The maestro and his Memorial Shield
A rowing founder's legacy lives on through his famous son.
Chris Thompson is the voice of one of music's most famous lines.
And the one that follows must just about be the most debated ever sung as well.
He's travelled the globe singing it for half a century and still he gets asked, 'What does it mean?'
Last weekend, Chris was up on a different stage, though, presenting the Thompson Memorial Shield to King's College after they won the U18 Boys Eight at the North Island Secondary Schools Regatta at Lake Karapiro.
The shield was donated by his father Thomas Thompson, the music and English teacher who got rowing up and running at Hamilton Boys' High School, after the family moved to the Waikato from England in 1953.
"When dad came to Boys' High," says Chris, "he saw the river and said to the school, 'Why is nobody rowing here. You've got a beautiful river. Why is nobody rowing?'"
It's unsurprising that Thomas Thompson saw a river and wanted to get boats racing on it.
He himself had rowed out of Jesus College in Cambridge, England, and was coached by the famous Australian Steve Fairbairn. You can thank Fairbairn for figuring out that the most effective way to row really fast was to get your blade connected to the water and push your legs really hard. He also lived by the motto "miles make champions".
He put up a trophy for an annual eights race on the River Cam in Cambridge, won by Thomas Thompson's Jesus College crew in 1935.
So, it's no great leap to figure out what inspired him to kick-start rowing at HBHS, or put a trophy up for the fastest schoolboy eight in the North Island.
As Chris understands it, there was some initial resistance.
"[Dad] went down to the Hamilton Rowing Club and asked if they would give him an eight to row. Initially they were against it because they supported Hamilton Technical College (the forerunner to Fraser High School).
"So, he just became insistent. I think at one point they said to him, 'Well, you're a rower. Why aren't you rowing?' And he said, 'Get me a single and I'll row up and down the river.'
"Which he did. After that, they gave him an eight and two fours."
That was 1954, when Chris was just six years old. Thomas Thompson died just a year later.
"He was just a big man," says Chris. "He had a big life. He just burned himself out…he had the family trait of not having a good heart but I think he was just full on. As I would say, he gave everything heaps."
The Thompson Memorial Shield was first rowed for in 1956. Long-time Rowing New Zealand administrator Bill Falconer was in the first crew to win it…from Hamilton Boys' High School.
"I've heard Bill say that they would've died rather than lose that first race for my dad's shield. He said there was no way anybody else was going to beat them."
Chris had one, brief foray into rowing: "Dad put me in the boat to cox one day and I drove it into the bank on the Waikato River."
One of Chris Thompson's most cherished reminders of his father Thomas. It was drawn by one of Mr Thompson's students at Hamilton Boys' High School. Not entirely flattering, as you'd expect from a schoolboy describing his teacher, but the final thought says it all.
After the death of his father, the family moved back to England, but returned to Hamilton when Chris was in his early teens and became a student at Boys' High, and where "music became my life."
He played in bands with schoolmates then joined well-known local act Mandrake.
By 1974 he was back in England, looking to make music a career.
"I was just answering advertisements in the Melody Maker…audition after audition after audition and not really getting any work. These were for holiday camps like Butlin's and on the American [military] bases.
"And then an audition for a singing guitar player came up with a band with a record deal, which turned out to be Manfred Mann's Earth Band."
Which brings us to that first line of chorus in the song originally penned and performed by Bruce Springsteen but made famous the world over by Manfred:
"Blinded by the light…"
And the second one we're all still trying to figure out:
"Wrapped up like a deuce, another runner in the night."
So, what does it mean, Chris?
"Well, it doesn't mean anything because it wasn't Bruce's line. We changed it because the original line was, 'Cut loose like a goose' and I didn't want to sing that because I didn't think it made any sense, so we just came up with that.
"[After it was released] we went around America for a month with 50 radio stations telling exactly that story because everybody, including Bruce, thought it was douche, which it isn't."
It's fair to say Chris, like his dad, has led a big life. But it's never been one of rock 'n' roll excess.
"I wasn't interested in it really. I saw what happened to people in America, and I saw what happened to my friends, even in New Zealand, who were successful. Some of them survived, some of them didn't, which is horrible. I think that put my feet firmly on the ground."
Coming back to present the trophy is not only a tribute to his mother and father, but to young rowers.
"I do appreciate how hard they work and how much pain they go through to win," says Chris. " I'd love to come back and do it every year, but it's just not possible living in Belgium with our kids in college as well. But I'm always there in spirit…it means a lot to me."
He and his wife contribute to the rowing hardship fund at Boys' High: "I know my father would've wanted me to help, especially with the families that find rowing financially challenging."
"So that's what Inge and I have been doing over the last few years, supporting and watching the livestream at three o'clock in the morning."
Before flying home, there were two things Chris had to do.
First, a visit to the place where his parents are buried. A chance to make sure everything was in order and to have a "good talk with my Dad about the HBHS rowing at Karapiro."
And then a drive to another special place in his life, Auckland's Piha Beach.
It turned out to be a cracking day, on this his 79th birthday.
"It was a typical Piha day," says Chris. "You had to hold your ground when the waves went out and you had to hold your ground when they came in."
Feet planted. Solid as. Definitely not cut loose like a goose.
Andy Hay
Andy Hay is a freelance producer, writer and Maadi Cup-winning coach. He was cox of the world champion New Zealand eight of 1982 and '83. He is NZ Olympian #446.
