Glen Row

an Art of Dying fragment

Pretty much half-way between Edinburgh and England and not too far from Peebles lies Innerleithen, a small Scottish village. Some might call it a town, I’d call it a village, or did back then at any rate.

And a little south of Innerleithen lies a row of cottages called Glen Row which in the early 1970s was home to the members of The Incredible String Band.

I spent a New Year’s holiday there in 1972–3 (straddling the years as it were). This, to put it mildly (the cliché is very apt here, so forgive me) was a dream come true for me.

Ever since the summer of 1968 (when I first encountered them) Mike Heron and Robin Williamson had been not very far from gods to me, especially Mike. Also, they were a big part of the reason that I joined Scientology (and later the Sea Org) when I did — late spring 1969, my friend Eric had told me (as I was grappling with the to join or not to join question) that they (he knew I revered them) were Scientologists now and that kind of closed me, so to speak.

Also, Heron’s lyrics (in particular) supplied not only the impetus to my Light Experience but also constituted my lifeline for the year following the light, for whenever my certainty flagged (as it did often enough) I’d play a String Band album again, and listen to the lyrics, and remember that drizzly but light-filled…