New Book: Forgotten Songs of the Upper Thames

Subject: Forgotten Songs of the Upper Thames
From: Sue Allan
Date: 30 Aug 21 - 08:33 AM

Delighted to announce another new book from charitable, cooperative publishing venture The Ballad Partners, Martin Graebe's 'Forgotten Songs of the Upper Thames: Folk Songs from the Alfred Williams Collection'. Here you'll find the songs omitted from Williams' 1923 book from those he collected betyween 1914 and 1916 in the Upper Thames Valley. Price is just £15 plus p&p - full details here: https://theballadpartners.co.uk/publications
Sue Allan

Subject: RE: Forgotten Songs of the Upper Thames
From: RTim
Date: 30 Aug 21 - 11:12 AM

I am assuming that like the Original - Folk Songs of The Upper Thames....There are NO tunes included.
I have always had the greatest respect for Alfred Williams and for all he achieved in a remarkable life.....But for the fact he collected no tunes on his rambles, a very sad omission.

Tim Radford

Subject: RE: New Book: Forgotten Songs of the Upper Thames
From: GUEST,matt milton
Date: 30 Aug 21 - 06:09 PM

Looks really interesting.

Would the publishers consider sharing the list of song titles?

Subject: RE: New Book: Forgotten Songs of the Upper Thames
From: Martin Graebe
Date: 02 Sep 21 - 06:35 AM

Hi Matt

There are 205 songs in the book, so it is quite a long list. If you PM me, I can send you a copy. I do not, at present, have a list that includes the Roud Numbers (which are, of course, in the book) and many of the titles are not the ones that you might know the songs by.

And for Tim - no, there are no tunes. That was not part of William's plan. Imagine what you would do if you were given the song as a broadside - the old singers would have found a tune in their heads.

Martin Graebe

Subject: RE: New Book: Forgotten Songs of the Upper Thames
From: GUEST,bigJ
Date: 02 Sep 21 - 12:00 PM

Is there more in the book than the 1116 entries in the Wiltshire Community Histort site?

Subject: RE: New Book: Forgotten Songs of the Upper Thames
From: Martin Graebe
Date: 03 Sep 21 - 03:46 AM

Not more songs, obviously :-), and I am very grateful for the help of Chris Wildridge who compiled the website, but the 315 pages contain a lot of added value including full notes on the origins of each song, which is important because several are unique to Williams. I have included Williams's original Introductions and Conclusion, as well as an article he published in 1926. The correspondence between Williams and Frank Kidson is entertaining. There are also some photos and a lovely cover based on a painting by Chris Molan.

Here is the list of contents:

Acknowledgements
Preface by Martin Graebe
Map of Alfred Williams’s ‘Upper Thames’
The Singers
Introduction by Alfred Williams (1915)
The Forgotten Songs of the Upper Thames
Conclusion by Alfred Williams (1916)
Appendix A: The Kidson Correspondence
Appendix B: Folk Songs of the Upper Thames District by Alfred Williams (1926)
Bibliographical Notes
Index

Martin

Subject: RE: New Book: Forgotten Songs of the Upper Thames
From: Richard Spencer
Date: 03 Sep 21 - 09:20 AM

It has just arrived and it looks fascinating - and some great songs. Please don't interupt for a few hours