Two examples of Folk musicians and their songs having an impact in their local communities have surfaced recently and I'm struck by their similarities. I thought I'd share them with the Mudcat family and see if you can add any others to the list.

Firstly, it's the case of the missing stone skulls in Leeds (UK). You may have picked up some of this on other threads but I'll attempt to draw it all together here.

From Duncan's solo CD "Bed of Straw" released in 2001:

"In the Yorkshire Evening Post publication 'Memory Lane Volume Two' I saw a photo of two skulls and read the accompanying paragraph which stated.... 'In Crown Court, an alleyway between Kirkgate and the Corn Exchange in Leeds there are two stone skulls set high on a wall of a former stable. These are to commemorate two men who were press ganged (crimped) into the army at the time of the Peninsula war (1803-14). They were locked overnight in a stable where they sank,
all too comfortably, into a bed of straw and suffocated'. Further research revealed….They were asphyxiated by the ammonia gas given off by the rotting hay and the military authorities had the
skulls carved and placed on the building "pour encourager les autres" . The stone skulls, once on the walls on Ion Dyson Ltd, were removed in 1974 when the firm moved to Buslingthorpe and they incorporated them in the wall there – two miles out – and to rather an inappropriate setting and location in my opinion!"

Duncan wrote the song "Bed of Straw" about this tale and EFDSS asked if they could publish it - lyric, story and dots and it appeared in the Autumn 03 edition.

Now, fast forward to a couple of weeks ago. A Leeds historical society discuss the skulls on a website forum and someone mentions that a folk chappie has written a song about them. This, in turn, leads to the Yorkshire Evening Post contacting Duncan, the resultant newspaper article can be found here.

www.yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk/news/Folk-singers-joins-Leeds-skulls.4021303.jp

I believe that meetings are planned to try to persuade the owners to restore the skulls to their rightful place.


The second example concerns another of my favourite folk artists, Brother Crow from Weardale (UK). They wrote a song, "How do you do Tom Barton?" about a local miner, badly burned in an attempt to save a child from a house fire 100 years ago. Unfortunately he didn't succeed and in a sad twist of fate, Tom was killed six weeks later in a cave-in at work. Public subscription at that time raised money for a memorial stone in the cemetery but Brother Crow's 2007 song lamented the stone's current state of neglect. But this tale does have a happy ending – the memorial will shortly undergo restoration in time for a rededication ceremony on Tuesday 22nd July 2008 – where Brother Crow will perform the song.

So, now it's over to the rest of you!.