A lot of singing got done in pubs back then. It still does round my way. And I can state with some authority that the more beer is drunk, the more passionate the singing gets.

I have conducted these experiments purely in the interest of empirical field research, you understand.


"And the recordings we have, especially the early ones, are not always of the "best" performers of the day, just those that the collectors discovered."

That is an incredibly important point, and one too often forgotten. I was reading Vaughan Williams' scrapbook in the VWML recently, which contains some correspondence from collectors like Lucy Broadwood and Ella Leather. They tell Vaughan Williams about the singers they've found, even the ones who aren't very good, but still make recordings of them and send them on to him, because it was about the songs a lot of the time, rather than the singers.

Similarly, the recordings of some of the later singers were made when they were getting on in years and past their best. You aren't necessarily going to get the passion from an 80 year old that you would have got from a 20 year old.

Finally, I don't see this as a particularly English trait. If you listen to the Voice of the People CDs, I don't think there's a more passionate style to the Scottish or Irish singing than to the English - but as I say, I think the Gypsy singers often incorporate a fine sense of drama and storytelling to their songs.