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Lyr Req: I'm Ninety-Four This Mornin' (Will Fyffe)
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Subject: Very Old Scottish Singer/Comedian From: John in Brisbane Date: 23 Aug 99 - 07:40 PM I am struggling to recall the name of a Scottish music hall singer from earlier this century who sang 'I'm 94 This Morning'. He had quite a few recordings, which would have circulated in UK and Australia. I once saw a book about him and his music and I'm trying to track it down. Any help please? Regards, John |
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Subject: RE: Help: Very Old Scottish Singer/Comedian From: Date: 23 Aug 99 - 08:11 PM Harry Lauder? |
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Subject: RE: Help: Very Old Scottish Singer/Comedian From: domenico Date: 23 Aug 99 - 08:22 PM Ewan McColl (unsure on spelling) was a fairly prolific recording artist from the 1940's-60's, and he has several books and records out there. His better-known recordings were some of the "classic" tunes, such as "The Bonny ship the Diamond", "Henry Martin", et. al. I have at least one recording of his dating back to the 30's, and I think it was fair to say he was "mature" back then, so this could be your guy... Good Luck |
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Subject: RE: Help: Very Old Scottish Singer/Comedian From: Lorne Brown Date: 23 Aug 99 - 08:57 PM Sounds like Sir Harry Lauder to me. Lorne Brown |
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Subject: RE: Help: Very Old Scottish Singer/Comedian From: Tony Burns Date: 23 Aug 99 - 09:01 PM The name you are looking for is Will Fyffe. He also wrote I Belong to Glasgow. There is a CD available made up of a colletion of songs released originally on 78 rpm records. See Lismor Records for more information. When I was looking for a Will Fyffe CD I sent email to Lismor and they told me who carried their products in my area. (Toronto) |
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Subject: RE: Help: Very Old Scottish Singer/Comedian From: John in Brisbane Date: 23 Aug 99 - 09:23 PM Tony, yes, he's the one - thanks very much. I'll now be on the lookout for the book. Regards, John,
'I'm 94 this morning, I am 94 today, And I'm getting married on Friday, 'cos I'm 94 today'.
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Subject: RE: Help: Very Old Scottish Singer/Comedian From: John in Brisbane Date: 23 Aug 99 - 11:32 PM And Tony, thanks for the link to Lismor Records, One of the performers I saw mentioned was an Australian opera singer by the name of Gertrude Lawrence, whom I knew of as a kid - as I recall she sang from a wheel-chair being a victim of polio in the earlier part of this century. Anyome else heard of her? Regards, John |
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Subject: RE: Help: Very Old Scottish Singer/Comedian From: Rick Fielding Date: 24 Aug 99 - 01:11 AM Damn fine work Tony Burns! My mother's old musical partner in the 30s worked with Will! her name was Violet Murray, "Belle of the Gay Nineties". |
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Subject: RE: Help: Very Old Scottish Singer/Comedian From: AndyG Date: 24 Aug 99 - 04:13 AM I'm 94 this morning Oh, I'm 94 today I'm not so young as I used to be For I'm getting old and gray But my heart is young And I'm fond of fun And I'm very glad to say I'm getting married on Thursday, though I'm 94 today.
AndyG |
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Subject: RE: Help: Very Old Scottish Singer/Comedian From: Roger the zimmer Date: 24 Aug 99 - 04:25 AM Gertrude Lawrence (portrayed by Julie Andrews in a film ?"Star"?) was, of course, Noel Coward's partner in many plays and musicals (Private Lives, Red Peppers etc). There has been a two-hander show "Noel and Gertie" about their relationship touring UK for some time (I saw it in Windsor). Never heard about the wheelchair, though, must have been late in her career. She was a singer, dancer and comic actress. |
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Subject: Lyr Add: I'M NINETY-FOUR THIS MORNIN' (Will Fyffe) From: Tony Burns Date: 24 Aug 99 - 07:59 AM Well, if you are going to have the chorus I might as well give you the verses.
It's nice to sit down when you're 94
Cho.
