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Desert Island Discs - trad version
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Subject: Desert Island Discs - trad version From: Liam's Brother Date: 11 Nov 98 - 11:57 AM At some time during my adolescence, there was a radio program: Desert Island Discs. I don't remember whether it was in the UK or America but the idea was that people would select records that they would take with them if they were going to do a Napoleon Bonaparte trip and a DJ would play songs from those records. (Most people I know nowadays would be looking for tins of exotic olives, medicines and things like that to take with them.) Anyway, it might be fun speculate on what 10 folk music LPs, CDs, cassettes,etc. we might pack if we were headed off to a sandbar 2,000 miles from the nearest shipping lanes. Just one rule please... folk music only... no Monkees, Boston Pops, Pavarotti, etc. |
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Subject: RE: Desert Island Discs - trad version From: Peter T. Date: 11 Nov 98 - 12:28 PM Dear Liam's brother, It was a British show, but (contrary to your wishes) what made it interesting were two things: first, that it was eclectic (all sorts of music), and second, the disks chosen were almost always in a sequence or accompanied by a story that illuminated the part the music had played in people's lives. You had rock stars whose favourite discs were Gilbert and Sullivan followed by Stockhausen. It was the rationale for why the person had picked the song that kept you listening (or, well, me). For example, the first pieces of music I can remember are a Chopin waltz (mother on the piano), Edith Piaf on record, Ethel Merman (on record), and Louis Armstrong (on record). Has anything better come along? Interesting to peak at 3 years of age! So there are my first four. Yours, Peter T. |
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Subject: RE: Desert Island Discs - trad version From: Martin Ryan. Date: 11 Nov 98 - 04:29 PM The program is still going strong, incidentally. Regards |
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Subject: RE: Desert Island Discs - trad version From: Liam's Brother Date: 11 Nov 98 - 07:18 PM Ok. At Peter T's suggestion, all rock stars may choose Gilbert & Sullivan or Stockhausen if they wish. Ok, Peter, everyone can break the rules. |
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Subject: RE: Desert Island Discs - trad version From: Peter T. Date: 12 Nov 98 - 03:39 PM Um, Liam' s brother, So why don't you tell us your 10, and how they came into your life, and why you would clutch them to your bosom rather than Kate Winslett if your ship went down? |
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Subject: RE: Desert Island Discs - trad version From: Liam's Brother Date: 12 Nov 98 - 07:47 PM Peter - From what I saw in that supermarket magazine, I couldn't get my arms around Kate Winslett! ... and the water's too bleeding cold anyway. I'd drop them both in a minute. I was running errands today so I had a little time to think about this. I first got this idea not so much because of Desert Island Discs on the radio but because, a few weeks ago, I found the February 17th, 1988 Montreal Gazette obituary of Jean Carignan. I'm sure sure many a Mudcatter knows that "Ti-Jean," a Montreal taxi-driver, was the most renowned Canadian fiddler of his time. About 20 years ago, I heard him play at a festival of New England and Eastern Canadian folk music at Brown University in New Hampshire. Carignan said he first learned his craft from his father and from native (Indian) fiddlers in Quebec and then he talked about the first time he heard a record of the Co. Sligo fiddle master, Michael Coleman. I remember to this day how intently he talked about that experience of hearing the fiddle played as he never had before, about how he could not sleep at all that night, about how he strove to make music like that phonograph sound. 