G'day Fergie,

I see that your recording is from the 1979 Sydney production of Reedy River ... the recording I was checking was from the 1954 Sydney production ... which did not use the song Charlie Mopps. As we (the Bush Music Club) published the song in 1959, it's entirely possible that the 1979 production decided to used the song (the script does not specify which songs are in the play) on the suggestion of one of the many Bush Music Club members involved in that production ... or, simply because the song had become so popular.

(The BMC had a copyright run-in with our recording company after recording the song on a 1964 LP - The Club would not claim copyright, despite prompting to make such a claim by the record company's A & R men ... and, some time late, a 'pop' version appeared ... with copyright claimed by the same A & R men! We protested - and they withdrew their 'claim'.)

It is interesting that Eric Winter's The Challenge Songbook also cites the collection of the song by Redd Sullivan, from the chief refrigeration officer of the SS Tekoa in 1953. I must reread our entry on the song ... it may be that publication in our Singabout magazine drew on other primary sources ... or that The Challenge Songbook drew on us ... who knows? (I'll try to find out!)

BTW: Joe Offer - I remember the: "A bushel of hops... shilling and tuppence in tax" stanza as having: "Shame! Shame! Shame!" chanted after it (and before the standard chorus) in much the same way that "1,2,3-4-5" follows the "... ten o'clock she stops." stanza.


Regards,

Bob Bolton