To Thread - Forum Home

The Mudcat Café TM
https://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=132781
20 messages

Lyr ADD: Ptarmigan and Groaty Dick (Bill Caddick)

13 Oct 10 - 11:28 AM (#3006048)
Subject: Lyr Req: Ptarmigan and Groaty Dick
From: GUEST,Topic 56

Does anybody have the words for the monologue by Bill Caddick Ptarmigan and Groaty Dick. I know it is on the Sunny Memories Lp. However I am trying to save having to keep playing the track untill I get it all down on paper which could take ages

13 Oct 10 - 11:46 AM (#3006065)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Ptarmigan and Groaty Dick
From: Leadfingers

By e-mail       @aol.com Try asking Bill - And Sunny Memories is a storming album , isnt it ?

13 Oct 10 - 12:08 PM (#3006090)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Ptarmigan and Groaty Dick
From: GUEST,Topic 56

I have allready asked Bill Caddick and he said he would have to search round to see if he could find it. He never commited it to memory and when he performed it he had the word sheet to read it from I am just trying to cover all bases. Yes Sunnie Memories was a great Lp as was the show the took round based on it. But then again all Bill's recordings were great.

15 Oct 10 - 10:08 AM (#3007763)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Ptarmigan and Groaty Dick (Bill Caddick)
From: Jim Dixon

I learned this at Wikipedia:

Groaty pudding (also known as Groaty Dick) is a traditional dish from the Black Country in England. It is made from soaked groats, beef, leeks, onion and beef stock which are baked together at a moderate temperature of approximately 150°C (300°F) for up to 16 hours. In the Black Country it is traditional to eat groaty pudding on Guy Fawkes Night.

16 Oct 10 - 09:13 AM (#3008388)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Ptarmigan and Groaty Dick (Bill Caddick)
From: Silas

Groats? - I think you m,ay mean 'oats'!

17 Oct 10 - 06:20 PM (#3009434)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Ptarmigan and Groaty Dick (Bill Caddick)
From: Jim Dixon

Wikipedia says "Groats are the hulled grains of various cereals, such as oats, wheat, barley, or buckwheat (which is actually a pseudocereal)."

This Musical Traditions discography says the title is P-TARMIGAN AND GROATY DICK and it's on Bill Caddick's album "Sunny Memories," Leader LER 097, 1977.

23 Oct 10 - 07:09 AM (#3013606)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Ptarmigan and Groaty Dick (Bill Caddick)
From: GUEST,Topic 56

There seem sto be a lot about what groaty Dick was as a food and correcting me that it should be P-Tarmigan not ptarmigan. But all i wanted to know if anybody could give me the words. It does appear that nobody can. I shall have to rely on Bill caddick getting back to me with the word or goeng through it on my LP Sunny Memories and getting it all down after god knows how many plays of the track. Perhaps I should find somebody who is a shorthand expert.
Cheers anyway

23 Oct 10 - 08:33 AM (#3013635)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Ptarmigan and Groaty Dick (Bill Caddick)
From: Leadfingers

You COULD (IF you have the facility) tape the Vynil and use THAT to transcribe - Far less wear and tear on the actual record !

19 Nov 10 - 08:58 AM (#3035909)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Ptarmigan and Groaty Dick (Bill Caddick)
From: GUEST,Topic 56

You will be pleased to hear that I now have the words for P-Tarmigan and Groaty Dick by Bill Caddick. Bill has now actually sent me the words, so I am sorted. I had also tried Tim Laycock for them who at one time new it by heart, he tried to remember it but could not but he tried for which I am gratefull. I am now working on it to have it ready for a Christmas singers night I am goin to.

19 Nov 10 - 02:41 PM (#3036135)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Ptarmigan and Groaty Dick (Bill Caddick)
From: Herga Kitty

I will be introducing Bill's concert at Haddenham on 1st January next year, so am very tempted to request PT & GD! Don't expect to hear it though, after the above posts....

Kitty

20 Nov 10 - 08:16 AM (#3036618)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Ptarmigan and Groaty Dick (Bill Caddick)
From: Leadfingers

If the whole thing is posted here , someone will be able to prompt Bill ! LOL

20 Nov 10 - 08:33 AM (#3036630)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Ptarmigan and Groaty Dick (Bill Caddick)
From: GUEST,Ralphie

I did ask Bill about this doggerel!
His answer was that he wrote it specifically for the "Sunny Memories" project. Read it for the recording, but, never actually learnt or performed it live! (well, he's forgotten if he did anyway!)
Still a marvellous piece on a wonderful LP.

