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Info: Ding Dong Dollar

DigiTrad:
DING DONG DOLLAR


Related threads:
Lyr ADD: The Eskimo Republic (21)
Russian translation of Ding Dong Dollar (1)
Lyr Req: Scottish Breakaway / Coronation Coronach (55)
Lyr Req: The glesga eskimos (116)
Lyr Req: Glasga' Eskimos (15)
Glasgow Eskimos (35)
Eskimo Republic Political Song Book (59)
Radio prog about the Singing Eskimos (2)
Lyr Add: We dinnae want Polaris (6)
Lyr Req: the Glesca eskimos (10)


Jim McLean 08 Jun 20 - 03:38 AM
GUEST,Susanne (skw) 07 Jun 20 - 08:08 PM
Phillip 18 May 20 - 08:26 AM
Jim Carroll 17 May 20 - 02:34 PM
Jim McLean 17 May 20 - 02:27 PM
Phillip 17 May 20 - 09:56 AM
Phillip 17 May 20 - 09:08 AM
jacko@nz 30 Sep 19 - 11:32 PM
Joe Offer 30 Sep 19 - 05:36 PM
Jim McLean 22 Aug 18 - 06:15 AM
Jim McLean 05 Mar 18 - 10:05 AM
Joe Offer 04 Mar 18 - 10:32 PM
Tattie Bogle 04 Mar 18 - 02:28 PM
Joe Offer 04 Mar 18 - 12:54 PM
Gallus Moll 03 Mar 18 - 07:48 PM
Joe Offer 03 Mar 18 - 04:54 PM
Tattie Bogle 27 Mar 17 - 01:04 PM
Jack Campin 27 Mar 17 - 06:36 AM
Jim McLean 20 Aug 10 - 09:42 AM
GUEST,Ewan McVicar 20 Aug 10 - 04:22 AM
Jim McLean 13 Feb 10 - 05:30 AM
Joe Offer 12 Feb 10 - 08:40 PM
Jim McLean 12 Feb 10 - 12:30 PM
Vic Smith 12 Feb 10 - 12:03 PM
Jim McLean 29 Sep 02 - 12:47 PM
Steph 28 Sep 02 - 08:53 PM
Jim McLean 28 Sep 02 - 08:45 AM
Jim McLean 28 Sep 02 - 04:36 AM
Steph 27 Sep 02 - 08:12 PM
GUEST 27 Sep 02 - 06:13 PM
Susanne (skw) 27 Sep 02 - 05:08 PM
Steph 27 Sep 02 - 04:08 PM
Susanne (skw) 29 Jul 02 - 05:10 PM
GUEST,Jim McLean 28 Jul 02 - 06:57 PM
Susanne (skw) 28 Jul 02 - 06:25 PM
GUEST,Jim McLean 28 Jul 02 - 01:05 PM
Susanne (skw) 27 Jul 02 - 07:16 PM
Susanne (skw) 26 Jul 02 - 10:04 PM
GUEST,Jim McLean 26 Jul 02 - 12:22 PM
Art Thieme 26 Jul 02 - 11:29 AM
GUEST,Jim McLean 26 Jul 02 - 10:17 AM
GUEST,Jim McLean(JawMac@aol.com) 26 Jul 02 - 10:14 AM
GUEST,Nick 26 Jul 02 - 09:24 AM
GUEST,Nick 26 Jul 02 - 09:22 AM
GUEST 26 Jul 02 - 08:47 AM
GUEST,Nick 26 Jul 02 - 08:14 AM
GUEST,Jim McLean 26 Jul 02 - 08:06 AM
GUEST,Nick 26 Jul 02 - 07:47 AM
GUEST,Jim Mclean 26 Jul 02 - 05:21 AM
GUEST,Scabby Doug (nae cookie) 26 Jul 02 - 04:42 AM
GUEST,Jim Mclean 26 Jul 02 - 04:32 AM
GUEST,Moleskin Joe 26 Jul 02 - 04:05 AM
GUEST,Jim Mclean 25 Jul 02 - 05:57 PM
GUEST,Jim McLean 25 Jul 02 - 05:33 PM
Susanne (skw) 25 Jul 02 - 04:26 PM
jacko@nz 24 Jul 02 - 11:48 PM
Art Thieme 24 Jul 02 - 11:17 PM
Susanne (skw) 24 Jul 02 - 08:29 PM
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Subject: RE: Info: Ding Dong Dollar
From: Jim McLean
Date: 08 Jun 20 - 03:38 AM

Yes, Hamish was on the demo on March 4th 1961 as the sleeve picture has always shown but my main point is that although we were good friends and ran around together he was never one of the crowd who met regularly in Morris Blythman's house .... and it was Morris who named this group "the Eskimoes".
There are quite a few anomalies in Hamish's accounts of the demo as related in Ewan McVicar's book "Cod Liver Oil and the Orange Juice".
I was heavily involved with Stewart and Bill in researching Ding Dong Dollar and hope the project can be completed soon.


