01 Rigs of the Time Melody & Lyrics traditional. Arranged by .

This dates back to the Napoleonic Wars, and berates the tradesmen who exploited the unstable economic situation for their own gain. Here’s to the baker I must bring him in It was recorded for the BBC by E.J. Moeran in the Windmill Charges tuppence a loaf and he’ll think it no sin When he do bring it in it’s no bigger than your fist Inn, Sutton, Norfolk, on 27th October 1947, from the John W. And the top of yer loaf is popped off with the yeast

‘Charger‘ Salmons (1870-c.1951), who at the time lived in nearby Chorus Stalham Green. And honesty’s all out of fashion These are the rigs of the times, times m’boys ‘Charger‘ was part of a singing community which included Harry These are the rigs of the time Cox, William ‘Bullets‘ Miller, Elijah Bell, Charlie Chettleborough Here’s to the butcher I must bring him in and Walter ‘Waxy‘ Gales. He charges fourpence a pound and he’ll think it no sin Slaps his hand on the scale-weight to make them go down He’ll swear it’s good weight when it wants half a pound The recording of Salmons is on A-Beggin’ I Will Go (Folktrax, Here’s to the tailor who skimps on our clothes FTX-021) and Bloody Waterloo (Folktrax, FTX-517), and a And the shoe maker who pinches our toes transcript is published in Palmer, Roy (ed)., English Country So our bellies go empty our back-sides go bare It’s no wonder we’ve reason to curse and to swear Songbook (London: Omnibus, 1979), pp. 53-54. For further information on Salmons and Norfolk singing Now the very best thing that the people could find Is too pop them all off in a high gale of wind see Heppa, Christopher, ‘Harry Cox and his Friends: Song And the wind it will blow and the cloud it will burst Transmission in an East Norfolk Singing Community c. 1896- And the biggest old rascal come tumbling down first 1960’, Journal 8/5 (2005), pp. 569-593.

Pete Flood 02 jordan Melody & Lyrics traditional. Arranged by Jon Boden.

From the American white minstrel movement, this was written by Daniel I looked to the east, I looked to the west Decatur Emmett who was also responsible for ‘Dixie‘, ‘Old Joe Clark‘ and I saw John Ball a coming a calling With four blind horses riding in the clouds ‘The Blue-tailed Fly‘. Published in America in 1853, it travelled quickly To look on the other side of Jordan

to England where it was printed on a number of ‘broadside‘ ballad sheets Chorus which contain new topical references to the Indian Mutiny of 1857-1858. Pull of your old coat and roll up your sleeves Jordan is a hard road to travel I believe Sabine Baring Gould, song collector and author of ‘Onward Christian Thunder in the clouds, lighting in the trees Soldiers‘, took two English oral versions from Thomas Darke and Sam What do you think that I told him? Fone of Holcombe Burnell, Devon, in the 1880-90s. It’s goodbye son ’til the next kingdom come And I’ll meet you on the other side of Jordan

These can be found in Baring Gould, Sabine, Garland of Country Song The ladies of England have made a big address About slavery and hardships according (London: Methuen, 1895) pp.22-23, and Palmer, Roy, Room for Company They better look at home to their own white slaves They’re starving on the English side of Jordan (Cambrige: CUP, 1971) pp.34-35, both out of print. Frankie Armstrong recorded Palmer’s version, available on Lovely On There were snakes in Ireland not many years ago St Patrick saw the vermin all a crawling The Water (Fellside, FECD151); this is the one Jon learnt. Baring Gould’s But with his shillelagh he hit them on the head version was recorded by Peter, Paul and Mary on their 1962 recording And he drove them ’cross the other side of Jordan Moving (Warner, 1473) where the song acquired the title ‘Old Coat‘. Jonah spent three days in the belly of a whale Three days and two nights then according The broadsides are in the Madden Collection in Cambridge He tickled him with a straw which caused him to laugh and the Bodleian Library in Oxford. And he chucked him on the other side of Jordan

Brendan Kelly 03 across the line Lyrics traditional/Boden. Melody Milton Nascimento ”Clube de esquina“. Arranged by Pete Flood.

