The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #3265   Message #349357
Posted By: Sandy Paton
30-Nov-00 - 10:11 PM
Thread Name: Byker Hill: background info anyone?
Subject: RE: Byker Hill: background info anyone?
All I can tell you is that I learned the song from Redd Sullivan, a wild merchant mariner and singer I met at the Troubadour in London, 1958. When I first met Peter Bellamy, who had recorded that version with The Young Tradition, he asked me where I'd gotten it. He said that Bert Lloyd had accused him of singing "an American version" of the song, since it was the one that I had recorded on Elektra in 1959. Lloyd seems to have assumed that I had made up the tune (I'm not that talented!). Anyway, I told Bellamy my source was Sullivan, and he was happy. "Walk Ashore" could well be what Redd Sullivan sang, since I was taking down what I heard and "Walker Shore" or "Walk Ashore" would have sounded the same to my American ear. I don't know Lloyd's 1952 "Come All You Bold Miners" version, so I can't compare them, and my computer skills aren't up to dealing with Abby Sales' contribution above. Sorry!

Sandy