Lyr Add: George Fox (Sydney Carter)

Subject: RE: LYR. ADD: GEORGE FOX
From: Bob Bolton
Date: 31 Aug 98 - 07:05 PM

G'day Joe Offer and all,

I was impressed by Sydney Carter's singing - he has a sense of rhythm that is often submerged by the technicalities of accompaniment on guitar/whatever. He uses only natural rhythm instruments like drums and jinges and works very well with them.

As a songwriter, he has covered a wide, professional range of subjects doing special spots for the BBC, etcetera, but his religious songs do have a special power of unprejudiced open joy that makes them appeal far beyond any denomination.

I note that Joe provided a link back to the Port Mahon thread where I listed the full contents of the four books I have. I also have three recordings and these have a few items not in the books. Sydney Carter had a long writing career (and, I hope, is still writing and singing) and I'm sure there are publications later than the four I have ... I would be interested to hear if anyone has more books and knows where to get them.

I suspect that the success of 'Lord of the Dance'had a strange effect of hiding all the other good songs.

Regards,

Bob Bolton

---

If you want to post to this thread ask a moderator to reopen it; it has attracted a lot of spam. --mudelf

Subject: Tune Add: GEORGE FOX (Sydney Carter)
From: Ian HP
Date: 27 Aug 98 - 07:22 PM

I thought this was important enough to start a new thread, just in case you don't spot it on the LYR. ADD: GEORGE FOX thread (though you folks are so eagle-eyed, that is highly unlikely). Now that I have figured out how to use my ABC programme, I realise there was one bum note on the George Fox tune, an octave too low, now corrected as follows. I haven't put in the htlm breaks, partly because I'm in a hurry to get off to a festival, and partly because I've copied directly from my programme, and guess it would therefore copy correctly onto yours. (Please let me know if this is right.) Regards, as always

T:George Fox
M:4/8
L:1/16
Q:1/8=152
C:Trad.
K:C
GE|C2CDECEF|G2GGG2AB|c2cAGEDE|C2C2C2GE|C2CDECEF|G2GGG2AB|c2cAGEDE|C2CCC4 ||
G2GFE2E2|FGFED4|G2GFE2E2|FGAFG2DE|C2CEDDDF|EGcAG2GF|EGECDFDB,C2C2C2||

Didn't work, Ian. I had to add the line breaks, not that it was very hard to do. Tune works great now, though.
-Joe Offer-

% ABC2Win Version 2.1 28/08/98

Subject: RE: LYR. ADD: GEORGE FOX
From: Joe Offer
Date: 27 Aug 98 - 01:31 PM

Hey, Ian, click on my name and send me an e-mail, willya? I tried to send you a personal message, but apparently you're not registered or not set up for personal messages.
Thanks.
Joe Offer
[e-mail]

Subject: RE: LYR. ADD: GEORGE FOX
From: Ian HP
Date: 27 Aug 98 - 01:22 PM

Thanks, Barbara. I've just looked up Walk in the Light. Dear me, after all that, it's hidden in the database! The tune is MUCH slower than I am used to for George Fox, and some of the notes are different. That's the folk tradition, eh? Dick, could you include the other version with the slightly different words and faster tune (the one I posted)? Please? (All this hard work learning ABC has not been in vain, has it [pathetic sob]?)

Subject: RE: LYR. ADD: GEORGE FOX
From: Joe Offer
Date: 27 Aug 98 - 12:47 PM

Click here for a related thread which has some interesting comments from a couple of people who gloat about possessing all of the Sydney Carter songbooks. Looks like we have at least eight Sydney Carter songs (with tunes) in the database, including Walk in the Light, known better to many of us as "George Fox." Say, Dick, maybe could you add "George Fox" to the text for this song so it can be found by searching? The logical way to search for this song would be under [george fox], and it doesn't come up that way because of one little difference in the lyrics.
-Joe Offer-

Subject: RE: LYR. ADD: GEORGE FOX
From: Barbara
Date: 27 Aug 98 - 10:17 AM

Uhm, you know all, I really learned a lot about writing out tunes here, so don't think I'm not grateful, but to steal a line from Dick, this song,AND tune are in DT.
It's called WALK IN THE LIGHT, which is why GEORGE FOX didn't pull it up. Which reminds me of that other thing Dick says about titles and proper names.
There's even quite a lovely harmony. [SEG]
Which brings me back to what I was doing in the first place. Searching Sydney Carter in DT gets a number of hits -10 maybe? - and all have the tunes attached. So go listen and enjoy.
Blessings,
Barbara