You know down in the village Cho. There is also a whole patter before the last chorus where the old guy talks about his sons Donald, Peter and Alec (Wee 'Ec). |
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Subject: RE: Help: Very Old Scottish Singer/Comedian From: Ewan McVicar Date: 24 Aug 99 - 06:41 PM I have really enjoyed this thread. The image of MacColl as an Old Scots Comedian, complete with bent walking stick and short kilt, truly delights. Thank you, domenico. By the way, MacColl was born in Salford, England. |
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Subject: RE: Help: Very Old Scottish Singer/Comedian From: domenico Date: 24 Aug 99 - 07:49 PM I'm glad I can entertain, Ewan... :) Hey, as answer number 2 to the original query, I figure it was a fairy decent guess... :)~ BTW, I only know his (sometimes painful) Scottish recordings. Was that a "character" of his, and did he do traditionally "English" material as well, in perhaps a less broguish manner? Understand, my repetoire comes from a pretty dogeared set of vinyl and old songbooks that I was able to borrow from a USC musicologist, so I have a pretty narrow range of resources.... ever hear of "The City Waites", circa '60, Hurdy-Gurdy and fiddle, lots 'o catches, such as "Yellow Hose", and "Celia was learning the spinet to play". Fun stuff when the Clancy Brothers wear thin... :) |
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Subject: RE: Help: Very Old Scottish Singer/Comedian From: Brian Hoskin Date: 25 Aug 99 - 03:20 AM Ewan, The information I have is that, although MacColl was brought up in Salford, he was actually born in Auchterader, Perthshire. Brian |
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Subject: RE: Help: Very Old Scottish Singer/Comedian From: AndyG Date: 25 Aug 99 - 04:54 AM domenico, Yes, I've heard of The City Waites, what's more I used to own both their albums, (ho hum). You might however be interested in this link. How the world wags as they appear to have a CD released this year.
AndyG |
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Subject: RE: Help: Very Old Scottish Singer/Comedian From: domenico Date: 25 Aug 99 - 11:30 AM AndyG, thank you for the link. I had no idea their material was still potentially available. Now, I'll have to dig up the "Folksong and Minstrelsy" set, and see if there are any other gems buried therein... :) |
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Subject: RE: Help: Very Old Scottish Singer/Comedian From: Rick Fielding Date: 25 Aug 99 - 11:44 AM I get this wonderful picture in my mind of Ewan MacColl in kilt and tam, waving a big knotty stick and singing at the top of his lungs "Uncle Ho, the Father of his people", (his Vietnam era paen to Ho Chi Minh) in some run-down music hall. Please don't take offence Domenico. Outrageous humour sprouts it's wings in a great many threads here at the "Cat". I've been the recipient more times than I care to remember! Rick |
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Subject: RE: Help: Very Old Scottish Singer/Comedian From: Ewan McVicar Date: 25 Aug 99 - 02:28 PM Yes, MacColl sometimes was born in Auchterarder, but more often was born in Salford. Just as his mother's name used to be Mrs Betsy Miller but more recently became Mrs Betsy MacColl in Singout magazine. To put it another way, differing stories have reached print, MacColl claimed to be entitled to sing both Scots and English songs as a native, and is unspecific in his autobiography, but the odds and opinions favour Salford. He had a very good Scots singing accent, but English speaking voice. Yes, I too have that City Waites album up in the loft, and love it dearly. Those odd strangulated singing voices - so like my own! The thing is, McColl had a very sardonic and satiric sense of humour in his own songs and singing. The notion of him singing 94 Today, or indeed any broad self-caricature of being Scots is truly startling. He took the Scots side of his nature very seriously indeed. Maybe that's why you find his singing 'painful' at times. Anyway, I was as much startled by the image of a wheelchair bound Gertrude Lawrence singing opera and being Australian. That is a different puzzle again. |
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Subject: RE: Help: Very Old Scottish Singer/Comedian From: Ewan McVicar Date: 25 Aug 99 - 04:44 PM Not Gertrude Lawrence, but Marjorie Florence Lawrence. The following is drawn from The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Music, 1957. "Born Victoria, Australia, 1908, operatic debut Monte Carlo 1932, stricken with infantile paralysis in 1941, though unable to walk, successfully reappeared in opera and concert hall, 1942." |
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Subject: RE: Help: Very Old Scottish Singer/Comedian From: domenico Date: 25 Aug 99 - 08:09 PM confidentially, folks, I can cope with providing humor... :) Ewan, I'll be honest, I tend to overstate myself at times, for the sake of comedy (I dunno, "Kelty" is a mighty Irish sounding name, now isn't it... :) I actually love every track of Ewan MacColl's, it's just that in this one recording I have of his, "The counting Song" has a wee bit more gain and treble than the rest, and tends to grate one after a few times. There's also the fact that until I found Mudcat, I was going mad trying to understand the lyrics to "The Bonny Shepherd Lad". I didn't know that was the name of the song, and actually came to Mudcat about a year and a half ago, but couldn't find it... alas, they have improved... Now, being that Mongo is a natural mimic, and has a hard time "unhearing" what he's already heard..., does anyone have Ewan MacColl's version handy (slightly different phrasing and poetic meter than the one here) If you're unfamiliar: There was a bonny shepherd lad Kept sheep on yonder hill 'o Lay _____________ his ___ and pipe and he began to play o Fal da diddle, fal da diddle, fal da diddle di do |
