FTX-418 - LOWER YOUR FUNNEL
Music of the Canals & Waterways
This is a unique collection of canal and coastal songs
recorded by Peter Kennedy over the last 30 years. Included are humorous canal-boat
songs - some already well-known, like THE IRISH ROVER, others that are
now becoming popular, and also some more recent compositions - like DIRTY
OLD TOWN and THE SHROPSHIRE UNION CANAL. Instrumentals include
variations on THE KEEL ROW played on Northumbrian small-pipes and a STEP-DANCE
on hammered dulcimer. Others instruments, such as guitar & banjo accordion
& concertina, are used for the song accompaniments. There is a Cornish fisherman's
choir, 2 skiffle groups, and a sailing ship shanty crew.
1. THE CRUISE OF THE CALABAR (collected by R Terry)
- Cyril TAWNEY (gtr/ banjo) - 2'32"
2. LOWER Y'UR FUNNEL (coll by P Kennedy) - Bob ROBERTS
with PK on ch - 2'27"
3. MA BONNY LAD (coll by Whittaker) - Sylvia MOORE
with Dutch folk group - 1'16"
4. THE KEEL ROW Variations - Jack ARMSTRONG (Northumbrian
small-pipes) - 2'54"
5. DIRTY OLD TOWN (Comp by Mc Coll) - The Steve BENBOW
Skiffle Group - 2'39"
6. THE SHROPSHIRE UNION CANAL - composed & sung
by Martin GRAEBE - 2'47"
7. THE IRISH ROVER (Coll by Ennis) - The INN FOLK,
Totnes, Devon - 2'10"
8. THE MAN AT THE NORE (Coll by Kennedy) - Cyril TAWNEY
with The Shantey Crew - 4'32"
9. THE MARY ANN McHUGH (Comp by Percy French) - Seamus
ENNIS rec on disk, London, 1960 - 3'02"
10. THE CANDLELIGHT FISHERMAN (Comp by P Hamond) -
THE ORIGINAL RIVERSIDERS Skiffle Group - 2'16"
11. ROW, BOATMAN, ROW - Fishermen's Choir, Cadgwith
Cove, Helston, Cornwall - 2'23"
12. THE WATER IS WIDE (Coll by Sharp) - Sylvia MOORE
Ensemble - 2'53"
13. THE LONDON WATERMAN - Bob Roberts, Pinmill, Ipswich,
Suffolk - 1'49"
14. YUS, I LUVS 'IM (Coll by Kennedy) - Betty Redshaw/concertina,
London - 1'32"
15. OLD JOE, THE BOAT IS GOING OVER (Step Dance) -
Billy Bennington/ hammered dulcimer, Norfolk - 1'23"
16. STORMY WEATHER BOYS (Coll by Kennedy) - Mike SHAILL
& Eezum Squeezum - 2'30"
17. FINE GIRL YOU ARE (coll Ennis) - Seamus ENNIS
& The Shanty Crew, London - 1'42"
This recording was compiled for the Opening of the
National Waterways Museum in Gloucester Docks in April 1988. Recorded &
edited by Peter Kennedy & first published on Folktrax Cassettes 1988.
#1 noted Devon 1875 by Sir Richard Terry publ. in
SALT SEA BALLADS (Curwen 1931)
#2 sung by the skipper of the last working Thames
sailing barge, "The Cambria"
#3 by Northumbrian-born Sylvia with her husband Bernard
Broere on thumb-piano
#4 piper to the Duke of Northumberland with his father's
family set of the tune
#5 composed about Salford - a historic recording in
the London Skiffle Club,Soho
#6 another composition by a well-known song-maker
of the early sixties revival
#7 was first recorded by The Dubliners - it was Peter
who made their first LP
#8 Peter got this from the Crickmays, a Royal Navy
family; pre-dates Burl Ives
#9 Percy French modelled this on #1 - using the tune
LIMERICK IS BEAUTIFUL
#10 was recorded by PK from Phil Hamond on the North
Norfolk coast but it was also known as a story about the Mevagissey fishermen
in Cornwall
#11 was taped in the Cadgwith Hotel by PK when he
went to record their famous "Cadgwith Anthem"
#12 collected in Somerset and published by Cecil Sharp
as WALY, WALY
#13 is possibly a London music-hall song, Bob couldn't
remember where he heard it
#14 One broadcast of this brought hundreds of letters
from people and a supply of regional variants
#15 Outstanding Norfolk dulcimer player recorded shortly
before he died
#16 The only true Thames Barge song collected in fragments
from various bargees
#17 Also known as THE HOLY GROUND, there's a Welsh
variant called SWANSEA TOWN