Subject: RE: LYR. ADD: GEORGE FOX
From: Ian HP
Date: 27 Aug 98 - 04:55 AM

Yes, Sydney Carter is a great singer. He still does the odd gig, at the age of 83. He doesn't have a technically good or even 'nice' voice, but he can put character into a song and make it come alive. If you attend record fairs, it is WELL worth looking out for what I think is his best recording, 'Sydney Carter and Jeremy Taylor at Eton'. It's a live LP and rather wonderful. I doubt it will ever, sadly, be available on CD. Ah well.

Joe, I'm looking up the HTML ref. you've given, and will read it before I post the Farewell But Whenever tune and others. Cheers

Subject: RE: LYR. ADD: GEORGE FOX
From: Joe Offer
Date: 27 Aug 98 - 04:34 AM

Cute song, Susanne. It sounds like there was quite a variety to Carter's work. I had the impression at first that it was all religious.
Say, I was wondering - was Sydney Carter any good as a singer? It certainly sounds as if Bob Bolton was impressed - but Bob's description makes me think Carter's performances may have been more than a little bit eccentric.
When did Carter die, anyhow - or is he still alive?
-Joe Offer-

Subject: Lyr Add: RUN THE FILM BACKWARDS (Sydney Carter)^^
From:
Date: 27 Aug 98 - 03:32 AM

Joe - Another lovely Sydney Carter song, to the tune of 'Grandfather's Clock', is 'Run the Film Backwards'. It's not in the DT under this title (though it may be under another). And as usual, I can't supply the tune, just the words.

At the grand old age of eighty-seven they took me from my coffin
And they gave me a flannel nightshirt I could travel off in
Toothless, old and wrinkled I lay there on my bed
And slowly I forgot about the time when I'd been dead

The day when I was sixty-five ended my enjoyment
I had to put on working clothes and go to my employment
Then when I was sixty I found I had a wife
That explained the children - I'd wondered all my life

I kept on growing younger, growing healthier and stronger
Till at the age of twenty-one I had a wife no longer
I found myself with younger girls rolling in the clove
Till then one day I woke to find those happy times were ove

Playing football after school and sausages a-cookin
Puffing on a cigarette when the teacher wasn't lookin
The trees are getting taller now, the streets are getting wide
And Mother means the world to me, soon I'll be inside he

Now in here it's very dark, and nothing can I se
I hear the first beats of my heart, I wonder who I'll b

It's been recorded by Iain MacKintosh on 'Gentle Persuasion' (1988), now out on CD and probably available from Greentrax in Edinburgh. - Susanne

Subject: RE: LYR. ADD: GEORGE FOX
From: Joe Offer
Date: 26 Aug 98 - 08:03 PM

Hi, Ian - when you posted the tune originally, it was all garbled together like this:

X:1 T:George Fox L:1/16 M:4/8 Q:1/8=152 K:C GE|C2CDECEF|G2GGG2AB|c2cAGEDE|C2C2C2GE|C2CDECEF|G2GGG2AB|c2CAGEDE|C2CCC4|| G2GFE2E2|FGFED4|G2GFE2E2|FGAFG2DE|C2CEDDDF|EGcAG2GF|EGECDFDB,C2C2C2||

I added HTML line break (or carriage return) tags [br], but in angle brackets, at the end of each line so everything didn't look garbled together. Same thing as you would do when you enter lyrics. Click here for a good HTML guide. Hope that helps.
-Joe Offer-

Subject: RE: LYR. ADD: GEORGE FOX
From: Ian HP
Date: 26 Aug 98 - 07:15 PM

Thanks, Joe, I'm glad you got the tune to play. No, I didn't use a programme to type it, I just worked it out from my knowledge of music and the instructions I downloaded from a site. Actually, I have downloaded ABC2WIN, but I can't get it to work! (I must e-mail them.) Just one question: what do you mean when you say you added line breaks? What didn't I do? Regards, as always . . .

Subject: RE: LYR. ADD: GEORGE FOX
From: Bob Bolton
Date: 26 Aug 98 - 06:33 PM

G'day all and Barbara,

I'm having difficulty making ABC/MIDI files work back in my computer. I thought the problem was in MusicTime but, now I finally have my own computer back from its traumatic upgrade, I find that my MIDI files from TextMIDI don't read as MIDI files in the MIDI player either. I will have to get on the telephone and discuss this with Alan, who lives about 20 kilometres west of here.