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The maestro and his Memorial Shield
A rowing founder's legacy lives on through his famous son.
Chris Thompson is the voice of one of music's most famous lines.
And the one that follows must just about be the most debated ever sung as well.
He's travelled the globe singing it for half a century and still he gets asked, 'What does it mean?'
Last weekend, Chris was up on a different stage, though, presenting the Thompson Memorial Shield to King's College after they won the U18 Boys Eight at the North Island Secondary Schools Regatta at Lake Karapiro.
The shield was donated by his father Thomas Thompson, the music and English teacher who got rowing up and running at Hamilton Boys' High School, after the family moved to the Waikato from England in 1953.
"When dad came to Boys' High," says Chris, "he saw the river and said to the school, 'Why is nobody rowing here. You've got a beautiful river. Why is nobody rowing?'"
It's unsurprising that Thomas Thompson saw a river and wanted to get boats racing on it.
He himself had rowed out of Jesus College in Cambridge, England, and was coached by the famous Australian Steve Fairbairn. You can thank Fairbairn for figuring out that the most effective way to row really fast was to get your blade connected to the water and push your legs really hard. He also lived by the motto "miles make champions".
He put up a trophy for an annual eights race on the River Cam in Cambridge, won by Thomas Thompson's Jesus College crew in 1935.
So, it's no great leap to figure out what inspired him to kick-start rowing at HBHS, or put a trophy up for the fastest schoolboy eight in the North Island.
As Chris understands it, there was some initial resistance.
"[Dad] went down to the Hamilton Rowing Club and asked if they would give him an eight to row. Initially they were against it because they supported Hamilton Technical College (the forerunner to Fraser High School).
"So, he just became insistent. I think at one point they said to him, 'Well, you're a rower. Why aren't you rowing?' And he said, 'Get me a single and I'll row up and down the river.'
"Which he did. After that, they gave him an eight and two fours."
That was 1954, when Chris was just six years old. Thomas Thompson died just a year later.
"He was just a big man," says Chris. "He had a big life. He just burned himself out…he had the family trait of not having a good heart but I think he was just full on. As I would say, he gave everything heaps."
The Thompson Memorial Shield was first rowed for in 1956. Long-time Rowing New Zealand administrator Bill Falconer was in the first crew to win it…from Hamilton Boys' High School.
"I've heard Bill say that they would've died rather than lose that first race for my dad's shield. He said there was no way anybody else was going to beat them."
Chris had one, brief foray into rowing: "Dad put me in the boat to cox one day and I drove it into the bank on the Waikato River."
One of Chris Thompson's most cherished reminders of his father Thomas. It was drawn by one of Mr Thompson's students at Hamilton Boys' High School. Not entirely flattering, as you'd expect from a schoolboy describing his teacher, but the final thought says it all.
After the death of his father, the family moved back to England, but returned to Hamilton when Chris was in his early teens and became a student at Boys' High, and where "music became my life."
He played in bands with schoolmates then joined well-known local act Mandrake.
By 1974 he was back in England, looking to make music a career.
"I was just answering advertisements in the Melody Maker…audition after audition after audition and not really getting any work. These were for holiday camps like Butlin's and on the American [military] bases.
"And then an audition for a singing guitar player came up with a band with a record deal, which turned out to be Manfred Mann's Earth Band."
Which brings us to that first line of chorus in the song originally penned and performed by Bruce Springsteen but made famous the world over by Manfred:
"Blinded by the light…"
And the second one we're all still trying to figure out:
"Wrapped up like a deuce, another runner in the night."
So, what does it mean, Chris?
"Well, it doesn't mean anything because it wasn't Bruce's line. We changed it because the original line was, 'Cut loose like a goose' and I didn't want to sing that because I didn't think it made any sense, so we just came up with that.
"[After it was released] we went around America for a month with 50 radio stations telling exactly that story because everybody, including Bruce, thought it was douche, which it isn't."
It's fair to say Chris, like his dad, has led a big life. But it's never been one of rock 'n' roll excess.
"I wasn't interested in it really. I saw what happened to people in America, and I saw what happened to my friends, even in New Zealand, who were successful. Some of them survived, some of them didn't, which is horrible. I think that put my feet firmly on the ground."
Coming back to present the trophy is not only a tribute to his mother and father, but to young rowers.
"I do appreciate how hard they work and how much pain they go through to win," says Chris. " I'd love to come back and do it every year, but it's just not possible living in Belgium with our kids in college as well. But I'm always there in spirit…it means a lot to me."
He and his wife contribute to the rowing hardship fund at Boys' High: "I know my father would've wanted me to help, especially with the families that find rowing financially challenging."
"So that's what Inge and I have been doing over the last few years, supporting and watching the livestream at three o'clock in the morning."
Before flying home, there were two things Chris had to do.
First, a visit to the place where his parents are buried. A chance to make sure everything was in order and to have a "good talk with my Dad about the HBHS rowing at Karapiro."
And then a drive to another special place in his life, Auckland's Piha Beach.
It turned out to be a cracking day, on this his 79th birthday.
"It was a typical Piha day," says Chris. "You had to hold your ground when the waves went out and you had to hold your ground when they came in."
Feet planted. Solid as. Definitely not cut loose like a goose.
Andy Hay
Andy Hay is a freelance producer, writer and Maadi Cup-winning coach. He was cox of the world champion New Zealand eight of 1982 and '83. He is NZ Olympian #446.