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Subject: RE: Info: Ding Dong Dollar
From: GUEST,Susanne (skw)
Date: 07 Jun 20 - 08:08 PM

Hi all - glad to find this old thread still gets added to!

Jim, going back to what you said about Hamish Imlach: I accept that he wasn't an Eskimo but he evidently was a demonstrator. I thought the guy with the cloth cap in the bottom left of the cover photo looked a lot like him. The pictures with the Black / Wagman article confirm it. In the top one he is talking to Nigel Denver, in the bottom one he is standing next to Josh MacRae on the right, facing the camera, though somewhat obscured by somebody else - but surely it is Hamish.

Keep well, all of you!


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Subject: RE: Info: Ding Dong Dollar
From: Phillip
Date: 18 May 20 - 08:26 AM

Thanks To both of you . It’s the book I was after though.


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Subject: RE: Info: Ding Dong Dollar
From: Jim Carroll
Date: 17 May 20 - 02:34 PM

"And does anyone have a copy"
I think there's one here if you mean the Film - you're welcome to a copy if I have

One of the happy memories of a Faslane demonstration was the march diverting into a roadside pub on a baking hot day and walking out the other side when they found they didn't serve women - bloody Presbyterians
Jim


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Subject: RE: Info: Ding Dong Dollar
From: Jim McLean
Date: 17 May 20 - 02:27 PM

Jack O'Connor was a good friend of mine. He was a Trade Union official in Glasgow and went to London around 1964 again as a union man for ACTT. He was never a "folkie" but loved the company and songs. He was the first to record Freedom Come All Ye for the DDD LP although I heard him, Nigel Denver and Josh MacRae all singing the song when Hamish Henderson wrote it in 1960.
I think he died around 1970, we met up in London a lot but after I married and had children we drifted a bit as Jackie's main entertainment was the pub.
He features on the front of the Ding Dong Dollar sleeve, with a bow tie, next to me, on the top row.


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Subject: RE: Info: Ding Dong Dollar
From: Phillip
Date: 17 May 20 - 09:56 AM

And does anyone have a copy of The Eskimo Republic they want to sell, at a reasonable price? PM me, if so, please.


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Subject: RE: Info: Ding Dong Dollar
From: Phillip
Date: 17 May 20 - 09:08 AM

Does anyone have any information about Jack (or Jackie) O'Connor, who sang the Freedome Come All Ye on this album?

I have listened to many versions of that great song, and obviously it's just personal opinion but that version is my favourite apart from the one by Gordon McCulloch on The Exile's album.


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Subject: RE: Info: Ding Dong Dollar
From: jacko@nz
Date: 30 Sep 19 - 11:32 PM

404 Error on the clickie,
Joe.

    Oh, fer dumb. My mistake. Fixed it.
    Thanks for the heads-up, Jacko.
    -Joe-


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Subject: RE: Info: Ding Dong Dollar
From: Joe Offer
Date: 30 Sep 19 - 05:36 PM

And out of this thread and a lot of other research, has sprung an article by Bill Wagman and Stewart Black in Smithsonian Folklife (click), an online magazine.
Nice work, Bill and Stewart!
-Joe-


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Subject: RE: Info: Ding Dong Dollar
From: Jim McLean
Date: 22 Aug 18 - 06:15 AM

The Glasgow Song Guild was not, as assumed by various authors, a collective name for the anti Polaris singers and songwriters. It was, in Marion Blythman's own words "a fictitious company". Morris was the chairman although is pen name Thurso Berwick was used, and Marion was the Secretary. Presumably this was used to deal with Folkways but according to correspondence collected fro Folkways by Bill Wagman, Hamish Henderson managed to obtain royalties from the sale of the Ding Dong Dollar LP but I don't know who else did, certainly not me and I wrote three complete, non workshopped songs and contributed to many mor including the song DDD. This was an original song by John Mack Smith, written before the Proteus arrived in Scotland. Morris and I "workshopped" it and brought it up to date when the Proteus finally berthed. The line "she was wearing spangled drawers ablow her goon" was written by me.

