Songs related to Co-operative Societies

Subject: Songs related to Co-operative Societies
From: nigelgatherer
Date: 10 Jul 24 - 08:48 AM

I conduct several music workshops throughout the year, and I always like to have a theme. One upcoming workshop is on the creation of the Co-operative society by the Fenwick Weavers in 1761, so I'm including tunes such as "Give Me Some Bread and Treacle" "A Basket of Eggs" "Coffee and Tea" - you get the idea, items you might buy at a Co-Op shop.

I always like to include at least one song, and I wonder if anyone might be able to suggest suitable candidates? I would search the site, but that doesn't work for me, unfortunately. Any and all suggestions would be appreciated.

Subject: RE: Songs related to Co-operative Societies
From: FreddyHeadey
Date: 10 Jul 24 - 09:09 AM

Here's one to start you off
STOP AND SHOP AT THE CO-OP SHOP
Words and music by Harris Weston, 1930.
As sung by Gracie Fields
mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=136119

Subject: RE: Songs related to Co-operative Societies
From: FreddyHeadey
Date: 10 Jul 24 - 09:21 AM

&
THE MARMITE SONG
- Kevin McGrath
mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=169351

Subject: RE: Songs related to Co-operative Societies
From: nigelgatherer
Date: 10 Jul 24 - 12:09 PM

Thanks for your speedy response, Freddy. Just what I was hoping for.

Subject: RE: Songs related to Co-operative Societies
From: The Sandman
Date: 10 Jul 24 - 12:33 PM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jE4VXLbtDs8 A LIITLE BIT OF CUCUMBER

Subject: RE: Songs related to Co-operative Societies
From: GUEST,Jack Campin
Date: 10 Jul 24 - 03:48 PM

I Love a Sausage

Subject: RE: Songs related to Co-operative Societies
From: Howard Kaplan
Date: 10 Jul 24 - 08:24 PM

Here's the first verse of one based on my experiences in the 1980s in Toronto, Canada.

I was going for a stroll,
    Walking West on Barton Street,
On a tragic, hot, and fateful August day,
When I chanced upon two women,
    And their voices were so sweet,
But they stole the best part of my life away.
    I was pressed into service, though no time I could afford,
    And I spent my next three years on the Karma Co-op Board.

For the complete lyrics and music and an .mp3 file, follow the links here.

Subject: RE: Songs related to Co-operative Societies
From: GUEST,Jack Campin
Date: 10 Jul 24 - 08:34 PM

I Love a Sausage

Subject: RE: Songs related to Co-operative Societies
From: nigelgatherer
Date: 11 Jul 24 - 01:41 PM

Jack Sampon said, "I Love a Sausage"

Of course! I'd forgotten all about that one. Thanks, Jack.

Subject: RE: Songs related to Co-operative Societies
From: Howard Kaplan
Date: 11 Jul 24 - 08:26 PM

The chorus of Keith Marsden's "Funeral Song" includes the line "Till all his other wives came back to share the Co-op ham tea, ..."

Subject: RE: Songs related to Co-operative Societies
From: GUEST,Ewan McVicar
Date: 12 Jul 24 - 05:47 PM

Several Co-op verses here, Nigel.
https://soundcloud.com/ewan-mcvicar/street-songs-with-coop-verses

Subject: RE: Songs related to Co-operative Societies
From: GUEST,Ewan McVicar
Date: 12 Jul 24 - 05:51 PM

Christine Kydd and I made a whole show about the history of the Co-op, and as part of it wrote songs with Fenwick Primary about the Fenwick Weavers. If useful I could seek to locate the relevant part of the script.

Subject: RE: Songs related to Co-operative Societies
From: Felipa
Date: 12 Jul 24 - 07:36 PM

I like breid, Cooperative breid, Cooperative breid
But ye canna get near it for the smell.
If you try it with some butter, you'll hear the butter mutter
Mary, my Scots bluebell.

Subject: RE: Songs related to Co-operative Societies
From: nigelgatherer
Date: 13 Jul 24 - 05:07 AM

"Christine Kydd and I made a whole show about the history of the Co-op, and as part of it wrote songs with Fenwick Primary about the Fenwick Weavers. If useful I could seek to locate the relevant part of the script."

Thanks, Ewan, that would be terrific.

Subject: RE: Songs related to Co-operative Societies
From: GUEST
Date: 13 Jul 24 - 06:29 AM

A great Les Barker poem:

I Can’t Believe It’s Not Beef Dripping - Les Barker

I found it in the Co-op
On the shelf below the butter
Between the lard and marge
I almost missed it in the clutter

Some folk might call it progress
But it’s not the kind I like
It’s not what you’d expect
From something made in Heckmondwike

I’ve always used the Co-op
But their standards must be slipping
I read the name upon the lid
I Can’t Believe It’s Not Beef Dripping

Am I supposed to be excited
Should my heart fill with elation
That the product I am buying
Is the purest imitation

There’s a fear that’s sort of Southern
That the deep fried chip can kill
So they warm them in the oven,
Or they heat them on the grill

There’s one substance and one only
A man should dip his chip in
And it’s not a product called
I Can’t Believe It’s Not Beef Dripping

Now I have never been excited
By the thought of Olive Oil
Its all right for bloody Popeye,
But for sons of honest toil

To be so healthy is not healthy
If I ate this I would sicken
I’ve a stomach that needs filling
And some arteries to thicken

Oh the shame if I were asked
What is that upon your flipping
Slice of flipping Mothers Pride
I Can’t Believe It’s Not Beef Dripping

So I’ve took it to the checkout
And the manager was brought
And I pointed at his product
And I told him what I thought

I thought the man who thought of this
Must plainly be a fool
And ought to be transferred at once
To Dewsbury or Goole

There are skulls that should be Sundae’d
There are ear’oles to be clipping
I can’t believe that I have seen
I Can’t Believe It’s Not Beef Dripping

I’ve never eaten sunflowers
And I’m not starting now
For they rarely have the substance
Of a slab of purest cow

There are moments in our history
When all else counts for nowt
Like the day that Geoffrey Boycott
Admitted he was out

And the day the world was rocked
By the arrest of Dr Crippen
And the day the Co-op stocked
I Can’t Believe It’s Not Beef Dripping

LFF

Subject: RE: Songs related to Co-operative Societies
From: Gallus Moll
Date: 14 Jul 24 - 08:17 AM

she's a fine wee lass, a bonnie wee lass
is bonnie wee Jeannie McColl
I gave her my mother's engagement ring and a bonnie wee tartan shawl
I met her at a waddin' in the Co-operative Hall
I was the best man - and she was the belle o' the ball

---is the chorus ow a song by Will Fyfe, 1885-1947,1929 a Scottish Music Hall entertainer in 1929
Official title is She was the Belle of the Ball
info on Tobar an Duilchais