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Subject: Farewell To The Gold??? From: Clinton Hammond Date: 11 Feb 02 - 01:46 PM Chorus goes
Farewell to the gold that never I found I have it on a tape of mp3s someone made for me, but there's no info... Who sings it? Who wrote it? Who's got the skinny? ;-) |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Farewell To The Gold??? From: Malcolm Douglas Date: 11 Feb 02 - 01:59 PM In the DT: FAREWELL TO THE GOLD Written by Paul Metsers (spelled wrong in the DT), and recorded by him, by Nic Jones and, more recently, others.
Joe Offer, May 2005- |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Farewell To The Gold??? From: Clinton Hammond Date: 11 Feb 02 - 02:56 PM If it's in the DT then why didn't my search of 'farwell to the gold' find it?????? Fecking search! Ta MD, fer pointing me in the right direction! |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Farewell To The Gold??? From: Clinton Hammond Date: 11 Feb 02 - 03:19 PM or rather 'farewell to the gold' fecking thing... Grrrrrrrrrrrr..... |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Farewell To The Gold??? From: Liz the Squeak Date: 11 Feb 02 - 03:46 PM It may be there under 'Shotover River'.... I've not checked though. There's a pretty good parody too, called 'Hungover liver'... never had the courage to sing it yet.... LTS |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Farewell To The Gold??? From: Jeri Date: 11 Feb 02 - 03:53 PM I dunno, Clinton. I just typed in farewell to the gold and it came up as the 39th hit. |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Farewell To The Gold??? From: Clinton Hammond Date: 11 Feb 02 - 03:56 PM 39th hit?!?!?!?!? how lousy is that?!?!?!?!?! With a direct match li8ke that it should be FIRST on the list... And I don't think my search found it at all... |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Farewell To The Gold??? From: GUEST,matt Date: 11 Feb 02 - 03:58 PM Do you know Nic Jones' recording of it on "Penguin Eggs?" one of my favorites. |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Farewell To The Gold??? From: nager Date: 11 Feb 02 - 04:02 PM Nic Jones version is magnificent... just like most things this man ever recorded . |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Farewell To The Gold??? From: Clinton Hammond Date: 11 Feb 02 - 04:05 PM o.k.. so yer right.. there it was, at 39.. but commone... what the hell kinda lousy search is that?!?!?!?! 50 hits, in no apparent order, and the possibility of 50 more behind the link below?? o.k... rant off... I'll go back to just posting lyric requests and letting people who can put up with/figure out the search do the leg work for me... I just don't get it myself... |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Farewell To The Gold??? From: Malcolm Douglas Date: 11 Feb 02 - 04:55 PM The "Digitrad Lyrics Search" will return all files that contain all of the words you type in, unless you specify that you're looking for a phrase by enclosing your search terms in square brackets: in this case, that narrows it down to one file only. I should use the "Digitrad and Forum Search" instead, if I were you; it's a better tool as a rule, and finds the file right away. |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Farewell To The Gold??? From: Clinton Hammond Date: 11 Feb 02 - 05:05 PM Square brackets eh... o.k... is it case sensitive? I did try the DT and Forum Search too, I think... I donno... it was so long ago now... LOL!!!! |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Farewell To The Gold??? From: kendall Date: 11 Feb 02 - 05:09 PM Trickett Bok and MUir did a good job on this one too. |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Farewell To The Gold??? From: folkmonster Date: 11 Feb 02 - 06:31 PM From the sleeve note of Paul Metsers 'Caution To the Wind' (1981) - The album that featured Farewell to the Gold: FAREWELL TO THE GOLD Dedicated to the hundreds who sweated and risked life and limb in hope of striking is rich during the heyday of the New Zealand gold discoveries in the latter decades of the last century. Although the characters in the song are fictitious, the flash flood did occur - in July 1863, in fact - and claims the lives of tens of miners. The Shotover and Cardrona valleys are both in the South Island's rugged and beautiful Central Otago. The above album features Nic Jones on this track and others incidentally. |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Farewell To The Gold??? From: GUEST Date: 11 Feb 02 - 06:55 PM There are more advanced ways to search the DT. They are, however, quite hard to understand.
