FTX-115 - A-NUTTING WE WILL GO

WEST MIDLANDS MORRIS MUSIC

30 traditional Morris & Country dance tunes from the Gloucester-Herefordshire border, with talk about the dances. Stephen BALDWIN, fiddler, played for many Morris teams in the Newent area of Gloucestershire. Beatrice HILL plays melodeon, and her sister, Emily BISHOP, at Bromsberrrow Heath, Herefordshire, talks about the dancing and about their father who was the local Morris Fool, known locally as "The King of the Morris".

1. Tuning up - 0'12"

2. THE BROOMSTICK DANCE (The Irish Washerwoman) - 0'33"

3. THE HIGHLAND FLING (Money Musk) - 0'33"

4. HIGHLAND FLING - 0'26"

5. POLKA MAZURKA - 0'43"

6. VARSOVIANA #1 - 0'39"

7. RORY O MORE (Jig) - 0'33"

8. THE OLD BRAGS MARCH (Slashers Jig) - 0'33"

9. NAPOLEON'S GRAND MARCH - 1'15"

10. OLD TOWLER - 0'50"

11. HASTE TO THE WEDDING - 0'33"

12. GREENSLEEVES - 0'39"

13. OFF SHE GOES (Jig) - 0'31"

14. FLANAGAN'S BALL (Sir Roger de Coverley) - 0'36"

15. THE GIRL I LEFT BEHIND ME - 0'35"

16. COCK O' THE NORTH - 0'33"

17. THE SWANSEA HORNPIPE - 0'38"

18. THE COTTAGE HORNPIPE (Fisher's - used for THREE HAND REEL) - 0'37"

19. SOLDIER'S JOY (used for SIX HAND REEL) - 0'36"

20. THE GLOUCESTER HORNPIPE - 0'41"

21. THE WONDER HORNPIPE - 0'38"

22. DOUBLE DEE DOUBT (Hilly-go Filly-go) - 0'35"

22. BONNETS SO BLUE - 0'40"

24. THE FLOWERS OF EDINBURGH - 0'36"

25. PRETTY LITTLE DEAR (The Triumph - 2 pts only) - 0'35"

26. THE HEEL AND TOE POLKA (3 pts) - 1'07"

27. THE CROSS SCHOTTISCHE (The Seven Steps) - 0'39"

28. PLAIN SCHOTTISCHE #1 - 0'55"

29. POLKA: untitled - 0'36"

30. SO EARLY IN THE MORNING - 0'31"

31. LIVERPOOL HORNPIPE - 1'41"

32. POP GOES THE WEASEL - 1'28"

33. COLEFORD JIG (Cliff H) - 1'28"

34. TED SMITH'S HORNPIPE - 1'35"

35. OLD TIME WALTZ - 1'20"

36. PLAIN SCHOTTISCHE #2 - 1'25"

37. VARSOVIANA #2 - 2'24"

38. CLARK'S HORNPIPE (Morpeth Rant) - 1'42"

39. JUST AS THE TIDE WAS FLOWING - 2'06"

40. ANYWHERE DOES FOR ME - 2'13"

41. Stephen talks about local Morris & about his father also a fiddler, his first tune, Men of Harlech & story about playing for a Whitsun pub dance - 3'46"

32. Emily Bishop, rec Peter Kennedy, Bromsberrow Heath, Herefordshire, 13.10.52 talks about Morris and her father who was "The King" (i.e. Fool), costume, black faces, places visited, instruments incl fiddle, tambourine, harmonica, triangle & bones, ribbons, rags & bells, 3-hand reel, idea of Morris (for money) - 5'33"

33. Beatrice Hill (her sister), as above, (melodeon) NELLY'S TUNE - 0'52"

34. THE HEREFORDSHIRE BREAKDOWN - 0'54"

35. A-NUTTING WE WILL GO - 1'26"

Recorded by Peter Kennedy, Upton Bishop, Herefordshire 1952. Edited by Peter Kennedy and first published on Folktrax Cassettes 1975.

STEPHEN BALDWIN (1873-1955) was the youngest son of George ("Charlie") Baldwin of Newent, who was fiddler for the Clifford Mesne Morris dancers. His father and grandfather were fiddle-players before him. Charlie was a charcoal-burner in Newent Woods and died in Newent almshouses. Cecil Sharp noted 4 tunes from him, when Charlie was aged 98, on 12th August 1910: THE MORRIS CALL, WILD MORRIS (or Morris Off), THE GLOUCESTER HORNPIPE and POLLY PUT THE KETTLE ON. This last being a 3-part tune for the local "Diament" or "Swing Corners" Country Dance.

Stephen was a plate-layer on the railway in the Forest of Dean, and played for a number of Morris dancers in the area. For 3 years he ran his own side at Mitcheldean, performing dances with long sticks, which he had picked up at Bromsberrow Heath when he had been substituting for their concertina-player. He also played for local country dances and, on one occasion, for a gypsy wedding (See article by H.H.Albino in "Gloucestershire Countryside" vol. 6 No. 6 Jan-Mar 1948). A notation of the Bromsberrow Heath Morris is given in The English Folk Dance & Song Society magazine, "English Dance and Song", Sept. 1954.

EMILY BISHOP (1879-1962) may be heard singing folksongs and local carols on FTX-129. Her father kept the village inn at Bromsberrow Heath. BEATRICE HILL, her sister, learned to play the local Morris dance tunes on the melodeon from an earlier team's concertina-player.