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09 Nov 17 - 10:30 AM (#3887696) Subject: Songs about Industry From: GUEST I've decided to do a programme for my Transatlantic Conversations show on Celtic Music radio on songs, from both sides of the Big Water, about industry, alive or declining/dead. Suggestions please? Bob Leslie |
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16 Nov 17 - 05:32 AM (#3888845) Subject: Lyr Add: CRANE DRIVER (Julie Matthews) From: GUEST,henryp BBC 2006 Radio Ballads; The Song of Steel CRANEDRIVER (Julie Matthews) Me brother said I don't believe it still They're taking on women at the rolling mill So I went down and I put in me name When I turned 18 I was a crane driver Turned 18 I was a crane driver With a gentle touch upon the wheel Make no mistakes with red hot steel 12-hour shifts, me take-home pay £9 a week for a crane driver £9 pay for a crane driver In me black battle dress I was as plain as a mouse So I sewed on buttons to match me blouse Pink one day and blue the next It's warm work for a crane driver Warm work for a crane driver I'd tap me foot to the drop hammer Waiting for the whistle to move that steel Way up here I'm the queen of the foundry 'Til the boys come home I'm a crane driver The boys come home I'm a crane driver Publishing: Circuit Music Ltd |
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16 Nov 17 - 07:20 AM (#3888867) Subject: Lyr Add: OLD HAMMERHEAD (Jez Lowe) From: GUEST,henryp OLD HAMMERHEAD (Jez Lowe - Lowe Life Music © 1990) Old Hammerhead weeps when the wind blows. Old Hammerhead cried in vain, High above our houses, The last Wear Water crane, And we heard him cry for help and we denied him in our shame, And we huddled in the darkness of his shadow. Who will come and help me, Old Hammerhead cried in vain, I've watched and I've protected you, Now who will do the same, I've kept you from starvation, Deprivation's burning rain, And you've flourished and survived here in my shadow. I've watched these streets surround me, Old Hammerhead cried in vain, Swarms of tiny children have gathered round me at their games, And I've watched them change from playgrounds, To windy lovers' lanes, As they fondled and kissed there in my shadow. You always told me I'd be needed, Old Hammerhead cried in vain, I stood by you in hundreds As you fought in freedom's name, And better ships no other yard Could ever hope to claim, Than them that slipped to the river in my shadow. But now I stand alone here, Old Hammerhead cried in vain, You say my use is over And that progress is to blame And the pride of these yards, You say will never rise again, And no saviour will step out from my shadow They're coming for to take me now, Old Hammerhead cried in vain, With savage blade and cutting tool Of fearsome burning flame. They'll cast lots for my engine, And divide my mighty frame, And they won't even leave me with my shadow. NOTE: The original recording of this song, on the 1990 album BRIEFLY ON THE STREET, featured only Jez and violinist Chris Leslie, now of Fairport Convention. The Bad Pennies never performed the song until 2002, in a new arrangement. It was recently recorded in Australia by a good friend of the group, Margaret Walters on her album Power In a Song. |
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16 Nov 17 - 11:49 AM (#3888894) Subject: RE: North American Locomotive-industry songs From: Bobelix Bob Leslie here - no longer a guest! I've decided to revise my proposition and do a programme on industry songs both sides of the Atlantic. These two will be great additions to that - I managed what I think is a pretty fair splice job on the Julie Matthews song and now have a version without the talking. If anyone's interested, I can post it somewhere for download. I'll start a new thread now on "Industry Songs" - please feel free to post suggestions! |
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16 Nov 17 - 11:52 AM (#3888895) Subject: Industry Songs From: Bobelix I've decided to do a programme for my Transatlantic Conversations show on Celtic Music radio on songs, from both sides of the Big Water, about industry, alive or declining/dead. Suggestions please? |
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16 Nov 17 - 11:54 AM (#3888896) Subject: RE: Industry Songs From: Bobelix They don't need to be in English - Gaelic, Spanish, Welsh, Breton, whatever! |
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16 Nov 17 - 01:19 PM (#3888905) Subject: RE: Industry Songs From: GUEST,Chris Moore Steelmen by Ron Angel of the Teesside fettlers https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NNJC1-lnIyw |