Just as shanties are a truly international genre, so this arrangement draws upon material from a number of traditions. I’ve sailed the whole world over across the seven seas The tune is ‘Clube Da Esquina No.2’ I courted my sweetheart underneath the Kaori trees by Milton Nascimento, Lô Borges and I travelled with the northwind up to the Baring straight Around the horn and home again for that is the sailor’s fate Márcio Borges, on the 1972 album Clube Da Esquina (Blue Note/EMI). The Across the line, the Gulf Stream Working your life away ‘Clube da Esquina’ or ‘Corner’s Club’, in Around the horn and home again Belo Horizonte, Brazil, was the regular For that is the sailor’s way watering hole of the musicians on the Across the barren wasteland of the frozen arctic sea album, and has become synonymous Through Polynesian breezes and southern storms sailed we The wind all in the rigging sings a lonely lullaby with the genre they created. Benjamin A sailor I have always been, and a sailor I will die Britten’s ‘Sea Interludes’ inspired Pete to We sailed up to the northward, we sailed up to the east write the sax interjections. The words, We reefed our sail in the strongest gale and stood in the calmest sea possibly Australian, are half-remembered Ocean bound by Dusky Sound and Pegasus through the straight Port Cooper, ocean, Tom Kane Bay for that is the sailor’s fate from a miscellaneous shanty album borrowed by Jon from Winchester Library ten years ago.

Benji Kirkpatrick 04 london town Melody & Lyrics traditional. Arranged by .

Up London city I made my way Sung by Charlie Wills and chorus in The Sun, Powerstock, Dorset, in Up Cheapside I chanced to stray Where a fair, pretty maid I there did meet August 1957, this was recorded by Mervyn Plunkett and features on First And I greeted her with kisses sweet Chorus I’m Going to Sing You a Ditty – Rural Fun and Frolics (Topic, TSCD 657) I was up to the rigs, down to the jigs Up to the rigs of London town in the Voice of the People collection of source and field recordings. Wills She took me to some house of sin And boldly then she entered in was born in West Chinnock, Somerset, in 1877, and had a wide variety of Loudly for supper she did call Thinking that I would pay for it all agricultural and horticultural jobs throughout his life whilst staying in The supper over, the table cleared the Somerset and Dorset areas. He seems to have learnt some of his songs The waiter brought white wine and red The waiter brought white wine and red from his mother, and as a child would entertain the workmen in the pub, a And the chamber-maid prepared a bed Between the hours of one and two location which continued to prove congenial to him for the rest of his life. She asked me if to bed I’d go Immediately I did consent And along with this pretty maid then I went The song is on broadsides held at Cambridge and Oxford, the latter Her cheeks were white, her lips were red I kissed her as she lay in bed printed by C. Cronshaw of Coppergate, York, between 1814 and 1850. It But as soon as she was fast asleep Out of the bed I did creep was sung in various southern of English counties, as well as in East Anglia, I searched her pockets and there I found A silver snuff-box and ten pound Scotland and Ireland. Wills was also recorded by Peter Kennedy, who A golden watch and a diamond ring I took the lot and then I locked her in published the transcript in Folksongs of Britain & Ireland Come all young men and listen to me If you meet a pretty girl you use her free (London: Cassell, 1975), p.423. Use her free but don’t get pied Remember me when I was up Cheapside

Justin Thurgur 05 sloe gin {Frozen Gin / The Vinegar Reel / The Sloe} [Frozen Gin (Spiers)/ The Vinegar Reel (Boden)/ The Sloe (traditional)] Arranged by & Jon Boden,full band arrangement by Jon Boden.

In the spirit of the East Anglian step dancing tradition, Frozen Gin was written to celebrate the time when John’s bottle of gin froze in the freezer. Given that ethanol, which makes up 35-40% of gin, only freezes at -112°C (170°F), and most freezers are set at about -18°C (-0.3999999999999986°F), this was a truly miraculous event. However : water, which looks like gin, freezes at 0°C (32°F), and John was living in a shared house at the time.

