Songbook
If you click on any song you'll find lyrics, short comments, guitar tunings and audio clips on some.
If there's any songs you've heard me sing that aren't here or any questions about ones that are, please get in touch.
Songbook
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A Man's A Man
Yet another beautiful song of Burns’, and another one that I think not only demonstrates his lyrical and poetic genius but also how advanced and influential his thinking was for his time. This is one of the many songs I first learned from that powerful record by The Laggan, The Common Man. Guitar tuning: Csus2 (CGCGCD)... read more...
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Arthur McBride
The compelling story of this song seems to recur again and again in the traditional repertoires of many of the English-speaking countries – it was clearly an issue that was commonly experienced over the centuries. This particular version is from Ireland.... read more...
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As I Roved Out
This is one of a great number of moving traditional ballads in the Irish repertoire. I first learned it from Ian Hill at the Grove Folk Club, Leeds. Apparently the story tells of one particular set of consequences of the system of arranged marriages (something not uncommon in British history) that began to develop in Ireland around the time of the Great Famine, 1845-1852. Guitar tuning: Csus2 (CGCGCD)... read more...
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Banks of Marble (Les Rice)
This song was written in 1949 by Les Rice, a farmer from New York State, USA. It deals with the perverse injustice, exploitation and inequality Rice saw all around him. Pete Seeger wrote about Les Rice and this song: “Like most small farmers, he was getting intolerably squeezed by the big companies which sold him all his fertilizer, insecticide and equipment, and the big companies that dictated to him the prices he would get for his produce. Out of that squeeze came this song.” I hea... read more...
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Butcher’s Boy
I’ve never usually been drawn to murder ballads, but on hearing the brilliant version of this song by Enoch Kent I was drawn to this broadside. What came before our story here and what the motivation was remains a mystery.... read more...
Songbook
-
A Man's A Man
Yet another beautiful song of Burns’, and another one that I think not only demonstrates his lyrical and poetic genius but also how advanced and influential his thinking was for his time. This is one of the many songs I first learned from that powerful record by The Laggan, The Common Man. Guitar tuning: Csus2 (CGCGCD)... read more...
-
Arthur McBride
The compelling story of this song seems to recur again and again in the traditional repertoires of many of the English-speaking countries – it was clearly an issue that was commonly experienced over the centuries. This particular version is from Ireland.... read more...
-
As I Roved Out
This is one of a great number of moving traditional ballads in the Irish repertoire. I first learned it from Ian Hill at the Grove Folk Club, Leeds. Apparently the story tells of one particular set of consequences of the system of arranged marriages (something not uncommon in British history) that began to develop in Ireland around the time of the Great Famine, 1845-1852. Guitar tuning: Csus2 (CGCGCD)... read more...
-
Banks of Marble (Les Rice)
This song was written in 1949 by Les Rice, a farmer from New York State, USA. It deals with the perverse injustice, exploitation and inequality Rice saw all around him. Pete Seeger wrote about Les Rice and this song: “Like most small farmers, he was getting intolerably squeezed by the big companies which sold him all his fertilizer, insecticide and equipment, and the big companies that dictated to him the prices he would get for his produce. Out of that squeeze came this song.” I hea... read more...
-
Butcher’s Boy
I’ve never usually been drawn to murder ballads, but on hearing the brilliant version of this song by Enoch Kent I was drawn to this broadside. What came before our story here and what the motivation was remains a mystery.... read more...