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16 Nov 17 - 02:06 PM (#3888910) Subject: RE: Industry Songs From: Steve Gardham There are lots of collections of industrial songs published on both sides of the pond. MacColl--Shuttle & Cage Coal mining song books by the likes of A.L.Lloyd and George Korson Steel Industry in Teesside by Graham Miles. There must be plenty in the DT. Try some key words in the search box. Try on the Bodleian Broadside website by putting key words in to the search box, factory, mining, steel, canals, docks, engineer, navvy etc. |
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16 Nov 17 - 02:12 PM (#3888911) Subject: RE: Industry Songs From: Bobelix Any specific recordings I should be looking for? It's for a radio programme. |
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16 Nov 17 - 03:11 PM (#3888914) Subject: RE: Industry Songs From: Dave Hanson ' 100 Songs of Toil ' edited by Karl Dallas, excellent book of industrial folk songs. Dave H |
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16 Nov 17 - 03:16 PM (#3888915) Subject: RE: Industry Songs From: Steve Gardham Try our website. www.yorkshirefolksong.net There are some industrial song recordings available there. If you decide to use any of them an appropriate donation to the website would be helpful but not compulsory. |
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16 Nov 17 - 03:36 PM (#3888916) Subject: RE: Industry Songs From: GUEST,left handed guitar Here s a few suggestions for songs that I think may work, though not all are traditional: Cotton Mill Girls - I believe Hedy West did thiis Nine pound hammer Dark as a dungeon Schoolday's Over - a poignant mining song by Ewan McCall Aragon Mill -Si Kahn Brother can you spare a dime Calico Silver by Michael Murphy - a beautiful song that tells of the rise and fall of a silver mine in the old West. Worth hearing. All of these can be found on YouTube. I hope this is helpful. - |
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16 Nov 17 - 09:01 PM (#3888941) Subject: RE: Industry Songs From: Bobelix THAT's what I'm looking for! I'm really pressed for time, so actual tracks by actual people are really helpful. Thanks! |
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17 Nov 17 - 02:18 AM (#3888949) Subject: RE: Industry Songs From: r.padgett Keep that wheel a turning ~ s/b on Yorkshire folk song db (sung by me!) Ray |
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17 Nov 17 - 10:53 PM (#3889064) Subject: RE: Industry Songs From: Bobelix I think I might have found that one already all by myself! It's the one on YouTube with the guy turning what looks like a ship's wheel? |
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18 Nov 17 - 04:12 AM (#3889086) Subject: RE: Industry Songs From: r.padgett Yea Ballad of William Brown aka ~ from the Big Red Book Ray |
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18 Nov 17 - 04:21 AM (#3889087) Subject: Lyr Add: THE CLAYTON ANILINE SONG (Pete Smith) From: Jim Carroll Still brings a lump to the throat after all these years Jim Carroll THE CLAYTON ANILINE SONG (Pete Smith, Mancester mid 1960s) 1 Been working at dyework for nearly five years , Been charging the naptha's that give yer the **pap, They send it from *ICKY for us to shove in This **vitrol and chloric as makes us all thin. 2 Well I rise up for Clayton at five in the morn, And for smoke and for fumes, yer can't see the dawn, I'm relievin' old Albert, he's been here all night, The poor old bugger looks barely alive. 3 His chest is sunk in and his belly's popped out out, And believe me, my friends,! t's not bacco or stout - It's the **napthas and paras have rotted his bowels, While making bright colours for Whitsuntide clothes. 4 I gave him my ****milk ration and packed him off home, I' ve five tons of this naphtha to charge on me own, I'm wet through with steam and the sweat of me back And through wieldin' this shovel, I'm beginning to crack. 5 Well I'm damned if I'll work in this hole any more, For my belly feels tight and my chest is right sore- I think of old Albert his face white and drawn, He'll be back here tonight and just prayin' for dawn. * I.C.I.- Imperial Chemical Industries nicknamed "ICKEY' ** Chemicals for dye-making ** Paploma of the bowel - cancer caused by fumes from dyestuff manufacture **** A pint of milk was given to each worker each day to 'ward off' cancer. |
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18 Nov 17 - 12:25 PM (#3889146) Subject: RE: Industry Songs From: Bobelix Re Aniline song: That looks great! But I can't seem to find any recordings or videos of it. Anyone got a spare mp3? |
