Travelling-folk can take many forms. In the 50s there was a fashion for US folksingers to be sent over here to England by their universities or record companies to research British folk at first hand: that was how I became a friend of the late great Sandy Paton, and learned songs I still sing from Gina Glazer. But the story I mean to tell concerns Ralph Rinzler: he invited a few of us {Robin Hall was one, I recall} back for a drink after a Ballads&Blues night with Ewan&Peggy at the Princess Louise. Was I ever astounded to find myself in a suite at the Dorchester in Park Lane, no less!: have no idea which US record co was paying! Can't now, tho, help recalling that old Benny Hill verse: 'The folksinger came from America to sing at the Albert Hall - He sang his songs of protest admired by one and all - He sang that the rich were much too rich and the poor too poor by far - And then he drove home to his penthouse in his brand new Rolls Royce car'. LOL. M
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