1.) Anyway, because you suggested it, I'll start with a non-folk record... though not by much. The Everly Brothers first LP had their first 2 hit singles on it. It also had a "filler" song called "Hey, doll baby," (composer: trad.). It's a great little "giddy-up-and-go" country song with those classic Everly harmonies and guitar rhythm. We boys stuck in that boarding school in Droitwich Spa used to listen to that LP a few times a week and be transported to Tennessee: Hey, doll baby, there's a coat hanging in the closet / Can't remember when I bought it / Tell me that your brother was here today / Don't wanna take it no other way / Hey, doll baby, listen to me. I got out of the US Air Force in 1967 and one of my first stops was the Newport Folk Festival. The Everlys were there with their dad, Ike, who was a musician, singer and radio DJ. They did a workshop about old-style country music. It was mobbed and people were shouting out for the Everlys Top-10 hits. I waited till things quieted down and I shouted out "Hey, doll baby." Phil Everly shot his head around and asked, "Who said that?" I waved my hand like Young Einstein in arithmetic class. Phil and Don looked at each other and burst out laughing. They said they hadn't sung it since 1957 or '58 but it was a great song and they just L-O-V-E-D it. They kept saying "Hey, doll baby" to each other and laughing. I was happy to have brightened up their day. They did the same for me back in Droitwich many a time. 2.) We had Irish folk and national music in our house all my life. Hoolies when I was a small kid, the whole lot. Later I went to sessions in NYC and heard the some of the great fiddlers who've lived here: Andy McGann, Kevin Burke, Johnny Cronin, to name a few. About 1973, someome lent me a copy of Planxty's first LP. It just knocked me over to hear the vocal and instrumental aspects of Irish music combined in performance so brilliantly. I don't think those fellas make better music today. It's a Desert Island Disc for sure. 3.) 18 months ago, Lou Killen and I were running around Seattle in his car. We've known each other many years. We both sing "The Flying Cloud" and I asked him where he got his version. "Ewan MacColl," he said. I said the same. Lou told me he got it from a bright cherry red 78rpm that he borrowed from his brother. I got it from a bright cherry red 33rpm that I borrowed from my brother. (We worked out that it was the same performance, by the way.) Very funny, I thought. My LP is Stinson SLP 80, 'Haul on the Bowlin' with A.L. Lloyd. Harry Corbett also sings a great "Blow the Man Down" on it. 4.) I don't much care for Gilbert & Sullivan and I live on a main street in NYC with taxis and the subway (underground) blowing away all day. That's my Cage and Stockhausen modern music. When I settle on a piece of classical music that I like, I sometimes "follow" it in the sense that get recordings by different performers. One I would like on that desert island is Beethoven's 5th Piano Concerto: Kempf/Leitner/Berlin or Arrau/Haitink/Concetgebouw please. Ok, Peter, I broke the rule. That's 4 from me. Let's hear more from you, from Martin in Athlone or from someone else. All the best, Dan
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Subject: RE: Desert Island Discs - trad version From: Brack& Date: 12 Nov 98 - 08:15 PM A great idea for a thread. I'll probably have to think for a month though! |
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Subject: RE: Desert Island Discs - trad version From: Steve Parkes Date: 13 Nov 98 - 07:48 AM Hi Liam's brother. You say Harry Corbett also sings a great "Blow the Man Down" on your disc; I don't suppose that would be (a) Harry Corbett of Sooty & Sweep fame, or (b) Harry H Corbett of Steptoe & Son fame? Why do I think this is a silly question? All sorts of strange people sing folk - just think of Peter Peers and [forgotten her name! - did Blow the wind southerly, A fairy went a-marketting, etc.]. Another tangent, talking of operatic sopranos: did you know that Elizabeth Schwartzkopf chose six of her own records on DID? Cheers, Steve P.S. I can never get my list down below about forty-odd. |
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Subject: RE: Desert Island Discs - trad version From: Liam's Brother Date: 13 Nov 98 - 10:32 AM Hi Steve! He was one or the other, I'm sure. This was a Liverpudlian Corbett. Was that H.H.? For U.S. Mudcatters, Steptoe & Son was the British original of Sanford & Son. So the guy Steve is taking about is a Red Fox kind of character. 6 of her own! A bit much. However, opera folk are not known for tiny, er, egos. Give us the first 4 then. Who's next? All the best. |
