The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #134615   Message #3063825
Posted By: GUEST,Spleen Cringe
30-Dec-10 - 11:19 AM
Thread Name: Is Rolf Harris Folk?
Subject: RE: Is Rolf Harris Folk?
The Rolf of Sun Arise and Two Little Boys and Jake the Peg is a marvellous beast. However, speaking as someone who inadvisedly bought the Best of Rolf Harris for his little boy, too much Rolf is a state of being that can very easily be reached... who'da thought that Rolf didn't even have enough good material to fill an average length CD without resorting to dross and filler? Do we really need to hear English Country Garden with sadsack comedy lyrics that sound like they've been written by a second-rate stringer for the Daily Mail? Do we really need to hear a ribticklingly hilarous version of Pistol Packing Momma complete with lashings of family-friendly homophobia? An least the version of Tie Me Kangaroo Down Sport manages to omit the verse about let me abos go loose, Bruce, they're of no further use that's present in all its glory on the original...

That's the problem with light entertainment, though. It dates very quickly precisely because of that fine old tradition of light entertainers not being able to help themselves taking snidey little potshots at the nameless other they assume isn't part of their audience... all good clean fun, of course.

Obviously you can't fault Rolf for cranking out versions of songs like Waltzing Matilda and Pub With No Beer, but you'd have to be pretty cack-handed to screw up such classy raw material.

So my answer for ten is that Rolf is no more or less folk than many other entertainers, light or otherwise, the mantle is given to. He's just not nearly as good as we think we think he is.