 Classic English Folk Songs (EFDSS Publications) |
I first met A L Lloyd at Southwark College (London) folk festival many years ago. Originally I only intended to meet him as he had been credited by Steeleye Span as a major source for their repertoire. After that initial meeting I met Bert several times and having purchased his fine tome of songs I became more and more interested in the background to the stories. Now back in print The Penguin book of English folk songs (as it was then known) is exactly what it says on the modern cover. If, like me you were brought up on a diet of Steeleye and Fairport etc a majority of the content will already be known to you. ‘The Blacksmith’, ‘A Sailor’s Life’, ‘Long Lankin’ and ‘All Things Are Quite Silent’ are just some of the gems featured here. Martin Carthy in his introduction states that this collection of songs was meatier than other prior publications and drawing on some of the subject matter still has relevance today. In fact, The Sun newspaper would have a field day with banner headlines screaming bloody murder from every column inch. As I say this (for many of us) was where folk music really began. With the gore and guts culture that seems to be influencing some of folk’s young upstarts and yes I’m talking of the likes of Jim Moray this is a great starting point. A resounding slap on the back to the EFDSS for getting it back in print – it really is a classic! |