In 2017 Roger Hodgson told Prog how it took him three years to assemble 1977 Supertramp track Fool’s Overture, which has stood the test of time as a result of its intensity and beauty – and became a mainstay of his solo career.
“The art of being an artist is to get out of the way and let something greater than our small little selves take control and run the show,” says Roger Hodgson, the man behind Supertramp classics including The Logical Song, Dreamer, Breakfast In America and Fool’s Overture.
The latter song stands as the most ambitious work in Supertramp and Hodgson’s impressive catalogue. Try Again, from their 1970 debut, might be slightly longer[ but Fool’s Overture has a far grander scope and sweep, composed of three movements bound together by William Blake’s hymn Jerusalem and the voice of Winston Churchill.
- “Peter Gabriel started singing over my solos. I was pissed off – ‘You’re singing on my bit!’ But that half-minute is probably our peak”: How Genesis made Supper’s Ready, arguably their greatest song
- “It was us and them.… We got away with it mostly, but in certain songs you can hear a bit of a wobble”: Given Barclay James Harvest’s difficult personal and financial relationships with orchestras, why did John Lees do it again?
“It was unlike other songs I’ve written, where I have a seed of inspiration that comes to me, and for two or three weeks I’m consumed by it; I have to play it every moment I get and it slowly becomes the completed song,” says Hodgson. “But with Fool’s Overture, I had various pieces of instrumental music for a few years that I didn’t really know what to do with. Then one magical day I realised the pieces of music belong together.”
The track reveals the breadth of influences that inform Hodgson’s writing, from the classical music from his school curriculum to being a teenager and watching The Beatles conquer the world. “You talk about ‘progressive’ – they were the first progressive band,” says Hodgson of the Fab Four. “Every album was so courageous in its experimentation. They changed my life when I saw what they did for the world.”
On the classical front, he picks out Debussy and Holst as inspirations. “Holst’s The Planets – I remember listening to that whole thing many, many times thinking, ‘Wow, what a concept!’
“There’s a piece stolen from Holst on the introduction of Fool’s Overture. The Planets sowed the seeds in me for seeing albums as a whole complete journey; a listening experience.”
The song was written and recorded using an Elka Rhapsody String Machine, an early synthesiser with a distinctive sound that became a vital element in Hodgson’s creative alchemy. “I love just letting myself go into the sound of an instrument,” he says. “I just sank into it, and before I knew it there was nothing of me there. It was almost like meditating before I even knew what the word ‘meditation’ meant. That’s when magic happens.”
There’s a distinctly British flavour to the work, although its parent album, Even In The Quietest Moments, was recorded after Supertramp relocated from the UK to California. “My songwriting was always very personal,” says Hodgson. “I was born in 1950, the aftermath – the after-aura if you like – of the Second World War.
“I remember hearing Churchill when I was young. I remember singing Jerusalem at boarding school and loving it, and wondering if Jesus ever reallly did set foot on English shores, like the hymn spoke about.”
Hodgson’s lyrics rival Blake for grandeur, dealing with the decline of humankind in truly Biblical fashion – ‘History recalls how great the fall can be’ is the cataclysmic opening line.
“Looking at Fool’s Overture, I realised I don’t want to really put a meaning on it,” he reflects. “It really was a collage of ideas, of different historical events, and everyone gets something different out of it. I don’t want to limit it to my interpretation , because even my interpretation will change weekly.”
The track remains an integral part of Hodgson’s live sets, whether he’s playing with his own band or backed by a full orchestra as part of Night Of The Proms. “I remember when I wrote it, I dreamed of one day playing it with an orchestra – so every time I do, it’s electrifying. There’s nothing like it. It sounds just humongous!”
My songs don’t feel old… The audience has a relationship with them beyond, ‘That’s a nice song I listened to 30 years ago’
“Music is one of the most powerful forces in the world; you can do anything with it. I witness it every tour. I go out and play these songs, I never get tired of them and they don’t feel old. They feel very current and alive and relevant. They have a quality to them.
“I can feel the audience really has a relationship with them beyond, ‘Oh, that’s a nice song I listened to 30 years ago.’ I love to design a set that’s going to take people from how they feel when they come in the hall, unify them and take them on a journey.
“Fool’s Overture is like a journey in itself within the show, and it takes me on a journey every time. It still gives me goosebumps to this day.”