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Subject: RE: Desert Island Discs - trad version From: The Shambles Date: 13 Nov 98 - 01:09 PM Well Roy, (for it was Roy Plomley's baby for about a lifetime) thank you for inviting me on the programme. The first music I remember actually thinking about how it was constructed was, the hymnn 'Lord Of All Hopefulness'. It was such a great tune and the words seemed to make it whole. (See the hymnns and folk tunes thread) So my first choice would be this one, sung by the King's College Choir. (I seem to remember that all the selections were sung by them). It was considered a bit 'whimpy' by my pals who were into 'macho' hymnns like 'Fight The Good Fight' and 'Onward Christian Soldiers', but I never was one to follow the crowd even then. Next was 'Skiffle'. The whole family plus most of the children in our street, playing and banging cheap old instruments, whilst singing about 'cotton fields', 'railroads' and other exotic things, places and wonderful people like 'Frankie and Johnnie'. Difficult to settle on one of Leadbelly's songs but I think I'll have 'In the Pines'. It was he who to me embodied all of that romance, and what a name! There were only two records that we had at that time and I would like to choose both of them here. The Kingston Trio singing 'Tom Dooly' and Buddy Holly's 'Peggy Sue'. In my mind I can still see the purple Capitol labels and feel the weight of them as they shot round at 78rpm. I think that you were also allowed one book to go with the Bible and the works of William Shakespere. You could also take one luxury. I think the book would be The Lord Of The Rings, which I re-read every couple of years anyway. The luxury would be my bouzouki. Your turn... |
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Subject: RE: Desert Island Discs - trad version From: Peter T. Date: 13 Nov 98 - 02:56 PM Kathleen Ferrier did "Blow The Wind Southerly". (Not on my list). Yours, Peter T. |
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Subject: RE: Desert Island Discs - trad version From: Mo Date: 13 Nov 98 - 06:05 PM Well Sue (It's Sue Lawley now) For an entirely folkie selection I'd have to start with 1)She Moved Through the Fair, as sung by my parents on the long journey's north from Devon, my first introduction to folk music. It would also have to include Stan Rogers and ... ooh, probably 2)Barratt's Privateers, trying to remember the verses in the right order would keep me amused for hours on the island. 3)Safe in the Harbour - Eric Bogle. 4)Kismuil's Galley - The Corries, you can feel the bodhran beats vibrating your bones! 5)She's Like a Swallow - as done by Coope Boyes and Simpson, and also 6)10 Thousand Miles from the same album (Hindsight, it's brill!) 7) Breislach by Capercaillie 8)The Holy Ground (Trad) by Mary Black 9)The Appropriate Dipstick by Wolfstone Finally 10) Highland Cathedral - whooo!! Book - the biggest collection of folk tunes from around the world that's available, with the music - all in the key of C or D. Luxury - a tin whistle that will never go out of tune!! Don't get me started on the classical music.... Best, Mo
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Subject: RE: Desert Island Discs - trad version From: Big Mick Date: 13 Nov 98 - 08:25 PM What a tremendous idea for a thread. I am going to weigh in, but only after a great deal of thought. Only 10? Wow, this is going to be hard. BTW, are you sure that Desert Island Disc's is a Brit show? It doesn't bother me that it would be, mind you, I just thought it was a product of one of the PBS stations. All the best, Mick |
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Subject: RE: Desert Island Discs - trad version From: Mo Date: 14 Nov 98 - 02:45 AM Mick, I can't swear blind it was originally a British prog, but on checking out the BBC website we first started broadcasting it in 1942 - so, there's a better than average chance it is I think. I'll try and find out more if I can... Mo |
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Subject: RE: Desert Island Discs - trad version From: Martin Ryan. Date: 16 Nov 98 - 05:48 PM Jeezz....I dunno! Put to the pin of my collar I would take just two albums: The Watersons "Frost and Fire" and Frank Harte's first Topic LP - "Through Dublin City"? I remember vividly the first time I heard them - having spent the previous ten years addicted to what then passed for modern jazz. For nostalgia I'd take along Miles' "Kind of Blue" and, as the perfect soporific, any decent recording of John Fields Nocturnes. I'd probably spent the first few years of incarceration trying to convince my self that all 17 nocturnes were variants of "The Star of the County Down"! Regards |
