Dreams of a Life Page #4

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you just come to Kirk

# Cos I got the remedy

# And it always works

# One day this lady said

her man was such a bore

# That he made love

and her feel like a daily chore #

She came to Kirk's place to rent a room.

That's the first time I seen her,

when she moved in.

When people would call up

as I'm having to share a house,

'I would tell them, "I'm black."'

And she said,

"Yes, well I'm black, too."

I moved in April, May '88.

She would have moved in

about a month after that.

Well, she fitted in very good.

'My house was kind of

people in and out, musicians.'

'He had a studio

at the bottom of his garden.

He used to play the pan.

I used to love that sound.

'She told me Captain Sensible came

round to record something there.'

'She'd up dress

in a French maid's outfit.

'Black stockings and a garter.

The whole works.

Risqu.

That little French outfit she had on.

She looked nice in that.

'I didn't ask her.

She just suggested taking a day off work

'and being the maid for the day.'

'She was just happy-go-lucky.

We were just 24, 25.

'No responsibilities, no bills to pay.'

Just the rent.

There was nothing to be unhappy about.

'A lot of people that came to the house,

they did think that she was stuck-up

and that she didn't want to be black.

'She was trying

to be something that she wasn't.'

'Every time I'd visit my uncle,

just playing, she'd be there.'

She was a really pretty girl

and when I was little,

I used to say to her...

I used to ask if I could brush her hair.

'She was very comfortable

with my nieces and nephews.

I would have expected her

to have had children

because she did like children.

Don't know what I'm doing

but I'm just going like that.

I suppose she used to entertain me

because I was a little boy.

Seven, eight, nine...

'It was a really good time.

She was the perfect atmate.

'She was easy to get on with.

She was easy to live with.'

'And I said,

'Well, I don't really want

'to live with people

that I have to moan at.'

She was a bit untidy

in the bathroom.

The ring around the tub.

Yes, like a Saturn ring. Yeah.

Some days you'd be thinking

Joyce was nice

but, hey, that bathroom was in a state.

It was black

with that kind of dirt

that's stuck to the sides black.

I touched it and said, "My goodness!

I wouldn't step into

this with my ip-ops!"

She didn't do manual labour.

She just wasn't a hard worker.

She was lazy.

I'm thinking to myself,

"if she ever makes it,

she's going to have to get a maid.

# Tell me

# Tell me

# Tell me #

Hi, my name's Joyce

and that's nice.

No way!

Is that her voice?

God.

It's quite chilling, isn't it?

But so playful as well.

Hi, my name's Joyce

and that's nice.

Well, that's extraordinary.

WOW!

Wow, that's like a blast from the past.

Yes, and that is Joyce.

Hi, my name's Joyce and that's nice.

Hi, I'm Joyce and that's nice.

She's putting a voice on.

That brings back

SO many memories NOW.

Hi, I'm Joyce and that's nice.

Where's that from?

Oh, yeah, these were some

of the people Kirk used to get

when he bought a nice studio.

He wanted a certain little sound

to come out.

Oh, I thought he had lost that tape

a long time ago.

Yeah, that was... That's her.

Flirtatious.

Sexy, wasn't she?

She was sexy.

The first time she says, "I'm Joyce,"

that sounds like her.

Not that beginning bit.

But as it got into it.

I know it's very short.

And then it sounds

like she's trying to be a bit more street,

but it doesn't really come across,

does it?

That is almost

a little bit unrecognisable

but the rest of it, you just catch

the essence of her voice there.

Hi, my name's Joyce and that's nice.

Hi, I'm Joyce and that's nice.

That's strange.

It doesn't sound like Joyce.

See, that's it!

It brings a person to life.

She's not...

She's not, you know...

You're not talking pathologists

any more, body uids,

stains on carpets or whatever,

all of that grim...

You're just talking about a human being

who's lived and sounds full of vibrancy.

WOW!

# Tell me

# Tell me #

'When we initially met,

she wanted to be a singer, so...

'I owned a recording studio. I arranged

for her to go along and do a session.'

But, as much as I loved her,

Joyce was not a singer.

I told her

she could mime in the background.

# No pain

# No gain

# No

# There was an old lady

sitting under a tree #

'Joyce had a very lovely voice.'

Very, even at a young age.

'You'd put her in

with Shirley Bassey, Donna Summer.'

'If you meet Whitney Houston

for example, you know this is a star.

You wouldn't have to see her on TV.

You just know.

If you meet Aretha Franklin,

you know this woman's a star somehow.

'Who are you?"

That certain something, Joyce had that.

Well, she had a very good voice.

# No pain #

There would be crowds,

girls and boys

dinner ladies,

whoever was out in the playground,

automatically

just crowding round Joyce

and just enjoying her entertaining you.

'But she wasn't a show-off.

'It was just something she enjoyed

and loved and was good at.'

'She wasn't afraid

of getting up and performing.

'And yet she was

very modest about it,

'because she didn't boast the fact.

"Oh, I can do this. I can do that."'

I'm not sure anybody...

...heard her sing or...

- No.

No.

# Sometimes owers mean

# Maybe we should just be friends

# You get my drift?

# Hang if you can hang

# No pain, no gain #

OK, that was great. I'm going

to come round and see you now.

'Thank you very much.'

That was Joyce Carol Vincent

singing to you live.

I used to say she's got the package.

She's a good singer,

she's an attractive girl.

Joyce Carol Vincent.

Boom.

Can I kiss you?

What?

A lot of people said

she looked like Whitney Houston.

I thought she was

more attractive than that.

Sorry!

- Sorry. I'm sorry about that.

I got carried away

by the way you were looking at me.

It was just...

It was just a song!

She did play me

a tape that she had done.

I remember being absolutely amazed

because it sounded fantastic.

# Everybody needs love and affection #

When she used to sing

around the house, I didn't like it.

'Maybe I've got a thing about people

just singing around the house.'

I think she did meet a few musos.

After I went out with her.

She had the Sade thing, you know,

with tight trousers, high waistband,

hair tied back.

Very exotic, beautiful.

Everybody fancied her, you know.

And Sade was huge at the time as well.

I think she got that quite a lot.

"You look like Sade."

# I'm the kind of girl

# I want that whole wide world

# Nothing more, nothing less

# I don't want second best #

'She was stunning.

'She was the sort of girl

most girls would probably be jealous of.

'But for fellas it was easy. As soon as

you looked at her, your jaw dropped.'

Because she was so friendly,

if we went to a nightclub or something

and I had to nip off to the loo,

you'd come out

and there's be inevitably

someone talking to her.

And she'd go,

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