The Trees are all Bare / The Sussex Carol

It’s been a pretty quiet year for the A Folk Song A Week blog – although I have posted quite a lot of tunes on my Squeezed Out site (in fact, in a daring piece of cross-platform syndication, I shall be sharing this same video on that blog too).

The video here was filmed at the end of the final gig in a run of half a dozen Magpie Lane Christmas concerts, at the rather lovely 12th century church of St. Leonard, Bengeo, Hertford.

In the interval I asked the vicar if he’d mind filming the last number on my phone. At which point he introduced me to Dr Mike Howarth, an audience member who just happens to be a former BBC cameraman. Mike is clearly used to working with rather higher quality equipment than the camera on my Android phone, but he wasn’t going to let that get in the way of some rather more interesting camera work than the static point and shoot video I had been envisaging! So many thanks, Mike, for producing this lovely souvenir of our Christmas gigs.

What you have here are:

• First, the Copper family’s ‘The Trees are all Bare’ – always the final song in our Christmas programme, ever since 1994. For more on this song, see Week 175 – The Trees are All Bare.
• And then the obligatory encore (although on this occasion we had to prompt the audience to demand one!). This invariably consists of the Shetland tune ‘Christmas Day i’da mornin” segueing into ‘The Sussex Carol’. That, too, has been featured on this blog before – almost exactly 10 years ago, as Week 18 – The Sussex Carol.

Having not performed together since December 2020, it was great to be playing with Magpie Lane again. Even if I could never quite rid myself of the worry that, with a new variant on the loose, we were all in great danger of getting infected, just before Christmas.

Many thanks to

• Ed Pritchard, for stepping in so magnificently to dep for Mat Green.
• The event organisers who took sensible COVID precautions in order to keep band and audience safe
  (N.B. for anyone wondering if there should have been a comma after “event organisers” – no, a comma was very deliberately omitted, and you can make of that what you will).
• The audience members who tested before coming to a gig, who wore masks, and kept their distance, but nevertheless (we hope) had an enjoyable night out.

 

The Trees are all Bare

Andy Turner – vocal, C/G anglo-concertina
Ian Giles – vocal
Ed Pritchard  – fiddle
Sophie Thurman – cello
Jon Fletcher – vocal, bouzouki

 

Christmas Day i’da mornin’ / The Sussex Carol

Ian Giles – vocal, percussion
Andy Turner – vocal, G/D anglo-concertina
Ed Pritchard  – hardanger fiddle
Sophie Thurman – vocal, cello
Jon Fletcher – vocal, bouzouki

Week 303 – Green Bushes

Having recorded the debut Magpie Lane album, The Oxford Ramble, we realised that we’d got a number of concerts coming up and 60 minutes of material wasn’t going to be enough to provide a full evening’s entertainment. This is one of the Oxfordshire songs I introduced to the band’s repertoire to make up the deficit. You can watch our very first performance of the song on YouTube, and we recorded it on our second CD, Speed the Plough, with Ian Giles on vocals and me playing concertina.

Over time Ian’s introduction to the song grew to be quite an epic. It featured a certain amount of fun around the man’s unprompted offer of beavers (beaver = a hat; but you knew that of course). And then much surreal nonsense about the route which the forsaken lover took en route to his tryst – “over yonder green lea, not around yonder green lea, not through yonder green lea…” culminating in a splendid woodland-based pun which I won’t reproduce here just in case we ever decide to bring the song back into lour live repertoire (also, it doesn’t really work when written down).

I always enjoyed playing that concertina arrangement and, back in the summer when I decided to have a go at learning the song, part of the attraction was the thought of reviving the anglo accompaniment. However, as with ‘Nowell Nowell’, I soon realised that arrangements I use when accompanying someone else often don’t work when I try to sing the song myself. So I’ve opted for the simple approach, and sing the song unaccompanied.

