Lyr Req: Tradesman's Toast - union song

Subject: Lyr Req: Trades Mans Toast - Union song
From: GUEST,guest gecko
Date: 21 Mar 07 - 10:02 PM

Does this title ring a bell with anyone?? Our guest, Danny Spooner, will be singing it here in Cairns for the Labour Day celebrations on 7 May but I'm unable to locate the lyrics by any of the usual methods or resources.   'Course, that might just be me...............

Hope you can help

YIU

gecko

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Trades Mans
From: oldhippie
Date: 21 Mar 07 - 11:07 PM

Might you be looking for "All Trades" (Tradesmen's Toast) by John Warner (on CD The Sea and the Soil)? John is half of the Australian folk duo Walters and Warner.

Subject: Lyr Add: ALL TRADES (TRADESMAN'S TOAST) (J Warner)
From: Bob Bolton
Date: 22 Mar 07 - 06:03 AM

G'day gecko and oldhippie,

Since Danny's singing "... for the Labour Day celebrations on 7 May..." there's a good chance that he has decided to use John beaut old (1985) song, which, in passing, pays tribute to one wonderful line in Gerard Manley Hopkins' poem Pied Beauty!

Here are the words (just in case you have to run them past a committee ... or something:
^^
All Trades ( Tradesman's Toast)
John Warner © 1985

Here's to the smith, with his sets and hammer
Fore and hard, his swage and tongs;
Beating his will on the blazing steel,
To the forge's roar and the anvil's song.
          All trades, their gear and tackle,
          Fittings and fettlings, tools and blades'
          Subtle hands working ageless patterns -
          Here's to the people of - all trades!

Here's to the weaver's, loom and shuttle
Heddle and beater, warp and weft;
Tweed and gaberdine twill and cotton,
Shuttles shooting both right and left.
          All trades, their gear and tackle…

Here's to the mariner's sheets and halyards,
Fair leads, fiddle blocks, anchor and oar,
Here's to the shanty at the weather main brace
When the tide has turned and the wind's off-shore.
          All trades, their gear and tackle…

Here's to the cooks, their leeks and onions,
Rosemary, basil, garlic and chives ,
Cleavers and skillets and pans and ladles,
Cauldrons, kettles and carving knives.
          All trades, their gear and tackle…

Here's to the cooper's croze and cressock,
In-shaves, flagging iron, trusses and adze,
Driving the hoops on the smoking barrels
To hold good ale for the lasses and lads.
          All trades, their gear and tackle…

Here's to the shipwright's planks and gunwales,
Stem post, stern post, scantling and beams
Trenails, inwales, iron and mallet
Tar and oakum to caulk the seam.
          All trades, their gear and tackle…

Here's to the wheel of your home-spun spinner,
Bobbin whirling on the mother of all
Here's to her carders, her combs her treadle
She plys and spins the greasy wool.
          All trades, their gear and tackle…

Here's to the hands of men and women,
Here's to the fine-wrought goods they've made
Here's to the tools, the words, the secrets,
The brand of humanity on every trade.
          All trades, their gear and tackle,
          Fittings and fettlings, tools and blades'
          Subtle hands working ageless patterns -
          Here's to the people of - all trades!

Regards,

Bob

Subject: Lyr Add: Tradesan' Toasts
From: Bob Bolton
Date: 22 Mar 07 - 06:15 AM

Errr....

I got through to John, to check a few of the trade terms which I might have missed - and overlooked a query I had up at the second line. The correct title of the song is Tradesman's Toast and the first verse and chorus should look like this:

Tradesman's Toast
John Warner© 1985

Here's to the smith, with his sets and hammer
Fuller and hardie, his swage and tongs;
Beating his will on the blazing steel,
To the forge's roar and the anvil's song.
          All trades, their gear and tackle,
          Fittings and fettlings, tools and blades'
          Subtle hands working ageless patterns -
          Here's to the people of - all trades!

Regards,

Bob

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Trades Mans
From: oldhippie
Date: 22 Mar 07 - 07:48 AM

Thanks for posting the lyrics, Bob. I couldn't locate them. Great song, I hope its the one gecko is looking for.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Trades Mans
From: gecko
Date: 23 Mar 07 - 04:34 AM

Many thanks to Bob and oldhippie. Mudcatters rise to the challenge once again! Sounds as if you are familiar with May Day committees Bob, but in this particular case the selection of the songs has been left to Danny and I - thank goodness!

YIU
gecko

Subject: Lyr Add: Tradesman's Toast
From: Bob Bolton
Date: 24 Mar 07 - 09:42 AM

G'day again,

Since I notice that the "harvested" symbol (^^) seems to have promptly appeared on my first posting of John Warner's words for his fine song ... I hope the second (correcting!) post ... with the proper words in the second line of the first stanza ... has been picked up as well.

I slightly 'rushed' the first transcription ... not having access to the "hi-fi" setup - at risk of relationship to my beloved, who was actually watching a TV program, at the time. The tacky little plastic speakers attached to my computer just don't do high fidelity! John confirmed the words in my second version, so it would be nice for them to correct my oversight in the first posting.

Regards,

Bob

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Tradesman's Toast - union song
From: Joe Offer
Date: 12 Apr 21 - 04:34 PM

Mainly Norfolk has this song as "Trademan's Toast."
What is the proper title?
https://mainlynorfolk.info/danny.spooner/songs/trademanstoast.html

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Tradesman's Toast - union song
From: Reinhard
Date: 12 Apr 21 - 05:29 PM

I took the title "Trademan's Toast" from Danny Spooner and Duncan Brown's album as that is the only recording I have of the song.

The discography on John Warner's own website lists it as "All Trades (Tradesmen's Toast)" - note the plural form - on his CD "The Sea and the Soil".

---

Thanks, Reinhard. -Joe Offer-

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Tradesman's Toast - union song
From: GerryM
Date: 13 Apr 21 - 12:30 AM

Just to add to the confusion ... I'm looking at the John Warner CD, "The Sea and the Soil" ... on the back cover of the CD, and the back of the liner notes, the title is given as

All Trades (Trademen's Toast)

but inside the liner notes it's

Tradesman's Toast

Regardless of spelling, it's a terrific song on a terrific album.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Tradesman's Toast - union song
From: Daniel Kelly
Date: 11 Jan 22 - 06:32 PM

I went looking for a link to a any recording of this fantastic tribute to tradesfolk and could not find one.

So did this rough recording.