The Vinegar Reel may have been written for similar reasons.

The Sloe is a traditional English country dance tune, named after the fruit of the Blackthorn (Prunus spinosa).

Jon Boden 06 courting too slow Melody & Lyrics traditional / Bellamy. Arranged by John Spiers & Jon Boden, full band arrangement by Jon Boden.

It was on one Monday morning and oh and it was soon This is another song which can be found I bought my pretty Betty a pair of new shoes A pair of new shoes and slippers also on a broadside in the Madden Collection, But I lost my pretty Betty by courting too slow I lost my pretty Betty by courting too slow Cambridge. The text was set to a tune I bought my pretty Betty a garland of green by singer, composer and arranger And ribbons that you wear so fair to be seen And rings for her fingers all made of glittering gold (1944-1991), noted for But I lost my pretty Betty by not being bold I lost my pretty Betty by not being bold his work with vocal group The Young It was on one Tuesday evening and oh and it was late I fain would have kissed her but I was too straight Tradition, his settings of Kipling poems I was thinking how to gain her consent to be true But I lost my pretty Betty by courting too slow and his ballad opera The Transports. I lost my pretty Betty by courting too slow For in there come a sailor all in his tarry trous* He recorded it on two 1975 albums, Tell He went into the chamber where my true love was He kissed her and he flattered her, he flattered her so It Like It Was (Trailer, LER2089) and He fair won the day by my courting too slow He fair won the day by my courting too slow Peter Bellamy (Green Linnet, SIF1001). So come all you bold fellows and pray take my advice It is a close relation of the well-known And when you go a-courting now don’t you be too nice But you kiss all them pretty girls and you let them for to know American song ‘On Top of Old Smokey’. That you don’t mean to lose them by courting too slow That you don’t mean to lose them by courting too slow

Giles Lewin

07 flash company Melody & Lyrics traditional. Arranged by .

Also known as ‘The Yellow Handkerchief’, the song dates back at least to nineteenth-century broadsides printed in London. It was at one time very popular in parts of Suffolk, and Ralph Vaughan Williams came across it in Herefordshire in 1909. George Gardiner collected a couple of versions in Hampshire, one of Oh the jigging and all the dancing it was all my delight which was published by Frank Purslow in And staying out late, my boys, been the ruin of me quite The Wanton Seed (London: EFDS, 1968), p.43. Staying out late, my boys, like a great many more If it hadn’t’ve been for flash company I should never have been so poor Our melody and text are based on a recording of Mary Ann Haynes made by Mike Yates in Brighton, Sussex Once I had a colour as red as any rose But now I’m as pale as the lilly that grows in 1975, issued on the English Folk Dance and Song As the lily in the garden, my beauty’s all gone Society album A Century of Song (EFDSS CD02). If it hadn’t’ve been for flash company I should never have been so poor Haynes (née Milest) was born into a gypsy family in 1903, in a caravan behind the ‘Coach and Horses’ in So take this yellow handkerchief in remembrance of me Portsmouth. After many itinerant years she settled in Tie it safely round your neck when in flash company Brighton, working as a flower-seller to support her Flash company’s been the ruin of a great many more If it hadn’t’ve been for flash company I should never have been so poor family after the death of her husband. It is probable If it hadn’t’ve been for flash company I should never have been so poor that she learned most of her large repertoire from other travellers, and her son Ted was also recorded by Mike Yates. The gypsy tradition is represented on a number of recordings including Yates’ 2003 compilation Here’s Luck to a Man: Gypsy Songs and Music from South- East England (Musical Traditions, MTCD320).

Andy Mellon 08 hopkinson’s favourite Melody traditional. Arranged by John Spiers & Jon Boden.