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Subject: RE: Desert Island Discs - trad version From: Aldus Date: 19 Nov 98 - 01:30 PM GREAT idea for a thread , relly makes you look back at what influenced you and where it took you over the years. I have very fond memories of what my parents listened to.. vera lynn..george forby... John Macormack..Pattie Page. The only thing they listened to that I hated was ANYTHING by Bing Crosby. All of this leads me to what I like now and the records I could not live without. They are as follows..... Frankie Armstrongs first album. The Visit by Loreena Mackennit.. Crown of Horn by Martin Carthy....Below the Salt..Steeleye Span//Liege and Lief.. Fairport Convention...For Pence and Spicy Ale..the Watersons.. The first Silly Sisters album ..Anything by Mary Jane Lammond..The Storm by moving Hearts and any kind of mediaeval music.....Oh God, who have I left out...the marvelous Norma Waterson.. Peggy Seeger, Anne Briggs... . Desert Island is a BBc Orig. Looking forward to the rest of this thread. |
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Subject: RE: Desert Island Discs - trad version From: dhall20@excite.com Date: 19 Nov 98 - 01:43 PM I have really enjoyed reading through this thread. pretty neat. At the risk of breaking the rules I would have to have peter, Paul, And Mary "blowin in the Wind", One tin soilder, ( Terrible me I forgot the artist). Hopefully a wonderful Love Song and someone to share it with. Later gator. |
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Subject: RE: Desert Island Discs - trad version From: Liam's Brother Date: 19 Nov 98 - 02:37 PM Hi Martin! I have to smile when you list "Kind of Blue." I might have done the same. It was another great record my brother, Liam, loaned to me (probably after he borrowed it from someone else). I once flew from New York to Tokyo sitting next to Bill Evans who, I'm sure you know, was one of the pianists on that recording. Earlier, he had slicked back hair and wore the plain "bop" jazzman clothes of the 1950s. When I met him, he looked like a flower child. Very funny. I thought of it the other day when someone asked when Sonny Terry & Brownie McGhee started wearing hip outfits. All the best. |
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Subject: RE: Desert Island Discs - trad version From: Martin Ryan. Date: 19 Nov 98 - 03:01 PM Dan Serendipity strikes again! As I read your message above, Bill Evans is on the hi-fi! Regards |
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Subject: RE: Desert Island Discs - trad version From: Jon Bartlett Date: 22 Nov 98 - 05:14 AM re Bill Evans - one year at Folklife in Seattle, early 70's, probably, I went into a bar for a beer and there on piano was Bill Evans - a dollar cover, and the bar empty. Near broke my heart. |
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Subject: RE: Desert Island Discs - trad version From: Peter T. Date: 23 Nov 98 - 12:58 PM (1) There is a brand new bio of Bill Evans out called "My Heart Always Sings" -- fairly definitive. (2) I think "One Tin Soldier" was a Donovan song. "To Try For the Sun" -- now there is a sixties song! Yours, Peter T. |
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Subject: RE: Desert Island Discs - trad version From: Sean Ruprecht-Belt Date: 23 Nov 98 - 01:53 PM "One Tin Soldier" wasn't Donovan. I think the original recording was by a 1960's 1-hit wonder group called Coven. It was the theme song to one of those awful 'Billy Jack' movies. |
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Subject: RE: Desert Island Discs - trad version From: Susan-Marie Date: 24 Nov 98 - 08:09 AM I have a modern-day version of DID going on in my office: I listen to CDs while I work on my computer and I keep 10 here to get me through whatever the day brings. Three CDs are here to remind me of life before I had to work for a living - The Guess Who, Donovan, and Rennaissance, all stuff I lived on in college before I discovered folk music. In the classical vein there's Hovhaness' Symphony No. 22 (City of Light) because my first exposure to classical music was touring Europe at the age of sixteen as part of a choir and orchestra ("America's Youth in Concert" - any other AYC alum out there?). I was in the choir, but the Finale of the orchestra's Hovhaness symphony was what made the strongest impression on me. I like the melody so much I've written lyrics to it that I sing as a meditation piece in church. I also have Bedrich Smetana's Ma Vlast because the pastoral music is a good antidote to cubicles.