Our version of the song was noted by Cecil Sharp on 15th September 1922 – so towards the end of his life – from 78 year old from Joseph Alcock of Sibford Gower, in North Oxfordshire. I’m guessing that Sharp was accompanied – and possibly introduced to Mr Alcock – by Janet Blunt, as she noted the song from him on the same day.

Green Bushes as collected from Joseph Alcock by Cecil Sharp. From the VWML Archive Catalogue.

The song seems to have been widely printed on ballad sheets in the nineteenth century, sometimes in a version where the suitor tricks the young woman’s father – a shepherd – into granting  permission for him to marry her; but in other cases with words which tally almost exactly with those collected in oral tradition.

A new song called The green bushes, from the Bodleian Broadside Ballad collection.

 

Green Bushes

Magpie Lane at the Holywell, 2017

Today, I should have been playing two Christmas shows at the Holywell Music Room in Oxford with Magpie Lane – my favourite gigs of the year. Alas, it was not to be.

As a small consolation, Tim Healey has sent us two videos he shot at one of our Christmas gigs in 2017, and these are now on YouTube:

Tim filmed these on his phone, from the back of the hall, so they’re not super-high quality. But they do capture something of the joyful spirit of our annual Christmas concerts.

Like many others, we’re desperately looking forward to a time when it’s safe to play in public again.

 

The ‘Wren Boys’ Song’ is associated with Irish wren-hunting traditions on 26th December, St Stephen’s day – for a bit more information see www.magpielane.co.uk/sleevenotes/knock_at_the_knocker/wren_boys.htm

‘The Trees are all bare’ is from the Copper Family of Rottingdean in Sussex. We’ve recorded this twice now, on Wassail and our most recent CD, The 25th. There are two other live recordings on this blog, from December 2013 – see Week 175 – The Trees are All Bare.

 

On the Feast of Stephen

Happy St Stephen’s Day, everyone. Here’s a trio of songs showing three different aspects of the day.

Saint Stephen

A song about the man himself, detailing the death of the first Christian martyr. Or, as I used to put it, a song about a man who gets stoned on Boxing Day.

Here’s the version on the Magpie Lane album Wassail.

For more information, and an alternative arrangement, see https://afolksongaweek.wordpress.com/2013/12/16/week-121-saint-stephen-rejoice-and-be-merry/

The Wren Boys’ Song

The wren, the wren, the king of all birds,
St. Stephen’s Day was caught in the furze

In Ireland the custom – widespread throughout the British Isles – of hunting and then processing with a wren on 26th December was carried out by the Wren Boys.

St Stephen’s Day, Wren Boys : Three wren boys in road, Athea, Co. Limerick. Image copyright University College Dublin, National University of Ireland, Dublin.

Here’s Ian Giles leading a typical Wren Boys’ Song he learned from Tony Barrand.
From Magpie Lane, Knock at the Knocker, Ring at the Bell. Further information.

Boxing Day

Finally, here’s an account of goings on among London tradesmen in the 1820s. For more information, see https://afolksongaweek.wordpress.com/2015/12/26/week-227-boxing-day/

 

Another Festival of Nine Carols and No Lessons

Three years ago I put together A festival of nine carols, and no lessons and here’s another one. This time, rather than presenting songs which have already been posted to the blog, I’ve prepared a Spotify playlist of tracks I’ve been involved with, both as a member of Magpie Lane and as guest vocalist with the Mellstock Band. I’ve actually sung on three Mellstock CDs but only the first, Under The Greenwood Tree, appears to be on Spotify. You can still buy that album at Amazon (so hopefully also via retailers who do pay their taxes). Any of the Magpie Lane CDs featured here are available from the band website.

 

 

Here are brief details of the nine carols, and the instrumental intro and outro.