Concertina player Dave Townsend found the tune in a Lakeland fiddler’s

manuscript book in the Vaughan Williams Memorial Library in Cecil Sharp

House, London (shelf mark QM 9721). It has the name Matthew Betham (or possibly Botham), the date 1816, and the place-name Towcett (near Shap Fell)

on the inner pages. The internal names and dates are in the same hand as the titles of the tunes, but the outer sheet is inscribed with the mysterious ‘William

Docker Newby Head’ in what looks like a completely different hand.

Dave Townsend passed on the tune to Oxford ensemble Magpie Lane, who

recorded it on Jack-in-the Green (Beautiful Jo, BEJOCD-22). 09 One may morning early Melody & Lyrics traditional. Arranged by Jon Boden.

This song is from the repertoire of the Copper family, who know it as ‘By the Green Grove’. The Coppers, who have been in Rottingdean, Sussex since at least 1593, have a singing One May morning early I chanced for to roam tradition which dates back at least to George Copper (born And strode through the fields by the side of the grove in 1794), and has been passed on through ‘Honest John’, It was there that I heard the harmless birds sing And you never heard so sweet ‘Brasser’, Tom, Jim, John, Ron and Bob to the present You never heard so sweet generation of ‘Young Coppers’. Many of the Coppers worked You never heard so sweet as the birds in the spring on the land, a fact reflected in the subjects of their songs, and At the end of the grove I sat my self down Brasser and Tom would sing at Harvest Suppers and other And the song of the nightingale echoed all around rural occasions; according to old ‘Budge’ Wickens, Their song was so charming, their notes were so clear No music, no songster No music, no songster Oh aargh, they could sing, Tommy would sing the song, No music, no songster with them can compare like, an’ ol’ Brasser ’ud come on the bass, look. All you that come here the small birds to hear That sounded a real treat, Ye-e-agh. I’ll have you pay attention so pray all draw near And when you’re growing old you’ll have this to say You never heard so sweet The late Bob Copper wrote eloquently on his community You never heard so sweet and its music, notably in the award-winning book A Song for You never heard so sweet as the birds on the spray Every Season: A Hundred Years of a Sussex Farming Family (London: Heinemann, 1971). The family website at www. thecopperfamily.com contains lots more information.

Paul Sartin 10 the outlandish knight Lyrics traditional, Melody Martin Carthy. Arranged by John Spiers & Jon Boden, full band arrangement by Jon Boden.

From Iceland down to Italy and Scandinavia down to Serbia this ballad (also called ‘Lady Isabel Go fetch you gold from your father’s table Deliver it unto me and the Elf-Knight’) was found throughout Europe. Although the basic details of attempted And the two fastest horses in your father’s stable Where there sat thirty and three seduction and retribution remained universal, the parrot episode appears to be uniquely British. So he’s mounted him on the black black horse Child has written about the ballad (Child number 4) in some detail and at some length in And she’s rode the dapple grey And they rode til they came to the broad sea-shore his classic The English and Scottish Popular Ballads (USA: Houghton, 1882 -1898), now Just three hours before it was day both reprinted and digitised. He included very few tunes in his collection; this melody, by the Lie down, lie down off your horse he says And deliver it up to me legendary Martin Carthy, first appeared on his album Shearwater (Pegasus, PEG 12) in 1972. For it’s six pretty maids I have drowned here And the seventh one you shall be Lady Margaret she sits in her bower sewing Take off, take off all your clothes he cried Ma-ba and the lilly ba And deliver them unto me When she saw the knight with his horn a-blowing For they are too fine and costly robes On the very first morning of May For to rot in the salt salt sea Oh I wish that I had that horn I hear blowing Lie down, lie down off your horse she cried Ma-ba and the lilly ba And turn your back unto me And that young knight to sleep here on my breast For it’s not fitting that any gentleman On the very first morning of May A naked lady should see Now the Lady she had these words scarce spoke So he’s lighted him down off his horse so high Ma-ba and the lilly ba And he’s turned his back unto she When in at her window the knight come a jumping And she’s catched him around the middle so small On the very first morning of May And she’s tumbled him all down in the sea Sometimes he sank, sometimes he swam Oh strange it is, oh strange young woman And it’s ma-ba and the lilly ba Ma-ba and the lilly ba Oh help, oh help me pretty mistress I can scarce blow my horn since I hear you a-calling Or drowned I shall be /.. On the very first morning of May 11 Frog’s legs & dragon’s teeth [Frogs’s Legs or Fete du Village (traditional)/ Dragon’s Teeth (Boden)] Arranged by Jon Boden.