20 Nov 10 - 08:41 AM (#3036634)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Ptarmigan and Groaty Dick (Bill Caddick)
From: catspaw49

Groaty Dick sounds more like some kind of VD..................

Spaw

22 Nov 10 - 03:18 PM (#3038154)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Ptarmigan and Groaty Dick (Bill Caddick)
From: Jim Dixon

Spaw: It's the likes of you that causes all kinds of trouble.

From the BBC:

Pudding renamed Spotted Richard

    The traditional suet pudding Spotted Dick has been renamed "Spotted Richard" at a council canteen - because customers keep making jokes.
    The new name for the dessert, with another alternative Sultana Sponge, has appeared on the menu at Flintshire Council headquarters in Mold.
    The council said catering staff made the decision after "immature comments" and it was not a policy decision.
    But one councillor described the move as "political correctness gone mad".
    Staff from the nearby court complex in Mold also use the council canteen.
    Spotted Dick is a steamed suet pudding containing dried fruit, and is thought to have originated in the middle of the 19th Century.
    The "spotted" part of the name refers to the currants, which resemble spots, and "Dick" is believed to derive from the word dough.
    The council spokesman said: "The correct title for this dish is 'Spotted Dick.' However because of several immature comments from a few customers, catering staff renamed the dish 'Spotted Richard' or 'Sultana Sponge'.
    "This was not a policy decision, canteen staff simply acted as they thought best to put an end to unwelcome and childish comments, albeit from a very small number of customers."
    But Flintshire Councillor Klaus Armstrong-Braun criticised the ban on the original pudding name.
    He said he had made an official complaint about the name change which he called "ludicrous" and said had cost money because a new label was needed for the food.
    The councillor said the bosses who had made the decision would soon be "frightened of their own shadow".
    "People make silly comments about everything in life, there is no need to change the name over it."

22 Nov 10 - 03:39 PM (#3038172)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Ptarmigan and Groaty Dick (Bill Caddick)
From: Jim Dixon

Spaw: see also the lyrics to this song: I'M SORRY I ATE YOUR GRAMPA by Frank Rae.

(It would spoil the joke if I told you why.)

23 Nov 10 - 04:41 AM (#3038510)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Ptarmigan and Groaty Dick (Bill Caddick)
From: Dave Sutherland

"Read it for the recording, but, never actually learnt or performed it live!"
I first heard it performed on the live tour of "Sunny Memories" and then subsequently asked Bill if he would do it when he was guest at South Tyne Folk and Blues around 1976 which he duly obliged. Although I think that he read it from a sheet.

14 Feb 22 - 08:20 AM (#4136575)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Ptarmigan and Groaty Dick (Bill Caddick)
From: GUEST,Peter hockenhull

Do you still have the words? Also for Gibson Girl. I loved bill singing them and have done both in the past and want to do them again in our singarounds in Kendal.

14 Feb 22 - 08:50 AM (#4136577)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Ptarmigan and Groaty Dick (Bill Caddick)
From: cnd

Topic 56 long ago shared their email here (I've linked it to minimize how many times it's out on the web). Just shot them an email and I'll share it if they get back.

16 Feb 22 - 02:35 PM (#4136890)
Subject: ADD: Ptarmigan and Groaty Dick (Bill Caddick)
From: cnd

Topic56 got back to me and shared the following. I've edited it slightly to take out a few personal details and clean up the formatting.

Sorry for slight delay your request came as I was in the middle of a project. I got the words from Bill Caddick. I had tried to copy it from the Lp but a few words I could not get fro Bill’s accent. He said he had not learned it (wrote it but did not know it) and he had them written out. He said he would look for the words as he had not done it for years. He did send them to me, saying he had not been able to find them but had copied them down from the Lp, what a gent. I do not use scripts and do everything from memory. However as reading from a sheet is how Bill did it I decided I would do it the same way, as as Bill did it that way it was the traditional way to do it.

Bill was an artist who I had booked many times. For me one of the number one songwriters and performers. Saw him do his last gig at Pete Coe’s club and he did a storming night and went out on a high. It was not that long after he passed away. I have most of his recordings, pity he did not do more he did say he had enough for another CD.