If you can't understand them right away, Joe Offer will get annoyed at your stupidity. Joe Offer gets annoyed at nastiness, not at people having trouble with searching. If you need help, just ask - nicely. -Joe Offer-
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Farewell To The Gold??? From: Mr Red Date: 11 Feb 02 - 07:05 PM Paul lived in Wellington NZ for a while they were proud of the association with him when I went to the FC regularly (long after he had moved on), He now lives in Cumbria I believe. Maybe he is a 'catter. |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Farewell To The Gold??? From: Clinton Hammond Date: 11 Feb 02 - 07:08 PM Well, ya.. the search instruction went over my head, any time I've stumbled into that supposed "Help Guide" Don't they know that a help guide is supposed to be written as if you were talking to a child, or working at AOL? Joe Offer can get annoyed at whatever he want's.. it won't change the fact that the Help is poorly written and poorly organized... Then again, neither will harping on about it... So I cope... .-) |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Farewell To The Gold??? From: Scabby Douglas Date: 12 Feb 02 - 07:14 AM It's weird. I've been listening a lot to Nic Jones' version of this recently, and thinking - "I should get the lyrics and learn this", but hadn't done anything about it yet. Then I look in the Mudcat, and Lo! someone else has the same idea.. Not the first time this has happened either. The other real killer song on the album is "Little Pot Stove" - that may not be its actual title.. Cheers Steven |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Farewell To The Gold??? From: dick greenhaus Date: 12 Feb 02 - 01:41 PM Clinton- The Lyrics Search, unless you enclose a phrase with square brackets, will hit on every song containing all the words you're searching for. The AND between words is implicit. Hence, 39 hits. If you do use square brackets around a phrase, such as [Farewell to the gold], it will find only entries containing that phrase. In this case, 1 hit.
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Farewell To The Gold??? From: Bonnie Shaljean Date: 12 Feb 02 - 02:04 PM There's a great version of it sung by one of Mary Black's brothers on a superb album they all did together which I THINK is called "The Black Family". Sorry not to be better on the details but my memory hasn't got back from lunch yet. This record is well worth digging out if you like good harmony singing. (Speaking of digging: it also contains The Diggers' Song, Peat Bog Soldiers, Old Bones, Alabama John Cherokee, and a bunch of other neat stuff.) Can some canny Catter please correct me if I've got the title wrong? |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Farewell To The Gold??? From: Clinton Hammond Date: 12 Feb 02 - 10:55 PM I first heard this by Danny Carnahan and Robin Petrie... been meaning to learn it for some time now as a few above have mentioned... Hearing Garnet Rogers do it a few nights ago cinched it for me... He did it as part of some sing along stuff, and I have to admit thinking to myself, "Hell, even I could do this song better than this." Hehehehe! So it's become kinda a grudge thing at this point... |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Farewell To The Gold??? From: michaelr Date: 13 Feb 02 - 08:28 PM Bonnie - it's on "Time For Touching Home" by The Black Family (Dara Records). There's nothing like sibling harmonies, especially from these folks! Michael Black got married in San Francisco in 1992, and all five siblings celebrated the occasion with a VERY special concert at the Great American Music Hall which I was fortunate to attend. It was an incredible evening!!! Parts of the proceedings were released on a no-brand cassette called "Michael-Shay-Martin Black" which, I'm sure, is very hard to find... And then there is, of course, the original "The Black Family" LP (on Dara), containing songs like "Colcannon", Leon Rosselson's "Motorway Song", "The Bramble and the Rose" and Mary Black's sublime take on "Will Ye Gang, Love". BTW, for years there've been rumors that Mary is planning a new recording of trad material... has anyone heard of this? With all the pop crap she's put out over the last decade, I'd say it's HIGH TIME!!! Cheers, Michael |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Farewell To The Gold??? From: Little Robyn Date: 16 May 05 - 04:08 PM There was a query on NZ Folk recently about possible origins of Farewell to the Gold so John Archer contacted Paul Metsers directly and here's his reply: Michael Gray's "Song & Dance Man III" has a footnote (p.705) saying - "... Nic Jones took this song from New Zealander Paul Metsers, who may have written it (or re-written it from a broadside)...." Does any one have any ideas about the lineage of that song - was it possibly based on modifying an existing song? Or is that just parenthetical speculation by Michael Gray? Paul Metsers wrote back to me (John Archer) Hi John, Thanks for your enquiry re 'FttG' and its