Where has all the money gone?
Ding Dong Dollar.
Where has all the money gone,
Long time ago.
Who got paid for loyalty?
Hamish got his royalties.
When will we ever earn?
When will we ever earn?


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Subject: RE: Info: Ding Dong Dollar
From: Jim McLean
Date: 05 Mar 18 - 10:05 AM

Yes, Joe, the problem was the downloaded file was just a launcher program which couldn't access the server at the Californian end. I think the fault is there. Anyway I enjoyed the program eventually and it gave me the opportunity to clarify some misunderstandings perpetuated over the years. Thanks to Bill Wagman and Stewart Black.


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Subject: RE: Info: Ding Dong Dollar
From: Joe Offer
Date: 04 Mar 18 - 10:32 PM

We solved the major concern by passing the interview on to Jim McLean by Dropbox, but I wonder if there's a tech expert in the UK who wants to take a stab at this. Here's the link: http://kdvs.org/m3u.php?show_date=2018-03-03&show_id=4772&show_name=The+Saturday+Morning+Folk+Show&kbps=320.

Can you make it work in the UK?

-Joe-


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Subject: RE: Info: Ding Dong Dollar
From: Tattie Bogle
Date: 04 Mar 18 - 02:28 PM

If it's any help, Joe, this is the message I'm getting from your first link:
Missing or can't get to it.
Error: 0x800700a1


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Subject: RE: Info: Ding Dong Dollar
From: Joe Offer
Date: 04 Mar 18 - 12:54 PM

Can anyone in the UK make my link work for the program file? It should download a file which then will operate on Windows Media Player, but maybe it will not work in the United Kingdom.


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Subject: RE: Info: Ding Dong Dollar
From: Gallus Moll
Date: 03 Mar 18 - 07:48 PM

"The Bloody Fields of Flanders" (World War I 1914-1918)was composed by Pipe Major John McLellan of Dunoon, Argyll (1875-1949)
(Hamish Henderson used this tune for Freedom Come A' Ye)


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Subject: RE: Info: Ding Dong Dollar
From: Joe Offer
Date: 03 Mar 18 - 04:54 PM

Thread #110638   Message #3909286
Posted By: Joe Offer
03-Mar-18 - 04:38 PM
Thread Name: Jim McLeans songs
Subject: RE: Jim McLeans songs

My friend Bill Wagman has a Saturday folk show on KDVS in Davis, California. He interviewed Jim McLean about the Ding Dang Dollar album, and broadcast it today.
I don't know how long the broadcast is available, but it will be online for at least a few weeks.

Here's the link:
http://kdvs.org/m3u.php?show_date=2018-03-03&show_id=4772&show_name=The+Saturday+Morning+Folk+Show&kbps=320



And the playlist: https://kdvs.org/playlist-details/45665/


With Google Chrome, the browser downloaded a file titled 2018-02-24_4772_320kbps.m3u to my "downloads" folder. Then I right-clicked the file and selected "open with." A list of players showed up, and I chose "Windows Media Player" one time and "Media Monkey" another. No doubt, many of the players on the list will play the program for you.

I found the interview to be very interesting.

-Joe-


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Subject: RE: Info: Ding Dong Dollar
From: Tattie Bogle
Date: 27 Mar 17 - 01:04 PM

Well worth reading that article in Jack's link. I went to the concert in November's Carrying Stream Festival, entitled "From Thurso to Berwick - a Celebration of Morris Blythman" which was both enlightening and entertaining. The concert is being repeated during this year's Edinburgh Tradfest, on Friday 5th May at the Scottish Storytelling Centre on Edinburgh's Royal Mile. Billed as a "Rebel Ceilidh Come All Ye".
More details in the Tradfest brochure (p18) or on the website:
Tradfest brochure


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Subject: RE: Info: Ding Dong Dollar
From: Jack Campin
Date: 27 Mar 17 - 06:36 AM

Recent article about Morris Blythman:

http://www.thenational.scot/culture/14895628.Morris_Blythman__The_man_who_was_the_driving_force_behind_Scotland_s_folk_music_revival/


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Subject: RE: Info: Ding Dong Dollar
From: Jim McLean
Date: 20 Aug 10 - 09:42 AM

I agree with Ewan McVicar. Hamish was not very 'hands on' with the Ding Dong Dollar LP and Morris was totally in charge. I do know that Hamish, however, had some financial spat with Moses Asch of Folkways who later licenced the album to Transatlantic. I don't think Morris would get involved financially.
Also I recommend queuing up to buy Ewan's latest book, The Eskimo Republic which is extremely enlightening and informatif for anyone interested in contemporary Scottish folk music.


