FTX-140 - SMITH'S, FULLERS & SCAMPS

GYPSY FAMILIES IN SUSSEX & KENT

Some early recordings of English romanies made in their horse-drawn wagons where the Romanies had pulled onto the grass road verges. Opening song by the 8 year old, Sheila SMITH, has all the intensity of Romany style singing, and the rest of the songs include those that were the most popular with English travellers. Charlie SCAMP, a cousin of the famous gypsy folk-singer, Phoebe Smith, sings some more songs including a well-known Folkestone Murder, a Kent Murder Ballad, as well as one employing a few Romany words.

1. FATHER, DEAR FATHER (or SWEET WILLIAM) - Sheila SMITH - 1'51"

2. Toast: HERE'S LUCK TO THE MAN - Jim and Wally FULLER - 0'33"

3. O, WHAT A LIFE - Mary FULLER - 0'41"

4. GREEN GROWS THE LAURELS - Jack FULLER - 2'37"

5. BOLD DRUNKARDS - Wally FULLER - 1'41"

6. I'M A MAN THAT'S DONE WRONG TO MY PARENTS (talk after) - 2'37"

7. BRINY-O-THEN-LITTLE-DO (or BRIAN O LINN) - 2'17"

8. I AM A ROMANY (talk before) - 1.39

9. ROW DOW DOW (or BOLD POACHERS) - 1'38"

10. CATCH ME, BOLD ROGUES, IF YOU CAN (or THE HIGHWAYMAN OUTWITTED) - 2'35"

11. THE GAME OF CARDS (talk before/Song preceded by starts of other songs) - 2'09"

12. THE BURGLAR SONG - 2'02"

 

13. BARBARY ALLEN Charlie SCAMP (talk before) - 5'40"

14. YOUNG LEONARD (THE LAKES OF COOLFIN) (talk before) - 4'31"

15. FATHER (DEAR) FATHER (or SWEET WILLIAM) (talk before & words of song) - 3'09"

16. HOW OLD ARE YOU, MY PRETTY FAIR MAID? (talk before) - 0'50"

17. A BLACKMITH COURTED ME (talk before) - 1'38"

18. THE FOLKESTONE MURDER (talk before) - 2'15"

19. THE ATCHING TAN SONG (or WHEN IT IS RAINING) (talk before & words) - 2.54

The Smiths and the Fullers (1-12) were recorded by Peter Kennedy in the lanes around Lewes in Sussex in November, 1952. The recordings of Charlie Scamp (13-19) were made by Peter Kennedy, in the company of his aunt, Dr. Maud Karpeles, at Chartham Hatch, near Canterbury, in January 1954. Edited by Peter Kennedy and first published on Folktrax Cassettes 1975.

Some recordings were made in the wagon, but Wally Fuller made his in a nearby pub, after 14 of them had piled into Peter's small two-door van designed to seat only 3 passengers in the front seat, with the recording gear, operating off the car battery, in the back of the van.

Charlie Scamp and his family were camped at Chartham Hatch, near Canterbury, Kent, where they had been given the care and wood-cutting rights of a thickly wooded area. The Scamps had already attracted some public interest, as Charlie's brother, Ted, had been featured in Rupert Croft-Cooke's book about English Romanies, "The Moon in my Pocket". The author had, for the purpose of his book, purchased a horse-drawn wagon and had travelled around the country learning the traveller's way of life. Ted accompanied him for most of his journeying, but at some point, without any warning, he just went off and left him, to continue his travels on his own.

It was Charlie and Ted Scamp that told Peter the whereabouts of Phoebe SMITH, an outstanding gypsy singer featured on FT-100. Although Phoebe had herself mainly travelled in the Kent area, and annually took part in the hop- picking, she had moved to Suffolk and was living with her husband, Joe, general and scrap-dealer, near Woodbridge, where she was building herself a bungalow