Anyway, so much for my MIDI problems; I just want to say that "Monk's March" (now I listen for the similarity, does have some relation to "Simple Gifts" but it doesn't sound like it when performed by Sydney Carter ... the treatment is so different.

I heard Sydney Carter in Canberra (7th Australian National Folk Festival)and Sydney, circa 1973 and had some correspondence about photographs at both events. Even with his simple presentation, with just a small drum and / or a few jingles on a cloth band to accompany himself rhythmically, he could vary speed and rhythm dramatically - showing what singing is all about when it doesn't hide behind loud instruments.

The range of tunes in his songs is actually very varied. I notice "Silver in the Stubble" mentioned,but think of tunes like "Port Mahon" and "Judas and Mary". Some of my old LPs of Sydney Carter have very diverse performers - I particularly loved a very rocky "Friday Morning" by Bob and Carol Pegg. I have 4 small song books of his and treasure the material therein.

If I remember correctly, I bought them from a Catholic Book Shop, which Sydney Carter recommended, at the time, as the best ecumenical bookshop in Sydney!

Regards,

Bob Bolton

Subject: RE: LYR. ADD: GEORGE FOX
From: Joe Offer
Date: 26 Aug 98 - 03:04 PM

Hi, Ian - I added the line breaks on your ABC tune to make it look right. It plays perfectly on my ABCMUS, so it seems to me that you've mastered ABC quite admirably (something I haven't done yet). I'm duly impressed. Guess I'd better learn ABC myself, eh?
Did you use some sort of ABC program to enter the tune, or did you just type it in on a word processor?
-Joe Offer-

Subject: RE: LYR. ADD: GEORGE FOX
From: Barbara
Date: 26 Aug 98 - 11:05 AM

I thought that was probably true after I wrote it out, Ian. My music program doesn't do the accents, but I noticed I had to reset the click to make three to a measure instead of two, and that's usually a clue that I'm in the wrong time sig.[grin] Guess maybe I could stand to learn a little more about transcribing things.
Glad you've got ABC working. I downloaded the shareware, but haven't found how to turn the sound on.
Blessings,
Barbara

Subject: RE: LYR. ADD: GEORGE FOX
From: Ian HP
Date: 26 Aug 98 - 06:58 AM

Joe - now that I can understand ABC I see that you had the right tune. You need more notes, though, to fit the words in (as in my submission above). Barbara, you have basically the right tune, but it won't go into 6/8 as the accents are all in the wrong place. 2/4 and 4/8 will work, but not jig time. Regards all Ian

Subject: Tune Add: GEORGE FOX / MONK'S MARCH
From: Ian HP
Date: 26 Aug 98 - 06:45 AM

Having now read the bumph on ABC, this is - I hope! - the tune in ABC for Sydney Carter's song George Fox. I am assuming the default note is a 1/16 - semi-quaver - so, eg. C2 is a 1/8 - a quaver. The words are SC's, the tune is a trad. Morris tune, Monk's March. I'll now go and check if this resembles tunes posted above . . .

X:1
T:George Fox
L:1/16
M:4/8
Q:1/8=152
K:C
GE|C2CDECEF|G2GGG2AB|c2cAGEDE|C2C2C2GE|C2CDECEF|G2GGG2AB|c2CAGEDE|C2CCC4||
G2GFE2E2|FGFED4|G2GFE2E2|FGAFG2DE|C2CEDDDF|EGcAG2GF|EGECDFDB,C2C2C2||

Subject: RE: LYR. ADD: GEORGE FOX
From: Barbara
Date: 25 Aug 98 - 11:45 PM

Oh, he wrote Silver in the Stubble, did he? That's a cool song. I see we have that here in DT.
I checked our sponsors, and none of them seemed to have Carter's CD. Too bad.
Dick, I certainly wouldn't mind being exposed to more Sydney Carter; I just noticed that several of his songs that I'd heard all seemed build with similar tunes.
I'll go search DT and check out what else you have. Thanks for pointing that out.
Blessings,
Barbara

Subject: RE: LYR. ADD: GEORGE FOX
From: dick greenhaus
Date: 25 Aug 98 - 10:13 PM

Carter wrote a wide variety of song. Look up Man With a Microphone for something entirely different. Or Silver in the Stubble, for that matter.