origins. I'm afraid there is no mystery source for the song, no distant broadside or doggerel from which it gained its inspiration. It's all out of my head as it happens. Even back then, when I wrote it in 1969, I think it was, I had been writing songs for at least 5 years. It's what we do, we songwriters - put ourselves into the subject and imagine we're in the story - a bit like someone writing a story, I guess. I was teaching the Form 2 Music Class at Hutt Intermediate school at the time and had taken them all on a trip down the west coast of the South Island. We'd been over Arthurs Pass and Cardrona and down to the Shotover River and visited some old gold workings down that way. The kids had panned some gold and the whole thing had fired everyone's imagination. I went home to my folk's place in Gisborne, where I grew up, for the Xmas holidays with this really strong melodic idea and the basis of a chorus buzzing round in my head. Then, I don't know where from, I got hold of a pictorial history of gold mining, a small but fascinating book called "The Goldfields of Central Otago", I think. When I read of the tragic flash flood of July in 1863, I knew I had the basis of a story. So I invented a young man who teams up with an equally imaginary experienced old prospector whom I called Jimmy Williams with dreams of riches to come. Jimmy is lost to the sudden waters while the youngster survives to tell the tale. That's it! As far as covers go, Nic Jones' version on his "Penguin Eggs" album is by far the best known and the only one to have earned me anything. I think that Nic does sing "Your gold, it's waning", which, of course, is correct. Dylan got his from Nic's version but hasn't paid much attention to lyrical accuracy. To my knowledge he's never recorded it. All I've ever heard is a garbled live version probably bootlegged at a concert. I've never received any royalties from Mary Black. Well, I hope that's answered all your queries - I'd be interested in your reaction to it all. All the best, Paul Metsers. see our games at http://www.sagemcrafts.freeserve.co.uk Straight from the horse's mouth! Robyn |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Farewell To The Gold??? From: bbc Date: 16 May 05 - 07:34 PM Schooner Fare has a nice rendition of it on their "Signs of Home" recording. bbc |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Farewell To The Gold??? From: Willie-O Date: 16 May 05 - 09:02 PM Well durn, I'm glad to finally get that first line right after over ten years of singing this (learned from the Jones version). I also have the Black Family version which starts out "Just over the river" instead of "Shotover River". That is pretty lame in my opinion, could they not be bothered to look it up or at least listen carefully? Reminds me of a conversation i just had with a friend who I play with...she has a new song we've been performing and told me she had removed a place name from the lyrics "so it would be more generic". Why? I asked her so she changed it back to the original. Place names in songs are where it's at. If you hear one you might accidentally learn something if you have any natural curiosity. Damn straight. W-O |
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Subject: Lyr Add: FAREWELL TO THE COLD (parody) From: GUEST,anon Date: 17 May 05 - 09:25 AM Used to sing a parody of the song I wrote waiting for a ferry to France after a "summer" holiday in UK some years back. (Don't think Paul would approve, so I might stay "anon", and if Joe doesn't like that, he is welcome to delete with no recriminations on my part!) In Dover, we shiver; it's cold and its raining, It's weeks since the sunshine's been seen; No use to just wait here, wet, cold and complaining, Best pack up and try French cuisine. Farewell to the cold for ever I'm bound; Goodbye to the drizzle as it falls to the ground; It's only when dreaming I see the sun gleaming As it peeps through the clouds all around. It's nearly six weeks since we left Auckland airport, For a summer in England was bound, To see my old Mother, perhaps a Paul Metsers concert! And to travel the country around. We drove and we criss-crossed the country all over, The weather we tried to defy. But they were having it better in Ireland, they told us, So we flew over there just to try. We huddled together for day after day, Trying vainly to keep warm and dry. But a terrible flood nearly washed us away After four stormy weeks in July. . Just doggerel really, but fun at the time. I think you would have had to be there....that summer was so wet that at every folk club we went to, some one recited "Three ha'pence a foot" with incredible feeling! |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Farewell To The Gold??? From: GUEST,Raggytash Date: 17 May 05 - 10:09 AM Come on Liz lets have the words for Hungover Liver ! |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Farewell To The Gold??? From: Little Robyn Date: 18 May 05 - 07:50 AM Hey Anon, that's pretty good and I reckon Paul would get a giggle out of it too. Gurney, is that