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The Cornwall Cancer Cafe podcast with Matthew Clarke.
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And welcome to this week’s Cornwall Cancer Cafe podcast.
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Thanks to the National Lottery Community Fund for supporting this podcast.
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And I hope you’ve got a cup of coffee, a cup of tea, maybe some water, even an orange
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juice, something like that.
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Maybe even a cheeky slice of cake whilst you’re listening to this week’s episode.
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And it is someone really famous in Cornwall and later on in the show, we’ll have Mark
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Gaimer, the chief executive of Cancer Support UK to look back on today’s interview.
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And this week’s guest is very well known in Cornwall as a singer songwriter and who
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has written Cornwall’s alternative anthem sung at rugby matches and in pubs and many
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places like that.
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His name is Harry Glasson.
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I’ve known him for a while.
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Now, he has, as a singer, had a very interesting story of hope, which gives us
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all a bit of encouragement.
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And so I went to see him, might get him to play a bit of music.
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And I asked him about his music.
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First of all, I’ve been on the music job for the best part of 30 years, I
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suppose, to sing around the pubs and clubs around here.
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And luckily, some of my songs caught on through doing the tours.
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I met the Americans and they went back to their Cornish roots.
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Some of them went back to their Cornish associations in America and said about
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me. So they got me over there.
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And so I used to go to America quite a bit as well, singing to the Cornish
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associations over there.
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And then, of course, in 2009, I was diagnosed with throat cancer and I kind of
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put a guide watch on the music and the tours as well at the time.
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So what sort of treatment did you have?
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I was very, very lucky really.
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All I had was surgery.
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They found that the cancer was only on the vocal cords themselves and they
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took the vocal cords away and that was it.
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I was lucky in the fact that I used my voice to earn money.
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And if I was on a building site working, I probably wouldn’t have gone to
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the doctors just because my voice wasn’t as good as it was.
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But having to talk all day on the tours and then singing at night, I
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realised my voice was something wrong.
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So I went to the doctors very early and I was diagnosed very early.
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Luckily, all I had was surgery.
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And when you were told about your cancer, what went through your mind?
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In the beginning, they said about doing it and having the operation and
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thinking, well, you know, fine, you know, as long as I’m staying alive,
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I don’t mind.
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And then they said, now we went into a room and they introduced me to my
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team, if you will, and they said, this is your surgeon and this is your
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nurse and this is your speech therapist and this is your Macmillan
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nurse.
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And when I heard Macmillan nurse, I thought, that’s it, Harry, you’re
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dead.
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And I think a lot of us think of Macmillan at that end of life
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thing, you know, but that was 15 years ago.
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So it didn’t true.
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But at the time, when I realised how bad it could be, I never
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gave it a thought before that, you know.
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And obviously it was to do with your vocal cords and that was a large
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part of your life.
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What did you think your life would be like after the operation?
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Quieter.
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I didn’t have a clue, really.
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They said you’d be able to speak afterwards.
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And I was able to speak, you know, no problem.
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So I didn’t.
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Yes, I mean, I love doing my tours.
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I love doing the music.
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And I suppose for the first year or so, I was, it wasn’t me, if
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you know what I mean, couldn’t express myself in the same way
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and things.
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So I didn’t write anything.
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I didn’t, I just booted around, I suppose, really, in a way.
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And then I got a thing called hands free, which allowed me to
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play the guitar and sing badly, but sing and that changed
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everything.
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So just tell me about the device you’ve got that helps you.
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It’s a device that works like a tongue, almost.
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You would put air behind it and it shuts off a valve, which
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allows my voice, the air to go from the track here through
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to my throat and then give me a voice automatically, which is
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amazing.
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How long did it take you to get used to using that for
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speech and then for singing?
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Not very long at all.
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It’s surprising it came very quickly.
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The singing took a bit longer.
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And even now, every song you sing is almost like doing a
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sprint, but yeah, it works and it does very well.
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I’ve actually done an hour of singing.
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It hasn’t killed me, but it’s done an hour.
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And it must have had an emotional impact on you as well.
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What sort of emotional impact was there?
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I’m not a down sort of person.
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I never have been.
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I’ve been very, very lucky in my lifetime.
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I’ve always been quite positive up and I’ve never been a downer, really.
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But I’ve got to say, that first year, year and a half, if I had doubts,
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it was then, you know, I did get some black places then, but
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gradually you realise that, you know, there is a life and a good life.
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I mean, I’m thoroughly enjoying life now this last 10, 12 years.
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It’s been wonderful.
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Because you’ve met new people who’ve taken your music forward as well, and
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they’ve been great support as well.
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Absolutely.
