want you to do that." 681 00:43:44,717 --> 00:43:46,437 "No, go away!" 682 00:43:47,957 --> 00:43:50,997 Every year, it seems, a film is released with scenes 683 00:43:50,997 --> 00:43:53,877 in it so disgusting or so disturbing 684 00:43:53,877 --> 00:43:57,477 that controversy is stirred up over whether it should be shown or not. 685 00:43:57,477 --> 00:44:00,077 A strong contender for the title this year is this film 686 00:44:00,077 --> 00:44:03,037 The Exorcist, which was released yesterday in London. 687 00:44:03,037 --> 00:44:05,957 The Exorcist, which was one of the biggest box-office hits 688 00:44:05,957 --> 00:44:08,637 of all time, opened late in 1973. 689 00:44:08,637 --> 00:44:10,517 But very close to the opening, 690 00:44:10,517 --> 00:44:12,837 they'd thrown out the original score and were looking 691 00:44:12,837 --> 00:44:14,597 for music to fill the gap. 692 00:44:14,597 --> 00:44:16,157 The director, William Friedkin, 693 00:44:16,157 --> 00:44:19,037 was in the offices of Ahmet Ertegun, head of Atlantic Records 694 00:44:19,037 --> 00:44:20,317 in America. 695 00:44:20,317 --> 00:44:23,397 And he came across an anonymous record with a white label. 696 00:44:23,397 --> 00:44:26,157 And he took it out the sleeve and he put it on the record player 697 00:44:26,157 --> 00:44:28,877 there in Ertegun's office and he put the needle on, 698 00:44:28,877 --> 00:44:31,317 and it went, "Da, dum, dum, dum..." 699 00:44:31,317 --> 00:44:32,837 and he went, "That!" 700 00:44:32,837 --> 00:44:35,277 Mum, you should have seen this, a man came along 701 00:44:35,277 --> 00:44:36,837 on this beautiful grey horse... 702 00:44:36,837 --> 00:44:39,397 Firstly, he heard, the childlike thing, 703 00:44:39,397 --> 00:44:41,717 cos, obviously, the centre of The Exorcist is the story 704 00:44:41,717 --> 00:44:44,717 of a young girl who's possessed by some demon. 705 00:44:44,717 --> 00:44:46,837 The second thing he heard 706 00:44:46,837 --> 00:44:48,717 was that the notes are very simple, but there is something 707 00:44:48,717 --> 00:44:50,677 about the time structure 708 00:44:50,677 --> 00:44:52,277 that's...that's odd. 709 00:44:52,277 --> 00:44:55,477 The way it is, it's one bar, seven, one bar, eight. 710 00:44:55,477 --> 00:44:56,677 So it'll be... 711 00:44:56,677 --> 00:45:00,477 - IN TIME WITH UNDERSCORED MUSIC - ..one, two, three, four, five, six, SEVEN, 712 00:45:00,477 --> 00:45:03,157 one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, 713 00:45:03,157 --> 00:45:06,157 ONE, two, three, four, five, six, SEVEN... 714 00:45:06,157 --> 00:45:11,717 If that was just two simple bars, all of eight notes each bar, 715 00:45:11,717 --> 00:45:15,997 the brain would switch off after a while, but because every other one 716 00:45:15,997 --> 00:45:20,997 trips you up, you can't not concentrate on it. 717 00:45:20,997 --> 00:45:22,797 - I think I'll walk home tonight. - OK. 718 00:45:22,797 --> 00:45:24,117 Take that, drop it by my house. 719 00:45:24,117 --> 00:45:26,637 'There's a couple of moments when it appears. 720 00:45:26,637 --> 00:45:29,677 'Chris comes walking down the street.' 