Wishbone Ash
Blowin’ Free
With a riff claimed by both of the band’s guitarists but influenced by a Steve Miller song, and lyrics inspired by a summer romance, it became Wishbone’s signature song and a rock classic.
Interview: Dave Ling
THE STORIES BEHIND THE SONGS
WHATEVER HAPPENED TO THE GIRL FROM BLOWIN’ FREE
To this day, Martin Turner has no clue whether Annalena Nordstrom, the Swedish girlfriend he met in Torquay, is aware that she inspired Blowin’ Free.
“Annalena was from Gothenburg,” he says. “She was tall, blonde and healthy, with beautiful eyes and skin – the opposite of me. We had a very sweet relationship. The last time I saw her was in London during the very early days of Wishbone. She hadn’t changed a bit. I assume she married and got herself a life.”
Although Wishbone Ash always acknowledge the groundwork laid by Blossom Toes and Peter Green-era Fleetwood Mac, many fans experienced their first taste of twin-guitar rock via 70s Ash albums such as Wishbone Ash, Pilgrimage and, the daddy of them all, Argus. In the year of its release, readers of Sounds magazine voted Argus (now just a year short of 50), the band’s career-defining third, the best album of 1972, beating such as Machine Head by Deep Purple, Bowie’s The Rise & Fall Of Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars and Mott The Hoople’s All The Young Dudes.