Archie, My Dad, My Mentor & Mate

by Johnny McNeill – self-published author of ‘Gaslighting Gilligan‘ (© 2017 – free download – released via Berlin on 25th June 2017).

Archie, My Dad, My Mentor & Mate – a tribute by his proud son Johnny

💙 As an energetic toddler I climbed a man mountain and began my ascent at his knee,

Tired and content I fell asleep on his bare chest which had been cooled in the summer breeze.

💜 Oily army coveralls, his Daddy Big Boots and beret, electric trains and model planes we built and hung from my bedroom ceiling,

Magical childhood memories come flooding back as it’s with bittersweet grief I am dealing.

💚 His influences on me are eternal; from Rangers to rugby to joining the army and to our interest in sci-fi realities foretold in ‘2000 AD’,

But it was in the music he loved from rock to reggae to classical to country – and especially in The Corries call for a free ‘Flower of Scotland’ – that had the most profound forever effect on me.

💙 In Canada he reconnected with the universe through the Blackfoot, Mohawk, Cayuga and was honoured to converse with the Cree,

He began to understand what had been usurped by religion and through these ancient peoples – rediscovered his spirituality.

💜 Soldier, maverick, dancer and romancer, brylcreem, comb and patter,

None of which after he met our dear wee Ma Betty, would ever truly matter.

💚 His selfless devotion to her throughout their autumnal and winter years became his soulful pursuit,

He ruled the roost with Mum’s permission; his winking smile met by the playful glare she would wryly shoot!

💙 Treating Ma like a queen in her retirement he did all the housework, cooking and cleaning,

But when she passed he lost his soulmate – and with her went his meaning.

💜 A perennial Peter Pan he could spin a yarn and tell a tall tale which would invariably grow arms and legs!,

But after Mammy went he just put one foot in front of the other and lost the spring in his step.

💚 Then a year later came the fastest, slowest hard-hitting news that he had been riddled by ‘It’,

Cancer had taken over his body – but true to form – It would never defeat his spirit.

💙 “That’s life!” he said, then asked “How do I fight It?” His go-to characteristic response hadn’t been blunted by age,

As the terminal ticking clock counted down his time left on this Earthly stage.

💜 And as his winter sun was setting I remarked dementia hadn’t taken him and that he still mostly made sense!,

To which he replied with his gallows humour “Ah but you know me son. How would you know the difference?!”

💚 Heartbreakingly I help dress and feed him and give him water to wash down his medication,

Dad’s time to journey back to the universe draws ever closer; to embark beyond this celestial station.

💙 Generous to a fault with family and close friends, his humour and courage in the face of his mortality,

I’m so proud he lived out his days according to the Clan McNeill motto: ‘Vincere vel Mori’.

💜 And so I begin the rest of my days without him following his example; to Walk Unafraid towards my own fate,

His name is Archie McNeill. He is my Dad. And he will always be my mentor and my best mate.

Archibald Goldie McNeill

26th June 1947 – 20th October 2023

When Dad was diagnosed with Stage 4 cancer on the 14th September this year and we knew his time was nearly up, he was reluctant to tell me his funeral songs. I think he saw that it might be perceived as ‘giving up’. And that just wasn’t in him.

So instead he responded with “You know what I like son. You choose”. Then a few days later just out of the blue he said “Universal Soldier” by Donovan. So I chose that as his Reflection song.

Dad loved his music and I think that’s how he connected with the universe. I say that because I believe the language of the universe is in love, music and maths. And being as I’ve had no luck in love and I’m terrible with numbers I feel that music helps me connect with the universe which in turn, helps me reconnect with the people who’ve enriched my life.

These were Dad’s songs today;

Gathering: ‘Don’t Let It Pass’ – Junip https://youtu.be/gvL_W3K84dA?si=b5H5tAbhk2iicxmB

We both first heard this track on ‘The Secret Life of Walter Mitty’ and he absolutely loved the film. The thing is I’d already seen it and I knew he would love the soundtrack too – which is why I’d already bought him the CD to give him straight after we watched the film. He was so made-up. In fact he loved the soundtrack so much it became his first go-to CD whenever he was making a pot of scotch broth or stovies in the kitchen.

Entry: ‘Folsom Prison Blues’ – Johnny Cash https://youtu.be/AeZRYhLDLeU?si=21JnsnDcLlEmIOur

Dad loved Johnny Cash’s music since he was a young man and was later inspired by his story in ‘Walk The Line’. I think Dad saw elements of himself in the story. I think many flawed men with good hearts do. I know I do.

Reflection: ‘Universal Soldier’ – Donovan https://youtu.be/TDf7WWXuCR0?si=kV8-5NQretI7tB-u

Dad loved Donavan too and I remember listening to ‘Colours’ endlessly as a kid. It’s a beautiful song. But Dad understood of how the world really works and as such he was one of ‘Gaslighting Gilligan’s’ most informed critics. And then one day when he was watching Sky ‘News’ he turned to me and said to me “You’ve done a great service son”. I have to wonder if in that moment ‘Universal Soldier’ made more sense to him. That in itself is a measure of his sense of autonomy – no easy task for someone of his generation who’d served 15 years in the army but who’d reconciled with the fact – we’d all been played.

Exit: ‘Flower of Scotland’ – The Corries https://youtu.be/Vyx1xeZo_tk?si=jV7x3yMXhGNzNDmW

Just as my dear wee Mammy raised me on Abba, The Bee Gees and Elvis, Dad raised me on just about every other genre of the time; rock, reggae, classical and country music – including political artists such as Harvey Andrews. But it was undoubtedly the music in Scotland’s untaught political history that The Corries composed and sang for us, that had the greatest influence on me and whose music will touch my soul from far beyond this plain when it’s my time to go…

Thumbnail photo credit: Cliff Purvis of ‘Veterans for Scottish Independence 2.0’

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“The trouble with fiction is that it makes too much sense. Reality never makes sense”. Aldous Huxley

‘Fascism, steeped in pathological hypocrisy, superiority entitlement and inveterate victimhood, is the group-characteristic extension of narcissism and is the Machiavellian-patriotic, militarised business model extension of joint Government and corporate engineered crisis-capitalism’. ‘Characteristics Of An Individual Narcissist & A Fascist State’ (©2017) https://wp.me/p94Aj4-dZ

‘Gaslighting Gilligan’ by Johnny McNeill; a contemporary dystopian ‘fiction’ about the intrinsic, interconnectedness of both personal & State-political domestic abuse, was released from Berlin on 25th June 2017. It is copyright ©️ but is a *free*-to-share public-service PDF download from here.

Twitter: @GasGilligan