721 00:45:29,677 --> 00:45:32,557 As she comes round the corner and starts walking down the street, 722 00:45:32,557 --> 00:45:35,517 you hear... # Dun dun dun der-dun... # 723 00:45:35,517 --> 00:45:37,757 SOUNDTRACK REPLACES SUNG VERSION 724 00:45:40,077 --> 00:45:42,717 'There are these kind of strange little gusts of wind. 725 00:45:42,717 --> 00:45:45,837 'A group of kids run by wearing Halloween marks 726 00:45:45,837 --> 00:45:49,477 'which is sort of an indicator of stuff that's to come.' 727 00:45:49,477 --> 00:45:51,117 KIDS YELL EXCITEDLY 728 00:45:56,157 --> 00:45:59,117 'There's a low-angle shot of nuns with their habits 729 00:45:59,117 --> 00:46:02,757 'blowing in a slightly Gothic way.' 730 00:46:02,757 --> 00:46:06,557 Later on, when the doctors are trying to diagnose what's happened 731 00:46:06,557 --> 00:46:09,677 to Regan, you see a closed-circuit television feed of her 732 00:46:09,677 --> 00:46:13,317 in a hospital bed raging. 733 00:46:13,317 --> 00:46:16,437 It looks like a type of disorder that's rarely ever seen any more, 734 00:46:16,437 --> 00:46:22,757 except in primitive cultures. We call it somnambular form possession. 735 00:46:22,757 --> 00:46:26,397 'And so you have this really strange thing which is these very' 736 00:46:26,397 --> 00:46:29,717 brief uses of that piece of music. 737 00:46:29,717 --> 00:46:32,917 Somehow it becomes the theme from The Exorcist. 738 00:46:32,917 --> 00:46:37,597 The Exorcist was hugely important in breaking Mike in America. 739 00:46:37,597 --> 00:46:40,877 The album went top five. I mean, it won the Grammy 740 00:46:40,877 --> 00:46:42,957 for Best Instrumental Album. 741 00:46:42,957 --> 00:46:47,917 And at that juncture, Mike could've gone and capitalised on that 742 00:46:47,917 --> 00:46:51,117 and could've been a huge American star. 743 00:46:53,437 --> 00:46:57,117 After The Exorcist, where obviously he'd become very well-known, 744 00:46:57,117 --> 00:46:59,677 I think he was really in quite a bad way. 745 00:46:59,677 --> 00:47:02,997 I think, really, he had nobody to turn to. 746 00:47:05,357 --> 00:47:09,757 He seemed very distressed, he seemed very alone. 747 00:47:09,757 --> 00:47:13,237 It wasn't unusual to find him on his own, 748 00:47:13,237 --> 00:47:16,077 because we'd always known he'd lock himself in his bedroom 749 00:47:16,077 --> 00:47:19,717 and do his music, but it was a very different type of loneliness, 750 00:47:19,717 --> 00:47:21,037 I got the impression. 751 00:47:22,957 --> 00:47:25,557 I do remember my mother coming and visiting, 752 00:47:25,557 --> 00:47:29,157 and she was going very much downhill at the time. 753 00:47:29,157 --> 00:47:33,197 And I do remember sitting in a car with her... 754 00:47:33,197 --> 00:47:36,277 That's probably the last time I saw her, actually. 755 00:47:36,277 --> 00:47:38,837 I was suffering too, and she looked at me and she said, 756 00:47:38,837 --> 00:47:41,517 "You know what it's like, Mike, don't you?" 757 00:47:41,517 --> 00:47:43,837 And I said, "Yeah...yeah, I do." 758 00:47:52,517 --> 00:47:55,677 And then, of course, the question came, you know...the follow-up. 759 00:47:56,957 --> 00:48:00,917 We were talking about Tubular Bells, but the follow-up was a nightmare. 760 00:48:06,277 --> 00:48:09,797 What Mike needed - and obviously what Virgin needed as well - 761 00:48:09,797 --> 00:48:13,837 was for Mike not to be just known for Tubular Bells, 762 00:48:13,837 --> 00:48:15,917 and it was important that Tubular Bells... 763 00:48:15,917 --> 00:48:19,837 the name "Tubular Bells" didn't become bigger than Mike Oldfield. 764 00:48:19,837 --> 00:48:23,717 Richard was so eager for me to do something that... 765 00:48:23,717 --> 00:48:25,557 I looked at the first thing and I said, 766 00:48:25,557 --> 00:48:27,637 "What's that?" "Oh, it's Hergest Ridge." 