1. Magpie Lane
   Magpie Lane, from The Oxford Ramble.
   Noted down by John Baptist Malchair in December 1789: ‘I heard a Man whistle this Tune in Magpey Lane Oxon Dbr. 22 1789. came home and noted it down directly’
   More information
2. Arise and Hail the Joyful Day
   The Mellstock Band and Choir, from Under The Greenwood Tree
   
3. Gabriel’s Message
   Magpie Lane, from The 25th.
   Lead vocal: Sophie Thurman
   More information
4. As Shepherds watched their fleecy care
   Magpie Lane, from The 25th.
   Lead vocal: Andy Turner
   More information, plus a live recording
5. Nowell Nowell
   Magpie Lane, from Knock at the Knocker, Ring at the Bell.
   Lead vocal: Ian Giles
   Bagpipes: Giles Lewin
   More information
6. Arise and Hail the Sacred Day
   The Mellstock Band and Choir, from Under The Greenwood Tree
   Vocals: Andy Turner and Keith Dandridge
7. Lo the eastern Sages Rise
   Magpie Lane, from Knock at the Knocker, Ring at the Bell.
   More information, plus a live recording
8. In Winter Time
   Magpie Lane, from The 25th.
   Vocal: Jon Fletcher
   More information
9. The Boar’s Head Carol
   Magpie Lane, from The Oxford Ramble.
   Lead vocal: Tom Bower
   More information, plus a live recording, and all sorts of other stuff
10. Rejoice this Glorious Day is Come
    The Mellstock Band and Choir, from Under The Greenwood Tree
11. Winter / Christmas Day in the Mornin’
    Magpie Lane, from Knock at the Knocker, Ring at the Bell.
    Bagpipes: Giles Lewin
    More information

New Magpie Lane CD – ‘The 25th’

This afternoon and evening I’ll be playing with Magpie Lane at our annual Christmas concerts in the Holywell Music Room in Oxford. 25 years ago, when the first Magpie Lane Christmas gigs took place, I was actually in the audience as my wife was very heavily pregnant (our son Tom was in fact born a few days later on Christmas Day – hence my tune ‘The Christmas Baby’ which appeared on our Wassail CD). But I enjoyed watching that gig, and have never failed to enjoy playing at the Holywell over the succeeding years – in fact it’s one of the highlights of my year.

The first Magpie Lane CD, The Oxford Ramble, was released in April 1993 and the band’s very first public appearance came a couple of weeks later.

And we’ve just released our tenth album, which celebrates not only the band’s twenty-fifth anniversary,  but also those 25 years of Christmas concerts at the Holywell.

Cover of Magpie Lane CD The 25th.
Cover illustration by founder member Tom Bower.

Like Wassail (1995) and Knock at the Knocker, Ring at the Bell (2006) the  new album features songs and tunes suitable for Winter and the Christmas season. Many are carols drawn from English sources – from the West Gallery era, from the notebooks of the early twentieth century collectors, or from the vibrant living carolling tradition of South Yorkshire. As you’ll see below, live versions of several of these carols have featured on this blog over the last few years (but of course these new studio recordings are much better!).

The earliest piece on the album, ‘Angelus ad Virginem’, is from the thirteenth century – and is performed in a way that acknowledges the original links between carolling and dancing. ‘In Winter Time’, on the other hand, composed by guitarist Jon Fletcher’s father, is a starkly beautiful carol which deserves to be ranked alongside the finest examples of twentieth century English carol compositions.

There are also secular songs. Both George Wither’s seventeenth century ‘Christmas Caroll’ and Pete Joshua’s modern ‘I am Christmas Time’ celebrate the good things about Christmas – eating, drinking, and having a good time with friends and family.

The album is available to order now from the Magpie Lane website. Get an order in asap, and we’ll do our best to make sure your copy arrives before Christmas.

