It was he who, in the early 70s, opened up a universe of fantastic songs and eminent playing technique for me.
There were a few of us who sat with our reel-to-reel tape recorders and listened to his songs – we were simply obsessed with Ralph McTell. In 1975 we went to a concert in Aarhus and saw the legend live for the first time. Great!
In 1976 I met the love of my life, and I am sure that the songs I sang for her: “Streets of London”, “When I Was a Cowboy”, “First Song” and all the other Ralph McTell songs, made her choose me.
M38 – Custom
Once in the 80s, as usual, we were at the Tønder Festival. One day Ralph McTell was standing in the exhibition tent and asked if we had a guitar he could borrow. He was going to play at the festival, and his own had broken. …Did we have one??
So I simply lent him my own Custom Martin M38. A guitar that has been played with a lot of McTell songs. He was happy, and I was proud!
– I wonder if he noticed that my guitar played “Streets of London” all by itself?
For me, that is my M38’s best guitar story. Perhaps except for the first time I opened the case after waiting for several months.
/ Ole
… by the way – if you were at Tønder in 198*(?) with a camera and got a picture of Ralph McTell with my M38, you are very welcome to contact us.
If you want to know more about the M-body, read about the body sizes of western guitars.