Geno Washington

The legendary black American soul singer from Evansville, Indiana, produced, with the Ram Jam Band, two of the biggest selling albums (Hand Clappin’ – Foot Stomping’ – Funky Butt – Live! AND Hipsters, Flipsters, And Finger Poppin’ Daddies) of the 1960s in the UK, both recorded live.  He was the subject of Dexy’s Midnight Runners UK chart-topping tribute single, Geno, in 1980.

JL: Where did you first start smoking?

GW: I was 21 and a half, I had just got out of the air force, and joined the Ram Jam Band.

JL: Where are you from?

GW: I’m from the state of Indiana in the mid-West, the city of Evansville.  I first came to England on December 13, 1961. From 1961 to 1965 I was in the American air force.  The middle of ’65 I was in the Ram Jam Band going up and down the M1.  My first cigarette was in a club in Manchester called the Twisted Wheel.  This girl asked me…’I want a cigarette’.  I said, ‘No, I don’t smoke.’ And she said, ‘Well you’d better. Don’t be such a sissy…If you want some of this, you’d better make this right with me, if you want me to be right with you.’ Since then, I’ve been a social smoker…

JL:  What do you smoke now?

GW: My favourite brand is Rothmans, and sometimes I go over to Mayfair.  I switch from Mayfair to Rothmans – that seems to do me….Just enough to make the lungs black.

JL: Frank Sinatra, when asked about his opinion on Tony Bennett’s voice, said that Tony Bennett didn’t smoke enough. Do you think, if you didn’t smoke, that maybe you wouldn’t be such an interesting singer?

GW: That’s right!  Exactly… know what you mean.  I went to quite a few recording sessions with no smoking and no drinking whatsoever.  It was strictly business, getting down to the case – it was terrible. So, I went back.  I tried it many times but in the end I usually have a scotch, wash it down with a Budweiser or somethin’, pop one of those Rothmans in my mouth, and I’m hot to trot – ready!

JL: You’ve been on stage with a lot of well-known smokers, like Jimi Hendrix.  Did you guys smoke on stage in those days? 

GW: Definitely.

JL: And do you still smoke on stage now?

GW: Oh yeah, definitely. In the 1960s, if you wanted to smoke on stage, you smoked.  Then they started introducing ‘no smoking’ areas.  But, personally, I try to break the rules whenever I can.  I’m one of those guys who sneaks into the lavatory’s on planes, to sneak a cigarette.  I’m that type.  I definitely love my cigarette.  If I’m in a party or somethin’ and some blockhead says you can’t smoke, I’d rather leave the party and go somewhere else because I want my booze and my cigarettes – and that’s just for starters.

JL: Which musician, alive or dead, would you like most to share an ashtray with?

GW: I’d take it with Otis Redding…No, no, not Otis, Arthur Connolly (who sang ‘Sweet Soul Music’).  I’d do it with him ‘cos he’s wild and crazy.  Personally, if I wanna have a real good time and be relaxed, if I wanna chill, I can’t have the drink without a cigarette – it’s like my milk and cookies.

JL:  It seems to me that your life has been one long special moment.  But is there one smoker-friendly moment that really stands out?

GW: Yeah.  We went out for a fancy Chinese meal in Chelsea – with Italian waiters and all that - and they put us in the no-smoking section, you know what I mean.  And it was such a great meal, Man, washed down with some saki, and a couple of long cool Southern Comforts, you know, and I felt like I was in a desert.  You know that line by that King, ‘My kingdom for a horse.’  Well I would have given my kingdom and my crown for a cigarette.  I needed a cigarette real badly and I was on my way to the Gent’s (toilet), and one of the Cats that was doing the cooking, he had seen my gig somewhere, said, ‘Hey, Geno, what’s happening!’  I said, ‘Hey, have you got a cigarette on ya, Man?’ And he slammed that cigarette on me and I was in the toilet, locked the door, lit that bad boy and whoah! I was in seventh Heaven!  That toilet cubicle was like an oasis in the desert. I was in there blowing smoke rings and Geronimos and giraffes and shit, blowing the smoke through the air vent.   

JL: Do you go back to the States much?

GW: I go every seven years to see my parents and the people I grew up with, and that’s enough for me.

JL: Did you notice the smoking bans they’d got over there?

GW:  Oh yeah.  They’ve got too many damned do-gooders trying to stop you enjoying yourself.  You can’t smoke here and you can’t smoke there.  For me, it actually spoils the evening, not smoking.  What I done is I started going over to my friend’s houses, that way you can have a better time.  That’s what I’ve been doing now to fight back.  Otherwise you go out to a restaurant and spend $250 or something like that and everybody’s kind to you, you’re doing your own thing, and then they say, ‘You can’t smoke here.’  And I say, ‘What!  After all the money I’ve spent here, I can’t smoke!!  Are you crazy, Man?’  A lot of people like me enjoy a cigarette after a meal.  I’m not encouraging anybody to smoke, or anything like that, but what I’m saying is it definitely feels good, or millions wouldn’t do it.

JL: What kind of music makes you want to smoke?

GW: That would be music from Brazil.   I’m a freak for sambas and salsas.  I put on that Brazilian music, Man, light up a cigarette, have a nice little drink with it, you know.  It’s just paradise.  Your mind just runs away.  It’s almost like meditating – with a cigarette.