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Subject: RE: Info: Ding Dong Dollar
From: GUEST,Ewan McVicar
Date: 20 Aug 10 - 04:22 AM

I was surprised to read above that Hamish Henderson had a hand in the album notes, although I know that Tim Neat belives Hamish did them all. For me they have Morris Blythman's hand, style and approach stamped right through. See his Chapbook article on Scotland's rebel songs for comparison.
I go into aspects of the songs, the Glasgow Song Guild, and many other things in my new book The Eskimo Republic, Scots political song in action 1951-1999, available in a few weeks. I'll post a proper message about it then.
Ewan


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Subject: RE: Info: Ding Dong Dollar
From: Jim McLean
Date: 13 Feb 10 - 05:30 AM

Joe, that's me on the right, next to the CND banner, about 50 years ago!


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Subject: RE: Info: Ding Dong Dollar
From: Joe Offer
Date: 12 Feb 10 - 08:40 PM

You can find album liner notes for the Folkways "Ding Dong Dollar" album here (click)


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Subject: RE: Info: Ding Dong Dollar
From: Jim McLean
Date: 12 Feb 10 - 12:30 PM

The album was called 'Scottish Republican and Anti Polaris Songs' and they were specifically written to represent the immediate times we were living in, hence their short term appeal. Hamish's magnificent 'Freedom Come All Ye' had been written previously and was included due to its merit and popularity (sung by Jack O'Connor) even though it did not refer to Republicanism or anti Polaris directly. There was no commercial sales outlet so it's surprising it sold atall. The Scottish establishment was totally against the sentiment of the songs hence the reason Pete Segger took the tapes to America and produced it there. I know Josh MacRae was banned from singing some of my material from the album in Glasgow.


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Subject: RE: Info: Ding Dong Dollar
From: Vic Smith
Date: 12 Feb 10 - 12:03 PM

Interesting to see this album mentioned again as I have just been reading the second volume of Timothy Neat's biography of Hamish Henderson and have today I finished reading Alec Finlay's collected letters of Hamish Henderson, The Armstrong Nose. Both books deal with Henderson's disappointment that Ding Dong Dollar sold badly when it was first released all those years ago.
It has made me get my battered old copy of Ding Dong Dollar down from my vinyl shelves to play it again. Most of the songs seem transient and rather dated now and then shining above them all is Hamish's Freedom Come-All-Ye, one of the truly outstanding songs to come out of the folk revival.
Read the words at @displaysong.cfm?SongID=2131


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Subject: RE: Info: Ding Dong Dollar
From: Jim McLean
Date: 29 Sep 02 - 12:47 PM

Steph, you'll notice I used the word 'advise' regarding the recording. I know what you mean about the use of the word 'acid' as I distanced myself (about 900 miles) from the negotiations and details of the recording deal. Things were getting a bit parochial and nit picking. No names of writers or singers were shown as Morris thought this would encourage the 'cult of the personality' syndrome!! Hamish says in his book Alias MacAlias ' Hugh MacDiarmid was later to write ---- These young poets have created a new Scots folk-poetry in their ballads against the siting of the Polaris base in Scotland --- but the poets who earned MacDiarmid's accolade remain anonymous, as do the singers'. Everyone knew that Hamish had written the Freedom Come All Ye and anyway we, the writers and singers, were pretty naïve and only wanted the songs heard. When Transatlantic reissued the LP on its EXTRA label under the name 'Scottish Republican Songs'it came as a surprise to us all, excluding Morris and Hamish I suppose. There must have been some money involved and I have often wondered where it went. This LP is not be confused with the 'Scottish Republican Songs' LP I wrote for Major Minor in 1966, sung by Nigel Denver, sleeve notes by Hugh MacDiarmid.
Steph, as far as the Unity Creates Strength LP is concerned, I think I should open a separate thread and put the deatils there. Jim Mclean


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Subject: RE: Info: Ding Dong Dollar
From: Steph
Date: 28 Sep 02 - 08:53 PM

Jim, thanks for your info and reminiscences on the "high tech" production for Ding Dong Dollar and the Blythman house parties. From the correspondence we have in the archive, it appears that Hamish Henderson was handling a good bit of the details of the recording, including the notes, and that he had been the one to send the production tapes to Moses Asch. Some of the correspondence is a bit acid on both sides.