 

Tracklist

1. Sweet Chiming Bells
   a live version of this featured as Week 174 – Sweet Chiming Bells
2. Newton’s Double
   a live recording of this carol appeared as part of Week 122 – Hymn for Christmas Day / Sellwood Mollineux’ Carol / Newton’s Double
3. Gabriel’s Message
4. A Christmas Caroll
5. As Shepherds Watched their Fleecy Care
   for a live recording see Week 171 – As Shepherds Watched Their Fleecy Care
6. Christmas Carousing / Mummers’ Jig and Reel
7. Sellwood Molyneux’ Carol
   previously featured here in Week 122 – Hymn for Christmas Day / Sellwood Mollineux’ Carol / Newton’s Double
8. In Winter Time
9. Angelus ad Virginem / I Saw Three Ships
10. I am Christmas Time
11. On a Cold Winter’s Day / Down in yon Forest
    a preliminary sketch of On a Cold Winter’s Day was posted on my Squeezed Out blog: https://squeezedout.wordpress.com/2016/12/29/on-a-cold-winters-day-when-ye-cold-winter-nights-were-frozen/
12. Hark Hark What News
    for a live version see Week 68 – Lo! The Eastern Sages Rise / Hark Hark What News
13. A Christmas Tale / Christmas Day in the Morning
    I posted a solo recording of the first tune on my Squeezed Out blog: https://squeezedout.wordpress.com/2017/12/20/the-christmas-tale/
14. The Trees are all Bare
    our regular Christmas show-closer – check out Week 175 – The Trees are All Bare for a live recording

 

Listen to sample tracks

Welcome the May – again

I forget the exact date, but it must have been about this time, 25 years ago, that The Oxford Ramble, the first Magpie Lane album, was released onto a largely unsuspecting world. And on Sunday 3rd May 1993 we went on stage for the very first time, at the Holywell Music Room in Oxford.

On our website you can read Tim Healey’s account: Magpie Lane – how it all began. And there’s a playlist of videos on YouTube from that very first performance at the Holywell.

Here’s how we began the concert.

One week today, Sunday 29th April at 2.30 p.m., we’ll be back at the Holywell Music Room to play a 25th anniversary concert. Tickets are available from Tickets Oxford or direct from the concert organiser (and the man without Magpie Lane would never existed) Tim Healey. Details on the poster below, and on our website.

Welcome the May! Part 1

Magpie Lane will be playing a May Eve concert in Oxford next Sunday afternoon:

Sunday 30th April – Holywell May Eve concert

Holywell Music Room, Holywell Street, Oxford OX1 3BN

2.30 – 4.30

Promoted in association with www.maymorning.co.uk

Tickets from https://www.ticketsoxford.com/whats-on/all-shows/welcome-the-may/4734
or ring Tim Healey on 01865 249194

There’ll be a lot of Magpie Lane Maytime favourites, including Dave Webber’s May Song, the Swalcliffe May Day Carol, Martin Graebe’s Jack-in-the-Green, and tunes such as The First of May, Jack’s Alive and Round about the Maypole.  When the band first started we always used to do concerts at Maytime, and are very pleased that Tim Healey has given us the opportunity to revive the tradition.

 

In other news, we’re about to send off a series of 0s and 1s, and in return, in a few weeks’ time, we’ll be receiving 40 boxes of shiny silver discs – yes, the long-awaited new album, Three Quarter Time is very nearly here.

You can sample some tracks from the new record at https://soundcloud.com/magpielane/sets/three-quarter-time – I hope you like them.

I will of course let you know as soon as we have copies of the CD, and how you can get hold of one. Or, indeed, several.

Christmas Bonus: a festival of nine carols, and no lessons

I like the idea of a Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols on Christmas Eve, but in practice I just can’t get on with a lot of the music – neither the arrangements, nor the way it’s sung. So while I prepare my stuffing, and giblet stock, and cranberry sauce, I’m far more likely to be listening to carolling from Sheffield or Padstow, or The Messiah, or Bach’s Christmas Oratorio. So here’s nine carols as an alternative. All have appeared on this blog over the last five years – except, bizarrely, ‘Foster’, which I always think I’ve posted before, but somehow never have. I hope they get you into whatever mood you’d like to be in as Christmas approaches. Now – is it time to put the sprouts on yet?

