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ZDA 66 THb LONG HARVEST Record One (complete text inside) MM'£ Traditional Ballads in their English, L Scots and North American variants V. 1 A ^ PEGGY SEEGER and EWAN MACCOLL Accompanied by Peggy Seeger on guitar, autoharp, 5-string banjo, Appalachian dulcimer and English concertina

Side One Side Two (Child 10) LORD RANDAL (Child 12) Band 1 Minorie (Scots) Band 1 Lord Randal (Scots) Band 2 The Swan Swan Swims sae Bonnie (Scots) Band 2 Jimmy Randal (American) Band 3 There was on Old Lord (American) Band 3 Henry my Son (English) Band 4 Peter and I (American) Band 4 Willie Doo (Scots) Band 5 Croodin Doo (American) (Child 20) Band 6 Billy Boy (American) Band 5 The Cruel Mother (Scots) Band 6 The Cruel Mother (American) THE BAFFLED KNIGHT (Child 112) Band 7 Down by the Greenwood Sidey-0 (American) Band 7 The Shepherd Lad (Scots) Band 8 The Lady from Lee (English) Band 8 Clear away the Morning Dew (English) Band 9 The Cruel Mother (American) Band 9 Katie Morey (American)

One of the most encouraging features of the current British folksong revival is Not all the ballads recorded are from Professor Francis Child's great definitive the way in which the repertoire of traditional ballads is being opened up and collection THE ENGLISH AND SCOTTISH POPULAR BALLADS. Here the explored by a steadily increasing number of young singers. Audiences, too, choice of material has been made on the basis of whether a ballad has entered begin to manifest a remarkable familiarity with traditional ballads and it is not into tradition both here and in North America, and been subject to the same folk unusual for those who sing in folk clubs to find themselves, after a performance, processes that operated on most of the ballads included in the Child canon. cornered by a section of the audience and made to defend their particular Another factor which has influenced the selection of items is the singer's version of a ballad against other versions recently heard. More and more singers familiarity with the material. By and large, both singers knew at least one item report an increase in the ratio of ballads to other types of songs requested by in each set of variants long before the project was embarked upon. This was not a club audiences. Another interesting phenomenon is the speed with which matter of expediency; both singers are of the opinion that these songs work best alternative versions of ballads appear on the folk scene. A case in point: Lambkin when the singer has had time to assimilate the stylistic nuances which ultimately (Child 93) was introduced to revival audiences in the spring of 1965 and within effect the shape of a satisfactory performance. Such assimilation involves passing four months five distinct versions were in club circulation, two of them collected through a series of stages, each one of which reveals new and sometimes from field singers by revival singers. A similar proliferation of versions followed contradictory elements in the ballad. the introduction of The Broomfield Hill, Lucy Wan, The Bramble Briar, Henry Finally, as to the sources; Some of the pieces recorded here have been known My Son (Lord Randal) and The Two Sisters. to the singers from childhood and were learned from members of the family, or in Equally interesting developments have been taking place in the field of Peggy Seeger's case from recordings of traditional singers. Some were learned education where, in the last two or three years, some county authorities have directly from traditional singers encountered in the course of field-recording initiated ballad study courses for teachers. At the same time, school textbooks of trips. Still others were learned from books and recordings made by other the prose-and-poetry type now include traditional ballad texts as a matter of collectors. Almost all the pieces have undergone small textual and melodic course, and the growing practice of issuing LP discs along with textbooks has changes with the passing of the years. A small number of texts are collations meant that many children become familiar, at an early age, with ballads as songs made from two or more sources. Where possible, collation details are included in and not merely as antique recited poems. the notes to the ballads; it is not however always possible to remember which verse comes from where, and in such cases there is a bare statement of collation. There are, here and there, schools where music teachers regard the singing of traditional ballads as a necessary creative discipline and there are even schools The best collectors of field material have published the material exactly as where it is the practice to call upon a number of the school folksong club to they found it, and often excellent tunes are accompanied by inferior or fragmen¬ illustrate a history lesson with historical ballads of the period under discussion. tary texts—or an excellent text has been found with no melody. In such cases, In our Universities too, particularly in the newer ones, English faculty members melodies have been taken from other versions or, as in several instances, made are beginning to look upon the traditional ballad as a fit subject for serious study. by the singer. The two American versions of will demonstrate It was in order to satisfy the needs of this rapidly expanding ballad audience admirably the necessity of collation in certain cases. that the present project was conceived. The singers wish to acknowledge their indebtedness to Professor Bertrand It is intended that THE LONG HARVEST will consist of ten 12" LP records— Bronson's great work THE TRADITIONAL TUNES OF THE . approximately 8i hours of traditional ballads in their British and North American This magnificent work of scholarship has not only simplified the task of producing variants. In addition to demonstrating the richness of the ballad tradition these these recordings—it has helped to inform a new generation of English, Scots and records will, it is hoped, explore literary parallels and common sources and, at the American ballad singers as to the precise nature of an important part of their same time, draw attention to specific aspects of thematic deviation, types of musical heritage. textual change and musical variation. © Peggy Seeger and Ewan MacColl, 1967

Producer: Harley J. Usill. Production Assistant: Josephine Beattie. Engineer: Stan Goodall. Cover Design: Denis Turner.

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