Sleeve Notes:
Across the Hills—Ian
and Lorna
This song was written by Leon Rosselson, a young revivalist singer
and satirist. Leon used to be a member of the Galliards folk group,
and was responsible for many of their arrangements. Both words and
tune are Leon originals, but the tune was probably derived from the
tune normally used for the Scottish ballad, "The Gardener".
Come kiss me love—Lorna and Group
A friend of mine, Harvey Tucker from Leicester, sings a beautiful
song, "Peggy Gordon", with a very haunting tune. After hearing it
several times I realised that it was in fact based on the
traditional tune, "Banks of the Sweet Primroses". When we were asked
to record a song for issue as a single, I immediately chose this
tune, but found that both sets of words were too long, and neither
could be reasonably abbreviated for a single. This present version
is a compilation of verses from various traditional Appalachian
songs, with some original words for continuity, and with one or two
slight amendments to the tune.
The blind man he could see—Ian and Group
This song is common all over the English-speaking world. This
particular version is Irish, and was given to us by A. L. Lloyd.
I know my Love—Lorna and Group
We learnt this from the singing of James McPeake, a member of the
famous McPeake family of Belfast. He sings it in a much more
leisurely fashion than this, with a harp accompaniment, but Irish
friends have told us that in the West coast of IreIan d it is sung
in a light staccato fashion, and in much stricter time. Close
investigation of the tempo will disclose that it is actually in 3/4
time, but in order to prevent it degenerating into an old-fashioned
waltz, we have superimposed a 4/4 tempo on the banjo.
Derby Ram—Brian and Group
The Derby Ram is the subject of a great many songs in the
English-speaking tradition. The totemism and fertility and
purification symbolism in the majority of these songs have been
obscured, and the songs have degenerated into the usual "tall-tale".
We use the words from a Cecil Sharp manuscript collected at Clewer
in 1909, and an American children's tune.
Mary Mild—Lorna
Mary Queen of Scots had four ladies in waiting, all with the same
Christian name as herself. Legend has it that one of them had an
affair with the Queen's lover, and that she murdered the
illegitimate child resulting from the affair in an attempt to escape
detection, and was subsequently executed. These facts are not born
out by historical investigation, but the folk legend has given rise
to many beautiful songs; this particular version comes from Gavin
Grieg's collection, "Last Leaves of Aberdeenshire Ballads".
Remember Me—Lorna and Group
This tune will be familiar to many as "John Riley", a rather
hackneyed folk song on the broken token theme. We liked the song
very much, but were deterred by the bathos of the broken token
conception I fitted to the tune this set of words, on a related
lost-lover theme, and adapted the tune slightly in order to involve
a chorus.
The Cockfight—Ian and Group
The frustrations of the miner's life were reflected in the brutal
pastimes with which he exercised himself in his spare time. Nowadays
they content themselves with keeping pigeons and racing whippets,
but a hundred years ago they went in for dog fighting, clog boxing,
rat worrying, and that gentleman's sport, the cockfight. We learnt
two tunes for this song from A. L. Lloyd, neither with a chorus; we
combined the two, using one for the tune and the other for a chorus.
Gypsy Rover—Lorna and Group
For some reason this song has lent itself widely to popular adaptations.
Although this is an Irish song, it has been recorded so many times
by American singers, that it is often thought to be an American folk
song. This is one song in our repertoire that is known everywhere we
go, and we have never yet encountered an audience that didn't join
in the chorus.
Cho Cho Losa—Ian and Group
This is a song which we learnt from the great South African Negro singers, the
Manhattan brothers. We appeared with them at the I963 Edinburgh
Festival, and each group appreciated the music of the other. We
taught them some Scottish mouth music, and in return they taught us
this African "mouth music", which I understand to be a nonsense song
about a train, which could well be used as a work song, by the Negro
mine workers in Johannesburg who created it.
The Keeper—Ian and Group
The hunting of the doe in this song originally symbolised sexual
pursuit, although this implication is quite lost on the children who
now sing this song at school. Cecil Sharp had to bowdlerise this
song for inclusion in Novello's "School Songs", even so the
symbolism is still quite clear.
Instrumental—Dave, John and Brian
This is one of the hybrid instrumental created by the three instrumentalists
at a rehearsal session. All the tunes come from Dave Swarbrick's
limitless repertoire. Dave plays mandola and fiddle, John Dunkerley,
banjo and Brian Clark, guitar.
The Collier Laddie—Ian
We got this from the singing of Ewen McColl. This haunting ballad
shows that industrialisation was already having it's effect on the
Scottish tradition as far back as CIS.
We're nae Awa to Bide Awa—Ian and Group
This convivial farewell song comes from the Glasgow music hall tradition,
but can be heard in every public house in industrial ScotIan d. I've
been hearing this since childhood, sung at parties and at hogmanay,
which is the Scottish New Year celebration, taking precedence over
Christmas.