767 00:48:27,637 --> 00:48:30,157 "All right. Well, I'll do an album called Hergest Ridge 768 00:48:30,157 --> 00:48:34,077 "and I'll make it about kind of old, legendary things, 769 00:48:34,077 --> 00:48:35,757 "and it'll have little whistles in it 770 00:48:35,757 --> 00:48:38,197 "and things that sound like wild horses and all that." 771 00:48:39,437 --> 00:48:43,477 He didn't want to do a follow-up that quickly, because it was... 772 00:48:43,477 --> 00:48:46,877 he'd drained himself. He'd spent himself completely. 773 00:48:47,997 --> 00:48:51,797 I was kind of disappointed with lots of the ideas I was coming up with, 774 00:48:51,797 --> 00:48:54,277 waiting for...you know, "the big one". 775 00:48:54,277 --> 00:48:57,357 Didn't realise that I'd already done the big one. 776 00:48:58,557 --> 00:49:02,357 It's really tough to follow such an enormous album like Tubular Bells. 777 00:49:02,357 --> 00:49:04,197 It didn't capture people's imagination 778 00:49:04,197 --> 00:49:06,877 in the same way that Tubular Bells did. 779 00:49:06,877 --> 00:49:11,157 To be honest, it's not my favourite album, either. 780 00:49:11,157 --> 00:49:15,957 I remember I was recording with Tom, and we kind of got bored. 781 00:49:15,957 --> 00:49:19,797 It was a nice, sunny day, so we went flying model aeroplanes instead. 782 00:49:22,037 --> 00:49:24,317 After Ommadawn, his third album, 783 00:49:24,317 --> 00:49:28,597 we then went through a sort of lull period for a while. 784 00:49:28,597 --> 00:49:32,677 We had other artists that did reasonably well, but we then needed... 785 00:49:32,677 --> 00:49:34,717 we needed a new shot in the arm. 786 00:49:34,717 --> 00:49:37,037 # Babylon's burning 787 00:49:37,037 --> 00:49:40,797 # You're burning the street 788 00:49:40,797 --> 00:49:45,757 # You'll burn your houses with anxiety... # 789 00:49:45,757 --> 00:49:47,877 By the time we got to punk, the reaction was, 790 00:49:47,877 --> 00:49:49,517 "Don't play me that hippy shit." 791 00:49:49,517 --> 00:49:52,237 # Babylon's burning Babylon's burning... # 792 00:49:52,237 --> 00:49:54,677 The whole thing with punk was three chords and the truth 793 00:49:54,677 --> 00:49:56,117 in and out under three minutes. 794 00:49:56,117 --> 00:49:58,077 The idea of putting on one side of an album 795 00:49:58,077 --> 00:50:01,117 and it being one piece of music was complete anathema. 796 00:50:01,117 --> 00:50:04,197 The whole punk thing happened, and they were calling me 797 00:50:04,197 --> 00:50:06,717 rude names in the press for no reason. 798 00:50:08,837 --> 00:50:13,197 We had The Sex Pistols and Magazine and The Skids and so on, 799 00:50:13,197 --> 00:50:16,077 The Ruts. Virgin started having a lot of hit singles. 800 00:50:16,077 --> 00:50:18,557 I must say I felt betrayed, because Richard suddenly 801 00:50:18,557 --> 00:50:21,917 jumped on that bandwagon, and Virgin became the punk label. 802 00:50:23,277 --> 00:50:26,237 After a year or two, I'd just run out of steam 803 00:50:26,237 --> 00:50:30,717 and I didn't know what to do, and I got really...depressed. 804 00:50:30,717 --> 00:50:35,277 I started maybe drinking too much alcohol. 805 00:50:35,277 --> 00:50:38,957 It was in about 1978, I got involved with this 806 00:50:38,957 --> 00:50:41,797 self-awareness group called Exegesis. 807 00:50:43,117 --> 00:50:46,437 TV ANNOUNCER: This group of 58 people has just completed a seminar 808 00:50:46,437 --> 00:50:49,837 which many of them now believe has transformed their lives. 