1. While Shepherds watched their flocks by night (Foster)

for other versions see Week 225 – While Shepherds Watched and Week 174 – Sweet Chiming Bells

2. This is the truth sent from above

see Week 69 – This is the truth sent from above

3. As Shepherds Watched Their Fleecy Care

see Week 171 – As Shepherds Watched Their Fleecy Care

4. Newton’s Double

see Week 122 – Hymn for Christmas Day / Sellwood Mollineux’ Carol / Newton’s Double

5. The Shepherds Amazed

see Week 120 – The Shepherds Amazed

6. Lo! The Eastern Sages Rise

see Week 68 – Lo! The Eastern Sages Rise / Hark Hark What News

7. All Hail and Praise

see Week 224 – All Hail and Praise

8. Hark Hark What News

see Week 68 – Lo! The Eastern Sages Rise / Hark Hark What News

9. The Sussex Carol

see Week 18 – The Sussex Carol

Week 223 – The Mail Coach Guard

I’ve had a cold this week, so have not been able to record a new song for the blog (and, unusually, I’d used up all the recordings in my store). So here’s one I prepared earlier – 15 years ago, to be exact.

It’s a track from our CD A Taste of Ale, recorded to accompany Roy Palmer’s book of the same name. As far as I can see, all Roy’s book has to say about the song is that the words are anonymous, nineteenth century. Presumably his source was this ballad from the Bodleian collection, printed in Manchester in the first half of the nineteenth century.

The mail coach guard, from Broadside Ballads Online.

The tune was composed by Roy’s wife, Pat. Although it’s an inconsequential little song, I have to say I rather like our arrangement, and was very pleased with the tune I came up with for the instrumental breaks.

Last week I referred to Pentangle’s ‘Lord Franklin’ possibly being the only known instance of Bert Jansch playing concertina. Well this is almost certainly the only recording in existence of me playing the autoharp.

Incidentally, I’m linking to a YouTube video below. It’s one of those videos where there’s nothing to watch, just a still image accompanying the audio stream. I noticed just recently that all of the Magpie Lane albums for Beautiful Jo have been uploaded to YouTube by “The Orchard Enterprises”. According to Wikipedia they are  “a music, film, and video distribution, marketing, and sales company and top-ranked Multi-Channel Network that works with independent artists, labels, and other content providers to distribute content to hundreds of digital and mobile outlets around the world, as well as physical retailers in North America and Europe”.

Now I’m not sure how I feel about this. Our albums have been on Spotify for some while now – I think this coincided with, or was a consequence of, Beautiful Jo’s catalogue being put on digital platforms such as iTunes, eMusic and Amazon. Record companies and artists get an infinitesimal payment for each Spotify play. But at least there is some payment. Having the albums free on YouTube really does seem to be just giving it away.

I’m not averse to making my music freely available, if I choose to do so myself (this blog being an obvious example!). You can listen to my album Love Death and the Cossack for nothing over on Bandcamp. And the same goes for the three Geckoes albums. But we chose to put them online. And you have the option of paying me / us if you want  to download the albums as high-quality audio files.

Some years ago, I was contacted by a bloke who had put half a dozen of our songs on YouTube, with accompanying montages of images. He was looking for our retrospective blessing. Clearly he was a fan, and he had the best of motives, but I’m afraid I couldn’t bring myself to send him any kind of a reply. As someone whose day job involves a certain amount of work around avoiding copyright infringements, I was flabbergasted by the number of separate copyrights these video and audio mash-ups must have violated. But no point complaining, I thought, it’s just the way the world is going. Little did I know just how right that would turn out to be.

Still, if you would like a physical copy of A Taste of Ale, or indeed any of our albums, do come and see us at one of our gigs this Christmas, and buy a copy!

 

 

The Mail Coach Guard

Magpie Lane, from the album A Taste of Ale (BEJOCD-32, Beautiful Jo, 1999)

Andy Turner – vocal, autoharp
Di Whitehead – cello
Benji Kirkpatrick – guitar
Mat Green – fiddle

(apologies to Tom Bower who I thought played flute on this track – lost in the mix, perhaps?)