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18 Nov 17 - 12:40 PM (#3889147) Subject: RE: Industry Songs From: Jim Carroll I don't know if abybody sings it other than me or Pete Smith MacColl was once going to record it. At a pinch, I can send you my rendition from 1969, but it's nottt my finest hour Jim Carroll |
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18 Nov 17 - 12:46 PM (#3889148) Subject: RE: Industry Songs From: Jim Carroll Alternatively, I could e-mail you a copy of the music if you PM me an e-mail address I'd love to be responsible for putting this great song back into circulation Jim Carroll |
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18 Nov 17 - 12:52 PM (#3889149) Subject: RE: Industry Songs From: Brian Peters The 60s LPs 'Deep Lancashire' and 'Owdham Edge', now available on one CD, have plenty of great industrial songs. So does Harry Boardman's 'Golden Stream', but it's hard to get hold of. Try Youtube or Spotify and search for Harry. A few people have recorded 'Cropper Lads' including Swan Arcade - great version. 'Handweaver & Factory Maid' by Steeleye Span and others, of course. MacColl's 'Four Loom Weaver' shouldn't be hard to find. Tyneside songs by Tommy Armstrong - there seem to be some on Spotify. |
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18 Nov 17 - 02:09 PM (#3889153) Subject: RE: Industry Songs From: FreddyHeadey Transatlantic Conversations with Bob Leslie Sundays, 14:00 - 16:00 http://www.celticmusicradio.net/radioplayer/ |
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18 Nov 17 - 02:33 PM (#3889156) Subject: Lyr Add: HAND LOOM VERSUS THE POWER LOOM From: Jim Carroll Another superb song sung to Star of County Down tune (but slower)] Jim Carroll HAND LOOM VERSUS THE POWER LOOM
Come all you cotton weavers, your looms you may pull down. |
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18 Nov 17 - 09:34 PM (#3889216) Subject: RE: Industry Songs From: Bev and Jerry Here's the set list we use for our "History of the Industrial Revolution" workshop: 1. Ten & Nine (Jute Mill Song) 2. Poverty Knock 3. Doffing Mistress 4. Springhill Disaster 5. Black Waters 6. The L&N Don't Stop Here 7. Peg and Awl 8. Aragon Mill 9. Boss's Lament 10. Soldiers of Industry (we wrote this) Bev and Jerry |
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19 Nov 17 - 12:08 AM (#3889222) Subject: RE: North American Locomotive-industry songs From: dick.hamlet Harry Robertson: Ship Repairing Men Chorus: Don't wait up for me this evening; I'll be out all night again. Working on the Brisbane River with the ship repairing men. http://unionsong.com/u488.mp3 |
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19 Nov 17 - 06:13 AM (#3889251) Subject: RE: Industry Songs From: Brian Peters "Another superb song sung to Star of County Down tune (but slower)]" HAND LOOM VERSUS THE POWER LOOM That's interesting, Jim, Harry Boardman sang this to a different tune. Did someone else sing to 'Star of Co. Down'? It's certainly a fine industrial broadside. |
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19 Nov 17 - 06:58 AM (#3889266) Subject: Lyr Add: FACTORY LAD (TURNING STEEL) From: Andrez For consideration. I knew Colin in Melbourne in the early 70's and often heard him sing this. It ticks every box for me. Factory Lad (Turning Steel) by Colin Dryden ?Colin Dryden 1969. Here a recording at the link below. Cut and paste into a browser. Also a bio by his niece Naomi Dryden Smith. https://soundcloud.com/nomeshome/factory-lad-turning-steel-by http://nomeshome.tumblr.com/post/56916558706/colin-dryden-not-your-average-uncle Factory Lad (Turning Steel) You wake up in the morning, the sky's as black as night, Your mother's shouting up the stairs, you know she's winning the fight, You hurry to the breakfast table and grab a bite to eat, Then out the door and up the road, and through the factory gate. Chorus: Turning steel how do you feel, as in the chuck you spin. If you felt like me you'd roll right out and never roll back in. Cold and dark the morning as you squeeze in the gate. As you clock in, the bell will ring - eight hours is your fate. Off comes the coat and up go the sleeves and "right lads" is the cry. With one eye on the clock, the other on your lathe, you wish that time could fly. But time can't fly as fast as a lathe, and work you must - The grinding, groaning spinning metal, the hot air and the dust. And many's the time I'm with me girl and we're walking through the park, While gazing down at the spinning steel or the welder's blinding spark. Well, old Tom, he left last week - his final bell did ring. His hair as white as the face beneath his oily sunken skin. But he made a speech and he said "good-bye" to a lifetime working here, As I shook his hand, I thought of hell - a lathe for forty years. When my time comes, as come it must, why then I'll leave this place. I'll walk right out past the chargehand's desk and never turn my face. Out through the gates, into the sun, and I'll leave it all behind, With but one regret for the lads I've left, to carry on the grind. Please let me low if you decide to use it, for interest's sake only. Cheers, Andrez |