809 00:50:49,837 --> 00:50:53,557 It lasted three days and cost them £175 each. 810 00:50:53,557 --> 00:50:56,317 One of their...they called them "processes" 811 00:50:56,317 --> 00:51:00,277 seemed to me a combination of primal scream therapy 812 00:51:00,277 --> 00:51:01,997 and rebirth therapy. 813 00:51:01,997 --> 00:51:06,117 This seminar does not function under the same laws and rules 814 00:51:06,117 --> 00:51:08,037 that your life does out there. 815 00:51:08,037 --> 00:51:12,317 I had to lie down on the floor, and he said, "OK, it's the time now." 816 00:51:12,317 --> 00:51:15,317 I thought, "Oh, my God, it's going to be 817 00:51:15,317 --> 00:51:18,877 "like facing a firing squad for me." You know, it's terrifying. 818 00:51:18,877 --> 00:51:21,757 He said, "Just start making a noise." 819 00:51:21,757 --> 00:51:25,237 Start to put the feelings of your body into a sound. 820 00:51:25,237 --> 00:51:29,557 'Gradually, the noise I made became louder and louder and louder 821 00:51:29,557 --> 00:51:30,757 'until it turned into' 822 00:51:30,757 --> 00:51:34,437 a kind of a shouting and then it turned, after a few minutes, 823 00:51:34,437 --> 00:51:37,077 into a scream like you wouldn't believe. 824 00:51:37,077 --> 00:51:38,557 WAILING 825 00:51:38,557 --> 00:51:41,277 I was screaming at the top my voice. 826 00:51:41,277 --> 00:51:42,917 WOMAN SCREAMS 827 00:51:42,917 --> 00:51:47,157 Stop it, stop it, stop it! 828 00:51:47,157 --> 00:51:49,957 What they did was they held me up by my feet, 829 00:51:49,957 --> 00:51:53,557 and these people all round me pushed these cushions 830 00:51:53,557 --> 00:51:57,357 into my body, so I felt completely cocooned, 831 00:51:57,357 --> 00:52:01,197 and then, very gradually, I calmed down, and they laid me down 832 00:52:01,197 --> 00:52:07,037 on the ground, and I cannot describe the feeling that I felt, 833 00:52:07,037 --> 00:52:13,917 because I felt the wetness of a newborn infant. 834 00:52:13,917 --> 00:52:16,837 That's it, good night. 835 00:52:16,837 --> 00:52:18,717 APPLAUSE 836 00:52:18,717 --> 00:52:22,317 I was on a high like you wouldn't believe and I did all kinds 837 00:52:22,317 --> 00:52:25,077 of strange things which I'd never done before, 838 00:52:25,077 --> 00:52:27,837 like instead of shunning all interviews, 839 00:52:27,837 --> 00:52:30,557 I almost suddenly wanted to talk to everybody. 840 00:52:30,557 --> 00:52:33,477 JAUNTY PLUCKED GUITAR 841 00:52:35,437 --> 00:52:38,957 'And it turned him into a kind of mini-monster for a period. 842 00:52:38,957 --> 00:52:40,157 'Firm handshake,' 843 00:52:40,157 --> 00:52:43,437 leaning forward into it. It was so uncharacteristic and wrong. 844 00:52:43,437 --> 00:52:48,677 TAPE REWINDS INCONSISTENTLY 845 00:52:48,677 --> 00:52:50,797 MUSIC: "Blue Peter" theme tune 846 00:52:50,797 --> 00:52:52,917 The hair is cut, the beard is gone, 847 00:52:52,917 --> 00:52:54,997 he's got no clothes on on the front of music mags, 848 00:52:54,997 --> 00:52:57,717 he's doing a version of the Blue Peter theme. 849 00:52:57,717 --> 00:52:59,797 PLAYS ALONG WITH THEME TUNE 850 00:53:02,517 --> 00:53:05,437 'It's just this completely different character,' 851 00:53:05,437 --> 00:53:09,397 and bear in mind, he's still not...30. 852 00:53:09,397 --> 00:53:13,597 The worst thing he ever did was to do that rebirthing thing. 853 00:53:13,597 --> 00:53:16,837 TAPE LOOPS AND WHIRRS 854 00:53:16,837 --> 00:53:19,077 That might sound cruel, because I'm sure 855 00:53:19,077 --> 00:53:24,917 he's more comfortable in himself dealing with the rest of the world. 