Mi Arle Fella, Johnny Wok

Mi Arle Fella

Johnny Wok was a legend, I called him the ginger Tom Jones
There are plenty of stories about his life on the road
It started with Lally teaching Johnny Wok to strum
but the daft sod joined the army, just before Merseybeat had begun

He was a terrible soldier, but great at escape
He’d go AWOL routinely to go and Jam with his mates
He bragged to his fellow squaddies about The Beatles prior their fame
As he’d seen them play in Huyton before the whole world knew their name

He ordered their first single from the NAAFI to share this wealth
But as the sound crept off the record; Johnny Wok was cringing to himself

“Please Please Me?” Like shite thee have

Then he joined The Vaqueros, with Lally Stott at the front
Then took over as singer after Lally moved on
After those days had ended, the Horse Shoe took him on
He was the regular in the 70s when he set out on his own

That’s when Johnny Hyland was born, his stage name in the clubs
Playing solo driven by Charlie, so he was not on his own
Later on in the 70s, Johnny Wok led a band
Nicky Moir, Ste and Ocky played together for a while
They called themselves Taxi after Nicky’s main job

but Nicky lost his licence, yet the band name lived on

Then John copped off with Winnie, she ‘ad a houseful o’ kids

He moved in, settled down, started livin’ in sin

He was a proper good step dad and Winnie’s best friend

a new modern man who cooked the tea and made the beds

It wasn’t long until he got Winnie knocked up
I am Johnny’s first baby, an’ her sixth little one
For the first five children Johnny Wok lost his step

They’d moved on from their real dads, as they chose to neglect

Their first years where happy, then us kids went astray
Winnie’s heart took the knock, so she pushed Johnny away
See, we’d changed from The Waltons to a challenging brood
Getting lippy with teachers, having fights, being rude

My teen years arrived and I grew eagre to leave
Watching mum and dad fight was just too sad to see
So I left home at eighteen then Johnny Wok left mi Ma
I had a baby at twenty, then we lost my brother that year

Johnny Wok stood with Winnie as they grieved for their son
The bloodline meant nothing when his ashes were thrown
‘cause Johnny Wok loves us kids, even those that weren’t his
I defy you to find a better Dad than him

Even when he was arld, Johnny Wok was on stage
He still gigged with Nicky, well past retirement age
They were the regulars at The Rocket, every Sunday they played
Even though John’s voice got rougher, his soulful power remained

Then Wokky got ill. Cheeky get had a stroke
Then the ginger Tom Jones was a grey haired, frail bloke
We were grieving for Johnny way before he was gone
‘Cause he was fragile and weakened, he was all skin and bone

His rhythm strings fell silent when stroke took his grip
and the frailty took the power from the songs on his lips

Now Johnny Wok’s gone, his heart has packed in
No more watching the match, no more betting shop wins
There’s no more guitar or chats over a pint
No more tales of his youth or the records he liked

But he’s always in our memory
That way he will always be here
Johnny Wok will always be a legend
A bloke we’ll always hold dear