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I got great support from my team.
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Will Keating.
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Oh, yeah.
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I mean, he’s done amazing actually for himself and for me.
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But going back to the actual hospital team, you know, you cannot fault the
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care of that, they’ve been absolutely amazing.
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If I need anything when my valve is leaking or I ring them up and I can
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get in and get it done almost right away.
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I’ve never had a problem with that.
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Oh, what have you learnt about people since you’ve had cancer?
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Um, the first time I had, it wasn’t funny actually, I was up in Padstow
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and a man and a woman came up to me and the man said,
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all right, Harry, how are you doing?
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I said, yeah, okay.
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And his wife said, oh, he can speak.
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She didn’t address that to me.
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She addressed that to her husband.
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She turned around and said, oh, he can speak.
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I thought it was a bit weird.
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Um, but you were talking there about how wonderful the people who care for you.
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Um, yeah, yeah, they are.
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I mean, and they still are because I, I got to get this changed about
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they used to be every month or so.
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Now it’s every three, four months.
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Like, um, it’s getting better all the time.
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I think probably their technology is getting better too.
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Um, and I’m getting better, I suppose at using it.
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If you were going to give me advice, what advice would you give me face to face?
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Face to face.
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I’d say live every day you can, you know, just take whatever comes.
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And if, um, if they can help, they can help.
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If not, you know, just enjoy what you’ve got.
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I don’t mean that.
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And has any of this experience, um, ended up in a song?
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Well, not really.
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Yeah.
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The first song I wrote after, after having this, once I got the guitar on
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and the voice was a song called rolling back the years and the bed survival,
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I suppose.
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Uh, and so just, just go through, I’m, I think we’re going to get you singing
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this in a, in a, in a bit, but just, uh, tell me about the lyrics and what
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you were wanting to put into that song.
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I don’t know.
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I just put it in that there is a life and you know, you’ve got to live it.
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Well, you can.
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And I think that’s what it is all about.
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Really.
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I’ve, I’ve been lucky.
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I’ve had a really good life anyway.
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And I actually, when they did the, said that I had the cancer and even
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when they told me about the Macmillan nurse and that, I thought
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of myself, well, Harry, you’ve had a good life, you know, 58, you
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my father died at 38, sadly.
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So I had 20 years more than he did.
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So, so, uh, you know, no good complaining.
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And I was quite prepared for it not to go on.
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And now I’ve had the 15 years after that and 15 good ones.
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I’ve really enjoyed them.
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You know, every day is a bonus.
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Absolutely.
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And I think that’s for everybody, you know, and I don’t mean whether
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you’ve got cancer or not, you know, for everybody to enjoy life while
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you can without hurting other people.
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That’s the main thing.
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Don’t go stepping on other people to enjoy yourself, you know,
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but do what you can.
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I mean, I’ve, I’ve discovered, uh, that cancer is not all so, not
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just a, uh, a terrible thing to go through, but it’s also a great teacher.
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It teaches you a lot about yourself, you know, and I think
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that’s, that’s got to do with it.
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What was the most surprising thing that you learned about yourself?
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Oh, well, I’d say I was a better, I mean that, um, I, it’s, I thought
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that if somebody told me I had cancer, that would be the end of it,
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but it wasn’t, and I thought to myself, yeah, like I said, you
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know, I’ve had a good life.
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Um, and now every day is just a better day.
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And, uh, what I’ve learned is that there are some
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really kind people around.
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Absolutely.
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That is amazing.
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Yeah.
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Um, it’s the people that, especially like I said, in the, in the NHS,
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anybody who complains about the actual NHS itself, um, all
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down their backsides kicked.
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And how important it is and how important those people are.
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Oh, absolutely.
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Totally.
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And utterly.
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We had to pay for all this wiping gone, probably dead and gone.
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Um, you know, um, I’m rich now.
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I’m really rich.
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I can, um, you know, as long as I die next Thursday, I’ll be right on.
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So now we’ve got to the pleasure of Harry Glasson singing his
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song, Rolling Back the Years.
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And the tune was by Ian Kerner and the words by yourself.
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Ian and myself went to school together and, um, we got met up here
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back, I don’t know, 10, 15 years ago and he came in one day and we
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were chatting and he said he had a lovely tune, but he didn’t have any
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words, so he gave me the tune and I put the words to it.
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Okay.
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So let’s hear it.
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Rolling Back the Years.
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In back the years, he’s a fun, never thought I’d get this old with
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all the things I’ve done.
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I never gave a thought to live into old age.
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Yes.
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I read the book of life, but I never did turn this page.
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Life is what you make it, son, live it while you can.
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You can’t do all the things you want when you get to be an old man.
