Wow, this is what makes the Mudcat such a great site!

I was doing some browsing whilst waiting for the Oz World Cup broadcast and locked into the last link on my page, talking about "what recording cracks you up" and somehow I made an association with something someone said and for research reasons I typed in the name of Peter Parkhill into the forum search engine. Lo and behold the search came up with this absolutely wonderful thread which does refer to Peter but is so much more interesting for its main theme: Cap'n Schooner.

Well there you have all the theories and the disparagements from remote readers as well as local Oz identities. Guest Messmate, your annotations are 'out of soight' and certainly give you the street cred for an understanding of the times, events and politics around certain quaters of the melbourne folkscene of the time. I was there too and know whereof you speak.

I should have said at the outset that I know exactly who wrote this odius ode but have no intention of outing that person until they choose to do it themselves. Let me say quite categorically to Jack Halyard that Peter Parkhill had no role in the composition of the Cap'n Schooner Bollard and that I dont recall you at Traynors in the late 60's either.

I was amazed to see that it had travelled from sunny melbourne all the way to South Carolina. I guess the folk process is still alive and well. I can confirm that because I retrieved my electronic copy of the Bollard from a corner of my hardrive where I've had it stored for a good number of years and compared it with the one posted here. The versions differ in many small ways. I'm not sure why but suspect that there were later revisions by the author. I can confirm that and will certainly pass on the contents of this thread and possible further comment.

Now the World Cup has started so I'll make one last point here. The folk scene locally and more than likely in most other places has been very cliquey. This was certainly true in the period covered by the Bollard of this discourse. What that meant in practice was that if you were part of the "in group" you got the gigs at the clubs and the local acclaim. If you werent part of that group regardless of how good you were (comparatively speaking that is) you were always more of an afterthought or a support booking and not the main booking... if you get the drift.

Now we know that thats all really petty and trivial but more than one talented person got hurt in a very personal way by the way the cognoscenti folk clique operated (and I'm certainly not going to revisit history in that respect). The author was one of those who was not seen to be part of the "core" folk scene despite the fact that that person had made their own documented contribution to the local folk scene over a number of years. It was particularly hurtful because people would say one thing publicly and face to face but quite another behind the scenes (and I'm certainly not going to revisit history in that respect either).

One final observation that I'd like to make for those who are "outraged" on Cap'n Dan's behalf, is that the Melb folk scene wasnt comprised of one group despite appearances or pretensions to the contrary. It was comprised of many groups of people who also felt that they were part of the whole and felt they contributed in various ways and also had a sense of ownership of the "scene" in those times.

In that context, the Ballad simply takes the piss at some of the more obvious targets of the times. Nothing more and nothng less. For better or worse not every one who went thru those times shared the same warm and fuzzy view of some of the ballads subject matter and the ballad simply expresses another perspective on times past.

Parody has a valid role in the folk tradition and as we all know, a bun is the lowest form of wheat!

Cheers,

Andrez

PS Oz is on goal down aaaaaaaaarrrrrrrgggggggghhhhhhhhhhhh !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!