Vincent

Vincent Murrain 

Audio 6th June 2024 

Location Dalston 

“My first memories of coming to Dalston was with my mum. I liked listening to all the music. It was all the Trojan music, the old reggae like Alton Ellis, king of rock steady. He made that tune ‘Black Mans Pride’. My mum would buy the records here and play them at home on the record player. Desmond Decker and Walton Ellis were her favourites. My dad preferred John Holt. They were inspiring parents. It was all Caribbean people on the market then. Mum would talk to everyone on Ridley Road and they say ‘hey Vincent you’re getting tall’. She used to bring me here to get my school uniform. I miss those days in my mother’s house, and everyone used to come round. All my dad’s work colleagues, my aunties and friends, to play music and eat. I’m a soul man, Smokey Robinson and Luther Vandross is a king, ‘never gonna give you up, give you up’. I’ve got a lot of vinyl over the years. I got my record player from the charity shop in Dalston.”

“I was born in 1961 in London, one of seven children. My mum Mary Murrain was from St Lucia and my father Edward Murrain was from Panama in central America. I lived a very sheltered life growing up. My dad was a landlord, and he really protected me when I was little and so did my mother. We had part of the house, and the residents had most of the house. But later on when they moved out in the 1970’s, we had all of the house. It was a big Victorian household. My mum died in 2012 and dad died in 1985. I do talk to my siblings, but they gossip about me and my brother, David.”

“I love visiting Dalston because I have good memories of the place. It’s diverse and cultured and it feels like home. I like to watch people sometimes but not be rude and stare or glare at them. I’m a bit shy sometimes. I come here also to buy clothes and my icon hats from inside the mall. It’s a statement hat. I go to a food bank here in Dalston at St Marks Church and it helps me out massively. I love the people there. I eat the curry goat but it’s a bit strong not like the way my mum used to make it.”

“I used to be in sheltered accommodation but now I live alone. I was diagnosed with Schizophrenia when I was 27. I had fallen out with someone, and they thought I was going over the rails. It’s hard to explain. I didn’t understand when I went into hospital but there were trying to get me better. I got six months sentencing inside the Whittington hospital when they sectioned me. I was really shocking. They came to my house with legal people and said, ‘you’ve got to go and get some help’. They home you in, like you’re some sort of cattle. I just wanted to get out of that place. When I left, I was supported, but now I am completely independent. I know how to keep my place clean and look after myself. Many mentally ill people get a bad reputation because they may be struggling and look dirty. You must keep yourself together.”  

“I take my medication religiously otherwise I would be on another planet. Planet Mars. I take it every night at 9pm. It’s like ‘Mothers Little Helper’ by the Rolling Stones. I hope you see me in a different light because telling lies is not going to get me anywhere. I had to tell you the truth about myself. Sometimes when I was spiralling, I would stay at my mums’ house, and she would look after me. Early days were like that. She knew I was not well, and she said she would pray to God for me.”

“I have some icons that I listen to and who keep me going through times when I feel confused. I am a big fan of Martin Luther King, and I have an image of him in my bedroom. That was a great ‘I Have a Dream’ speech he made in 1963. You’re never going to get someone like that again. The speech spoke about justice and equality for all and being as one. He tried to tell the truth, and they shot him. Then I like Bob Marley. I like his music and what he stood for. He wasn’t always dreadlocked. He had short hair and a suit to begin with. He was a tiny guy. He was inspiring to me growing up. A rasta man. He could see a goodness in humanity that other people don’t see.”