Complicated Shadows Read Online Free PDF Page A

And Winding Road’, released under the name Day Costello, the surname taken from Ross’s maternal grandmother. But the staples of his solo career were
themed albums concentrating on one particular genre or artist: these included
Ross MacManus Sings Frank Sinatra; Day Costello Sings Elvis Presley’s Greatest Hits;
and
Ross
MacManus Sings Roy Orbison.
Predictable fare, perhaps, but at last he was getting the opportunity to map out his own career.
    Meanwhile, Declan was laying the foundations for a solo career of his own. During these domestic upheavals he had continued to persevere with the guitar, writing and improving with typical
fortitude. There was even the odd appearance – including one at Archbishop Myers – with his dad, usually consisting of him sitting in unobtrusively on guitar while Ross played his
set.
    Both Ross and Lilian had been full of quiet encouragement, despite understandable misgivings. ‘My parents were aware of the dangers and pitfalls and disappointments of [the music
business],’ said Declan. ‘But they never discouraged me. They were very conscious of not putting me off it.’ 16
    An important part of their level-headed support was allowing their son the time to find his feet. They had little choice. Declan heavily discouraged Ross and Lilian from attending his first-ever
solo public appearance, which came early in the summer of 1970. The Crypt at St Elizabeth’s in Richmond was a fixture in the London folk scene, with a welcome lack of ceremony. ‘If you
played acoustic guitar you could basically get up there,’ Declan recalled. ‘It was very open.’ 17
    The Crypt became a weekly outing for Declan during the school summer holidays, first to watch a parade of folk talent and then later to play. The night of his first
appearance he happened to perform in front of Ewan MacColl, the author of such folk standards as ‘Dirty Old Town’ and a rather austere presence by all accounts. MacColl wasn’t
necessarily impressed with Declan’s set of ‘little sensitive teenage songs’. 18
    ‘He sat there, head bowed all the way through my set,’ he recalled. ‘I’m sure he just nodded off. I had a traumatic first appearance; [it] was pretty
crushing.’ 19 However, he remained undeterred, and spent the remainder of the summer confirming over and over again what he already knew in his
heart: that this was what he wanted to do with his life.
    * * *
    At the end of the summer he moved to Liverpool. ‘It was question of going home, really,’ 20 he later claimed.
‘I was born in London but I was christened in Birkenhead. My mother’s from Liverpool and my father’s from Birkenhead. I went to school in London for most of my life, but all my
holidays were in Merseyside.’ 21
    This was putting a brave face on things. The notion of ‘going home’ was rather fanciful. In reality, Declan may have felt he had little option but to leave London. He had just turned
sixteen, and planned to go onto sixth form at school and complete his final two years of education. And although Declan had great affection for Liverpool and knew the city and Birkenhead well,
living there was a different proposition: as an only child he was pained by the break up of his parent’s marriage and the enforced separation from his father, his musical mentor and friend,
as much as a parental figure. He felt the absence keenly.
    Declan and Lilian moved to the West Derby area of Liverpool, only a stone’s throw from where the now-defunct Channel Four soap opera
Brookside
was filmed. As an added boon for
Declan, West Derby also bordered Anfield, home of Liverpool FC, and he would take everyavailable opportunity to go there, often alone. The house was new, a semi-detached
brick building in a neat suburban area that was neither upmarket nor dowdy. Although relations between Lilian and Ross were understandably distant, Ross and Declan’s close relationship
survived the marital strife. 7 His father was a frequent