It's very useful to have the singers and songwriters for the individual tracks too, and I thank you for that information.

Jim, I'd be interested in hearing more about DDD from your perspective, and the 1972 Unity Creates Strength recording which I have and know you produced. Apologies if you've already talked about that, I've just started following Mudcat (too many listservs, too little time).

Stephanie


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Subject: RE: Info: Ding Dong Dollar
From: Jim McLean
Date: 28 Sep 02 - 08:45 AM

A correction to my info posted above: Paper hankies was written by Ian Wade. I remebered just afterwards but forgot to post it! Jim Mclean


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Subject: RE: Info: Ding Dong Dollar
From: Jim McLean
Date: 28 Sep 02 - 04:36 AM

Sorry, I forgot to reset my cookie yesterday!.
Steph, I mentioned somewhere else that Pete Segger paid for the production of the record. It was originally recorded in Morris (and Marion)'s house in Glasgow on an old EMI tape recorder. I was a TV engineer in those days and could advise as Morris couldn't put coal on the fire without it falling onto the hearth! When the LP was released with the full title "Ding Dong Dollar and Scottish Republican Songs" Morris sent a copy to me to Denmark where I was working (in a timberyard!). I had been a deckboy in the Swedish Navy for a while but was living in Denmark at the time. I remember he marked it 'Author's Copy' to prevent tax being paid! Morris desrves the fullest credit for the folksong revival,(not forgetting his long suffering mother in law, Mrs Pat)as he and Marion allowed their house, first in Springburn then in Rouken Glen, to be the centrepoint for folkies. 'Admission' was usually a half bottle of Glen Grant's whisky although teetotallers were excused. Mind you I don't remember many teetotallers being there. This was in stark contrast to Norrie and Janey Buchan's house where drink was forbidden.
Ah, happy days!
Jim McLean


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Subject: RE: Info: Ding Dong Dollar
From: Steph
Date: 27 Sep 02 - 08:12 PM

Archie Fisher was by his own admission not involved in the CND rallies, but Ray did go and sing, really more to be part of the group than anything else, as she admitted. My original research was for a PhD on the Fishers, so I wasn't focusing on the anti-Polaris issue, but I discovered it was a major and defining era in the Scottish folk revival.

Jim, I certainly know your name but never had the opportunity to speak with you while I was living in Scotland. The study I'm doing now on the Ding Dong Dollar recording is for a paper at the American Folklore Society meeting next month. Don't know if I'll publish anything, that remains to be seen. What is very interesting is knowing what I know, and seeing what little evidence there is about the recording for someone who doesn't know who the heck the Glasgow Song Guild was. In a letter to Hamish Henderson, Moses Asch states that Pete Seeger paid for the production of the recording, which is kind of interesting. Pete took up the song "Ding Dong Dollar" and sang it, albeit for a fairly brief period in his career. We have several recordings in the archives.

Stephanie Smith


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Subject: RE: Info: Ding Dong Dollar
From: GUEST
Date: 27 Sep 02 - 06:13 PM

It's interesting to see the names Ray and Archie Fisher and Norrie Buchan coupled with Ding Dong Dollar as neither of them were involved. Norrie distanced himself from the Scottish Republican issue after he left the communist party and became a Labour MP. Ray and Archie, although visitors at Morris and Marions' never to my mind sang anything political and were certainly never on any of the Faslane CND rallies. Jim Mclean


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Subject: RE: Info: Ding Dong Dollar
From: Susanne (skw)
Date: 27 Sep 02 - 05:08 PM

Steph, are there plans of a publication - either of the correspondence or of your study? That would be very interesting!


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Subject: RE: Info: Ding Dong Dollar
From: Steph
Date: 27 Sep 02 - 04:08 PM

I found this discussion thread by doing a web search on Ding Dong Dollar, and wish I'd found it sooner. I work with the Folkways Collection at the Smithsonian and am doing a study on this recording, looking at the correspondence that's in our archive. We have correspondence between Moses Asch and both Hamish Henderson and Morris Blythman. Fascinating stuff! It also rounds out what I know from having interviewed Marion Blythman, Ray and Archie Fisher, Norman Buchan, Hamish Henderson and others in the 1980s about the anti-Polaris songs.

Stephanie Smith


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Subject: RE: Info: Ding Dong Dollar
From: Susanne (skw)
Date: 29 Jul 02 - 05:10 PM

:-))))))


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Subject: RE: Info: Ding Dong Dollar
From: GUEST,Jim McLean
Date: 28 Jul 02 - 06:57 PM

Certainly Susanne, and if I wasn't such a gentleman you could have the words! Jim McLean


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Subject: RE: Info: Ding Dong Dollar
From: Susanne (skw)
Date: 28 Jul 02 - 06:25 PM

May I use that info, Jim???