And then there are the five Irish/Scottish CDs I can't live without, all discovered over the past five years rather than over a lifetime (which is how I wish it had happened): The only problem with listening to CDS in the office is restraining the urge to sing along or drum on the keyboard....a desert island would be much more liberating. I guess I'd take a pennywhistle and spend the years learning all the great tunes that we singers miss out on because no-one's written lyrics for them. |
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Subject: RE: Desert Island Discs - trad version From: Peter T. Date: 24 Nov 98 - 09:39 AM Bill Evans: How My Heart Sings, by Peter Pettinger (Yale Press, 1998). sorry. Yours, Peter T. |
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Subject: RE: Desert Island Discs - trad version From: skw@ Date: 01 Dec 98 - 03:36 AM What's happened to this thread? I suppose it's base curiosity but I do like learning about what other people like. Having had a little time to think, I've put together my own list (in no particular order of preference): Battlefield Band - Home Ground Brian McNeill - The Back o' the North Wind Cilla Fisher & Artie Trezise - Same (1979) Tom Paxton - Politics Anything by Iain MacKintosh; if I had to choose I'd go for Singing From the Inside, Gentle Persuasion, or Risks and Roses Various - Voices (a sampler of English traditional song) Roy Bailey & Band of Hope - Rhythm and Reds Mick West - Fine Flowers and Foolish Glances Martin Carthy - Same (1965) Something by The Spinners for sentimental reasons, most probably Songs of the Tall Ships or English Collection Or perhaps I should make that the first Planxty album ... A bit of a Scottish bias here ... Mind you, I'd have no difficulty making up several alternative lists, but I'd find it hard not to include at least some of the above. All of them contain a high percentage (at least) of songs that I wouldn't like to be without because they can give pleasure AND food for thought. As a luxury I'd like to take the five volumes of Child ballads. They'd see me through more than a couple of years. I haven't even started on them, due to not living on a desert island at present. And retirement is twenty years away ... - Susanne |
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Subject: RE: Desert Island Discs - trad version From: Vic in Australia Date: 01 Dec 98 - 09:00 AM 1) The Monkees - Pleasant Valley Sunday Oh, sorry - that's not allowed. It is however the first record I ever bought (and still better than 95% of records I've heard -GG/CK...OK with me!) Anyway, starting again.... 1)Vin Garbutt - any live tape (so I've got the funny bits) 2)R&L Thompson - Hokey Pokey (A little obvious perhaps, but the title track has possibly my favourite guitar solo ever) 3)The Woods Band - self-titled album 4)John Renbourn - A Maid In Bedlam 5)Fotheringay - (gotta have S. Denny & gotta have "The Sea") 6)Eliza Carthy - Red Rice (Not old enough? - I don't think so!) 7)K & A McGarrigle - 1st album (or 2nd, or latest...) 8)The Soft Boys - Live at the Portland Arms (which includes the answer to the question "on what day was folk music invented?") 9)Shirley & Dolly Collins - Love, Death & the Lady 10)The Monkees - Pl.... sorry, lost it for a second ...............Vic |
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Subject: RE: Desert Island Discs - trad version From: AndyG Date: 01 Dec 98 - 09:28 AM Not in any known order:
Planxty - Planxty Earthsong - John Kirkpatrick AndyG |
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Subject: RE: Desert Island Discs - trad version From: Rt Revd Sir jOhn from Hull Date: 06 May 03 - 06:54 AM |
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Subject: RE: Desert Island Discs - trad version From: Schantieman Date: 06 May 03 - 01:54 PM I'm afraid they have to be individual songs, not whole albums! Bummer, innit?! At the Bothy FC in Southport we had about ten years where the first Sunday night in January featured 'Living on an Island' (Clive thought we couldn't pinch the title) with one of the club stalwarts being interviewed about their life & music. Very interesting and recommended to other clubs as a way of livening up a potentially tedious time of year. Roy Plomley certainly invented the programme. Sue Lawley's too lenient about the luxuries and books! Steve |
