Love There Was
Roger Robinson was a highly regarded member of Camden Council, and was once the Mayor of the Borough. His service to the community was recognised by the Council in 2022, when he was made an Alderman, an honorary title only awarded on rare occasions.
But one of his lesser known gifts was that he wrote a substantial body of poems, which covered a wide range of topics.
Not surprisingly political and social issues were very much part of this work. And this resulted in concerts organised by him and Sounds Like in St Pancras Old Church on 26 October 2008, and on 25 October 2009, both of which can be heard on this website.
After another two years he organised his poems into a book, Love There Was. Sounds Like then then put on a launch concert at the Working Men's College on 19 February 2011.
The title poem is given separately as a free download.
The programme was:
1 LUTE MUSIC
- Lute music: played by Kevin Drake
Click to hear/download Lute Music
2 FIVE POEMS BY ROGER
- Middle Class Again Revisited (read by James Gordon)
- Somers Town (read by Roger Robinson)
- A Dog's World (read by James Gordon)
- The Street Festival (read by Frances Lee)
- Behave (read by Jan North)
Click to hear/download Five Poems
3 LOVE THERE WAS
- song: My Baby's Reputation, James Gordon (sung by James Gordon)
- poem: Brylcreem Boy, Roger Robinson (read by Roger Robinson)
- poem: Love There Was, Roger Robinson (read by Roger Robinson)
- song: As Time Goes, Herman Hupfeld (1942) (sung by Jan North)
Click to hear/download Love There Was
4 TIME FOR TEA
- poem: Ode to a Cup of Tea Roger Robinson (read by James Gordon)
Click to hear/download Time For Tea
5 THE ESTATE
- poem: Pomposity, Roger Robinson (read by Roger Robinson)
- poem: The Estate, Roger Robinson (read by Frances Lee)
- song: Dirty Old, Town Ewan MacColl (1949) (sung by Jan North)
Click to hear/download The Estate
6 WAR AND REMEMBRANCE
- poem: War and Remembrance, Roger Robinson (performed by Edward Lee, music by Edward Lee – electric guitar)
- poem: Thought to Seventy Three, Roger Robinson (performed by James Gordon -reader and Edward Lee – electric guitar)
- song: We'll Meet Again, Ross Parker and Hughie Charles (1939) (sung by Jan North)
Click to hear/download War and Remembrance
7 VOID
- poem: Void, Roger Robinson (performed by Jan North- reader and Edward Lee – reader and electric guitar, music by Edward Lee)
- poem: Epitaph - While I Live in Death, Roger Robinson (Roger Robinson)
8 CLOSING MUSIC
- Doxy, Sonny Rollins (1954) played by Serenade (Edward Lee -guitar; Sergio Biseo double bass)