856 00:53:24,917 --> 00:53:28,597 MASS CHANTING 857 00:53:28,597 --> 00:53:30,757 'I think that since that rebirthing thing, 858 00:53:30,757 --> 00:53:33,797 'he's found it very hard to reach the places 859 00:53:33,797 --> 00:53:36,517 'where the real music came from,' 860 00:53:36,517 --> 00:53:40,317 because I think the music that Michael made was... 861 00:53:40,317 --> 00:53:45,037 was the grist of his pain. He didn't want to do the pain any more. 862 00:53:45,037 --> 00:53:47,157 Quite reasonably so, I suppose. 863 00:53:47,157 --> 00:53:50,637 But it was the pain that was bringing the music through. 864 00:53:50,637 --> 00:53:54,597 SCREAMING AND APPLAUSE 865 00:53:57,917 --> 00:54:00,557 APPLAUSE FADES 866 00:54:00,557 --> 00:54:05,357 MUSIC: "Ommadawn Part One" by Mike Oldfield 867 00:54:09,397 --> 00:54:12,997 About five years that lasted, and I did all the things 868 00:54:12,997 --> 00:54:16,917 I hadn't been able to do. It was like an incredible high. 869 00:54:16,917 --> 00:54:18,237 It sort of wore off. 870 00:54:20,197 --> 00:54:25,157 It really worked for Mike, but it didn't last, 871 00:54:25,157 --> 00:54:28,877 because all it does is give you a glimpse, 872 00:54:28,877 --> 00:54:33,237 but then all the automation kicks in again after a few weeks. 873 00:54:33,237 --> 00:54:36,317 The emotional undercurrents were so strong, which had been held back 874 00:54:36,317 --> 00:54:41,397 for so long, the powerful force of that anguish was still there 875 00:54:41,397 --> 00:54:43,557 and it was trying to come through. 876 00:54:45,117 --> 00:54:47,637 Then there was the passing away of my mother, 877 00:54:47,637 --> 00:54:49,997 had to deal with the grief of that. 878 00:54:49,997 --> 00:54:51,717 That was a terrible loss. 879 00:54:51,717 --> 00:54:56,397 Best way I can describe that was a big balloon bursting full of grief, 880 00:54:56,397 --> 00:54:58,757 and I had to let it out. 881 00:55:06,677 --> 00:55:11,197 Right now, I'd see that Mike is opening up in a way 882 00:55:11,197 --> 00:55:12,917 that he's never opened up before. 883 00:55:14,197 --> 00:55:17,317 Because the music that Mike's come up with has touched people 884 00:55:17,317 --> 00:55:21,997 in a way that's just so amazing. He's given so much... 885 00:55:23,517 --> 00:55:25,837 ..he deserves something back. 886 00:55:25,837 --> 00:55:30,197 Not just the money, which he spends...HAS SPENT in the past 887 00:55:30,197 --> 00:55:33,597 to create a wall, build big walls around himself. 888 00:55:33,597 --> 00:55:35,917 The money doesn't help. 889 00:55:37,957 --> 00:55:41,197 TUBULAR BELLS PLAYS IN REVERSE 890 00:55:41,197 --> 00:55:43,117 Our starting point was music. 891 00:55:44,117 --> 00:55:46,357 For the second sequence in the Olympic ceremony, 892 00:55:46,357 --> 00:55:48,477 it was Tubular Bells 893 00:55:48,477 --> 00:55:52,757 that we wanted to actually make a cornerstone 894 00:55:52,757 --> 00:55:54,957 of 20 minutes of the evening. 895 00:55:54,957 --> 00:55:58,157 ANNOUNCER: Please welcome Mike Oldfield 896 00:55:58,157 --> 00:56:02,477 and the staff of the United Kingdom National Health Service. 897 00:56:02,477 --> 00:56:05,397 'It's tricky, because you think, "How's he going to react?" 898 00:56:05,397 --> 00:56:08,637 'We're not going to be able to play all 40-odd minutes of it, 899 00:56:08,637 --> 00:56:10,997 'it's going to be a cut-down version,' 900 00:56:10,997 --> 00:56:14,557 and I have to say, of all the collaborators that we worked with 901 00:56:14,557 --> 00:56:16,677 on it, he was extraordinary. 