Lyr Add: Mallard

Subject: ADD: Requiem (Dave Goulder) ^^
From: Stewie
Date: 03 Mar 00 - 06:31 PM

REQUIEM
(Dave Goulder)

When the signals were green, did you sit by line
And watch for the fire in the sky?
Then a scream and a roar and the shivering ground
And old Oliver Cromwell goes by
Did you fancy your hand at the throttle and brake
With the steam driven into your soul?
Or to stand with the drivin' wheels under your feet
And shovel a mountain of coal?

Well, they've silenced the whistle, the coal is all burned
They've buried the ashes for good
They've torn up the loop and there's only a scar
To show where the water crane stood
But the birch and the elder still follow the track
Standing black in the smoke and the rain
And the poor little sheep with a smouldering back
Runs away at the sound of a train

Oh Britannias and Jubilees, Compounds and Crabs
Have been taken away from the shed
And along with the clipper, the coach and the cab
They speak of an age that is dead
For some are away to be mounted and stuffed
While others are butchered and sold
And the steam racer's gone for the very last time
And his brazier's broken and cold

Well, I've given me kettle and me old tin can
To a lad for a souvenir
And I'd trade in me shovel for twenty fags
Or the price of a bottle of beer
For the Scotsman has come to the end of his run
And Mallard is cold as the stone
Their story is over, the giants are dead
And the jackals are pickin' the bones

Source: 'From the album Dave Goulder and Liz Dyer 'January Man'.

Another train song for which I would appreciate a little help. Any ideas whether 'Compounds and Crabs' (what it sounds like) is correct? I tried searching steam engines on the net - even model sites - but was simply sent around in circles without becoming any the wiser. There seemed to be quite a bit on American steam trains, but not much on British ones - that I could find. My source for this is an early Dave Goulder record, but I've forgotten its name. I pretty sure 'Mallard' is the correct title for the song, but my recollection may be faulty. Whatever, it's a great song. Does anyone recall the name of the album it is from?

--Stewie. ^^

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Mallard
From: Stewie
Date: 03 Mar 00 - 07:25 PM

Well, my recollection was totally faulty. I just found the original cassette on to which I had dubbed this song years ago - I had thought it lost forever. The correct title of the song should be 'Requiem', not 'Mallard'. The album it came from was Dave Goulder and Liz Dyer 'January Man'. It had some other great songs like 'Pigs Can See the Wind', 'January Man', 'Faraway Tom'. Unfortunately, I made no note of the record label. I'll see if Joe can repair the stuff-up for me.

--Stewie.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Mallard
From: Snuffy
Date: 03 Mar 00 - 08:22 PM

Britannias were post-war 4-6-2 express engines, built by the nationalised British Railways. Oliver Cromwell was one of the Britannia class

Jubilees were 4-6-0s, introduced in the mid-1930s by the LMSR

Compounds probably means the 4-4-0 Midland Railway compounds (pre WW1)

Crabs were powerful (for UK) 2-6-0 mixed traffic locos introduced about 1930 on the LMSR

Mallard was a streamlined A4 Pacific (4-6-2) of the LNER.

Has this helped, or added to your confusion?

Wassail! V

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Mallard
From: Stewie
Date: 03 Mar 00 - 09:13 PM

Snuffy

Thank you very much indeed for all that information - it is very much appreciated. A few friends and I are putting together an entertainment on train songs for presentation at a folk festival later this year. The reason is that the top half of the Northern Territory, where we live, may (although we won't hold our breath) finally be linked to the rest of Australia by the construction of a railway line that was first promised in the first decade of last century! It's nice to be as accurate as possible, so I thank you again for sharing your knowledge.

Cheers, Stewie.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Mallard
From: Stewie
Date: 03 Mar 00 - 09:20 PM

Joe,

Thanks for fixing up the title and attribution.

--Stewie.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Mallard
From: wildlone
Date: 04 Mar 00 - 12:15 AM

Dave Goulder worked on the railway for years and wrote songs of british railways and railway men. I have got a couple of his lps I will look them out later today.
The last I heard Dave was building dry stone walls for a living.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Mallard
From: The Shambles
Date: 04 Mar 00 - 06:40 AM

Darn!

I thought this was going to be a folksong about DUCKS.

Nice song though. I have got a tune called God's Wonderful Railway, if anyone is interested.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Mallard
From: wildlone
Date: 04 Mar 00 - 03:05 PM

Requiem For Steam, The Railway Songs of Dave Goulder.
recorded on Big Ben records BB 00.04
The Man Who Put The Engine in The Chip Shop.
Fellside FEO65
the above are on vinyl.
Stone,Steam and Starlings.
Harbourtown HARCD 017.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Mallard
From: phil jl
Date: 06 Mar 00 - 06:22 PM

Stewie

Is there any chance of you posting a tune for Requiem ?

Phil

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Mallard
From: Stewie
Date: 06 Mar 00 - 08:47 PM

Phil, I don't know how to do it, but I'll see what I can organise.

--Stewie.