ADD: A Shropshire Lad (poem by John Betjeman)

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: A Shropshire Lad (John Betjeman)
From: Jack Blandiver
Date: 09 Nov 09 - 06:08 AM

Thanks for reminding me of this. A real old favourite, having bought ATMAATSWBARHCB when J&SK played in Shiremoor back in - 1976 (??) Still got the original vinyl; must dig it out later & give it a spin.

The poem is simple enough - the ghost of Captain Webb, having died in Niagara Falls, pays a call to his home town on his way to heaven whilst the ordinariness of Dawley life, circa 1883, goes on. Could this be based on actual folklore? Though one would have thought if JB was privvy to such he would have made use of The Pig on the Wall legend! A lovely poem. Must say, can't understand the bafflement.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: A Shropshire Lad (John Betjeman)
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 08 Nov 09 - 08:30 PM

A railroad to transport iron ore, West Somerset Mineral Railway, was called the mineral line, but the reference in the poem is meaningless to me, too.
Captain Webb was the first man to swim the English Channel, he was from Dawley, but the point of the poem is a bit beyond.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: A Shropshire Lad (John Betjeman)
From: Uncle_DaveO
Date: 08 Nov 09 - 08:03 PM

I keep assuring myself that I'm understanding this, but then I lose it.

Incidentally, what's "running a mineral line" mean? If anything.

Dave Oesterreich

Subject: Lyr Add: A SHROPSHIRE LAD (John Betjeman)
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 08 Nov 09 - 07:51 PM

From The great Modern Poets by Michael Schmidt (London: Quercus, [2006?]), page 111:


A SHROPSHIRE LAD
John Betjeman

The gas was on in the Institute,
The flare was up in the gym,
A man was running a mineral line,
A lass was singing a hymn,
When Captain Webb the Dawley man,
Captain Webb from Dawley,
Came swimming along the old canal
That carried the bricks to Lawley.
Swimming along—
Swimming along—
Swimming along from Severn,
And paying a call at Dawley Bank while swimming along to Heaven.

The sun shone low on the railway line
And over the bricks and stacks
And in at the upstairs windows
Of the Dawley houses' backs
When we saw the ghost of Captain Webb,
Webb in a water sheeting,
Come dripping along in a bathing dress
To the Saturday evening meeting.
Dripping along—
Dripping along—
To the Congregational Hall;
Dripping and still he rose over the sill and faded away in a wall.

There wasn't a man in Oakengates
That hadn't got hold of the tale,
And over the valley in Ironbridge,
And round by Coalbrookdale,
How Captain Webb the Dawley man,
Captain Webb from Dawley,
Rose rigid and dead from the old canal
That carries the bricks to Lawley.
Rigid and dead—
Rigid and dead—
To the Saturday congregation,
Paying a call at Dawley bank on the way to his destination.

Subject: RE: Captain Webb the swimmer
From: wysiwyg
Date: 22 May 00 - 02:23 PM

Subject: RE: Captain Webb the swimmer
From: GUEST,Peter Scott
Date: 22 May 00 - 05:19 AM

Thank you all. Now to work it into my own (very private) repertoire, What a Forum! Thanks P

Subject: RE: Captain Webb the swimmer
From: Stewie
Date: 21 May 00 - 07:30 PM

I should have mentioned also that the label on the LP indicates that the music on Kirkpatrick's version was by Jim Parker.

--Stewie.

Subject: RE: Captain Webb the swimmer
From: Stewie
Date: 21 May 00 - 07:25 PM

The John Kirkpatrick version of 'A Shropshire Lad' was on John and Sue Harris 'Among the Many Attractions at the Show Will Be a Really High Class Band' Topic LP 12TS259 1976. In his note Kirkpatrick mentions Betjeman reciting it to the music of Jim Parker on the LP referred to by bigJ above. Tony in Darwin sings it wonderfully.

--Stewie.

Subject: RE: Captain Webb the swimmer
From: GUEST,bigJ
Date: 21 May 00 - 04:28 PM

P.S. It's also on Damien Barber's 1991 recording 'Blass Me' NOFOLK 001

Subject: RE: Captain Webb the swimmer
From: GUEST,bigJ
Date: 21 May 00 - 10:10 AM

Certainly, the poem/song is on 'Banana Blush' by John Betjeman with musical accompaniment by that splendid musician Jim Parker. The recording originally appeared in 1974 but was released on CD in 1995 on Virgin Records VCCCD19.7243 8 40569 2 6. Its name is'A Shropshire Lad' but it has nothing to do with A.E. Houseman's poem of the same name.

Subject: RE: Captain Webb the swimmer
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 21 May 00 - 09:35 AM

I'm pretty certain it's John Kirkpatrick made the tune to it and recorded it. It matches the song brilliantly. He was the first person to swim the Channel, and later got drowned trying to swim the Niagara Falls. There used to be boxes of matches with pictures of him swimming. But he's a bit forgotten now.

With a name like that, thouigh, he ought to be back in vogue now, what with the Internet.

Here's another site with the poem

Subject: RE: Captain Webb the swimmer
From: Malcolm Douglas
Date: 21 May 00 - 08:51 AM

Betjeman's poem is at www.jbetjeman.freeserve.co.uk:  A Shropshire Lad.  He recorded an album back in the early '70s, Betjeman's Banana Blush, on which he recited poems over musical accompaniment.  Possibly the singer you heard extracted a tune from that, though the way I remember it he would have had to use some ingenuity!

Malcolm

Subject: Captain Webb the swimmer
From: GUEST,Peter Scott (Portsmouth)
Date: 21 May 00 - 03:43 AM

Does anyone know the ballad and a tune for it? I have been told it's from "A Shropshire lad" by John Betjeman. I can't imagine JB pinching an A E Housman title, but that's what the singer said. It's a great tale, especially the training sessions for the Channel crossing,in the Darlaston Cut. P