The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #140086 Message #3219408
Posted By: Jack Blandiver
07-Sep-11 - 05:48 AM
Thread Name: Zappa the Shantyman :-)
Subject: RE: Zappa the Shantyman :-)
Here's the piece in question:
Frank Zappa - Handsome Cabin Boy
Don't hold your breath though. This is like speculating on whether Elvis had a passion for Child Ballads because he once sung a cover of The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face. Maybe he did; maybe he had the complete recordings of Ewan MacColl, maybe he even had MacColl's recordings of The Elliots of Birtley, though more likely the Es O' B had recordings of Elvis (if that isn't to tarnish their pure-blood Godlike folk-image-illusion) given the actual 'folk' music of the North-East mining culture. For me it was listening to Bowie and NEU! at my mates house in Backworth; his dad (a miner) sang Elvis songs at the club as I recall. How rich and wondrous our Folklore!
Then there's Reeves and Mortimer's grotesque parody of Hanged I Shall Be in their recent on-line comedy series for Fosters. I use the word 'comedy' here in its very losest sense; what Vic and Bob are doing here is more by way of Surreal Juxtaposition which will make no sense to anyone who doesn't know their other work, much less The Albion Country Band's classic Battle of the Field album. This doesn't make them Folkies (remember The Singing Mound anyone?) but indicates their familiarity and love of the music in a far wider cultural sense than is generally admitted to in Folk circles.
Vic & Bob's Afternoon Delights Episode #18 "Singalongsong: Pancake Day"
You know, the more I watch that the harder I laugh...