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Subject: RE: Info: Ding Dong Dollar
From: GUEST,Jim McLean
Date: 28 Jul 02 - 01:05 PM

Hi Susanne, I'll let you know soon some of my reasons for writing songs, in response to your recent enquiry. Briefly regarding the song 'Ye'll no sit here' this was a parody on a rather rude Scottish song about a farmer and the line was 'Ye'll no shite here'. No one obviously wants credit for writing that hence the trad tag! Jim Mclean


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Subject: RE: Info: Ding Dong Dollar
From: Susanne (skw)
Date: 27 Jul 02 - 07:16 PM

One more question: How can 'Ye'll No Sit Here' and 'Ban Polaris Hallelujah' (to the tune of 'John Brown's Body') be trad.? At the least someone must have updated them! Maybe the institution that Gordon McCulloch likes to call 'the collective mincer', but still ...


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Subject: RE: Info: Ding Dong Dollar
From: Susanne (skw)
Date: 26 Jul 02 - 10:04 PM

Thanks for your input, Jim (and everybody else, of course)! This thread has really taken off.
A few more of the participants in the 'Eskimo' show were Arthur Johnstone and Gordeanna McCulloch, Chris Miles, Maureen Jelks and Aileen Carr (collectively known as Palaver at the time - and how I regret they never made a CD!) Enoch Kent had flown over all the way from Canada in order not to sing - his throat was "knackered with a capital F", as Danny Kyle put it!
I suppose it's different for those who were Eskimos, but I enjoyed the show and learned about a whole lot of songs I'd never known before. It was only afterwards I found the old albums - DDD, the Nigel Denver one, and the one about the events at UCS in 1972.
At the risk of getting on all your nerves, I'd like to come back to my favourite question: Jim, are there any particular stories attached to any of these songs? (Or to any of your other ones.) What sets you off writing about a certain topic, etc? That's what I'd love to hear more about.


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Subject: RE: Info: Ding Dong Dollar
From: GUEST,Jim McLean
Date: 26 Jul 02 - 12:22 PM

The Glasgow Folksong Guild was registered at Morris Blythman's house in Balgrayhill, Springburn. We contributed our songs freely and the Guild was merely a way of legaly printing the songs and have some control (or so Morris told us) I have no come back on anything Morris did as a 'publisher' as he was the most moral and decent man I knew. Jim Mclean


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Subject: RE: Info: Ding Dong Dollar
From: Art Thieme
Date: 26 Jul 02 - 11:29 AM

Also as I recall it from memory, the songs in Broadside Mag were said to have come from "The Glasgow Song Guild". Was that an umbrella organization at the time? In Chicago, later on, we had an organization called "Aural Tradition" at the same time that MANY of us were involved in putting together Emily Friedman's (the editor) magazine called COME FOR TO SING.

You writers and singers over there kept our focus in the U.S. on the dangers of nuclear globalized proliferation. I, for one, have always been impressed.

At this late date, as I observe my youthly zeal diminished from what it was (in so many ways), I need to thank you folks, again, for doing that then as well as now.

All the best to you,

Art Thieme


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Subject: RE: Info: Ding Dong Dollar
From: GUEST,Jim McLean
Date: 26 Jul 02 - 10:17 AM

I should have mentioned Josh MacRae and Jackie O'Connor as Eskimos


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Subject: RE: Info: Ding Dong Dollar
From: GUEST,Jim McLean(JawMac@aol.com)
Date: 26 Jul 02 - 10:14 AM

Hi Nick I can honestly say that neither of those mentioned were Eskimos! Ewan McVicar is extremely knowledgeable in this subject. He not only knows who ran around Morris's house (I should say his igloo) but who were actually involved in the Eskimo writing/singing scene. It would appear from the list you printed that anyone with a claim to knowing Morris assumed they were Eskimos. By the way I have a copy of the small booklet with lyrics called DING DONG DOLLAR, Eskimoe edition, 1961. The front iluustration of an Eskimo outside his igloo was by Josh MacRae. It cost 6d!


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Subject: RE: Info: Ding Dong Dollar
From: GUEST,Nick
Date: 26 Jul 02 - 09:24 AM

Ooops...I forgot Ewan McVicar and he's a Mudcatter. Sorry, Ewan.


