It's more of a pamphlet than a book – only 52 A5 pages. Including 48 songs and some great stories. Full title is From Glesga Toon – The Songs and Stories of Alex Campbell; published at the end of 1964 by Folk Scene publications, Ashputtel, The Street, Woodham Walter, Essex, England; printed by The Owl Printing Company, Tollesbury, Essex. It's a transcription of tapes he had made, and the man who transcribed them, was called John Clark. Illustrations by Stuart Wallace and the cover by Ken Lawton. And I think Folk Scene may possibly have had something to do with the English Folk and Dance Society under Peter Kennedy, who had a magazine with that name around that time.
And good luck in trying to track down a copy, Dita. Maybe it would be possible to get together a new edition – there are some good songs in there, and I don't think people realise how much impact the man had on so many performers.
For example, I hadn't realised until just now that Sandy Denny's first recorded performance was on a record called Alex Campbell and friends.
And here is a song by Alex which he put on that record, and Sandy Denny later recorded it herself. Not in the DT so far as I could see, but worth remembering:
BEEN ON THE ROAD SO LONG
(Alex Campbell)
I've been on the road, so long
Been tired and broke, so long
I've been to the south where the winds they were born
Travelling the road of no return, so long
I've seen what was war, so long
The ruins and the scars, so long
The mansions of mud, the wounds and the blood
Seen the dying of all that was good, so long.
Seen the world in the shadow, so long
Is its mushrooming cloud, so long
And the lies and the greed of the leaders of men
Those cheats who will take us to war again, so long.
Yet hope is in me, so long
For it's love that I see, so long
The courage and strength of the young men's smile
The faith that's in a little child, so long
I've travelled the road, so long
Have been tired and broke, so long
I've been to the south where the winds they were born
Travelling the road of no return, so long.