I would not have been able to write this memoir without the patience and abstention from judgement of my wife, Danielle von Zerneck. I would like also to thank my daughters, Martha and Irene, for their unfailing enthusiasm for what I have been doing up in our home office for months, years on end.
Much of the material found form under the inimitable guidance of my mentor Nancy Bacal and the members of her writers’ group ‘The Writer’s Way’. I would like to thank Marisa Silver for helping me further shape it.
I am more than grateful for the generosity of the following: Bob Ahern, Terri Cheney, Ron Comley, Dave Cripps, DzM, Adam Evans, Marcia Farquhar, Gill Ford, Andrea Gibb, J. Maizlish Mole, Biddy Mulligan, Deirdre O’Mahony, Steve Pyke, Tom Sheehan, Neil Titman and Debsey Wykes.
I would like to thank my agent, Caroline Wood, and my editor, Lee Brackstone, along with Dave Watkins and Ruth Atkins at Faber and Faber.
I am wholly indebted to all my raw materials: Stan Brennan, Philip Chevron, Jem Finer, Darryl Hunt, Shane MacGowan, Frank Murray, Cait O’Riordan, Andrew Ranken, Paul Scully, Spider Stacy and Terry Woods. I wish David Jordan, Kirsty MacColl, Charlie McLennan, Joe Strummer and Paul Verner were still around to thank.