‘Over the Hill’: What hill is John Martyn actually singing about?
Homecoming is such a tired creative trope. It’s baselessly used in films and music to describe a feeling of warm nostalgia that, let’s be honest, doesn’t exist in the real world. You don’t tell a taxi driver to simply take you “home” with a warm smile and a sentimental folk song in your head. You hop off a sweaty bus, with an oversized bag and a pile of unwanted post waiting at your door.
But maybe that is my cynicism talking because there is, of course, an essence of romance in the idea of returning home. Embracing the flecks of familiarity that ultimately shape your persona is a source of comfort when the experiences that preceded it were unknown. And while I would be quick to joke that the green fields of Great Britain are suitably soundtracked by The Wurzels, I do have one track in mind that fits the bill, when all the humour and mockery falls away.
It is, of course, John Martyn’s ‘Over The Hill’. Taking away the crucial lyrics for just a brief second, the instrumental arrangement of this iconic track does indeed sound like the warm experience of returning to the comforting embrace of home. It’s that first cup of tea using a British tea-bag, it’s the cool breeze of our spring times, it is in many ways the quintessential sound of modest Britain.
That is a wholly deliberate atmospheric ploy from Martyn, who wrote the song solely as an ode to that very experience of homecoming. Playing the role of a weary traveller, Martyn had toured the world with the regular help of cannabis and cocaine. As glamorous as that may have been in the early 1970s, it ebbed away the spirit of Martyn, leaving him fatigued and emotionally lost. A trip home beckoned to recalibrate his senses, and upon the journey home, he was struck with what might be his greatest idea. Dispelling the idea of fatigue altogether.
Home was clearly the tonic for Martyn then, and he began writing the song when it was almost immediately in view. Sat on an early morning train back from London, Martyn saw his house appear behind Hastings’ East Hill and started piecing it together.
“Nothing in my favour, got the wind in my face / I’m going home / Hey, hey, hey, over the hill / Over the hill / Hey, hey, hey, over the hill” rings out in the first verse, before the second verse brings perspective to Martyn’s new mind shift upon his return. “Can’t get enough of sweet cocaine, get enough of Mary Jane / Going back to where I come from, going rolling back home again / Over the hill”.
Everything about the song feels as effortless as its warming sentiment. But while Martyn is the beating heart of the song, its brilliant execution isn’t entirely his design. Fairport Convention founding members Richard Thompson and Simon Nicol were recruited on the track, both playing violin, autoharp and mandolin, with Thompson also contributing guitar. They would have of course been a seamless addition to the song, for their humble British roots would have quickly cottoned on to the overarching sentiment.
