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My Music Contribution for the Week: Hard Times of Old England
Steeleye Span is one of my most favorite groups, and they have been around since the 1970s. For some unknown reason, their rendition of Hard Times of Old England has been playing on my internal tape today. So, I wandered through YouTube, looking for something the Ricochetti might like. There are the usual, just cuts from an album with audio only, or audio and still photos. But I found this unusual recording from 1984. I’m sorry the sound level isn’t what it could be, but the video is pretty cool!
Then, I scrolled down, and what did I come upon? An a cappella version by a real old English folk singer, Bob Cooper, with the exact words and tune that Steeleye Span did with all the electric embellishments! Listen to this for a contrast, but I respect Steeleye Span all the more for being totally faithful to the original!
Published in Culture
Ah, another Steeleye fan! I had never seen that vid, so thank you for the find. (And don’t let folk musicians into a smithy, that was just wrong!)
I think I’ve managed to pick all of their 70s and 80s material in reissue – modern reprocessing of their master tapes greatly improved the audio quality. The original US pressing of ‘Please To See The King’ was just awful, such a pleasure to hear it in near pristine original.
This happened three weeks AFTER I left Cambridge for home in 1991. I could have cried that I had to miss it!
And I admit, I bought “A Parcel of Steeleye Span” with most of their oeuvre, on iTunes for my iPod. I listen at work, and shuffle every time so the songs are always in a different order.
See also: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x59VnlXINbE
Like the Bob Cooper version.
I’ve always loved Steeleye Span.
Hard to pick a favorite, but here are two that come to mind.
Long Lankin:
Gaudete:
Yes indeed, it’s in latin!
My favorite is this one: The banjo solo alone is worth the price of admission.
Truly I have found my people!
I love the Bert Jansch version, but you just can’t say no to a rendition by Steeleye Span.
https://youtu.be/_LSYq26llHQ
“C’am Ye O’er Frae France” is another Jacobite song, making fun of King George (“Geordie”). He is said to have had a mistress whom some thought looked like a goose. (“Saw ye Geordie’s grace ridin’ on a goosie?”)
Love them. Saw them in concert in Cheltenham many years ago.