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Genevieve Tudor: Martin Carthy interview

20 May 25 - 05:04 AM (#4222893)
Subject: Origins: Genevieve Tudor: Martin Carthy interview
From: Acorn4

Fascinating interview with Martin Carthy on Genevieve Tudor's podcast - about how he made up 3 verses of "High Germany" which then became an established part of the tradition - the relevant bit starts at about the 1 hour 25 mark. A fascinating glimpse into those early days

https://www.mixcloud.com/Genevieve_Tudor/genevieve-plays-folk-80-27-april-2025/


25 May 25 - 06:32 PM (#4223202)
Subject: RE: Genevieve Tudor: Martin Carthy interview
From: GUEST,Susanne (skw)

Robin Denselow did an article on him in last Tuesday's Guardian:

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2025/may/21/martin-carthy-bob-dylan-paul-simon-scarborough-fair-new-album


26 May 25 - 02:23 AM (#4223204)
Subject: RE: Genevieve Tudor: Martin Carthy interview
From: The Sandman

So Martin made up 3 verses of High Germany. Interesting.
A. L Loyd has come in for considerable criticism from certain "SCHOLARS"for doing something similiar.


26 May 25 - 12:33 PM (#4223228)
Subject: RE: Genevieve Tudor: Martin Carthy interview
From: GUEST,BlackAcornUK

It's an interesting interview - in a related recent Facebook thread, Stephen Winick from the US Library of Congress pretty conclusively outlines that all of Martin's verses had appeared in earlier collected versions; so, whatever his recollections now, it seems that he drew together from multiple sources (perhaps from memory), rather than outright wrote, those verses.

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1DRstN6YbA/


26 May 25 - 01:43 PM (#4223236)
Subject: RE: Genevieve Tudor: Martin Carthy interview
From: keberoxu

So Martin Carthy is releasing a new solo album.
I notice the label is different than Topic, though.


26 May 25 - 02:11 PM (#4223238)
Subject: RE: Genevieve Tudor: Martin Carthy interview
From: GUEST

Hem Hem Records released a handful of Eliza Cathy's albums. Possibly her own label. It would make sense having him on the same label.


26 May 25 - 04:35 PM (#4223242)
Subject: RE: Genevieve Tudor: Martin Carthy interview
From: The Sandman

He states quite clearly that he made the verses up.


27 May 25 - 02:19 AM (#4223266)
Subject: RE: Genevieve Tudor: Martin Carthy interview
From: The Sandman

songs have always been composed and added to, by different people, what the problem.please dont tell the scholarship police, I said this


27 May 25 - 03:47 AM (#4223268)
Subject: RE: Genevieve Tudor: Martin Carthy interview
From: The Sandman

scholarship police is a joke, correct scholarship is useful but without the existence of the songs, there would be nothing to study.
sing the songs. to quote Martin Carthy again
the only damage you can do to a song is not to sing it


27 May 25 - 03:50 AM (#4223269)
Subject: RE: Genevieve Tudor: Martin Carthy interview
From: GUEST,BlackAcornUK

Whether or not Martin says he made the verses up, the documented prior existence of the same verses probably overrides individual memory over a 60-year stretch. My own Dad just turned 93 - he's still mentally sharp as a tack, but it's not unheard of for him (or perhaps, for most of us) to have firm memories that drift from what actually occurred. This isn't criticism - it's the human condition.


As Stephen Winick also comments in the above-linked FB thread, MC's own sleeve notes to the song on his debut LP highlight a contrasting methodology of piecing the songs together from multiple versions.