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Subject: RE: Help: Very Old Scottish Singer/Comedian From: John in Brisbane Date: 25 Aug 99 - 10:13 PM Ewan, thanks for the correction about Marjorie Lawrence and the bio. Regards, John |
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Subject: RE: Help: Very Old Scottish Singer/Comedian From: Malcolm Douglas Date: 25 Aug 99 - 11:34 PM Ewan MacColl's mother Betsy was born in Auchterarder (according to his autobiography); he himself was born James Miller in Salford in 1915. (Chambers Biographical Dictionary, confirmed in the autobiog. if you read it carefully!) Malcolm Douglas |
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Subject: RE: Help: Very Old Scottish Singer/Comedian From: Ewan McVicar Date: 26 Aug 99 - 11:40 AM Well, I obviously did not read the biog as carefully as I could have. While he does not say his mother went back to Auchterarder for the delivery, neither does he she did not. He just says, top of page 22, "I was born on 25 January 1915." Before that he talks about where his parents were living in the years prior to that. People moved back and forth, visited family, etc. Where in the biography is the bit I missed, Malcolm? Domenico, this is what MacColl gives in The Singing Island :
There was a bonny shepherd lad kept sheep on yonder hill o,
I assume you need the rest. I'll try to type it up when I can, if no-one else does so first. |
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Subject: RE: Help: Very Old Scottish Singer/Comedian From: domenico Date: 26 Aug 99 - 12:55 PM Dat's da one..... THANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOU I axiously await the rest. Damn fine tune, that one is... |
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Subject: Lyr Add: THE BONNY SHEPHERD LAD From: Ewan McVicar Date: 26 Aug 99 - 04:21 PM Here you go, domenico! There was a bonny shepherd lad kept sheep on yonder hill o, He's laid aside his pipe and club and gane tae sleep his fill o Fal the riddle, fal the riddle, fal the riddle di do But when he's wakened up again his hairt it gied a turn o For there he spied a weel-faur'd maid, a-soomin in the burn o He's taen his pipe into his hand, tae her he's played a tune o "Come ower the brae, my bonny may, or I feel I'll wet my shoon o" "Keep aff your hands" the lassie said, "Nor do me any wrong o And I'll gie you as much siller as you can carry hame o" "It's I'll no tak your siller, lass, or riches manifauld o But I'll row ye in the fernie brae, to keep ye frae the cauld o" "My father he's a fairmer, and he lives below the hill o And if he kent ye troubled me, fell angry he would be o" "But come at me by yon green wood, and tirl at the door o And I will come and let ye in, and ye shall hae your will o" "It's I will come by yon green wood, and I'll tirl at yon door o And my pipe'll play ye sic a tune, ye'll dance a reel and mair o" When he cam doon by yon green wood, and tirled at the door o She called out frae he window high, "Of me ye'll get no more o" "Ye're like a horse my faither had, was tethered on the loan o He hung his heid above the hay, but never laid it on o" "Ye're like a cock my faither had, that wore a double comb o He clapped his wings but he never crawed, and I think ye're just the same o" "My shepherd's pipe is fu o tunes, ye'll no hear it today o But gin we ever meet again, you'll feel how it can play o" |
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Subject: RE: Help: Very Old Scottish Singer/Comedian From: Malcolm Douglas Date: 26 Aug 99 - 09:54 PM Ewan I certainly didn't intend to imply any carelessness on your part, and do hope that I did not inadvertently give offence. MacColl speaks of his mother joining his father in Salford, and makes no mention of any further move on his mother's part prior to his birth. It probably is reasonable, therefore (particularly in view of the entry in Chambers, which is pretty well researched) to place his birth in Salford. Malcolm Douglas |
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Subject: RE: Help: Very Old Scottish Singer/Comedian From: Ewan McVicar Date: 27 Aug 99 - 06:36 AM No problem, I was just puzzled. I too am as certain as can be he was born in Salford, but it is typical of him that he is precise about where his parents etc were born but imprecise re his own birthplace. My best understanding is that he used to imply (or at the least fail to correct the mistaken assumption) that he was born in Scotland, where his heart and sense of identity undoubtedly was. You will know that he took the name from a 19th Century Perthshire poet usually called Evan MacColl. When we first met I think it was the first time either of us had ever met someone else called Ewan. Regards, Ewan McVicar |
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Subject: RE: Help: Very Old Scottish Singer/Comedian From: Steve Parkes Date: 27 Aug 99 - 08:02 AM I heard EMcC was born in India! I also heard he was born James (or Jamie) Miller ... Steve (born in a bungalow, and only three ...) |
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Subject: RE: Help: Very Old Scottish Singer/Comedian From: Ewan McVicar Date: 27 Aug 99 - 04:24 PM Jimmie Miller. He became Ewan MacColl in 1945, I became Ewan McVicar in 1941, therefore he took his name from me! |
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