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Subject: RE: Desert Island Discs - trad version From: fat B****rd Date: 06 May 03 - 03:37 PM Do all the more refined bods on DID pick "Clarsical" music just 'cos it lasts longer than most others. I'm referring to playing time here... |
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Subject: RE: Desert Island Discs - trad version From: treewind Date: 06 May 03 - 04:31 PM I thought is was whole discs, hence the name of the programme - obviously for the broadcast they only played brief excerpts. Anyway if we are going to revive this ancient thread... For one thing it is undoubtedly a British (BBC) thing For another it's 8 discs, not 10... ...and one I have known for years would be on my list was John Kirkpatrick and Sue Harris "The Rose of Britain's Isle" - a whole album without a single duff track on it. I still haven't worked out the other seven. Anahata |
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Subject: RE: Desert Island Discs - trad version From: Snuffy Date: 06 May 03 - 06:24 PM When it started in 1942 a disc was a 78. |
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Subject: RE: Desert Island Discs - trad version From: GUEST,Val Date: 06 May 03 - 06:50 PM I'll settle for one CD - as long as it's Fine Colours by Tim Laycock |
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Subject: RE: Desert Island Discs - trad version From: Rt Revd Sir jOhn from Hull Date: 10 May 03 - 09:04 PM |
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Subject: RE: Desert Island Discs - trad version From: Skipper Jack Date: 11 May 03 - 06:48 AM When I was in the army, I was stationed in Cyprus and somehow I got on the forces station there. The programme was called "I Know What I Like". it was a similar programme to "Desert Island Discs". From what I can remember (well it was a long time ago!) I chose "In The Mood" by Joe Loss. A band whose name escapes me, playing "South Rampart Street Parade". Glenn Miller's - was it "American patrol"? Oh yes, and Mantovani's "Charmaine", among others. But now, I would choose: Pete Seeger's The Water is Wide, from the album "Pete" The Roches, "Can We Go Home Now?" Debussy's "The Girl with the Flaxen Hair" "Mighty Quin" by Manfred Mann "Lowlands" sung by Maggie Boyle Brass Monkey "The Maid and the Palmer" Iris deMent "Our Town" Rolling Stones "This May Be The Last Time"? Welsh Choir singing "Myfanwy" The Chieftains with a Chinese Emsemble (from the album The Chieftains in China.) There are loads of other favourites, but that'll do for starters. I know that I have included "non trad" stuff here, but what the hell!! Dave R. |
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Subject: RE: Desert Island Discs - trad version From: Mr Red Date: 11 May 03 - 10:22 AM FWIW you can make suggestions for the programme on http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4 and look for the Desert Island Discs message board. Martin Carthy was suggested by me and ignored. Here's your chance to inundate the beeb with your ideas. |
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Subject: RE: Desert Island Discs - trad version From: the lemonade lady Date: 11 May 03 - 10:36 AM I wouldn't enjoy being stuck on a desert island with just folk songs to listen to. I'd need some rock and some blues too. Boo hiss Sal |
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Subject: RE: Desert Island Discs - trad version From: Mr Red Date: 12 May 03 - 10:25 AM And what would be your luxury and would HE read the compleat works of Shakespear? |
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Subject: RE: Desert Island Discs - trad version From: GUEST,noddy Date: 12 May 03 - 11:23 AM hey Liams brother, as part of the programme you were allowed the complete works of w.shakespere AND a item of no use. my item for everyone would be a...... banjo. |
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