A Folk Song A Day

Jon points to Martin Carthy for this one saying, “Hell of a Carthy track this. I don’t normally like double tracked voices in harmony but there’s something punky and at the same time vaguely prog about the way he pulls it off over a fairly brutal dulcimer drone. What a genius. It’s a good song too.” There’s a little flourish of guitar here and there as well. Having dug out The Carthy Chronicles Box set to check this out, I must say I’m impressed with the arrangement and the notes add the following…

“To trace Martin’s involvement with this song, one must turn to the BBC. He had performed it as part of Steeleye Span on the John Peel show on June 27, 1970. On March 1 1973 he would revisit the song on the same show – this time with the Albion Country Band.”

His recorded version sits between the two and again the notes make mention of the multi tracking (“the effects of being in a band”), but his version also served as the template for the Albion Band’s recording on Battle Of The Field. The vaguely eastern vibe of the dulcimer drone is taken further that way by Sue Harris’ oboe in one of those bold fusions that makes you question where melodies come from. You can read more at Mainly Norfolk here and Mudcat is quite interesting here, referencing a Scottish version, which chimes with Tony Rose’s notes, reprinted by Reinhard. They refer to the [Greig-]Duncan collection and you may want to have a little look at this Mudcat thread for more information on that, although it starts some years ago and a swift shufti on Amazon suggests vols 1,2 and 8 are available. They sound worth researching further and if anyone has them already or knows more, I’d like to know and I’m sure others would to.

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Jon slyly refers to this as, “A traditional song from Guernsey. Sort of… Not really.” For the Waits fans amongst you and I know there are a few. I was lucky enough to see him on the Heart Attack & Vine tour (Apollo Victoria 81), the album from whence this comes and his last before the stylistic lurch to Swordfishtrombones, Rain Dogs and beyond. I also saw the 85 shows that featured the latter, a real contrast, but by then I was utterly hooked and the first of those two is still one of my all time fave LPs. I think this nicely combines the love ballad (it was written about Kathleen Brennan who he married), with the concertina adding a hint of that twisted cabaret styling he latterly made uniquely his own. Many will also know this via Bruce and this Wiki entry has twice as much about his version as the composer, which I guess probably says much about their relative popularity. I remember desperately playing Tom T’s Blues to my mum, so convinced was I that it was a work of genius, but she just couldn’t get beyond his voice… Hey-ho. It’s nice to have those memories tweaked all the same and I love the pathos that simmers beneath the surface of this tender ballad. It’s as if the weight of love is almost too much to bear. Beautifully delivered.

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I’d like to make an official announcement that October 4^th will from here on in be known as Bellowhead Day. I have the great privilege of seeing them tonight and am really looking forward to it. Anyway as Jon says, “It’s here at last! Seems a long time since we were in Abbey Road. Really looking forward to gigging all the new stuff. Roll on November!” There’s a nice little bonus for you too to mark the occasion. Anyway it’s interesting to hear this as naked as our hapless victim the morning after. Also this Mudcat thread make s the very interesting link with the version in the film The Gangs Of New York that is the one Jon follows.

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Bellowhead – New York Girls

The new Bellowhead album Hedonism is available to buy now.

We’re staying sat on our logs around the fire for this one as Jon recalls, “Yet another FSC song. I’ve never been totally comfortable with the ‘what got drownded’ line, but there it is and a  great one for harmonies none the less.” I’ve read suggestions that this is either American from British fragments, possibly via the Caribean, but I have to agree with Jon the phrasing is strange. This Mudcat thread is reasonably interesting and comes up with another song in the middle, not to mention a mondegreen from Pete Seeger, who sang this often, which puts the song in a whole new light! This is delightfully mournful and a lovely tune (although not one for Sainsburys) and I like the concertina here very much.

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Fay joins in again, with a song that features on her Looking Glass CD and is one of many highlights of her live set. Jon once again reminisces about the camp experience, “Another FSC one. It was introduced to FSC by Beefy, a legendary character who I only met once and who had attended the original Forest School (I think that’s right.) No-one is quite sure where he got it from but it seems to be a translation of a German folk song.” Beefy it seems is the stuff of legend and I confess to feeling the misty eyed emotion behind this piece that I happened upon from The Independent. Life affirming stuff indeed and it makes me wonder how I never new about the mythical camps that Jon keeps referring to and wishing that I had. Anyway back to the matter in hand… Apart form the sheer joy of hearing this it’s a rather curious song. Are we in transformation territory again..? There seems to be a general current suggesting the translation from German that Jon suggests, but in all honesty I can’t find anything of substance. If it is a translation is it accurate? Perhaps there’s an alternate title that someone knows, or someone simply more diligent than I who can shed more light. A cracking tune (that I’ve been humming to myself all round Sainburys on my lunch time shopping jaunt) and the wonderful harmony really brings it to life.

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