Purple Ronnie (Ron Hopper's Final Dream)
I owe thanks to John and Carol Hoare for telling me about the story of Ron Hopper and for suggesting that I write a song about it.
Ron had been a very keen fisherman and had been looking forward to the return to Thailand for a fishing holiday with his mates, Paul Fairbrass and Cliff Dale. Sadly, he couldn't make the trip as he had been diagnosed with terminal cancer, but before he died he arranged that his friends should take his ashes with them when they went to Thailand and infuse them into a bait called boilies. They called this bait "Purple Ronnie" and caught a monster 180lb carp. Recalling the catch Cliff said "I am not a religious person but it felt spiritual, it felt like Ron was there with us".
I wanted to try and capture this spiritual element and so the idea behind this song was that after Paul and Cliff discussed the plan with Ron, he fell asleep and dreamed about the fishing trip. The song is a blurring of what he might have dreamed and what actually happened. More than anything it is intended as a tribute to the memory of Ron Hopper and the dedication of his friends.
Well I'm lying on my bed
With happy thoughts in my head
As I’m dreaming of what my mates have planned
They'll turn my ashes into bait
And fish that Thailand lake
I’ll be there to lend a helping hand
Chorus
They called me Purple Ronnie
They turned my ashes into bait
And set my spirit free
When they went down to the lake
With my ashes in the bait
They fixed the boillie to the rig so carefully
Then they cast out the line
And I knew it was the time
For I could see what no human eyes could see
chorus
My spirit sensed the carp
It's aura glowing in the dark
Waters of that mystic Thailand lake
I beckoned it to me
It swam over willingly
Without hesitation that fish took the bait
chorus
My friends were so surprised
There was wonder in their eyes
As they weighed that big carp at one eighty pounds
It was the biggest they'd ever seen
They said it was like a dream
As they put him back in the lake to swim around
chorus
Now that carp and I are one
And my mortal days are done
And we'll swim around for all eternity
I’m dreaming of my friends
Who stayed with me ‘til the end
And finally set my spirit free
chorus