G'day Lanfranc and Ferrara,

It looks like my reply late last night has fallen over (unless it was censored). I just can't feel any affection for Nic Jones's versions - but I conceded they seem to have acted as a 'primer' to introduce the Poms to Harry's work ... just as A.L. Lloyd's 1950s/'60s pastiches of words he cribbed from the Meredith / Ward / Keesing song-collecting correspondence lodged with the EFDSS - and English tunes did for Australian song traditions. The problem with that was the degree to which it "muddied the water" of later research and became confused with genuine field work in Australia.

Lanfranc links the Whale Chasing Men site, with which I am very familiar. It ultimately arose from the the susurrus at the back of the Australian Folk Festivalk at Kiama when I was, as I suggested above, appalled to hear what I now now was the Nic Jones version of the song, sung by someone in a concert. It was probably this performance that galvanised Evan and Lyn Mathieson (standing nearby at the time) to push the National Library to re-release Harry's originals, with their wonderful imagery and rich Scots modalities ... so something good came of it!

Regards,

Bob Bolton