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Subject: RE: Info: Ding Dong Dollar
From: GUEST,Nick
Date: 26 Jul 02 - 09:22 AM

I actually have a list of who appeared, but I'll have to dig it out...my computer crashed and it's on a back up disc somewhere. As soon I find it, I'll post it.

Here is who I remember in no order: Robin Hall, Jimmie Macgregor, Ian Davison, Jimmy Ross, Bob Blair, Bobby Campbell, Danny Kyle, George McIntyre, Ronnie Alexander (may have his name wrong), Gordon McCulloch, Enoch Kent, Adam McNaughtan...actually that's a pretty goood start, but there are more. I'll bet Susanne knows if I can't find it.

Nick


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Subject: RE: Info: Ding Dong Dollar
From: GUEST
Date: 26 Jul 02 - 08:47 AM

Nick, it would be interesting to know who actually featured in The Eskomo Republic as I suspect all the original members were either dead or univited. I know Matt McGinn, Hamish Imlach, Gordon McCulloch were definitely not 'Eskimos' although Hamish was around at the time. Cheers, Jim


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Subject: RE: Info: Ding Dong Dollar
From: GUEST,Nick
Date: 26 Jul 02 - 08:14 AM

Why did I suspect that was the answer. It has been such pleasure to read your posts. I'm coming back often just to seen if you've added new comments. All the best.

Nick


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Subject: RE: Info: Ding Dong Dollar
From: GUEST,Jim McLean
Date: 26 Jul 02 - 08:06 AM

We weren't asked, Nick, although it was common knowledge as to where we lived.


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Subject: RE: Info: Ding Dong Dollar
From: GUEST,Nick
Date: 26 Jul 02 - 07:47 AM

Jim,

Thanks for identifying the singers with the tracks. I've listen to the record at least a hundred, but as soon as I read the list and listen again I could recognize right away it was Nigel Denver. Also his picture, once you pointed him out on the cover. I don't know why I couldn't figure it out myself. On a side note…was there any why you and Nigel didn't appear on Eskimo Republic Glasgow at the Edinburgh Festival?

Nick


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Subject: RE: Info: Ding Dong Dollar
From: GUEST,Jim Mclean
Date: 26 Jul 02 - 05:21 AM

Scabby Doug, you're dead right and just beat me to it. Cheers.


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Subject: RE: Info: Ding Dong Dollar
From: GUEST,Scabby Doug (nae cookie)
Date: 26 Jul 02 - 04:42 AM

Hamish Henderson said that the tune was ""The Bloody Fields of Flanders" if I remember correctly...

Cheers

Steven


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Subject: RE: Info: Ding Dong Dollar
From: GUEST,Jim Mclean
Date: 26 Jul 02 - 04:32 AM

Sorry Jo, Farewell to the Creeks was used for Hamish's song Banks o'Sicily '...The Pipey is dozy...' ' .. so fareweel ye banks o' Sicily' The Freedom Come All ye starts '.. Roch the wind ...' I'll remember soon!


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Subject: RE: Info: Ding Dong Dollar
From: GUEST,Moleskin Joe
Date: 26 Jul 02 - 04:05 AM

The pipe tune is "Farewell to the Creeks".


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Subject: RE: Info: Ding Dong Dollar
From: GUEST,Jim Mclean
Date: 25 Jul 02 - 05:57 PM

Apologies Susanne for misspelling your name.


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Subject: Track Listing: Ding Dong Dollar (Folkways FD 5444)
From: GUEST,Jim McLean
Date: 25 Jul 02 - 05:33 PM

OK Susan here goes!

    Ding Dong Dollar (Folkways FD 5444)

    Ding Dong Dollar Trad/(Thurso Berwick[Morris Blythman]/ John Mac Smith/Jim McLean). Main Singer Nigel Denver with Jack O'Connor and Josh MacRae(Harmony)

    I Shall Not be Moved (Trad) singer Josh MacRae

    We Dinnae Want Polaris (The Three Craws/Jim McLean) singer Josh MacRae

    Paper Hankies (Freddy Anderson I think) singer Nigel Denver

    The Polis of Argyll (Freddy Anderson) singer Josh MacRae

    Ye'll no sit here (Trad) singers Morris Blythman and Jack O'Connor

    Anti-Polaris (Hamish henderson) singer Josh MacRae

    The Misguided Missile and the Misguided Miss (John Mack Smith) singer Nigel Denver

    Coronation Coronach (Thurso berwick=Morris Blythman) singer Josh MacRae with Morris shouting the intro!

