FTX 123 - HARD TIMES

THE TRAD ROOTS OF FOLK ROCK

14 Folksongs of Britain and Ireland, the originals from country singers recorded in the field, singing unaccompanied, then, by way of comparison, the same versions, given the full electric treatment with a multi-track studio recording, by Maddy Prior and Steeleye Span Folk group. Includes some Child Ballads, Carols, Glees, Labour, Love & Protest Songs. The original singers come from Cornwall, Norfolk, Herefordsh, Dorset, Sussex, Ireland, N.E. Scotland and S.Wales.

1. THE (FALSE) KNIGHT ON THE ROAD (Child #3) - Frank Quinn, Coalisland, Co. Tyrone, N.Ireland rec by Sean O Boyle 1958 - 4'30"

2. WHEN I WAS IN HORSEBACK (or THE UNFORTUNATE LAD) - Mary Doran (tinker from Co. Waterford) rec by PK, Belfast, N.Ireland 1952 - 4'23"

3. PRINCE CHARLIE STUART - Brigid Tunney, Beleek, Co.Fermanagh, N.Ireland, rec by PK 1952 - 4'03"

4. THE GOWER WASSAIL SONG - Phil Tanner, Penmaen, Glamorgan, S.Wales, rec by Maud Karpeles 1949 - 2'41"

5. THE ROYAL FORESTER (Child #110) - John Strachan, Fyvie, Aberdeen, Scotland, rec by Alan Lomax 1951 - 5'27"

6. THE SPOTTED COW - Harry Cox, Catfield, Yarmouth, Norfolk, rec by PK 1953 - 3'35"

7. THE CADGWITH ANTHEM (or THE ROBBER'S RETREAT) - Fishermen's Choir, Cadgwith, Cornwall, rec by PK 1953 - 4'34"

8. THE WEE WEAVER - Brigid Tunney, Beleek, Co. Fermanagh, N.Ireland rec byPK 1952 - 4'38"

9. CAPTAIN COLSTON - As previous - 4'10"

10. LORD GREGORY (Child #76) - Elizabeth Cronin, Macroom, Co. Cork, Eire, rec by Alan Lomax 1950 - 2'28"

11. THE DOFFIN MISTRESS - John McLaverty, Belfast, N.Ireland, rec by PK 1952 - 2'37"

12. THE SINGING OF THE TRAVELS (or THE HUSBANDMAN & THE SERVANTMAN) Christmas Mummers, Symondsbury, Bridport, Dorset, rec by PK 1951 - 3'08"

13. Carol: THE HOLLY AND THE IVY - Peter Jones, Bromsash, Herefordshire, rec. by Maud Karpeles and Patrick Shuldham-Shaw, 1952 - 4'13"

14. THE HARD TIMES OF OLD ENGELAND - Ron Copper, Rottingdean, Brighton, Sussex, rec. PK 1955 - 7'31"

Recorded & edited by Peter Kennedy and first published on Folktrax Cassettes 1975. HARD TIMES OF OLD ENGELAND is the copyright of COPPERSONGS. All the others are assigned to FOLKTRAX .

In each case the original field recordings are followed by an extract of the studio recording. These latter commercial recordings, made during the late sixties & seventies, were issued without any credit by the artistes or record publishers to the original performers, collectors or publishers.

For example, the last song, was issued as a "pop single" and succeeded in getting "into the charts", but no attempt was made to contact or acknowledge the Copper family who had preserved the song or, for that matter, the collector who had recorded it. THE HARD TIMES OF OLD ENGLAND, prior to being recorded from the Copper family, had never appeared in any printed collection, and so faithfully did this Folk Rock group reproduce the song from the collector's recording that they even copied a mistake which Ron Copper had made on the original recording. This particular recording, edited and produced by Peter Kennedy, was published, for members only, by The English Folk Dance and Song Society on the EFDSS LP 1002 in 1963. His cousin, Bob, can be heard singing it, with his own concertina accompaniment, on FTX-238.