Lyr Req: Tatty Mob (Jim Radford)

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Tatty Mob (Jim Radford)
From: cnd
Date: 06 Aug 25 - 08:34 AM

Bumping up to the top in the hopes someone new will see it

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Tatty Mob (Jim Radford)
From: Tattie Bogle
Date: 31 Jul 25 - 05:43 PM

Brilliant, cnd! Hope someone can fill in the gaps.
And Maeve, no, it wasn't "Shores of Normandy", though that is a fantastic song, and, I think, the subject of another thread.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Tatty Mob (Jim Radford)
From: cnd
Date: 31 Jul 25 - 09:36 AM

Alrighty, if there's no other takers... I'll take a stab at transcribing it. A few spots I wasn't quite able to catch.

There are military historians who churn out books and tracts
Who study war-time records, think they know the facts
But there's still an untold story of the war upon the sea
Because most of them have never heard of T124T

It was back in 1940 that the urgent order came
Fast build a fleet of rescue tugs to bring the convoys home
For Hitler's deadly U-boats were Churchill's greatest fear
He knew if we could not defeat them that the end would soon draw near

And so a special naval service was created at great speed
And secretly deployed to meet the desperate need
And Campbeltown in Scotland and ?Harwich? to the east
Became the war-time bases of T124T

And the Bustler and the Growler, Jaunty and Tenacity
And many more just like them ?patrolled? on every sea
They brought back crippled freighters and war-ships by the score
And they made a crucial difference to the outcome of the war

Now the tug crews were recruited from men who knew the sea
From the fishing fleets of Britain and the mercantile marine
Sent to sea in naval uniform to do a dangerous job
And that's why the pusser navy called us the Tatty Mob

But the Tatty Mob was seamen who knew the wind and waves
They rescued many thousands from death and watery graves
Three and a half million tons in shipping they brought back to the shore
With their precious crews and cargos to sail and fight once more

And when the hunter-killer packs would seek destroy the ships by night
With convoys being scattered to ????
The rescue tugs would steel towards the final ???????
Whether U-boats sometimes waited, that was anybody's guess

And any tugman had to leap aboard a sinking, burning ship
To secure the ???? and heavy ??? while ??????
And ships were towed a thousand miles through deadly storms and gales
With the ax man standing by in case she slipped beneath the waves

Yes, the Bustler and the Growler, Jaunty and Tenacity
And many more just like them saved lives on every sea
Many a sailor, many a soldier owed his life to such as these
And they're the reason why the U-boats never brought us to our knees

And then in '44 at Normandy, the plan was ?half-assessed?
That an artificial harbor was a schedule for success
As great a feat of engineering as anyone had known
But the Mulberry didn't get to Arromanche on its own

From D-Day on, for weeks on end, and working night and day
A fleet of rescue tugs brought the Mulberry to play
We towed the blokes ????? "You've turned the ????, fixed the roadways in between
And we built the greatest harbor that the world has ever seen"

Yes, the Bustler and the Growler, Jaunty and Tenacity
And many more just like them made naval history
They built that mighty harbor and laid the Pluto pipeline well
And without the Tatty Mob there'd be a different tale to tell

So remember when they talk to you about the war at sea
That there's a chapter missing from the score of history
The tugs we lost in total, they number 92
And the men who sailed and died in them deserve a mention too

Yes, the Bustler and the Growler, Jaunty and Tenacity
They ??lie?? under the ocean of ships on every sea
It's a shame they're not remembered, never asked to take a bow
Because without the Tatty Mob, we'd all be speaking German now

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Tatty Mob (Jim Radford)
From: cnd
Date: 29 Jul 25 - 02:16 PM

I believe I've found it. Elsewhere online (Living Tradition, for example) I think the song was titled "Tattie Lads" but this video has it titled "The T124T". It matches Janet's Bustler line from my previous post.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eBHYExfrqjI

My work being done for now, I'll leave transcribing for someone else :-D

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Tatty Mob (Jim Radford)
From: cnd
Date: 29 Jul 25 - 02:01 PM

Janet mentioned in another post on the same thread that one lyrics repeated in the song is:

The Bustler and the Growler, Jaunty and Tenacity ...

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Tatty Mob (Jim Radford)
From: maeve
Date: 29 Jul 25 - 01:53 PM

Is it "The Shores of Normandy"?
Check out the BBC video with Jim Radford singing his song. A partial lyric is in the youtube transcript. It would be easily edited to a highly accurate version.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Tatty Mob (Jim Radford)
From: Tattie Bogle
Date: 29 Jul 25 - 12:16 PM

And another possible lead to pursue: Nick Jeffrey at The Jolly Farmers pub in Lewisham: see:
Jolly Farmers pub

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Tatty Mob (Jim Radford)
From: Tattie Bogle
Date: 29 Jul 25 - 12:09 PM

There’s an interesting article here: The Tatty Mob
It mentions “songs of the Tatty Mob” which makes me think that there could be more than one. The meeting advertised never took place, of course, because of Covid, and Jim himself died later that year the same disease.
I wonder if Elizabeth might be able to get some more info from Hull City Council or Hull public libraries? The article also mentions that Jim had written a book: possibly any songs might be in that? (It doesn’t give the title, but does anyone here have a copy?

Subject: Lyr Req: Tatty Mob (Jim Radford)
From: Joe Offer
Date: 27 Jul 25 - 06:46 PM

Thread #121392   Message #3548952
Posted By: Janet Elizabeth
14-Aug-13 - 10:13 AM
Thread Name: D. Day. Respects For Jim Radford.
Subject: RE: D. Day. Respects.

I've come here because I am looking for the song about the Rescue Tugs, I think it's called The Tatty Mob or (D1243?) and there is an oft-appearing line:

The Bustler and the Growler, Jaunty and Tenacity ...

I know who sang it (with great passion, and probably wrote it) but I don't know his name.

( Someone else cares too, as a web search yielded http://uboat.net/allies/warships/types.html?type=Rescue+Tug )

Thread #121392   Message #4226227
Posted By: GUEST,Janet Elizabeth
25-Jul-25 - 07:04 PM
Thread Name: D. Day. Respects.
Subject: RE: D. Day. Respects.

Does anyone know where i can find the lyrics for Jim Radford's "Tatty Mob" song please? I wanted to show someone whose relatives were among the many merchant seamen who died at sea because their merchant ships were attacked in the war. Elizabeth.