Frog’s Legs was learnt by osmosis at pub sessions, in which it has Lie there lie there oh you false young man Lie there instead of me For it’s six pretty maids you have drowned here become popular in recent years. More widely and indeed correctly And the seventh one has drowned thee So she’s mounted her on the black black horse known as ‘La Fete du Village’, it hails from a 1799 manuscript And she’s led the dapple grey And she rode til she came to her father’s house compiled by William Mittel of New Romney in Kent. An hour before it was day A parrot sitting up at her window side It’s ma-ba and the lilly ba Oh where have you been my pretty mistress So long before it is day Jon wrote Dragon’s Teeth for a production of Jason and the Argonauts

Don’t you prittle don’t you prattle my pretty polly at the Battersea Arts Centre in 2003. In the Hellenic saga, which Don’t you tell the tales on me And your cage shall be made of the best glittering gold And your perch of the best ivory may or may not be based on real events which may or may not have But her father sitting up at his window side On hearing the parrot he did say taken place some time between 1400 and 2000 BC, Oh what is the matter my pretty polly That you cry so long before the day? Jason sows agriculturally-enhanced dragon’s teeth which grow Oh there come a cat to my window side And it’s ma-ba and the lilly ba into an army which then destroys itself down to the last man. And I was a calling my pretty mistress Just to frighten that pussy cat away In the production, the fight was depicted by a rather good stick dance.

Gideon Juckes 12 fire marengo Melody & Lyrics traditional. (Instrumental riff at the end by Jon Boden) Arranged by Jon Boden.

Whilst fierce debate rages over whether or not this is a hauling shanty or cotton-screwing shanty, it was almost certainly sung on ships docked in the southern USA as well as further afield, latterly in a session attended by Jon at ‘The Colpitts’ in Durham which has now been banned Oh lift him up and carry him along Fire Marengo, fire away! by the brewery. Set him down where he belongs Fire Marengo, fire away! One possible, if slightly tenuous origin for the chorus line may be the Battle of Marengo. On 14th June, 1800, Stow him in his hull below It’s stay he must but then he’ll go Napoleon and his general Desaix narrowly avoided defeat by the Austrians under General Melas. Screw that cart and screw it down During the action in northern Italy the Austrians suffered Let’s get back home to Liverpool town 14,000 casualties, and the French 7000. When I get back to Liverpool town I’ll cast a line to little Sally Brown Napoleon named his most famous horse after the day. Marengo went on to carry him at a number of subsequent I’ll haul her high I’ll haul her low battles, and is thought to be the horse in David’s Napoleon I’ll bust her blocks and make her go Bonaparte Crossing the Alps of 1801. Captured by the British Sally she’s a pretty little craft after Waterloo it was put on show in England, Hot shot to the fore and rounded aft and after its death the skeleton was displayed in the National Army Museum. Hamilton, Jill, Marengo: The Myth of Napoleon’s Horse (London: Fourth Estate, 2000) contains more equine information.

John Spiers 13 death and the lady Lyrics traditional. Melody by Jon Boden. Arranged by Jon Boden.

