"You OK for your show this afternoon ?"
"Of course, why shouldn't I be ?"
"Just a thought."
"I haven't missed a show since I've been back so why would I miss today ?"
"Just asking."
"I'm alright." But I was not, far from it. I did not think I would be alright ever again.
"There's a supply boat coming in later."
"Today ? There's not one due today."
"It's an extra, Hull says there's a special cargo."
"Really ?" I was not particularly interested.
"It's due to arrive when you are on the air so I'd not worry about it."
"Then why tell me about it ?"
"Making conversation."
I did not care about about supply boats, with or without special cargo on board.
Everyone on the boat was being kind to me but I did wish they would stop being kind and leave me alone. I was giving serious thought to resigning my place on Radio Jolly Roger and finding a different job, something I could do for the rest of my life. I hoped it would not be a long life. Long or short I was just twenty years old.
"There is someone on the supply boat who has made the journey to see you."
"What do you mean ? You said it was a special cargo ? Then you said the boat was coming in when I would be broadcasting so it was not anything I need be concerned about.So who is on board then ? Brother Jimmy ?"
"No."
"Please not my father. Tell me it is not my father."
"No, it's not your Dad."
"Then who ?"
"I am not absolutely sure."
"Then how do you know it is not my brother or my father ?"
"Just a hunch."
"Well I am going into the studio."
You are now going to think this strange but I do not remember which of my team was playing the records. I sat there for close to two hours waiting for my turn to take over the microphone and yet I can not recall who the DJ was. No, it is not the passage of time not a fading memory in an old man muddling my brain that has lost my memory. There just is not anything for me to remember. At that moment as I opened the studio door I was not giving anything in life the attention needed to form a memory. Then what happened shortly after the supply boat had docked obliterated the few hours before it, tossing aside events before they could be wrapped into the cloak of memory.
My playlist for that show all those years ago, for that broadcast is long gone. I have no idea what I had played before the studio door opened but I will never, however long Iive, forget that I was then playing a record by The Seekers. As I looked up these were the words leaving the turntable at Radio Jolly Roger and heading for our audience:
But if I should lose your love dear I do not know what I'd do....
I had lost my lover but I had not lost her love. I never would.
I recognised my friend, how could I not, but he was different. His hair was not waved and held in place with with whatever his stylist used but hung about his head. his clothes belonged to my father's generation and not our own. His stance, his demeanour was relaxed and casual. Even his voice was different. I cued the next record. I would play it back to back with the microphone closed.
It was DJ pirate Morgan who first came into the studio but I hardly noticed him as my friend totally eclipsed him.
"What are you doing here ?"
"I came to see a friend."
"On a boat in the middle of The North Sea ?"
Elvis Presley smiled. "Yes, I came to see a friend and to take a friend away from his sadness."
I could feel my friend's presence lifting me a little. before I could say anything Pirate Morgan said, "You two go, I'll take over."
To this day it is said that Elvis Presley, The King, never came to England. Perhaps not but he did come to a pirate radio station on a small boat anchored in the North Sea.
"I am not able to find the words to say what it means to be to have you here. I have been so terribly sad."
"And I can not find the words to express my sorry I felt when I heard the news."
I tried to smile.
We were in the record store.
"Do you have all of my hits in here ?"
"Of course."
"It's good to see that smile. They have told me just how badly you have taken everything."
I did not answer and the smile on my face faded.
"Max, you have outgrown Pirate Radio Jolly Roger. Keep your memories, treasure them but leave your sadness behind. leave them here and come with me."
"Where to ?"
"America."
"Another film ? I mean movie."
"No. Stop being Max And His Magic Microphone, come to America and become Britmax. I'll get you a job on any radio station anywhere in the country."
"America ?"
"Yes."
"Alcatraz ?"
"I like that idea."
Had the world's greatest rock and roll star honestly traveled half way round the world to cheer me up. Yes, my spirits were lifting.
"I do not think that even Elvis Presley could open a radio station on Alcatraz Island but there is Radio golden gate. I know the station and could fix it. Hey, I'll be a guest on your first show."
Yes, I would go to California. I would never love again but I would take only the happy memories with me, sadness could stay behind in England and the North Sea.
"When should I leave ?"
"I'm going as soon as I have had something to eat. Come with me."
"I can't do that. I can't just walk out, I have responsibilities."
My friend smiled. "I have spoken to your boss, he understands. Pack your bag then leave when I do."
Elvis Presley, in the record store of Pirate Radio Station Jolly Roger burst into song with California Here I Come.
We may have departed on the little boat which brought the supplies to Jolly Roger but that was where transport systems used by mere mortals ended. A chauffeur driven car took us the short distance from the port to a helipad. From there a chopper flew us down to London where a private plane was waiting to take The King of Rock and Roll to Memphis. The words private plane may make you think of something small but no, this was a full-size airliner. The aircraft with its crew and flight attendants had been parked up and waiting ever since Elvis first arrived in England on his way to see me.
As that aircraft took off and climbed high into the sky and idea came into my head. As soon as we reached our cruising altitude I shared it with my friend.
"Your real name is Elvis Presley, you don't use a stage name ?"
"Yes, Elvis Aaron Presley."
"Mine is Maxwell Robinson but some do use stage names."
"They do."
"I hate Maxwell, I've never been called it only Max. I've been thinking a new job in a new country, perhaps I should take on a stage name."
I could see that Elvis Presley was thinking. He then started singing, singing a song I had never heard before. Bang bang Maxwell's hammer came down upon his head."
I looked puzzled. "It was a bit of a flop,"Elvis explained. "I was asked to cover it but it's not my style. Four lads from your city of Liverpool have paid for the rights, perhaps they will record it. Bang, bang Maxwell's silver hammer came down upon his head."
"Cliff Richard is really Harry Webb and Adam faith is Terrance Nellams."
"So who are you going to be ? Harry Nellhams ?"
"I like the name Dave or even David."
"So it's to be David Webb or is it Dave Nellhams ?"
"Neither." I paused. "Dave, Maxwell hyphen Robinson. Dave Maxwell-Robinson, I like that."
"A moment ago you said you did not like the name Maxwell."
"Not as a christian name but it is kind of groovy when double barreled into a surname. Dave Maxwell-Robinson."
So it was, somewhere up above the Atlantic Ocean between London and Memphis Dave Maxwell-Robinson was born.
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