Ptarmigan and Groaty Dick
(Bill Caddick)

When the nobs come down to breakfast they’d starvin’ through and through.
It teks ‘em several hours, but they’ve nothin’ else to do.
There’s scones or toast and honey, special jams and marmalades.
The eggs poached or scrambled, but always freshly laid.
There’s fruit juice, tea or coffee, milk and cream and porridge,
There’s haddock and all sorts of fish, or plover, snipe or partridge.
There’s bloaters and there’s bacon there’s sausages and hams,
All laid out on a sideboard and warmed by spirit lamps.
There’s pressed beef, cold roast pheasant, there’s youngest and galantines,
There’s peaches and there’s melons , raspberries and nectarines.
There’s chicken, chops or cutlets, the kidneys have been devilled,
And never a soul stops swallowing ‘til the piles of. Food am levelled.
But they wouldn't think they day began without a bit of p-tarmigan.
But when i see what’s served to me, it almost meks me sick.,
There’s porridge, bread and butter and yesterday’s Groaty dick.

When they’ve had their simple breakfast, there’s not much to be done.
But lounge around ‘til luncheon, serve red prompt at half past one.
They’ll start with soup or salmon or maybe caviar
Then perhaps a dish of quail, we stuffed with some foil gras,
Garnished with grapes or mushrooms or oysters and obviously prawns
Croquettes, tomatoes and truffles from Italy
They’ll follow this venison or shoulder of lamb from Wales
Or sometimes neck of mutton or even boiled ox tails
There’s chicken perhaps woodcock, roasts of different kinds,
And each diner will try to se nothing’s left behind.
And certainly some gentleman will want to try the p-tarmigan.
But when I see what’s served to me, it almost meks me sick,
There’s bread and dripping, old pig’s pudding and yesterday’s Groaty dick.

When King Edward goes out shooting, he takes along a snack
To get him through the afternoon ‘til it’s time to amble back.
The soup is mulligatawny, followed by a ragout
There’s biscuits and there’s pastry and plenty of fresh fruit too.
Roast chicken and roast pheasant and even some jugged hare,
juicy apple dumplings oh and compote of pear,
Now to a nob this kind of food is far too plain to contemplate
So for dinner they’d have served up something more elaborate
But before they took up arms again, they had a bit of p-tarmigan
But in the afternoon you have spent at home and a friend should drop by
You’d call for a cup of cocoa and a slice of apple pie
Perhaps some toast or brioche and all the scones that cook could make
Jams, a choice of sandwiches and several kinds of sticky cake
But if the King should call, then lobster salad it definitely must be,
For he insists on lobster salad each afternoon for tea.
But the king is sure to call again if you give him lots of p-tarmigan.
But when I see what’s served to me, it almost meks me sick
There’s toast and dripping, suet pudding and yesterdays Groaty dick.

It’s dinner at eight-thirty and every gentle man’s wish
To have it served up before him his very favourite dish
Now the King loves caviar but thinks ortolans are fine
(They’re Egyptian birds in brandy wit asparagus and wine)
But best of all is snipe, stuffed with foie gras and forcemeat
Grilled up in a pigs caul with truffles and madeira sweet
The Queen she thinks that crayfish cooked in chablis are so good
But on Sundays the Royal Household has roast beef and Yorkshire pud
It’s pigeon pie for Ascot, whitebait for Derby day
And deer pudding four times every week when they’re up Balmoral way
Kaiser Wilhelm’s favourite food brings tears to my eyes
There’s woodcock in a pheasant in a chicken in a turkey, and all in a raised pie.
But each one has a favourite, be it curry or a simple roast.
But the Rothschild’s have a dish that’s made from nine hen lobster roes.
If at mid night they’re still peckish and they feel a little frail,
There’s sandwiches or chicken leg, grilled oysters and some quail
And that’s all there is ‘til morning and there’s nothing they can do
So when the nobs come down to breakfast they’d starvin’ through and through
Unless they form a crafty plan to tek to bed some p-tarmigan.
But when I see what’s served to me, it almost meks me sick
There’s nothing but a steaming pile of yesterday’s Groaty dick.

Groaty Dick is a traditional dish from the Black Country, made from soaked groats, beef, leeks, onions and beef stock and baked together.

Ptarmigan a plump game bird slightly larger than a grey partridge. Common name of a bird, species to the Latinos family for all you ornithologists Pronounced Tar M-Igaan

17 Feb 22 - 11:21 AM (#4136993)
Subject: RE: Lyr ADD: Ptarmigan and Groaty Dick (Bill Caddick)
From: Long Firm Freddie

Keith Floyd Cooks Groaty Dick

LFF