In Conversation With Colin: John Lodge of The Moody Blues

In an exclusive interview with Newport City Radio’s Rock Vault, legendary Moody Blues bassist, songwriter and vocalist John Lodge talks to Colin Palmer about the inspiration behind two of his greatest songs, ‘Isn’t Life Strange’ and ‘Ride My See-Saw’.

His prolific song writing has earned him many awards including ASCAP song writing awards for ‘Isn’t Life Strange’ and ‘I’m Just A Singer (In A Rock And Roll Band)’, having penned a large number of songs, their hits have included ‘Answers’ and ‘Nights In White Satin’.

The band members last performed together in 2018, at their induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Over their fifty plus year career they have sold more than 70 million albums worldwide. Former vocalist/flautist Ray Thomas passed away in January 2018 at the age of 76 and drummer Graeme Edge left us more recently, in late 2021, at age 80. Lodge himself is now 81 years old.

Newport City Radio spoke to John just as he was about to leave Fort Lauderdale, Miami and board a cruise ship headed for Cozumel and Costa Maya, Mexico, before returning to port on March 22nd. John is headlining the 1970’s Rock & Romance cruise; a week long extravaganza aimed at music lovers that want to re-live the heyday of the greatest decade in rock history.

With suitcases packed, John chatted unhurriedly and very graciously as if he had all the time in the world. The fact that The Moody Blues musical maestro is in his 80’s and had a serious health scare three months ago is no barrier as he tours the world as a champion of the iconic British prog rock band.

“This is the seventh cruise I’ve been on, its good fun, it’s a festival on the seas” he tells me. “There’s some great bands on there this time, Jefferson Airplane, Air Supply and it gives me the chance to look at other artists. I’ve been on three cruises with Don Felder (Eagles), he’s a good friend and great golfer.”

Lodge has just completed a series of live shows in America, and after the cruise he’s headed back to Britain for more concerts. “The tour is basically classic Moody Blues songs for the first set, and the second set is the complete ‘Days Of Future Passed’ album with performances from Jon Davison (who just happens to be Lodge’s son-in-law) of Yes and of course on the album itself we have a video of Graeme (Edge) reciting his absolutely brilliant rock ‘n’ roll poetry. It’s an exciting show.

“We have just completed two tours of America with it and I just wanted to bring this to Britain, it’s my home country. So it’s very important for me to come back and say thank you to the fans and also to hopefully introduce new fans to the show and perhaps listen to the history and music of The Moody Blues.”

He released a newly recorded version of the album in 2023 entitled ‘Days of Future Passed – My Sojourn’. Lodge is thrilled to be playing the album live, and also offering it to fans on vinyl. “Days of Future Passed is a special album” he continues. “There are so many parts that resonate with audiences.”

The original ‘Days of Future Passed’ stands as a turning point in rock music history. Combining an orchestra with a rock group throughout the album and having mellotron, flute, cello, and interludes of poetic recitals, the finished album may well have been the pre-cursor for what soon turned into the prog rock era of the late ’60s and early ‘70s, leading the way for concept albums by the likes of Procol Harum, Pink Floyd, ELP and Yes.

“I’m having a great time introducing the songs to a new audience, including a lot of young people,” he continues. “That’s the one thing I wanted to do, with the re-emergence of vinyl and especially 180 gram records, which offers incredible reproduction of the sound. I think it’s the best way to listen to music. You don’t have to turn them up really loud because the quality of the sound is so good. You can do it with friends, sit down and play a record and talk about it, look at the album sleeve, and see who played on it. There’s so much information that you get, which I love.

“Radio presenters like yourself in the 60’s and 70’s were such an integral part of the music, they talked about the songs, and gave commentary. You were sharing the record with someone else. I think the problem with streaming is you don’t have anyone talking to you or sharing it with you.”

As we continue chatting, I can’t resist asking John about two of his most famous songs:

Ride My See-Saw – “That was on the second album, I wrote that actually on a Harmony Sovereign six string guitar can you believe.” John remembers, “We were all really young and the song is about adjusting to the world suddenly at eighteen years of age, and while you were conditioned and educated in school there’s a rude awakening when you leave and life is totally different so it was really all about that. I’m playing a light Fender Precision bass on that and I’ve recorded nearly every Moody Blues song with that bass. I’ve recorded the new album with that bass. It plays differently. I don’t know what it is, but there’s something magic in that bass.

Isn’t Life Strange – “To me, that’s one of the favourite songs I’ve written. Lionel Bart was a great friend of The Moodies and I was at Lionel’s house one night and he said to me ‘have you heard my baby grand piano John, its fabulous’? It really was a fantastic sound and he said ‘you’ll have to get one John’. So I did, I bought one the next day.” John chuckles at the memory and continues. “I was sitting at home one day having dinner with my wife and I literally could hear this piano playing in my head. I left the dining room table and sat down at this piano and came back twenty minutes later and said to my wife I think I’ve written a new song. I had only written one line at the time (isn’t life strange, isn’t life strange, isn’t life strange) and I thought I had better write some real lyrics to this song.

“I remember playing the song to Mike (Pinder) one day and told him I’d written the song on piano but it should be on something different, and he said to me ‘oh, I’ve got a 19th century harmonium’ and so we sat there together as Mike pedalled away to get the energy and sound out from the harmonium and I said ‘that’s fantastic’. If you listen to the recording of that song you actually can hear the pedals coming up and down on the harmonium…and I’ve still got it by the way, it’s got pride of place with a spotlight on it.”

Excerpts of this interview broadcast on The Rock Vault 25th March 2025.

You can listen to the show here: https://player.autopod.xyz/853758

Tour Dates:

April 6th   Birmingham Town Hall

April 8th   Manchester RNCM Concert Hall