Frankie Armstrong

Subject: Frankie Armstrong
From:
Date: 10 Sep 98 - 08:37 AM

Can anyone help me out ? I would like to know whatever became of the English Traditiona singer Franke Armstron ? Is there is dicography with lists of tunes. Is she still recording ? Any info would be appreciated thanks. Aldus

Subject: RE: Frankie Armstrong
From: DWDitty
Date: 10 Sep 98 - 08:58 AM

About 3-4 years ago I picked up a CD featuring Frankie Armstrong and Dave VanRonk doing the songs of Berthold Brecht. They alternate tracks, singing such songs as Mack the Knife and "Show me the Way to the Next Whiskey Bar" (or whatever it is called - the Doors did it early in their career). I have grown to love the music - Three Penny Opera stuff and other hits from the 1890's.

Subject: RE: Frankie Armstrong
From: Moira Cameron
Date: 10 Sep 98 - 09:33 PM

Funny you should ask!!! I asked that very question to the Ballad Newsgroup the beginning of this summer. Apparently, she is still touring Canada and the US, but I think she is living in Wales now.

Subject: RE: Frankie Armstrong
From: Ian HP
Date: 11 Sep 98 - 02:34 PM

News of FA via her label, as follows . . . http://www.rootsworld.com/harbourtown/armstrong.html

Subject: RE: Frankie Armstrong
From: Susan of DT
Date: 11 Sep 98 - 06:25 PM

Aldus, if you want to know what is on her probably out of print records, I can list some - I have 6 or so of her records. Tell me if you wnat me to.

Subject: RE: Frankie Armstrong
From: Alan of Australia
Date: 12 Sep 98 - 09:31 AM

G'day,
I saw Frankie at a folk festival here in February this year. She did a workshop and some concert spots.

Cheers,
Alan

Subject: RE: Frankie Armstrong
From: Jerry Friedman
Date: 14 Sep 98 - 05:03 PM

(DWDitty, The Threepenny Opera is from 1928, not the 1890s.

(I think the song the Doors did is called "The Alabama Song". Why? Oh, don't ask why.)

Subject: RE: Frankie Armstrong
From: Charlie Baum
Date: 15 Sep 98 - 01:55 PM

"Moon of Alabama" is actually from Brecht and Weill's opera "The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny." That was the song performed by the Doors.

Subject: RE: Frankie Armstrong
From: Barbara
Date: 15 Sep 98 - 04:07 PM

By the Doors, and The Chad Mitchell Trio, and Frankie Armstrong, and others. Words:
Oh show us the way to the next whiskey bar,
Oh, don't ask why, Oh, don't ask why,
For if we don't find the next whiskey bar,
I tell you we must die.
I tell you, I tell you, I tell you we must die.

Chorus:
Oh moon of Alabama,
We now must say goodbye
We've lost our good old mama
Oh, must have whiskey, oh you know why...

Other words substitute for whiskey bar
pretty girl
silver dollar

That's all I remember. The tune is discordant.
Blessings,
Barbara

Subject: RE: Frankie Armstrong
From: ALDUS
Date: 16 Sep 98 - 07:38 AM

HI SUSAN;

I would love to kow tracks and titles of any FA records or cds. I have an early album on tape. It containes ack The Lad, The two sisters..etc.. Could you tell me what else is on this lp, the title of it and if it is available on cd ? In fact I would be grateful for any info on Fa at all. Thanks very much.

Subject: RE: Frankie Armstrong
From: SlowAlan
Date: 16 Sep 98 - 08:06 AM

I have lost my copy of the Frankie tape I had got from Huffy Greer years ago..it had Jack the Lad on it, a great song of which I remember the tune, but not the words. (Jack the Lad is the one where the kid dies of a methadone overdose.)

I would like to get the words..anyone know them please?

Subject: RE: Frankie Armstrong
From: Susan of DT
Date: 16 Sep 98 - 07:18 PM

OK guys, here they are:

Lovely on the Water Topic 12TS216
Tarry Trousers; Green Valley; Low Down in the Broom; Cruel Mother; Crafty Maid's Policy; Maid on the Shore; Froggie's Mouse; Lovely on the Water; Brown Girl; Young Girl Cut Down...; Unquiet Grave; Saucy Sailor; Two Sisters

Bird in the Bush Topic 12T135
Two Magicians;Old Man from Over the Sea; Wanton Seed; Gathering Rushes in May; Bonny Black Hare; Whirly Whorl; Prety Polly; Old Bachelor; Stonecutter Boy; Mower; Bird in the Bush; Pegging Awl; Martinmas Time; Widow of Westmoreland's Daughter

Out of Love, Hope and Suffering Bay 206
William Taylor; Female Transport; Too Much of a Good Thing; Prince Heathen; Bedmaking; Anticarol; Lord Bateman; Nine Times a Night; Doors to my Mind; Bridget and the Pill; Cuckoo; I'm Gonna be an Engineer

Songs and Ballads Topic 12TS273
Duke Arthur's Nurse; Pitman's Union; Lady Diamond; Lament for Hull Trawlers; Month of January; 3 Drunken Maidens; Jack the Lad; Whore's Lament; Little Musgrave; Collier Lads; Female Drummer

Female Frolic Argo ZFB65
Doffin Mistress; Girl of Constant Sorrow; Blacksmith; No Courage In Him; Generous Lover; Whore's Lament; Georgie; Come Me Little Son; Female Frolic; Children's Songs; Never Wed an Old Man; Miner's Wife; Factory Girl; Lowell Factory Girl; Broomfield Hill; Housewife's Lament

And the Music Plays so Grand Silence SRB 4211
Outlandish Knight; Boys Will Be Boys; Factory Girl; Winnie & Sam; Moving On; Devil & Farmer's Wife; Banks of Green Willow; Nothing to Say; Woman's Work; Doffin Mistress; Boss's Darling; Female Drummer

Subject: RE: Frankie Armstrong
From:
Date: 17 Sep 98 - 08:33 AM

Thans Susan, Do you know if any of these are available on CD. Does Topic have a web site ?

Subject: RE: Frankie Armstrong
From: Ian HP
Date: 17 Sep 98 - 07:59 PM

You'll find which of FA's albums are currently available at Harbourtown Records, URL as above on this thread. No, Topic, for some reason I cannot fathom, doesn't have a web site.

Subject: RE: Frankie Armstrong
From: Susan of DT
Date: 17 Sep 98 - 08:00 PM

Try the assorted CD sellers under Support the Mudcat. There are at least 4 of them (B&N has CDs as well as books). Do a search for Frankie Armstrong and see whether anything pops up. I bought these records in the 70s.