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If you don’t hurt nobody, no one’s hurting you.
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Just live every day like it’s your last is what I advise you do.
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I share a pain, work that in the blazing sun and I slept out in the rain.
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I have been in love, some love me in return, sometimes just hurt so
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bad, but that’s the way to learn.
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Life is what you make it, son, live it while you can.
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Can’t do all the things you want when you get to be an old man.
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So if you don’t hurt nobody, no one’s hurting you.
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Live every day like it’s your last is what I advise you do.
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Patriotic, and I’ve lived through war.
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I guess I knew the where and when, but I never did know what for.
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Life is what you make it, son, live it while you can.
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You can’t do all the things you want when you get to be an old man.
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If you don’t hurt nobody, no one’s hurting you.
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Live every day like it’s your last is what I advise you do.
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Just live every day like it’s your last is what I advise you do.
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Wonderful.
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Thank you very much, Harry.
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Now don’t put the guitar down.
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I just want you to do one verse and chorus of Call On My Home,
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or just the chorus or whatever bit, just a little bit.
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And I don’t sing the song very often.
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Everybody else sings it.
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I know.
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Well, this is why it’s so important that I get you to sing it.
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I’ve stood on Cape Cornwall in the sun’s evening glow.
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Let Newland watch fishing freaks go.
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He will that giver a-spawn around.
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I’ve heard the men singing as they go underground.
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He from this land, though the Lord calls me to sit at his hand.
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For this is my Eden.
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I’m not alone.
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This is my corn.
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This is my home.
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This is my Cornwall.
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Thank you very much, Harry.
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Now, my mother says she always cries when she hears that song.
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So you’ll certainly cry.
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You’ll certainly cry that.
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OK, well, thank you so much, Harry.
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It’s been a pleasure talking to you about your experiences.
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And every time someone sings one of your songs,
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we’ll think of your little message there.
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Thank you very much, and a proper job, but always nice to meet you.
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And that was Harry Glasson from Cornwall, singer-songwriter.
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And so now I have with me Mark Geimer,
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the chief executive of Cancer Support UK,
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who’s been listening to Harry there singing and talking about his experience.
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So Mark, what did you get from what Harry’s been saying?
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Yeah, it was a fascinating conversation.
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I think Harry is clearly what I would describe as an optimist.
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If we were being really general about people,
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it’s the old adage of people say the glass is half full or half empty.
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And you can sort of think of people being a little bit more optimistic
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or a little bit less optimistic in their thinking and their thought process.
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And Harry clearly came across as an optimist.
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Yet, despite that, as he talked about his experience,
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it was very telling that he talked about the moment
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that when he was told he had cancer,
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his immediate thought was, am I going to live?
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And that really encapsulated what I think cancer means to so many people.
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You hear that word and you immediately go to the place that Harry went to
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and start thinking those thoughts, even if you’re an optimist.
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And it shows the significance of cancer in the impact it can have on people.
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In his example, though, in his story,
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it was an interesting case of the type of cancer
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that he had and the removal of his vocal cords.
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You know, his singing and his music was his career.
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He was really on an upward trajectory, travelling around the US.
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And then suddenly the tool that he used for all his success, his joy,
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probably a lot of his own self-worth was suddenly taken away from him.
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And in his story, he was able to talk about a very challenging year.
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So even for someone as optimistic as Harry,
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he had a very difficult year after his operation and through his treatment.
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But by the end of his story, he talked about how his way of coping with that
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and he actually talked about the last 15 years being very good to him
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was that how he’s really focused on day to day, in the now, in the moment,
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and really celebrating probably the smaller things that maybe
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before the cancer he was less focused on.
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So I found that a really fascinating and individual story.
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Here to support you, the Cornwall Cancer Cafe podcast.
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And I had the pleasure some years ago
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of being the official translator to Cornish of Harry’s song, Call My Home.
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So I thought I would let you have a little taste of that.
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Me on the whistle, guitar and everything, singing Cairno al Threy,
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Call My Home song by Harry Glass and my translation.
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Call My Home, written by Harry Glass and our guest this week,
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performed there by me with my own Cornish translation there.
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Bet you didn’t know I did that anyway.
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So thank you, Harry, for coming into the studio and talking about
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how you managed to get your music back after such a difficult time with cancer there.
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And that’s it for this week’s episode of the Cornwall Cancer Cafe podcast.
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Next week, co-presenter Emma Coombe will be back with me
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and we’ll be talking to some music therapists.
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Until then, make sure you like, share and all the rest of this podcast
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and tell other people who might find it useful.
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So see you then.
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Thanks to the National Lottery Community Fund for supporting this podcast.