Mick Green of The Pirates 1944-2010

The Pirates Live in '78 and Mick Green Interviewed.

Johnny Kidd & the Pirates, 1964.

Another great one checked out. Mick Green, the Pirates' guitarist, died on January 11th of heart failure, he was 66. The Pirates career began as Johnny Kidd's backing band, they then reformed in the mid-70's cutting three excellent LP's for Warner Bros (Out Of Our Skulls, Skull Wars and Happy Birthday as well as a 10" EP called Fist Full Of Doubloons). Although Green didn't play on Johnny Kidd's classic original version of Shakin' All Over (that was Al Caddy), he joined Kidd's band in '64 and stayed with him until Kidd died in a 1966 car accident. Mick Green appears on quite a few excellent Johnny Kidd & the Pirates records including the remake of his greatest moments Shakin' All Over '65, as well as their best single with Kidd-- My Babe b/w Castin' My Spell (HMV, issued as simply The Pirates). After Kidd's death Mick joined Billy J. Kramer & the Dakotas for awhile. Green was a huge influence on Dr. Feelgood's Wilko Johnson who adopted Green's style of playing rhythm and lead simultaneously by up strumming with his fingers while down picking with his thumb on a Fender Telecaster.

The Pirates played NYC once at Hurrah's in 1978, wearing their Pirate uniforms and thigh high boots, they were great. After the Pirates final demise, Green joined Van Morrison's band in the 90's and stayed until 2008. Some of the better tracks on the 70's Pirates LP's are their versions of Peter Gunn, Drinkin' Wine Spo-Dee-O-Dee, Lonesome Train, Honey Hush (these guys had a real Johnny Burnette Trio fetish) and Jerry Byrne's classic Lights Out. They were ugly, they couldn't write songs, and their singing wasn't much, but as a straight ahead guitar rock'n'roll band, the Pirates could not be beat. That's him being interviewed in the above clip.

Addendum: Here's the versions of Sanford Clarl's The Fool and Jerry Lee Lewis' Big Blon Baby I meant to add to the original post, both are Johnny Kidd & the Pirates BBC recordings circa '65. Mick Green shines on both.