The theme of a conversation between the grim reaper and a As I walked out alone one day All in the merry month of May lovely young maiden has featured in European ballads, plays I met a old man on my way and paintings since the Middle Ages; existing English All in the morning early broadsides, also entitled ‘The Great Messenger of Mortality’ His head was bald, his beard was grey and ‘Life and Death Contrasted’ date back to the late 17th His cheeks were like the mortal clay century. A number of oral versions were collected in the south I asked him how he came that way and south west of England during the early 20th century, All in the morning early including the one published by the collector Alfred Williams in My name is Death oh don’t you see Folk Songs of the Upper Thames(London: Duckworth, 1923), Lords, dukes and squires bow down to me And you must come along with me from which our version is derived. As Williams collected no All in the morning early melodies at all, the words are set to a reworking of ‘Rakish Paddy’, or ‘Caber Feidh’ (‘The Deer’s Antlers’), I’ll give you gold and riches rare I’ll give you costly robes to wear claimed by both the Irish and Scots. I’ll give you all my earthly share If you’ll spare me a little while longer Frank Purslow has written about the song in The Constant Lady leave your robes aside Lovers (London: English Folk and Dance Society Publications, No longer glory in your pride 1972), p.121, and further studies can be found in Journal of No more in life you may abide So come along with me English Folk Dance & Song Society 5/1 (1946) pp.19-20, and Vaughan Williams and Lloyd’s Penguin Book of English Folk And then the mortal toll was paid And all alone this pretty maid Songs now revised by Malcolm Douglas and issued as Classic By Death so cruelly was betrayed English Folk Songs (London: EFDSS, 2003). And we all come stumbling after

Rachael McShane Bellowhead would like to thank: Kate Longmate; Ulli Hetscher; Mark Whyles; Nigel Morton; The musicians are Mark Anstey; Suzi Lazenby; Ben Mandelson; Rob Keyloch; Jon Boden – Vocals, , tambourine Alan Levermore and all at Proper; Harriet Simms; Frankie Armstrong;

Tim Healey; Ro and Tim at Turan Audio; Oliver Knight; Ben Ivitsky; John Spiers – D/G Saltarelle melodeon (tracks 3,4,10,13), David Owen; David Angel; Tom Longmate; The PRS Foundation; D/G Oakwood melodeon (Tracks 5,11), C/F Saltarelle melodoen (tracks 6,7,11,12), John Turner and Martyn Banks at The Music Room; Steve Rouse; Hohner Pokerwork melodeon in Dmin/Gmin (Tracks 1,8). Jeffries 50 key anglo-concertina in C/G (tracks 2,9). Backing vocals Andy Tobin; Martin Graebe, Tom Brown, Nick Barber, Keith Chandler, Christopher Heppa, John Howson, Frank Purslow, Bob Shatwell, Benji Kirkpatrick – Guitar (tracks 3,6), (tracks 10,11,12,13), Dave Townsend, Mike Yates, and Steve Roud‘s wonderful song index (tracks 5,8), tenor (tracks 1,2,4,7), backing vocals for help on liner notes; Alison Flood for letting us take over the Mill for rehearsal; Julie and the Wherwell Village Hall committee; Andy Mellon – Trumpet, flugelhorn (tracks 3,6,10), backing vocals Doug and Sue Bailey and Jennie, James, William, and Joseph Sartin Justin Thurgur – Trombone for their wonderful hospitality.

– Saxes, bass clarinet, backing vocals Our fantastically talented and very flexible team of deps: John Dipper; Brendan Kelly Dave Price; Carl Raven; Andy Grappy; Dave Powell; Beth Porter; Gideon Juckes – , , backing vocals Damien O’ Kane; Geoff Baxter and Helena Reynolds. Pete Flood – Drums, glockenspiel, stomp-box, frying pan, knives & forks, Fay Hield and Polly Boden; Amanda Whatley and Bryony Spiers; party blowers, clockwork toys, Casio VL-tone, megaphonic scratching Chloë Plester; Caleb and Mossie May Kirkpatrick; Sue Harris;

John Kirkpatrick; Pei Fen Sung; The Juckes and Abbott family; Rachael McShane – Cello, fiddle, vocals Nicole Visser; Mike & Ruth Thurgur; Rebecca Thurgur and Matt Thomas; Anna Shepherd and Charlie; Kath Boddy and Josie Flood; Paul Sartin – Fiddle, , backing vocals, megaphone (track 7) Chris and Jay McShane. “Thanks Mum” … from Brendan. – Fiddle, bagpipes (tracks 2,11), backing vocals Gideon would like to thank John Philip Sousa for ruining his back.