6. Prickly Bush

Tuning: DADGAD, Capo: 5th

This tune (Child ballad 95) has appeared in many different guises around different countries, 50 different versions alone being found in Finland! The plot is based around someone (originally a maid) awaiting execution at the gallows pole and trying to buy herself time and release through her family. There is a basic pattern to each verse:

Hangman stay your hand

stay it for a while

I think I see my mother come

over yonder stile

Mother have you brought me gold

silver to set me free?

For to save my body from the cold, cold ground

and my neck from the gallows tree

No I have not brought you gold

nor silver to set you free

for to save your body from the cold, cold ground

or your neck from the gallows tree.

The verses repeat for sister, brother, father (extended as desired) before the true love comes and provides the fee for releasing the accused.

As I wrote, the original narrator was a maid though the change in gender could well have happened when the song was in America, the execution of women being less common there.

The version that I first heard was Spiers and Boden's on their album 'Bellow' and subsequently (as is the way when you actually start looking for something) I found Nic Jones singing it on 'Unearthed'. My version was created one afternoon when I realised I needed something more upbeat in my set and so worked out the basic melody and noodled around until the arrangement fell into place... I now want to work it into a nice set of tunes (possibly Playford) as the song's pretty quickly over but I don't want to extend the family who wander past!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Maid_Freed_from_the_Gallows

http://www.mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=122664

Well, that's the e.p! A massive thank you to Doug for recording it, Captain Wizard for mixing and taking the photos and anon, may we meet soon...

5. Geordie

Child ballad #209, this song is another with countless versions though mine was from the penguin book of English folk songs, a seminal collection by Lloyd and Vaughan Williams. This song has been found all over England and Scotland and so if it relates to actual events, it is unclear who is 'Geordie' though most versions have him as one of 'royal blood' a close relation to the monarchy is invariably implied: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geordie_(ballad)#Geography.

The words that I use mention London bridge but, more cryptically 'he sold them in Boheny'. At first I took this for a corruption of the word 'Bohemia' inferring that Geordie sold the royal deer to travellers however this definition of the term bohemian did not occur until the 19th century and so is not applicable to the lyrics. There is, on the other hand, a town in Scotland called Bohenie so possibly the setting got partly changed as the song was passed around...

As far as the imagery of the song, the judge looking over his left shoulder is not literal, though one could imagine that the lady has arrived just as he was leaving the court, but relates to the belief that the right and left hands were good and evil (think about the superstition of throwing spilled salt over your left shoulder to blind the devil).

There are many brilliant threads on mudcat that relate to this song, have a look through the related threads here :http://www.mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=29130.

4. Sammy's Bar

Tuning: EGCGCE, Capo: 7th

They talk about writing what you know and with the late Cyril Tawney's words, that's exactly what you get.

I first heard this song through Martin Simpson when I saw him in the Dorchester Arts Centre on his 'Bramble Briar' tour in 2001, a sensitive performance of the song encapsulating the depth of the lyrics, something I have worked on recreating since... I think that I am settled on this one, even though I have subsequently learned that a verse is missing from the lyrics!

The song itself and its history should be best explained by the man himself, see: http://www.cyriltawney.co.uk/depth.htm#sammy but in brief; this song is set in Malta, the places are real and the people and plot represent different occasions in Tawney's life whilst stationed there.

To clarify, word 'di-so' in the second refrain is the the phonetic pronunciation of the Maltese 'dghaisa' which is a hired craft that took sailors back to their ship after a night on the shore.

As far as drunken laments go, this is a keeper!

3. Seven Yellow Gypsies

Tuning: EACGBE, Capo: 3rd

Child ballad #200. I've known this song for a long time in the back of my mind without really knowing it and when I started playing around with the chords, it seemed to fall into place without any trouble. The simple unresolved chord structure paired with the warmth that I find the dropped-C tuning and the slightly blue-noted melody brings a certain soft feel to the song that had a definite impact as I rewrote the final stanza, a twist that makes the story more realistic, though real it most certainly isn't!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Gypsy_Laddie

http://www.traditionalmusic.co.uk/child-ballads/ch200.htm

http://www.informatik.uni-hamburg.de/~zierke/shirley.collins/songs/sevenyellowgipsies.html

2. Rights of Man

Tuning: DADGAD, Capo: 5th

This hornpipe, most commonly associated with the Irish session may have been written by a Scottish piper called James Hill. Hill lived in Northumberland for most of his short life (1811-1853) and left a large body of work behind him. This tune is thought to refer to the book of the same name written by Thomas Paine which is a political work supporting the use of political uprising if the government does not safegurad the natural rights and national interests of its people (please read: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rights_of_Man).

For more reading, look at this thread from mudcat: http://www.mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=5530 as it includes information about a set of lyrics not from the same tune but with the same name.

1. Handsome Dark Lover

Tuning: DADGBE, Capo: 5th

A nice little ditty to start the CD off, a story of a young lady poisoning her former lover's drinks around the country!

I heard this track on Tim Van Eyken and Rob Harbron's 2001 release "One Sunday Afternoon" (BEJOCD-34) and was instantly struck by the beauty of the tune called "orange in bloom" and the playful nature of the lyrics, it was a song that instantly brought that most wonderous of thoughts: 'I have to learn this' to my mind... alas the push of my university work was not so kind to my desires and the song was pushed to the back of my mind until playing with my melodeon friend one day when he started up the tune. After a couple of times around I had it firmly in my head and asked for the CD to be posted up from my homeland of Dorset to Bath to learn the words, the folk process had then begun...

Looking for the tune, it appeared in two guises: the original is a jig used for morris

but the timing has also been altered to create "The Sherborne Waltz".

The change to the original was made by Rod Stradling, then with the Old Swan Band, he wrote in 1995 of the change: "I put the 'Sherborne Waltz' together while failing to get to grips with 'Orange in Bloom' - it has been so widely played in the intervening years that I feel rather sorry for the original!"

The latter is used for the song which I subsequently swung and jazzed up upon the original, such is the aural process!

more information at:

Tune of the month: http://forum.melodeon.net/index.php?PHPSESSID=5cd4e2e80de72edcb95aa57cbf4de5b7&topic=3405.0

The Old Swan Band: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Swan_Band

The Sherborne Waltz (despite what the website says!): http://abcnotation.com/tunePage?a=www.lesession.co.uk/music/lgsdmweb/0078&p=y

P.S: Sherborne is lovely... I'm pretty sure that nothing that happens in this song could possibly have happened there.

The CD

It's been a while since I've updated this blog, this is mainly to do with an invitation to tour Europe for the latter half of the year which has been an eye-opening experience; the people I've met, the places I've been, the stories I've heard and the music I've played from the sets of the band to an Irish/ Sicilian session at the North-most point of Denmark, from busking in front of a massive statue of monkeys in Germany to jamming on stage at the Montreux jazz festival, the range of experiences have certainly changed the way I play and what shapes the music I perform.

Coming back from the voyage also presented me with a new mindset on how to push my music out into the wider world. I came back to six tracks that I had already laid down in what must have been the most relaxed session ever (or that's how it was described by the guy in the studio) and I thought "what's the best way to get these tunes out to people whilst showing the work that's gone into them before hand?". One night I came up with the solution; get the tracks on to CD with a link to this blog where I could spend time writing up the history, sources and inspirations that have led to the heard product.

So with the launch night looming on the 5th Feb, I've got just over a month to write up and post the sleeve notes to my E.P... here we go!