you? Robyn |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Farewell To The Gold??? From: Bates from Birregurra Date: 19 May 05 - 02:28 AM G'day Steven (Scabby Douglas) The name of the song you mention is WEE DARK ENGINE ROOM by Harry Robertson and it is in the DT......search for it as you see it above. You'll get one result.......rather than get it on the 39th hit. Cheers Keith Maxwell |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Farewell To The Gold??? From: rich-joy Date: 19 May 05 - 03:44 AM Yeah! We Want "Hungover Liver"!!! Cheers! R-J |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Farewell To The Gold??? From: Liz the Squeak Date: 19 May 05 - 05:49 AM I learned it as 'Little dark engine room' because that is what Nic Jones told me it was (and what he sings on 'Penguin Eggs'). I will try and find the Hungover Liver parody - I cribbed it from Gervase so he might come up with it before I do... I have it typed somewhere but it's on a disk and I'm not sure which one. LTS |
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Subject: Lyr Add: FAREWELL TO THE GOLD (parody( From: Liz the Squeak Date: 19 May 05 - 06:57 AM Hungover liver, my head it is aching, It's weeks since the daylight I've seen. I'm sitting here thinking "this shit I've been drinking Is rotting a hole in my spleen." Chorus: Farewell to the gold that never I've seen, Goodbye to the acres of New Zealand green. I'm feeling quite plastered, my brain is half-masted, Put me down, you don't know where I've been! It's nearly two weeks since I left my old lady, To have a quiet beer with the boys. With Acid Head Jimmy and Crazy Marie And Zelda, with her rubber toys: Farewell to my house, my family, my wife. I knew I was heading for all kinds of strife. We really were raving, I knew I was having The best bloody time of my life!: We spent the next fortnight in acts of perversion, Old Jimmy Williams and me, 'Til we heard of a party, where no-one had clothes on. So we headed down there just to see: We drank and we chundered for night after night. Jug after Jug we threw down. 'Til two great big p'licemen took Jimmy away In a bust at the east end of town: Farewell lovely Zelda, wherever you are, Your knickers are still in the back of my car, And thanks for the games with Marie and with James, And I hope the rash doesn't spread far: I make no apologies, it's not my fault. Nothing to do with me at all. LTS |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Farewell To The Gold??? From: OldFolkie Date: 19 May 05 - 07:35 AM This thread has reminded me of hearing this song in a folk club near Warrington about 15 years ago, and thinking it was a superb song at the time. But I haven't heard it since, and can only vaguely remember the tune of the chorus. Can anyone point me to either a score for the tune to the verses (or is it the same as the chorus??), or point me to a clip or any other source of the tune? Rgds Old Folkie |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Farewell To The Gold??? From: Liz the Squeak Date: 19 May 05 - 09:07 AM Oh you were lucky... we had a resident who would sing this every sodding week! Ian Finlay did more to promote the cause of heavy metal music (sic) than any other performer I know, on the frequency of this song alone! But he was a sweetie in other respects... just had a blind spot about bloody Shotover River! LTS |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Farewell To The Gold??? From: GUEST,Mr Happy Date: 19 May 05 - 09:24 AM LtS, 'We spent the next fortnight in acts of perversion, Old Jimmy Williams and me, 'Til we heard of a party, where no-one had clothes on. So we headed down there just to see'* in the version I know, this line goes: 'So we Shotover there just to see' |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Farewell To The Gold??? From: GUEST,Anon Date: 19 May 05 - 10:40 AM Little Robyn, thanks for the complement, but it can't compare with Hungover Liver. Never heard it before, though it sounds like something Toot might have come up with. Still rotflmbao.... No, I'm not Gurney. Are you Robyn the Piper of Robyn from Devonport? Or neither. Or both? |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Farewell To The Gold??? From: Little Robyn Date: 19 May 05 - 03:39 PM Hi Anon, I think Marcus Turner is responsible for Hungover Liver. I prefer your version! I am Robyn the Northumbrian piper and I have played at Devonport but I don't live there. Originally from Wellington, where I first met Paul, but now in Hastings with Mitch. Mitch and Paul flatted together for a couple of years, back in the late 60s - in a student flat called Sherwood Forest where Wellington Folk Club held many memorable events and where the idea of a Wellington Folk Centre was born. Paul used to write articles for the local folk mag as The Sherrif and Mitcg was known as Robin Hood. Robyn |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Farewell To The Gold??? From: rich-joy Date: 19 May 05 - 09:05 PM Thanks Liz, for "those words"!!!! :~) re the Nick Jones number discussed, it