Subject: RE: LYR. ADD: GEORGE FOX
From: Ian HP
Date: 25 Aug 98 - 02:57 PM

Please! Please! The tune is not Simple Gifts! It is basically Monk's March, a trad. English Morris tune, which you can hear on Ashley Hutchings et al, Son of Morris On (spelt Monck's March there). As soon as I have downloaded the necessary and got my head around how to use it, I will post an ABC. By the way, it is definitely worth investing in the Sydney Carter CD I mention earlier in this thread.

Subject: Tune Add: GEORGE FOX
From: Barbara
Date: 25 Aug 98 - 12:52 PM

Here ya go, and as you will hear, close, but not the same. Don't know the Monk's March, and can't read the ABC file,yet.
We Quakers sing the chorus:
"Walk in the Light, wherever you may be,
Walk in the light, wherever you may be
With his old leather breeches and his shaggy, shaggy locks
You are walking in the glory of the Light, said Fox.
Which is tamer than the original. I like using these first two lines and the original last line, at least alternating to the "Glory of the Light" line. Both versions are in Rise Up Singing.
Blessings,
Barbara

MIDI file: gfox.mid

Timebase: 240

TimeSig: 6/8 36 8
Tempo: 100 (600000 microsec/crotchet)
Start
0480 1 67 080 0096 0 67 064 0024 1 64 080 0096 0 64 064 0024 1 60 080 0192 0 60 064 0048 1 60 080 0096 0 60 064 0024 1 62 080 0096 0 62 064 0024 1 64 080 0096 0 64 064 0024 1 60 080 0096 0 60 064 0024 1 64 080 0096 0 64 064 0024 1 65 080 0096 0 65 064 0024 1 67 080 0192 0 67 064 0048 1 67 080 0096 0 67 064 0024 1 67 080 0096 0 67 064 0024 1 67 080 0192 0 67 064 0048 1 69 080 0096 0 69 064 0024 1 71 080 0096 0 71 064 0024 1 72 080 0192 0 72 064 0048 1 72 080 0096 0 72 064 0024 1 69 080 0096 0 69 064 0024 1 67 080 0096 0 67 064 0024 1 64 080 0096 0 64 064 0024 1 62 080 0096 0 62 064 0024 1 64 080 0096 0 64 064 0024 1 60 080 0192 0 60 064 0048 1 60 080 0096 0 60 064 0024 1 60 080 0096 0 60 064 0024 1 60 080 0192 0 60 064 0048 1 67 080 0096 0 67 064 0024 1 64 080 0096 0 64 064 0024 1 60 080 0192 0 60 064 0048 1 60 080 0096 0 60 064 0024 1 62 080 0096 0 62 064 0024 1 64 080 0096 0 64 064 0024 1 60 080 0096 0 60 064 0024 1 64 080 0096 0 64 064 0024 1 65 080 0096 0 65 064 0024 1 67 080 0192 0 67 064 0048 1 67 080 0096 0 67 064 0024 1 67 080 0096 0 67 064 0024 1 67 080 0192 0 67 064 0048 1 69 080 0096 0 69 064 0024 1 71 080 0096 0 71 064 0024 1 72 080 0192 0 72 064 0048 1 72 080 0096 0 72 064 0024 1 69 080 0096 0 69 064 0024 1 67 080 0096 0 67 064 0024 1 64 080 0096 0 64 064 0024 1 62 080 0096 0 62 064 0024 1 64 080 0096 0 64 064 0024 1 60 080 0192 0 60 064 0048 1 60 080 0096 0 60 064 0024 1 60 080 0096 0 60 064 0024 1 60 080 0384 0 60 064 0096 1 67 080 0192 0 67 064 0048 1 67 080 0096 0 67 064 0024 1 65 080 0096 0 65 064 0024 1 64 080 0192 0 64 064 0048 1 64 080 0192 0 64 064 0048 1 65 080 0096 0 65 064 0024 1 67 080 0096 0 67 064 0024 1 65 080 0096 0 65 064 0024 1 64 080 0096 0 64 064 0024 1 62 080 0432 0 62 064 0048 1 67 080 0192 0 67 064 0048 1 67 080 0096 0 67 064 0024 1 65 080 0096 0 65 064 0024 1 64 080 0288 0 64 064 0072 1 64 080 0096 0 64 064 0024 1 65 080 0096 0 65 064 0024 1 67 080 0096 0 67 064 0024 1 69 080 0096 0 69 064 0024 1 65 080 0096 0 65 064 0024 1 67 080 0192 0 67 064 0048 1 64 080 0096 0 64 064 0024 1 62 080 0096 0 62 064 0024 1 60 080 0192 0 60 064 0048 1 60 080 0096 0 60 064 0024 1 64 080 0096 0 64 064 0024 1 62 080 0096 0 62 064 0024 1 62 080 0096 0 62 064 0024 1 62 080 0096 0 62 064 0024 1 62 080 0096 0 62 064 0024 1 64 080 0096 0 64 064 0024 1 67 080 0096 0 67 064 0024 1 72 080 0096 0 72 064 0024 1 69 080 0096 0 69 064 0024 1 67 080 0192 0 67 064 0048 1 67 080 0096 0 67 064 0024 1 65 080 0096 0 65 064 0024 1 64 080 0096 0 64 064 0024 1 67 080 0096 0 67 064 0024 1 64 080 0096 0 64 064 0024 1 60 080 0096 0 60 064 0024 1 62 080 0096 0 62 064 0024 1 65 080 0096 0 65 064 0024 1 62 080 0096 0 62 064 0024 1 59 080 0096 0 59 064 0024 1 60 080 0192 0 60 064 0048 1 60 080 0192 0 60 064 0048 1 60 080 0624 0 60 064
End