902 00:56:19,197 --> 00:56:22,757 'Not only the ability to manipulate that tune in different ways, 903 00:56:22,757 --> 00:56:25,557 'but also his appetite for it was amazing.' 904 00:56:30,037 --> 00:56:33,157 He's had to be very protective of the work, understandably, 905 00:56:33,157 --> 00:56:35,037 but with us he was like, "Oh..." 906 00:56:39,477 --> 00:56:42,797 We started to put it together with this sequence which was borne 907 00:56:42,797 --> 00:56:45,877 out of children's literature and caring 908 00:56:45,877 --> 00:56:47,917 and the villains in children's literature, 909 00:56:47,917 --> 00:56:49,917 because the theme tune of The Exorcist, 910 00:56:49,917 --> 00:56:52,077 that made sense as a starting point for it, 911 00:56:52,077 --> 00:56:55,637 and then the celebratory sense of Tubular Bells was also good, 912 00:56:55,637 --> 00:56:57,837 because we wanted to celebrate the NHS 913 00:56:57,837 --> 00:57:01,477 and we wanted to use a lot of the staff from the NHS to learn dancing. 914 00:57:03,917 --> 00:57:07,637 'Here we are, 40 years later, this little piece of music I had 915 00:57:07,637 --> 00:57:10,997 'when I was in this terrible, panic-stricken situation,' 916 00:57:10,997 --> 00:57:13,597 I was standing there on the stage live 917 00:57:13,597 --> 00:57:16,357 in front of this massive audience and thinking, 918 00:57:16,357 --> 00:57:18,717 "I remember writing that all those years ago," 919 00:57:18,717 --> 00:57:22,877 and here's these thousands of people and millions of people 920 00:57:22,877 --> 00:57:25,477 watching it, and it was going out across the planet. 921 00:57:25,477 --> 00:57:27,557 It was...magnificent. 922 00:57:30,757 --> 00:57:33,917 GUITAR SOLO PLAYS 923 00:57:35,077 --> 00:57:37,157 I think he'd arrived at a point where he thought, 924 00:57:37,157 --> 00:57:39,997 "This would be a wonderful way to celebrate the album nationally." 925 00:57:39,997 --> 00:57:42,797 Because he lives abroad now, but it does belong to Britain. 926 00:57:42,797 --> 00:57:45,477 I think it is borne out of our culture. 927 00:57:54,197 --> 00:57:56,517 The most extraordinary pleasure in the album 928 00:57:56,517 --> 00:57:58,397 is that he brings it all together, 929 00:57:58,397 --> 00:58:01,237 that feeling of something experimental being brought together 930 00:58:01,237 --> 00:58:05,997 and complete. Because everyone can experiment and everyone can doodle 931 00:58:05,997 --> 00:58:09,077 and go off strange places, and they're fascinating, 932 00:58:09,077 --> 00:58:11,797 but to complete it and to give a sense of wholeness, 933 00:58:11,797 --> 00:58:15,757 that he brings you to the end of a journey is amazing, really, 934 00:58:15,757 --> 00:58:17,117 and it feels, the sense... 935 00:58:17,117 --> 00:58:20,437 The sense of satisfaction and completion you get from that 936 00:58:20,437 --> 00:58:22,357 is the reason that it's successful. 937 00:58:22,357 --> 00:58:25,597 To have that kind of mainstream public appeal for something 938 00:58:25,597 --> 00:58:30,277 so weird without vocals, over such a long space of time, 939 00:58:30,277 --> 00:58:34,997 to have that much public appeal means it's a masterpiece, I think. 940 00:58:34,997 --> 00:58:42,997 SOFT ACOUSTIC GUITAR MUSIC PLAYS OVER LAPPING WAVES 941 00:59:09,077 --> 00:59:11,077 Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd