The Young Tradition   •   The Young Tradition (UK)

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  • The Young Tradition
    • 1966 - Transatlantic TRA 142 LP (UK)
  • Side One
    1. Byker Hill
    2. The Bold Fisherman
    3. Betsy The Serving Maid
    4. Henry The Poacher
    5. The Lyke Wake Dirge
  • Side Two
    1. The Banks of Claudy
    2. The Innocent Hare
    3. Dives and Lazarus
    4. Derry Down Fair
    5. The Truth Sent From Above
    6. Pretty Nancy of Yarmouth

  • Credits
    • Produced by Nathan Joseph
    • Recorded by Nathan Joseph & Bill Leader, London 1966
    • Cover Photo & Design: Brian Shuel
    • All Titles Trad. Arr. Bellamy, Wood & Wood
    • Transatlantic Records Ltd., 120/122 Marylebone Lane, London W.1.
    • Printed in England by Robert Stace & Co Ltd

Sleeve Notes

This group has no leader; it is a unit made up of three people who often seem to be five or six, each of whom thinks that he or she is the leader from time to time. They are a diverse bunch of people who look and sound completely unalike until they sing together. Peter is twenty-two. In group songs he sings the melody lines. He was an art student in his native Norfolk and in Kent, before coming to London to make a career as a singer. He has a straggly moustache and his blond hair is straight and shoulder-length; he favours wild ties, baggy trousers and coloured waistcoats. Next to English songs, the music he digs most is rock 'n' roll. Heather puts harmonies between Peter's melody lines and Royston's bass. She is twenty-one and wears anything on stage. Before meeting the other two, she was an army officer cadet and had done time at London University. She is proud of her Yorkshire birth and is a tireless folklorist. Royston is the daddy of the group as far as age goes. He is thirty-one and in his time he has been a teacher, an advertising executive and a long distance lorry driver. It doesn't matter to him that he comes from Surrey; he maintains his dignity by wearing elegant clothes and by trying to look his age, which is only possible for him first thing in the morning. He loves orchestral and chamber music and says that many of his harmonic ideas stem from this. Together, these three form a group which is visually and vocally exciting. From widely diverse points in life they come fast together on at least one point: they enjoy hugely the music they make.


Byker HillPeter, Heather & Royston – Collected by John Hasted, this is a boastful collier's song from Tyneside. Mentioned in the song is the tune of Elsie Marley, a well known Northumbrian dance, and Geordie Charlton, apparently a local character. Geordie has identical mention in a sea shanty as having a pig that did a dance when he hit it with a shovel.

The Bold FishermanPeter, Heather & Royston – This song has been widely distributed throughout the country; versions have been collected from Harry Cox and from the Copper family. It appears to be a simple story of boy meets girl, with the boy turning out to be a lord in disguise. However, Lucy Broadwoods puts forward the theory that the song contains an element of Christian symbolism in its origins: the girl is the sinful soul who meets Christ-the fisher of souls — and recognises him by his 'chains of gold'. She begs forgiveness for her presumption, which is readily granted, and she becomes the bride of Christ.

Betsy The Serving MaidPeter – A fine ballad, almost certainly of broadside origin, and therefore very widespread, versions differing very little from that used here having been collected in East Anglia, Dorset, Hampshire, and as far afield as Massachusetts. The tune used here is derived from that sung by Harry Cox from whom Peter learned the song, but derived is the word, as he seems to have altered it a lot, not altogether intentionally. Harry's tune is thought by Lloyd to be a poor relation of that collected in Suffolk by Moeran to The Isle of Cloy'. Harry claims that 'Betsy' has been sung by his family for at least two hundred years.

Henry The PoacherPeter & Heather – 'Henry the Poacher', sometimes called 'Van Dieman's Land' is a magnificently detailed deportation ballad, learned from the vast repertoire of Harry Cox of Sutton, Norfolk. It tells its own very moving story better than any other ballad we know. A very convincing story, too — you can't doubt such full and precise narrative.

MacColl relates the tune used here to 'The Banks of the Sweet Dundee'.

The Lyke Wake DirgePeter, Heather & Royston – The dirge as we sing it is an adaptation of Aubrey's manuscript version of 1686. Descriptions of the song have come from Scotland and from the north of England as far south as Yorkshire, and the idea of the departed soul going on a hazardous journey to Purgatory has its parallels throughout Indo-European lore. Widespread too is the belief that alms given by the living will be given back to the donor at the beginning of the soul's journey, so that a pair of shoes given away during the subject's lifetime will enable his soul to cross prickly Whinny Moor without injury. Whether the dirge was sung, chanted or recited over the corpse is not clear; there is no evidence of an air to the dirge in the tradition. The tune used here was given to us by Hans Fried, who heard it long ago from an old Scots lady, Peggy Richards.

The Banks of ClaudyPeter, Heather & Royston – 'The Banks of Claudy', along with 'John Riley', is probably the most widespread of the 'broken token' ballads. The theme of the returned sailor whom the faithful girlfriend fails to recognise being one of the top three tales in folklore all over the English speaking world. This version is as true to type as any, except that the actual token is not mentioned. Like 'The Innocent Hare' we adapted this for three voices from the singing of the Copper family of Rottingdean.

The Innocent HarePeter, Heather & Royston – Atypical English hunting song, charming despite its bloodthirstiness. We learned it from the singing of Bob and Ron Copper, and it is probably closer to the 'Copper Sound' than anything else in our repertoire. Royston's bass line is not, however, the same as that used by the Coppers, and Heather's harmony is a definite addition to the Copper pattern. After hearing our arrangement described, Ron Copper said to us: 'I've been telling Bob for years we should have a young lady sing with us!'

Dives and LazarusRoyston – Collected by both Sharp and Vaughan-Williams, this is a simple but eloquent version of the story of rich old Dives who slighted the beggar Lazarus and got his deserts for doing so. The song must have appealed to the countryfolk, who would have appreciated the idea of Lazarus, downtrodden on earth, finding a place in Heaven, where he sits on an angel's knee. Since Royston started singing this song, it has undergone some subtle changes musically. The tune is related to the Irish air of the 'Star of the County Down'.

Derry Down Fair Royston & Heather, Peter on chorus – In the more common variants of Young Rambleaway, the song ends with the girl going home to her parents sadder, wiser and pregnant. This Dorset version ends instead with a boastful half warning, half invitation from Rambleaway himself: 'My hat, cap and feathers, my dear, you shall wear, and a bunch of blue ribbons to tie up your hair'. And that is the limit of what any girl can expect of him. The words were collected by Hammond from Robert Barrett, of Puddletown, in 1905. The tune is not Mr. Barrett's, however, it came to us in its present form by mistake, but we liked it and kept it.

The Truth Sent from AboveHeather – This is a traditional carol, collected in 1909 by Vaughan-Williams from Mr. W. Jenkins, of King's Pyon, Herefordshire. The tune is in the Dorian mode, and has affinities with several others, including 'Searching for Lambs'. In 1823 it appeared in Hone's list of carols. Heather learned it at school.

Pretty Nancy of YarmouthPeter, Heather & Royston – This version was collected in Middlesbrough, Yorkshire. There are many songs with this title; some have parallel texts, others dwell on the hardships of a sailor's life at sea, giving no account of the girl's marriage to another which is the subject of this variant.