This program is worth the effort of learning it.

To download the March 10 MIDItext 98 software and get instructions on how to use it click here

ABC format:

X:1
T:
M:6/8
Q:1/4=100
K:C
G5E|C2CDEC|EFG2GG|G2ABc2|cAGEDE|C2CCC2|GEC2CD|
ECEFG2|GGG2AB|c2cAGE|DEC2CC|C4G2|GFE2E2|FGFED2|
-D2G2GF|E3EFG|AFG2ED|C2CEDD|DDEGcA|G2GFEG|
ECDFDB,|C2C2C2|-C13/4||

Subject: RE: LYR. ADD: GEORGE FOX
From: dick greenhaus
Date: 25 Aug 98 - 12:40 PM

The "-ker" connection is real, not apparent. Back in the early days, the word Shaker was coined as a contraction of Shaking Quaker (referring to the Shaker's dancing).

Which reminds me--the U.S. Attorney General at the time of the Haymarket Massacre (I forget his name) liked to be referred to as "The Fighting Quaker". Popularly, though, this became "The Quaking Fighter".

Subject: RE: LYR. ADD: GEORGE FOX
From: Barbara
Date: 25 Aug 98 - 12:03 PM

Actually, guys, it's almost simple gifts. Give me a bit, and I'll post it as a midi/ABC thanks to Alan's program.
Seems Sydney Carter either heard Simple Gifts and couldn't get it out of his head, or he thought it was such a wonderful tune it needed distribution with variations. [grin]. Or maybe he just couldn't think of anything else.
He also used this tune for Lord of the Dance, and, y'know, if you remove the runs, Julian of Norich (All Shall Be Well again) is pretty darn close.
This tune IS a variation tho, so, hang on and I'll write it out.
Blessings,
Barbara
Actually, the only tune I can think of that he wrote that is NOTHING like Simple Gifts is Crow On The Cradle.

Subject: RE: LYR. ADD: GEORGE FOX
From: Joe Offer
Date: 25 Aug 98 - 04:26 AM

Well, this one I didn't know, Jester. Here and there, I've seen lyrics for various Sydney Carter songs, but I've rarely heard them sung. I think that for "George Fox," the tune I've heard was "Simple Gifts," but I only heard a smidgeon of the song on the "Rise Up Singing" teaching tapes. When I was in college in the 1960's, we sang "Lord of the Dance" at folk masses until well past the time that I got sick of it. I didn't hear another Sydney Carter song until I heard Bok-Muir-Trickett do a wonderful rendition of "Julian of Norwich." I think I'd like to hear more of Sydney Carter.
-Joe Offer-

Subject: RE: LYR. ADD: GEORGE FOX
From:
Date: 25 Aug 98 - 04:15 AM

What doesn't Mighty Joe Offer know? Joe, the scope of your knowledge never ceases to amaze me! I've heard these lyrics sung to the tune of "Simple Gifts" as well. Helps to reinforce the "-ker" relationship between Quakers and Shakers! -Have whatever king of day you like- JESTER!