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19 Nov 17 - 07:07 AM (#3889268) Subject: Lyr Add: TH' SHURAT WEAVER'S SONG From: Jim Carroll "Did someone else sing to 'Star of Co. Down'?" I've always sung it to that tune, even before I heard Harry sing it I never liked his tune - too joggy for my interpretation of the text I got the tune from Denis Turner - I think it was included on the Waterloo Peterloo album. I always intended to put a tune to Surat Weaver's Lament - an interesting insight into the Cotton Famine at the time of the American Civil War by WEaver poet Samuel Laycock (a fine example of worker songwriting - to make a sly point on another subject) The tune given is 'Rory O'More' (which I don't know) but it shouldn't be too hard to find another. Jim Carroll TH' SHURAT WEAVER'S SONG.
CONFOUND it! aw ne'er wur so woven afore, |
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19 Nov 17 - 07:15 AM (#3889270) Subject: RE: Industry Songs From: Jim Carroll Sorry - meant to include the information about Surat cotton Jim Carroll Surat Sea Island (also known as extra long staple), grown on the islands off the Carolina coast of America, was the best quality cotton; Egyptian; the name given to Sea Island cotton that had been successfully introduced into Egypt, was the second best grade. The most common grades were the short staple American cottons which included Middling Orleans. It was these grades that were used by the majority of Lancashire's calico producers. The Surat cottons from India were the least suitable for machinery and were only ever used as a small percentage of a mixture as the fibres were short and broke easily. Surat came in smaller bales which contained stones and other impurities. Each town in Lancashire used different mixtures and when the supply of American and Sea Island Cotton dried up, the mill owners moved over to Surat. Some machines could be adjusted to take the Surat, but extra humidity was needed to reduce breakages. Running a loom on Surat could only produce about 40% of the previous throughput and, as workers were paid by the piece, their income was slashed. Mill owners were also in difficulty as many of the smaller family-owned mills were heavily mortgaged and if they stopped running the owners would fall behind with payments. Shopkeepers had no sales and could not afford the rents. Workers defaulted on their rents, and the landlord who stood the loss was often the millowner.[citation needed] The wealthier mill owners such as Henry Houldsworth, were confident that the famine was only temporary and were planning ahead for the new more efficient larger machinery that was becoming available, it was during the famine (1863?65) that he built Houldsworth Mill, Reddish, the first of the next generation of larger mills, and at the time the world's largest mill with 138,000 spindles. But with most raw cotton unavailable, mill owners had to either close mills and attempt to help the workers financially, use inferior cotton or bring new cotton into production. |
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19 Nov 17 - 03:35 PM (#3889333) Subject: RE: North American Locomotive-industry songs From: GUEST These last few months I've been performing The Erie Canal Song (or Low Bridge, Everybody Down) which laments the decline of Mule Power and the related work and culture as the Steam Engine proved more efficient, and became the dominant technology to move goods along the waterways. I know this is not what you're looking for, Bob, but a bigger picture look at change in what drives an industry. Maybe there's a later song that laments the decline of the RR Steam Engine. A song that came to mind reading this thread is Brother Can You Spare a Dime? (Gorney/Harburg, 1930) Once I built a railroad Made it run Made it race against time Once I built a railroad Now it's done Brother, can you spare a dime? Not quite what you're talking about