is called "Wee Pot Stove" by the bloke wot writ it, in his "Whaling Songs of Harry Robertson" songbook - Albert & Son, 1972. Cheers! R-J |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Farewell To The Gold??? From: GUEST,anon Date: 19 May 05 - 10:58 PM Robyn, I remember Mitch well, though Sherwood Forest was a little before my time. He was in HB already when I first met him. Vaguely remember you, but perhaps not when I was in NZ. Bristol? |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Farewell To The Gold??? From: Little Robyn Date: 20 May 05 - 03:11 AM Bristol?? Malcolm?? |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Farewell To The Gold??? From: GUEST,anon Date: 20 May 05 - 05:01 AM Shhhhhhh! |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Farewell To The Gold??? From: GUEST,anon Date: 20 May 05 - 05:03 AM Forgot the smilie :-) |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Farewell To The Gold??? From: Little Robyn Date: 20 May 05 - 05:16 PM So, where are you now Malcolm? Send us a pm. Last saw you at Kapiti FC. Robyn |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Farewell To The Gold??? From: Little Robyn Date: 20 May 05 - 05:26 PM Back to the original subject, Mitch and I performed this song at Arrowtown and Te Anau during the Piper's tour in January. We didn't get to Cardrona because the driver wasn't happy about taking a big bus over the roads there, otherwise we'd have sung it there too. Robyn |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Farewell To The Gold??? From: Lanfranc Date: 21 May 05 - 09:22 AM I've just located my copy of the Paul Metsers Songbook, so if anyone wants the lyrics and/or chords (or charts, for that matter) to others of his songs (up to 1986), let me know. I have resolved to revive "A Thousand Years Today" at least. As far as I know, the songbook's out of print, but I don't suppose Paul would mind anyway. I've often wondered why he dropped off the scene, he wrote some good songs and most of them had singable choruses. I booked him several times into Epping, Bishops Stortford and Saffron Walden Folk Clubs in the early 80s. Alan |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Farewell To The Gold??? From: Little Robyn Date: 21 May 05 - 06:18 PM I believe Paul still has copies for sale and could use your pennies. Paul was doing fund raising concerts for Nic Jones as well as his own gigs with his group (Cave Canem). Then about 15-20 years ago, while returning home from a gig, Paul also had a car accident! His hand was damaged and his Martin as well, not as bad as Nic's injuries, but enough to cramp his style and ruin his career in the folk circuit for some time. Although he has recovered, I don't know how much singing he does now, or if he still writes songs. He now makes a modest living, making things out of wood in Kendal and has a site here if you want to contact him. http://www.sagemcrafts.freeserve.co.uk/ Robyn |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Farewell to the Gold (Paul Metsers) From: Lanfranc Date: 23 May 05 - 05:26 AM Thanks for the update, Little Robyn. Offer of copies retracted. I'm still going to revive a few of his songs and will get in touch with him via his website. Alan |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Farewell to the Gold (Paul Metsers) From: Gurney Date: 23 May 05 - 05:41 AM I didn't know there was wood in Kendal! Which part of him? Thanks for the compliment up there, by the way, but I've never been happy with a song I wrote. Wish I COULD write songs like Paul's. |
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Subject: REaw: Lyr Req: Farewell to the Gold (Paul Metsers) From: GUEST Date: 06 Oct 14 - 11:07 AM |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Farewell to the Gold (Paul Metsers) From: GUEST,# Date: 06 Oct 14 - 11:09 AM http://folksong.org.nz/fwltgold/ |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Farewell to the Gold (Paul Metsers) From: GUEST Date: 06 Oct 14 - 12:04 PM Chords?? |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Farewell to the Gold (Paul Metsers) From: GUEST,# Date: 06 Oct 14 - 12:11 PM Look at the link for chords. |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Farewell to the Gold (Paul Metsers) From: Leadfingers Date: 07 Oct 14 - 04:17 AM Clicky for GUEST,# |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Farewell to the Gold (Paul Metsers) From: Jim Dixon Date: 08 Oct 14 - 10:28 AM There's a very well-made video of Paul Metser himself singing FAREWELL TO THE GOLD at YouTube. It's a high-def video, and he's sitting in a workshop, and it isn't obvious what the workshop is for. However, the biography at Metser's website says:
Anyone contemplating making their own video ought to study this for technique. I like having interesting backgrounds. At the opposite extreme, I hate it when venues have a spotlighted performer sitting in front of a black curtain. The contrast makes my eyes hurt, and I find myself looking away most of the time. |
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