I first heard Causley poems sung by Paul McNeill, with whom I was resident at the Troubadour in Earl's Court back in 1969/70. As noted above, Paul (who died in 1984) included at least one Causley poem ("Nursery Rhyme of Innocence and Experience") on his "Traditionally at the Troubadour" LP.

In 1968, an Australian singer called Peter Parkhill came to town bringing with him "Timothy Winters" and "Katherine of Aragon" set to music by fellow Aussie Mike Ball. Paul and I picked up on both, but Paul changed the tune of "Katherine" a bit when he performed it.

Then Peter and I went to Norwich Festival where Alex Atterson was so impressed by Peter's versions that he took up the torch and began setting a number of Causley poems to music. Six of these, ("Johnny Alleluia", "Three Masts", "O Billy Do You Hear That Bell?", "Nelson Gardens", "Hawthorn White" and "Billy Medals") Alex recorded on his 1977 album "Pushing the Business On" (Plant Life PLR 005) - the title of which is a quote from "O Billy ..".

For some reason Alex forgot the Aussie tune to "Katherine" and wrote another, although I don't think he ever recorded it. I have also heard another Causley poem about the return of Nelson's corpse after Trafalgar also, apparently, set to music by Alex, though I never heard him perform it.

Leon Rosselson also wrote a tune to "Timothy Winters", but I must admit I prefer Mike Ball's, and still perform it.

My CD is available through Peacework Music or direct from me - details on my website Lanfranc. On the CD are my interpretations of "Katherine" (to the Mike Ball tune) and "Cowboy Song" (set to a variant of "Willow Garden"). All the lyrics are downloadable from the website in .PDF format.

Causley's poems are so singable, it would be good to hear more people performing them.

Alan