Here I Go Again On The Road

Whitesnake/UFO legend Bernie Marsden recalls the highs, lows and baggage-carousel neurosis of touring

Charlie Watts once inadvertently summed up life on the road, when he answered a question about how long he’d been with The Rolling Stones. He said: “About 25 years. Five years of playing and 20 hanging about!”

I know exactly what he meant, and many others will understand if they have ever been on the road. Sure, it’s a wonderful thing to play the guitar for a living, but never forget that it’s also a job. I’m not comparing it with clocking in at 8am every day of the week and leaving at 5pm, but at least there you know when work starts and work ends.

When I turned professional at the age of 21 (at the end of 1972), everything was magical. I grew up in a town where you could count the number of cars on the road every day and so, to me, even traffic jams were enjoyable. Riding in a Cadillac along the whole length of the A5, the M1 or any new motorways, or starting a long trip to Scotland, Cornwall or Haverfordwest was initially exciting. The fuel was cheap and time seemed to evaporate into thin air… at least at the beginning. As the first few months of excitement dulled down, I realised that the job was going to be very hard work. Nobody ever believes that musicians work hard, but take it from me – they do.