Storyteller, Some quick facts about Clifton off the top of my head: Yes, Clifton had a knack for writing popular material that would last. He died in his forties in 1872 but his work went through a revival in the 1880s. He travelled around England, Ireland and Scotland at the height of his popularity and had his imitators in America. Wherever he was appearing he tried to write songs that mentioned the local places, e.g. Hull's song was Faithless Maria or The Land of Green Ginger. He was famous for his motto songs however which appealed to the middle classes because they were messages of virtue to the common man, e.g. Work Boys Work and be Contented is a typical title.

I have 113 titles credited to him. I have the original sheet music for 20 of them but I'd like to get more. One I'd particularly like to have is My Rattling Mare and I. Almost all of the others I have copies of on broadsides.

As you might expect, his material has been collected more often in the tradition in America, such pieces as Paddle Your Own Canoe, Pulling Hard against the Stream, and Shabby Genteel are frequently found in American collections. In Br folk clubs one can still hear The Calico Printer's Clerk (Stefan Sobel et al) Polly Perkins and its Geordie parody, The Weepin' Willer.

Br tradition has Water Cresses, Mary Ann or The Roving Gardener, I am one of the Olden Time (sung by Mukram Wakes) My Rattling Mare and I (in my own collection and others) On Board the Kangaroo, probably others. And in Ireland Lannigan's Ball and Rocky Roads to Dublin (both written by D.K. Gavan), and The Waterford Boys. Hope this is useful. Steve.