either, but a bit of that sweep of history, of economic change. I live in a small city with an active freight line running through it. (I'm 64 now and have rarely lived where I couldn't hear the freight trains moving through at night; it's like a lullaby to me. When I was a kid our family lived very close to the RR tracks - on the "wrong side" of the tracks but I didn't figure this till years later.) This city was once a hub in the Upper Midwest for the Northern Pacific Railroad where they built and repaired locomotive engines and other RR cars. There's a nice diagram of the railyards in 1888 near the top of this page to give a sense http://www.crowwinghistory.org/nprr.html The RR has since changed hands multiple times and now by volume mostly moves oil and coal. The railyards still look kinda cool but are greatly diminished physically. Some developers are working with the current RR, Burlington Northern Santa Fe* (BNSF), to develop the site for a mix of retail, service and commercial businesses. The old Roundhouse is long gone, but there's now a Roundhouse Brewery in one of the remaining buildings. They just brought back their very nice Driftbuster Winter Ale in November. Anywho, I do go on. I will poke around for local songs about locomotive and train car production, decline of at least the steam locomotive industry. There are a couple of history buffs I know who might have some ideas. *This reminds me that I used to do a decent cover of Johnny Mercer's On the Atchison, Topeka and the Santa Fe in open G tuning. Time to revive that song. |
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19 Nov 17 - 08:05 PM (#3889356) Subject: RE: Industry Songs From: Bobelix Thanks, everyone, for all the help - it's been invaluable. When I first expressed an interest in doing a show, it was suggested that I prepare a pilot based on a theme; so I came up with the idea of Transatlantic Conversations, tracing musical links and parallels on both sides of the Big Water. Little did I realise that the research involved would take up so much of my time. Juggling that with my playing/writing/rehearsing/recording activities AND trying to have a social life would have been impossible without Mudcat (and Mainly Norfolk, The Library of Congress, Youtube, and Francis Child!). Once more, many, many thanks! Bob Leslie |
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19 Nov 17 - 08:08 PM (#3889357) Subject: RE: Industry Songs From: Bobelix PS Does anyone know of similar chat groups in other countries with a historically sizable immigrant population in N. America? |
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21 Nov 17 - 04:08 AM (#3889555) Subject: RE: Industry Songs From: GUEST,banksie There is another great Ron Angel song, The Chemical Worker's Song. Try this version by Great Big Sea. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wSiRWHXz6Ps |
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21 Nov 17 - 05:13 AM (#3889562) Subject: RE: Industry Songs From: David C. Carter Homestead Steel.....Tom Russel. You can find it on Youtube. |
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21 Nov 17 - 05:33 AM (#3889567) Subject: Lyr Add: WE ARE THE ENGINEERS (Ewan MacColl) From: Jim Carroll This, for me was one of the great new industrial songs It was written in a hurry for the Festival of Fools show the Critics Group put on each year (an annual show made up of sketches based largely on press cuttings of the years events).
Ewan had written a sketch which the actors/singers had trouble learning, so he scribbled this off as a replacement
Jim Carroll |
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23 Nov 17 - 04:55 PM (#3890022) Subject: Lyr Add: WE'VE SEEN THE LAST OF THE CLEVELAND MINE From: JHW Plenty from Graeme Miles. From memory We've seen the last of the Cleveland miners Farewell young William, so long young Tom, They've stashed their gear away for good now The age of iron has been and gone Now there were few smiles upon their faces, They'd very little or nowt to say They said that some were nigh in tears Some shook their heads and turned away Now the wind'll whine among those workings And through the rafters the sun'll play Those spoil tips soon will all grow over With weed and bramble and crumble away Those winding sheds will fall in ruin Those tall stone chimneys will do the same Those shafts and tunnels will fill with water Those engine houses will let in rain So farewell Lingdale and Kilton too Goodbye North Skelton, you were the last We've seen an end to the Cleveland mining An age of iron has come and passed. Graeme Miles |