G'day yet again,

I might establish a record for the most consecutive strands to a thread without double posting! As soon as I turned off Mudcat ... I remembered the author's name for 'Sailor Home from the Sea / Cock of the Morning / Cock of the North'.

The poet who wrote the original words is Dorothy Hewett. I had her name firmly crossed with that of another prominent lady of the early Folk Revival in Australia, Doreen Jacobs, and there was no way that I could fix on the right name ... as long as I tried!

I would be interested to hear what tune Wolfgang has heard to the song. I would guess that the Fureys would use the Martyn Whyndham-Read version, but there are several more - one written only a few years back by the singer in a very nice but short-lived local group 'Taliesin'.

Most female singers with whom I discuss tunes for this song (one I have long loved) feel that the tune I first heard, written by Chris Kempster and sung by Gary Shearston on a 1960s LP 'Songs of Our Time', is "too strong" or "too masculine" and prefer tunes that, in my opinion, sound a bit too wiffley for my image of Dorothy Hewett. She is a very up-front lady!

It is also interesting to see yet another Australian song being quietly wheeled into the "Irish" backyard and lightly re-sprayed green! I will do some checking on the various tunes that should be at least in magazines and books in my archives and see if there is something worth MIDI/ABCing and posting.

Regard(les)s,

Bob Bolton