    NAB for Royalty (Jim McLean) singer Josh MacRae

    They say we've never Had it sae Guid (Jim McLean) singer Josh MacRae

    Camp in the Country (Morris Blythman/Jim Mclean) singer Nigel Denver

    The Glesga Eskimos (T.S.Law/Morris Blythman) singer Josh MacRae

    The Freedom Come all ye (Trad/Hamish Henderson) singer Jack O'Connor

    Ban Polaris, Hallelujah (Trad) singer Josh MacRae.

The tune to Freedom Come all ye is a pipe tune but at the moment I forget its name. When I remember I'll let you know. Cheers, Jim McLean


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Subject: RE: Info: Ding Dong Dollar
From: Susanne (skw)
Date: 25 Jul 02 - 04:26 PM

You're right, Art - Kennedy gets several mentions, not just in this song (although none of my recordings seems to have Jack's verse - thanks!).

We Dinna Want Polaris (tune: Three Craws):
Anchors aweigh for Poppa Kennedy, Poppa Kennedy, Poppa Kennedy
Anchors aweigh for Poppa Kennedy, and ta-ta tae Polaris

Ye'll No Sit Here (Tune: Hey Jock Ma Cuddy):
He telephoned the White House, but a' that he could hear
Was, Twa, one, zero - and the line went queer
'Cos' Jack had dropped the H-bomb and he gie'd hissel' a shroud
And he met wi' Billy Graham on a wee white cloud

Boomerang (tune: Bless 'Em All, not on the album but in the show)has this refrain:
Boomerang, boomerang
Just send them back whaur they belang
Alang wi' auld Adenauer, Kennedy's pal
Signor Fanfani and Chairlie de Gaulle
For we dinnae like gifts that go bang
Just try one and see if I'm wrang
The banners are wavin', wha's next for the shavin'
So open your boom, boomerang

However, apart from the middle one, these are fairly mild, aren't they?


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Subject: RE: Info: Ding Dong Dollar
From: jacko@nz
Date: 24 Jul 02 - 11:48 PM

O ye canny spend a dollar when ye're deid
Sae tell Kennedy he's got tae keep the heid
Singing ding dong dollar; everybody holler
Ye canny spend a dollar when ye're deid

Jack :-))


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Subject: RE: Info: Ding Dong Dollar
From: Art Thieme
Date: 24 Jul 02 - 11:17 PM

I could've sworn this song had a verse in it about John F. Kennedy, the U.S. president at the time of these happenings. There must've been some reason I originally put it in my big collection of songs about the "Life, Times And Assassination Of President John F. Kennedy". Maybe I was in error though. Anybody know?

I think I originally found this song, properly credited, in the pages of Broadside Magazine back in the 60s. I would check but everything we own is packed into boxes as we are to move soon.

Art Thieme


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Subject: Info: Ding Dong Dollar
From: Susanne (skw)
Date: 24 Jul 02 - 08:29 PM

We've had the good fortune recently of Jim McLean joining the Mudcat. He has been adding bits and pieces of info to various threads on his own songs, but I thought that as info on this album is particularly hard to come by it might best be combined in one thread.
I haven't got the original 'Ding Dong Dollar' album but the 'Scottish Republican Songs' which is, I believe, a straight reissue. It contains the following tracks (I've added the info on authors and singers I've gleaned from various sources including Jim's recent postings):

- Ding Dong Dollar: Singer? (Trad / Thurso Berwick / John Mack / Jim McLean)

- I Shall Not Be Moved: Singer? (?)

- We Dinna Want Polaris: Singer? (Jim McLean)

- The Polis of Argyll: Singer? (Freddie Anderson)

- Paper Hankies: Singer? (?)

- Ye'll No Sit Here: Singer? (?)

- Anti-Polaris: Josh MacRae (Hamish Henderson)

- The Misguided Missile and the Misguided Miss: Singer? (?)

- Coronation Coronach (Scottish Breakaway): Singer? (Trad / Thurso Berwick)

- NAB for Royalty: Singer? (Jim McLean)

- They Say That We've Never Had It So Good: Singer? (Jim McLean)

- Camp in the Country: Singer? (Morris Blythman / Jim McLean / Nigel Denver)

- The Glesca Eskimos: Singer? (T. S. Law / Morris Blythman)

- The Freedom Come-All-Ye: Jackie O'Connor (Trad / Hamish Henderson)

- Ban Polaris - Hallelujah Singer? (?)

Please feel free to add to and correct!


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