Iron Horse – Burnin’ on and on……….

I am continually surprised at the way life often finds a way of “squaring the circle’. A perfect case in point is the CHRISTIE song “Iron horse”. It was Christie’s third hit single, scraping the lower reaches of the UK chart, despite allegedly outselling label mate Johnny Nash’s “I can see clearly now” by a ration of 5:1 – and it inexplicably failed to overtake it in the charts amidst allegations of chart-rigging. That aside, it’s still an enduring tune, describing the rise of the railroads across America, the great locomotives of which the American Indians referred to as “Iron horses”.

I was a scrawny 14 year-old when Jeff ‘s song hit the airwaves, and along with my friends Adrian Foster, and Mark Sims, we would regularly meet each week, and compare notes on the songs we heard on the radio, giving them points according to our preference and compiling a chart – The F.P.K. chart (Fos, Pim and Kev)

I distinctly remember “Iron horse” getting to Number 1 in our chart, and we three wondering why the feat hadn’t been replicated in the REAL chart! We had taste, even then. Probably because Fos and I had already been playing in our own band together for a few years by that time.

Fos on guitar, Pim, then me on drums!

Who could have imagined that many years later, both Fos and I would be walking out onto the world’s stages with Jeff himself, entertaining many thousands of people with that very song? Every time we play the opening chords, I’m still reminded of it!

It’s a little known fact, but Jeff wrote “Iron horse” whilst staying at the Montiboli hotel in Villa joyosa, Spain, where he was staying prior to a planned show with The Hollies and Julie Felix in Alicante. in the event the show never took place, which is another story, but Jeff clearly made the most of his time there. The hotel was, and is, a favourite haunt for Europe’s glitterati – and it’s only a few short kilometers from our house in Albir. Miki was amazed to learn this – and one day she may tell you her own story about the Montiboli!

You can see Christie’s original promo for the song, (Jeff’s the one in the silly hat!) which is great fun. I’ll try and dig out some live footage of us performing it years later, and present it here too.

Kev Moore