ADD:The Knife and Scissors Man (Graham Penny)

Subject: Lyr Add: The Knife and Scissors Man (Graham Penny)
From: RTim
Date: 15 Oct 24 - 10:38 AM

Recently on the thread "Song about Southampton" there has a been a request for the words to "The Knife and Scissors man" written by Graham Penny...I include them below:

THE KNIFE AND SCISSORS MAN
(Graham Penny)

In Southampton’s former days
When grandma was a maid
And people used to ride the horse-drawn trams,
Every other Friday came
A man to ply his trade,
It was Pedlar Jack, the knife-and-scissor man.

Chorus.
Bring knives and scissors out,
I’ll sharpen them for you,
They’ll last until I come around again.
Ring your knives and scissors out,
I’ll make them good as new,
Broken knives, broken scissors I can mend.

From street to street he made his way,
His living he’d to earn,
His funny old machine upon his back,
He’d set it down and pedal it
To make the grindstone turn,
That’s why they called him Pedlar Jack

He covered all the streets between
The Bargate and the Pier,
He’d doff his hat to every passer-by,
And at The Duke of Wellington
He’d take a glass of beer
Then Bugle Street would echo to his cry.

Customers he never lacked,
Both rich and poor alike
Always knew they would get their money’s worth,
If his machine had only been
A penny-farthing bike
He might have cycled half-way around the earth.

How the children loved to see
The grindstone meet the blade,
It always seemed to take them by surprise,
They’d stand around in wonderment,
Watch the sparks cascade
Mirroring the twinkle in his eyes.

These words can be found in John Paddy Browne's book - "Folk Songs of Old Hampshire"
from Milestone Publications in 1987...there may still be some around somewhere.
The tune for the song...which I cannot reproduce here..is also to be found there.

It was originally recorded by Graham himself on a Forest Track LP.. "Hampshire - A Musical Portrait"...However, Forest Tracks is sadly no more since the death of Paul Marsh.

It can also be found on another Forest Tracks product - a CD called "Southampton in Song" by Brian Hopper and Jeff Henry...again no longer available...Probably!

Tim Radford
Ex- Fo'c'sle Folk Club resident from 1970 until 1973...(That is in Southampton)

Subject: RE: ADD:The Knife and Scissors Man (Graham Penny)
From: Mrrzy
Date: 15 Oct 24 - 04:11 PM

Thanks! Is it to the tune of anything?

Subject: RE: ADD:The Knife and Scissors Man (Graham Penny)
From: RTim
Date: 15 Oct 24 - 05:34 PM

It has Graham's own tune...I do have a Hard copy in JPB's book...but No means of posting...and there are No recorded versions on line...You could try and contact Brian Hopper in Southampton...he May have an audio file..??

Tim Radford

Subject: RE: ADD:The Knife and Scissors Man (Graham Penny)
From: Joe Offer
Date: 15 Oct 24 - 10:00 PM

Tim posted the dots on Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=10160278863971966&set=gm.10161018846238577&idorvanity=10793388576

Subject: RE: ADD:The Knife and Scissors Man (Graham Penny)
From: RTim
Date: 15 Oct 24 - 10:02 PM

Hi again...As it is NOT possible to post an Image on this Main Mudcat site....I have posted it to the FaceBook Page..see here - https://www.facebook.com/groups/10793388576/?hoisted_section_header_type=recently_seen&multi_permalinks=10161018846238577


Tim Radford

Subject: RE: ADD:The Knife and Scissors Man (Graham Penny)
From: Mrrzy
Date: 16 Oct 24 - 08:51 AM

Thanks! I am afraid of fb, after the second time I got hacked through it took less than 90 seconds... are these pages I can view without an account?

Really appreciate your efforts!

Subject: RE: ADD:The Knife and Scissors Man (Graham Penny)
From: Nigel Parsons
Date: 16 Oct 24 - 10:29 AM

I think this is the ABC, but typing it into the converter at mandolintab gets 'unauthorised'.
However it seems to work (resulting in very small print Here

X:1
T:knifeandscissors
M:2/4
L:1/8
K:A
|cA EE| E/ A3/ dd| cA GF| E3E| F/A3/ Ad| cA GF| E4| cA EE| FA dd| cA GF| E2 EE| FA Ad| cB AB| (A4| A4)|cA EE| F/ A3/ dd| cA GF| E3 E| FA Ad| cB AG| E4| cA EE| F/ A3/ dd| cA GF| E2 EE| FA Ad| cB AB| (A4|A3) d| dd dc| cB BB| cc cB| A3c| dd dd| cB AB| c3 d| dd dc| cB BB| cc cB| A3 A| BB BB| BF GA| (B4|B4)||

Subject: RE: ADD:The Knife and Scissors Man (Graham Penny)
From: RTim
Date: 16 Oct 24 - 11:06 AM

I don't understand the dots...and ABC is an even bigger mystery....Pity the song recordings - of which there are only two..are Not available to post a link...I have written to Brian Hopper to ask if he has a postable link of their recording...we will see if that brings anything...

Tim Radford

Subject: RE: ADD:The Knife and Scissors Man (Graham Penny)
From: DaveRo
Date: 16 Oct 24 - 12:00 PM

Mrrzy wrote: ...are these pages I can view without an account

Yes - in theory. I don't have an account and I can see them in Firefox - until FB plasters 'Log in!' banners on top of it. I then clear cookies and site date for FB (click the padlock next to the address) and start again.

Once you see the score, if it's too small, right-click 'Open IMAGE in new tab'.

Subject: RE: ADD:The Knife and Scissors Man (Graham Penny)
From: Nigel Parsons
Date: 16 Oct 24 - 01:00 PM

Tim,
If you copy/paste the ABC from my post (from the 'X' to the double pipe '||') into the page at the link I gave (replacing what is already there in the white box), it will convert it to stave notation, but also give (below the white box) a playback option using MIDI.
You may want to slow the beat in the white box to the right of the playback bar, I think reduce the '100' to about '60'
Cheers

Subject: RE: ADD:The Knife and Scissors Man (Graham Penny)
From: Mrrzy
Date: 16 Oct 24 - 03:10 PM

Ooh coolio

Subject: RE: ADD:The Knife and Scissors Man (Graham Penny)
From: DaveRo
Date: 17 Oct 24 - 06:56 AM

Nigel Parsons wrote: If you copy/paste the ABC from my post ... into the page at the link I gave ...

And if you end up with a v e r y   l o n g single-line staff - which is what I got - just add
%%barsperstaff 8
as a new line - e.g. after the T line:

X:1
T:knifeandscissors
%%barsperstaff 8
M:2/4

The result should be something like this.
(Using the tool I mentioned in this thread.)