Archive for July, 2014

Mercedes Benz


2014
07.12

This is another from Jon’s Forest School Camps and he offers, “We sing this on FSC although I’m not quite sure why, but it always seems to stick in my memory. I don’t really sing anything else like this that I can think of.” I’m expecting a few ripples and lively discussion here, but this version with Jon and Concertina contrasts nicely with Janis Joplin’s A Capella original. It was the very last thing she recorded before her untimely death at the age of 27. The song was an obvious commentary on materialism and was written with poet Michael McClure and Bob Neuwirth. Ironically Joplin owned a psychedelically painted Porsche at the time she wrote and recorded this. You can wiki it all here should you so desire. Interestingly, although I wasn’t really expecting to find anything, there’s quite a lot on Mudcat, such as this thread, which even suggests an extra verse.

 

The buy links should now work properly. We had some problems with a duplicate track and everything needed to be updated, but I’ve just tested them and they are now OK!

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Danny Deever


2014
07.11

As Jon points out, “It’s unusual to have a piece about the horrors of capital punishment that isn’t in fact anti capital punishment. A subtle and troubling poem brought to life by Bellamy’s brilliant tune.” Although the soldiers clearly take no pleasure in the coming events, this is what became known as a Barrack-Room Ballad. Rudyard Kipling wrote the poem in 1890, it may, however, have been started before then. Generally ascribed as being set in India its detail does somewhat match the execution at Lucknow in 1887 of a Private Flaxman. Such spectacles as an execution in front of the regiment, were probably used as the ultimate deterrent, to reinforce the strict discipline. You will naturally find lots of stuff about Kipling with a simple Google of the title, but this is a rather interesting piece about Bellamy’s adaption of his poems.

The buy links should now work properly. We had some problems with a duplicate track and everything needed to be updated, but I’ve just tested them and they are now OK!

You can buy the digital album now from the following stores:

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Banks of Green Willow


2014
07.10

Another song that Jon picked up from Martin Carthy and as he says, “You can either read this as a warning against blind superstition, or as an instructional model for how to deal with a faerie infestation.” It seems that the song possibly alludes to a superstition that the presence of a wrong doer on a ship will bring disaster, although what the poor unfortunate lady who is thrown overboard has done is debatable. Still, as always, there are plenty of thoughts at Mudcat. This seems to come from a particulary period of Martin Cathy’s recordings and is to be found on Shearwater again from 1972.

 

The buy links should now work properly. We had some problems with a duplicate track and everything needed to be updated, but I’ve just tested them and they are now OK!

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Pretty Cock / As I Stood under my Love’s Window


2014
07.09

Jon offers, “Another night visiting song. This one seems somehow lest about boasting of conquest than many others.” The motif of the lovers being roused prematurely by a cock that crows early is apparently common to other songs. He attributes Louis Killen again as his source for this, but I could find scant little extra information. Google with caution, but if you can add to the information it will be greatly appreciated.

The buy links should now work properly. We had some problems with a duplicate track and everything needed to be updated, but I’ve just tested them and they are now OK!

You can buy the digital album now from the following stores:

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Across the Line


2014
07.08

Jon attributes this to an unknown shanty album and is also conscious of adapting it to suit his own needs. “I tweaked the words of this to go with Pete Flood’s arrangement for Bellowhead, and I can’t remember the original words now. It feels like a fairly recent song, maybe mid twentieth century, but as far as I know no one knows of an author – another song bequeathed to ‘the traditional’ by some modest soul presumably.” The Karui trees point this in the direction of New Zealand, with the song also being known as The Sailor’s Way.

The buy links should now work properly. We had some problems with a duplicate track and everything needed to be updated, but I’ve just tested them and they are now OK!

You can buy the digital album now from the following stores:

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