Subject: RE: LYR. ADD: GEORGE FOX
From: Ian HP
Date: 23 Aug 98 - 05:03 AM

OK, Joe. Sorry, I will post them as you ask next time. I didn't realise there was a certain way of doing it. (I am about the post the words for Farewell, But Whenever. Can you leave me a note to say if I've done it the best way?) I cannot decipher the above tune, so I can't say if it's right. Unfortunately, all of Sydney Carter's old LPs are out of print - EXCEPT one recent CD reissue, which has George Fox on it. It is various artists, Lovely In The Dances - the songs of Sydney Carter (with Maddy Prior, John Kirkpatrick, et al) on Osmosys OSMO CD008. If you have trouble getting it, their address is: 5 Cirrus, Glebe Road, Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire, PE18 7DX, ENGLAND.

Subject: Tune Add: GENERAL MONK'S MARCH / GEORGE FOX
From: Joe Offer
Date: 22 Aug 98 - 03:50 PM

Is this the correct tune? Does anybody know if there are Sydney Carter recordings available on CD?
-Joe Offer-

X:1
T:GENERAL MONK'S MARCH
R:Reel
C:
S:Bacon (CJS from Benfield (RD))
N:
A:Bledington
O:English
P:A.(AB)4(A)
M:2/2
K:G
%P:A/2(AB)$^4$(A) I:speed 400
L:1/8
P:A
|: G2 G>B A2 A>c | B2 g>e d2 c2 | BdBG ABcA |1 G2 G>A G2 D2 :|2 G2 G>A G4 ||\
P:B
|: d>ed>c B2 B2 | c>dc>B A2 A2 | d>ed>c B2 B2 | c>dc>B A4 |\
G2 G>B A2 A>c | B2 g>e d2 c2 | B>dB>G A>Bc>A | G2 G>A G4 :|

Subject: RE: LYR. ADD: GEORGE FOX
From: Joe Offer
Date: 22 Aug 98 - 03:43 PM

These lyrics are great, Ian, but you're posting them so fast I can't keep up with you. Of course, if I take the time to paste line breaks in lyrics people post, it also forces me to take the time to read the lyrics. The lyrics you post will look better and be easier to read if you paste in an HTML line break < br > (without the spaces) at the end of each line. Use the "replace" function on your word processor. Then, when you have the text all formatted, paste it into the posting box here at Mudcat.
-Joe Offer-

Subject: Lyr Add: GEORGE FOX (Sydney Carter)
From: Ian HP
Date: 22 Aug 98 - 02:44 PM

GEORGE FOX
Words Sydney Carter, tune based on trad. Morris tune: Monk's March

1. There's a light that is shining in the heart of a man
A light that was shining when the world began
A light that is shining in the Turk and the Jew
A light that is shining, friend, in me and in you

Cho: Old leather breeches and shaggy, shaggy locks
Old leather breeches and shaggy, shaggy locks
With your old leather breeches and your shaggy, shaggy locks
You are pulling down the pillars of the world, George Fox!

2. 'With a book and a steeple and a bell and a key
They would bind it forever, but they can't', said he,
'For the book it will perish and the steeple will fall
But the light will be shining at the end of it all.'

3. 'If we give you a pistol, will you fight for the Lord?'
'But you can't kill the devil with a gun or a sword!'
'Will you swear on the Bible?', 'I will not!', said he,
'For the truth is more holy than the book to me.'

4. 'There's an ocean of darkness and I drown in the night
'Til I come through the darkness to the ocean of light
You can lock me in prison but the light will be free
And I walk in the glory of the light', said he

Sydney Carter writes: To say that George Fox (1624-1691) was the founder of the Quakers might not be quite correct; but he certainly became their leading spirit and organiser. So it is him that I celebrate, in words that were mainly written by himself. The chorus, which represents the opposition, is firmly based on fact: 'The man with the leather breeches is come', it was said of Fox. They were often worn by labourers, if not by preachers. George Fox must have found them highly practical when sitting in the stocks, or lying in the windy, wet and stinking prisons where he so often ended up. 'Shaggy locks': this can be documented, too. Fox, in his journal, tells us how a fashionable lady told him he should get his hair cut. Long it was (look at the pictures of him), though it was not the length, I imagine, so much as the shagginess which caused the offence in the reign of Charles II.