Moving Music: Ballad of Sir Frankie Crisp(Let it Roll)

All Things Must Pass-George Harrison's Masterpiece

    This is the third installment of my Moving Music series. You can read the first two, “Blue Sky” by the Allman Brothers Band and “Wishful Sinful” by The Doors. I explain in the first paragraph of the Blue Sky post how I want to write about these different songs that have affected me in very profound ways. The song I will feature in this post is “Ballad of Sir Frankie Crisp(Let it Roll)” by George Harrison.

    It’s like I had been on a difficult, confusing path and then this song came to me and I was liberated. It was a religious experience. It was if I was on my knees begging for salvation and Jesus appeared and showed me the way. I use that analogy somewhat amusingly because the poster that came with the album that Ballad of Sir Frankie Crisp(Let it Roll) is on, All Things Must Pass, is one of George Harrison with his long hair and beard, looking like Jesus, very iconographic. I may be exaggerating a bit about my feeling but I was really exalted. That is how I felt when I heard it back in March, 2024. Though the first time I heard it was over 40 years ago.

                                            

George Harrison poster  © Barry Feinstein Photography, Inc

    Back in the early 80’s I was a huge Beatles fan. I had all their albums and a lot of their 45’s. I even collected rare or hard to get items as well, like the Magical Mystery Tour album with the original colored booklet inside and pressed yellow translucent vinyl and The Beatles “White Album” pressed on white vinyl. I even had some of the original Beatle fan magazines as well as other items. As an extension to the Beatles’ fandom, I also had a lot of the solo records of the former Beatles as well.  All Things Must Pass, the 1970 triple album by George Harrison was one such album. I even had it in duplicate. Quite simply, the album is a masterpiece. My friends and I played it quite a lot. I think you can say the whole album was very spiritual and moving. It certainly was joyful at times and introspective at others. It had some of the top musicians of the time playing on it as well including Eric Clapton, Billy Preston and Bobby Keys. There were songs that I didn’t give much attention to at the time and one of them was “Ballad of Sir Frankie Crisp(Let it Roll)”. I really can’t remember what I thought about the song back then. I thought the name in the title was odd; Sir Frankie Crisp. Who’s he? I found out he was a lawyer in the late 19th century and he commissioned Friar Park, the Victorian neo-Gothic mansion in Henley-on-Thames, England(built in 1895) that Mr. Harrison purchased in 1970 and lived in for the rest of his life. The song was inspired by Harrison’s new home and Mr Crisp. I guess I liked it enough at the time. You know when you really like an album and some of the songs are not as great as the others, you let those play through to get to the next great song. Also we were listening to records so I wasn’t going to get up just to skip over one song. Over the years I would play the album now and then. But I never really gave “Ballad of Sir Frankie Crisp” much thought. The song after it, “Awaiting on You All” was a song I always I looked forward to hearing. When I started listening to All Things Must Pass again in 2024 is when I rediscovered "Frankie Crisp".

Photo from the sheet music also teeming with religious iconography 

    I had just returned from my European trip a few weeks before. I really enjoyed my time there and I really felt uplifted. But not too long after I felt this sense of malaise. The next day after my trip, I was right back to work at the ballet at The Long Center. I work as a stagehand and lighting tech for local 205 in Austin, working in a lot of theaters, hotels and event spaces. It's work that I enjoy. After the ballet, I worked at the SXSW conference at the convention center. In the beginning of March, I started working on Wicked, as one of the spotlight operators, which was going to be for three weeks. The pay would be great which would help with those European bills. The show would be at Bass Concert Hall on the University of Texas campus, which usually hosts most of the Broadway touring shows. I would have to take the bus to get there. Most of all my other stagehand work is within walking distance from my apartment. Around this time I was trying to figure out what I should do with myself. What will be the next phase in my life? I felt antsy, pensive and even directionless. I felt like I was just going through the motions. Anyway since I would be taking the bus I would definitely want to bring my earbuds so I can listen to music and fade away on the bus, which was only about a 20 minute ride, maybe 25. Of course this is when the headphone port on my iPhone decided to malfunction. The way I was able to get it to work was to put some pressure on the part that connects to the phone with my finger. A bump during the bus ride and I would lose it. Anyway I got it to work most of the ride. Whenever I rode the bus, I usually just put my music app in random mode and gaze out of the window but on the first day of Wicked, I selected All Things Must Pass. I might have wanted to listen to something specific, I don’t know but when “Ballad of Sir Frankie Crisp” came on, I was changed.

    It was like I had never heard the song before. The sounds of the pedal steel and harmonium softened my heart. Harrison’s soothing voice raised my spirits. When he sings, “Let It Roll” with such conviction near the end, I felt limitless and that I am soaring high. I can see anything through. Everything in the song; the melodies, the sounds, the imagery, the magic, permeates my entire body. It enters my heart and imbues my mind. It seeps into my muscles and bones. Every cell is washed over and infused with a positive energy. It is a song of hope. I think that all of these songs that I write about have that in common. Throughout their lyrics and melodies I find hope. That is true for “Blue Sky” and “Wishful Sinful” and all the other songs that I have put into this category in my mind but have yet to write about. So every time I’ve listened to Frankie Crisp since, which has been many times, I feel the same way. And I always think about that time traveling on the bus back in March 2024 and walking through the UT campus feeling awkward, unsure and alone and then being awakened.