In the height of the covid pandemic, when the virus had compelled governments to cage people indoors as part of the many desperate measures to slow down the spread, I spent part of my time listening to music and feasting on photos I had taken of fishermen on the Volta Lake and Prampram.
There were also photos from Ghanaian photographers. It was part of dealing with the lack of movements around. It was therapeutic.
For music, I played almost anything; from Ghanaian highlife, Salif Keita and that of the Beatles. I love songs with a melancholic feel – they somewhat reflected the state of mind at the time; and the situation, I must add. I navigated between Salif Keita’s Seydou and the Beatles’ Eleanor Rigby.
I had seen Eleanor Rigby as part of my Beatles collections. I was looking for a different song but then stumbled on it after the first kick. The first lines of the lyrics hit me. Isolation had become an unwelcomed guests in many homes. It had also affected the mental health of others, sending them into a state of uncertainty. Times were rough! The song reflected the situation.
Ah, look at all the lonely people
Ah, look at all the lonely people
Eleanor Rigby
Picks up the rice in the church where a wedding has been
Lives in a dream
Waits at the window
Wearing the face that she keeps in a jar by the door
Who is it for?
All the lonely people
Where do they all come from?
All the lonely people
Where do they all belong?
I was moved by the song. It dug into the back story. It was written by Sir McCartney. It was the story of an old lady Sir McCartney, then as a young boy, got to know and later did her groceries. In an op-ed he published in the The New Yorker in October 2021 under the headline: Writing “Eleanor Rigby” How one of the Beatles’ greatest songs came to be, Paul McCartney said he knew a lot of old ladies growing up and wanted to write a song about them.
“I don’t even know how I first met “Eleanor Rigby”, but I would go around to her house, and not just once or twice. I found out that she lived on her own, so I would go around there and just chat, which is sort of crazy if you think about me being some young Liverpool guy.”
He said he would later offer to go and get her shopping. She would give him a list and he would get the items for her. Though he had wanted to go with a different name for the title, he settled on Eleanor Rigby which became a hit, and still a classic. Paul McCartney is one of the wealthiest persons on earth, and his wealth is through the songs he wrote and performed with the Beatles. Money from music has given him a lifetime comfort and savings which generations within his line are likely to benefit from. Sir McCartney and other members of the Beatles, including family of the late John Lennon, are reaping the rewards from the song in the form of royalties.
That song and others have made them lifetime rich people. Compare the situation of Sir Paul McCartney and other Ghanaian songwriters/performers who emerged around the same time and you will see a day and night difference in their financial situation from the same talent.
I don’t know who P.K. Yamoah’s relatives are, but I doubt they enjoy any benefits from his ever green hit ‘Serwaa Akoto’. I doubt he ever got any meaningful royalties before he died in 2014. Then you talked about his contemporaries who entertained the high and mighty in Ghana, and even played abroad but did not benefit much from their creative works. The recent story of the late K.K Kabobo is one that makes one sad. The man who gave music lovers hit tunes had to fall on the generosity of former President John Mahama and other well wishers to pay for his medical bills.
If the system had been set-up right to ensure he got much from his artistic works, his end shouldn’t be what we saw of him. Kabobo should have eaten his hits and not be forced to shop for assistance to enable him overcome ill health.
Apart from the music industry, we have had the likes of Araba Stamp of I Told You So fame. A giant in our film industry, her sad end was a complete departure from the joy she brought to many homes. There are several living actors and actresses who are today struggling to even foot a ‘Trotro’ fare. It is not what it should be.
You compare the situation of these actors and actreses to their contemporaries in the UK or US, and there is no question of how well and good their works continue to benefit them. Even for those who are no longer alive, their relatives are benefitting from their talents.
Apart from musicians and filmmakers, there are also photographers whose works are unfairly paid for by persons who think the job of a photographer is just to click away and head to bed. They, therefore, assume their own price for a produced work. In a recent social media post, a female photographer was exasperated by what she might have experienced from friends who wanted her services but were not ready to either pay or pay the right rate. She wondered if the price of the gadgets ever crossed their mind, or even the transportation to get to the destination where they wanted the work(s) done for them.
Those who work in the creative spaces are as important as the other professionals folks drool over. Those who operate in the creative space also deserve to eat right and well. Their works should not be considered for a meal the community must access and eat for free.
No creative deserves to live an ‘Eleanor Rigby life’ that confines him or her into a space of loneliness.
