Origins: Lloyd's 'Do Me Ama'

Subject: RE: Origins: Lloyd's 'Do Me Ama'
From: Bryn Pugh
Date: 25 Apr 08 - 10:51 AM

Idle thoughts at idle times.

I dug out me 'Topic ' samplers - well, the tapes I made of them before they became unplayable - to listen to Mr Lloyd.

I s'pose - or rather, what I intuit from the general tone of this and the other 'Bert' thread - is that it don't really matter to me whether a song has been doctored or not, as long as I get enjoyment from either having sung it, or having listened to it.

Where A.L.Lloyd is concerned, I think it is a case of having infringed the 11th and the 12th commandments :


11.

Subject: RE: Origins: Lloyd's 'Do Me Ama'
From: Bryn Pugh
Date: 25 Apr 08 - 10:56 AM

More haste, less speed.

11. Thou shalt not get caught.

12. If thou art caught, thou shalt keep tight shut thy gob.

Do not misunderstand me - I can appreciate the viewpoints of those, such as Jim Carroll, whose principal interest is the scholarship, his won and others'. For me, enjoyment of the song is all.

In any event : among Morris dancers it is widely appreciated that the likes of Sharp and Roy Dommett (to name but two) doctored and well doctored dances just to get the bloody things danced.

Prophet without honour ? I wonder.

Subject: RE: Origins: Lloyd's 'Do Me Ama'
From: Phil Edwards
Date: 25 Apr 08 - 11:00 AM

Prophet without honour ? I wonder.

I think Bert Lloyd's had plenty of honour - most of it deserved, I hasten to add.

Subject: RE: Origins: Lloyd's 'Do Me Ama'
From: Les in Chorlton
Date: 25 Apr 08 - 11:49 AM

Good point Phil.

Bryn,

most of us have gone to great lengths to say that we recognise the incredible contribution that Bert made.

I guess it wont stop most of us enjoying his records and learning some of his songs but I think it's fair to say that Bert made much of the origin and context of the songs and stressed that this should be explained. He also made much of how what we could learn about the lives of working people from the songs, their origin and context. That is why this debate about honesty is opening up.