Robert Walpole (1676-1745) the Whig MP for Castle Rising (1701-02) and King's Lynn (1702-12 and 1713-42) was the first and still longest serving Prime Minister of Great Britain: 21 continuous years, 1721-1742. He also built and stocked with treasures one of the most palatial houses in England, that architectural wonder amid the fields and lanes of West Norfolk: Houghton Hall.
With his Norfolk neighbour brother in law, the Lord Lieutenant of the county Viscount 'Turnip' Townshend until 1730, and thereafter alone, he ran the growing colonial and trading powerhouse of Whig England as it began to dominate the globe. Like Townshend he refused to moderate his strong Norfolk accent. Unlike Townshend, he was an eloquent and charismatic speaker. And unlike most PMs he presided over a growing economy and a 20 year peace. He developed the 'cabinet' system of government, used his study at Houghton as his office and (it is said) always opened his letters from his estate gamekeeper before those pertaining to the affairs of the nation.
Doomed to permanent Opposition, the Tory wits - Fielding, Swift, Johnson, Pope to name but four of the most fearsome satirists to ever sharpen a pen - hated and despised him. You can find belittling and demonised versions of him in Lilliput and at least one of the other lands Gulliver travels and biting laughter at his expense in the satires and commentaries of all four geniuses. But, warts and all, he was an epic man in every way: magnitude and length of office, ambition, personality, grandeur (Houghton Hall is his fitting monument) corruption, power politics, man/ King management, the dramatic sustained rise, the sudden fall ( "Who Killed Cock Robin?" became a popular song at the time) and - increasing as the years went by - his own physique. He was so enormous in physical size by his death that they were unable to force his three hundredweight bulk into the stone coffin in his family tomb at Houghton and he reportedly burst before they finally managed to do so.
An (extra large) folk ballad is a perfect fit for such a mortal. If some of his faults are unattractive, many of them are entertaining - a 'dodgy' Norfolk builder brilliantly running an Empire. He has flawed greatness and grandeur but it is comic rather than tragic. He is more Adam than Satan. And, like all hopeful mortals, in the end he comes a cropper. We love the Egyptian* figures Warwick brings to our "Pharaoh of the Flaw" and the Flanders and Swann* which move this folk ballad away from the understated and dignified sinking of a Sir Patrick Spens towards the comic trapdoor exit of a Falstaff. We hope you enjoy him as much as we do.
With his Norfolk neighbour brother in law, the Lord Lieutenant of the county Viscount 'Turnip' Townshend until 1730, and thereafter alone, he ran the growing colonial and trading powerhouse of Whig England as it began to dominate the globe. Like Townshend he refused to moderate his strong Norfolk accent. Unlike Townshend, he was an eloquent and charismatic speaker. And unlike most PMs he presided over a growing economy and a 20 year peace. He developed the 'cabinet' system of government, used his study at Houghton as his office and (it is said) always opened his letters from his estate gamekeeper before those pertaining to the affairs of the nation.
Doomed to permanent Opposition, the Tory wits - Fielding, Swift, Johnson, Pope to name but four of the most fearsome satirists to ever sharpen a pen - hated and despised him. You can find belittling and demonised versions of him in Lilliput and at least one of the other lands Gulliver travels and biting laughter at his expense in the satires and commentaries of all four geniuses. But, warts and all, he was an epic man in every way: magnitude and length of office, ambition, personality, grandeur (Houghton Hall is his fitting monument) corruption, power politics, man/ King management, the dramatic sustained rise, the sudden fall ( "Who Killed Cock Robin?" became a popular song at the time) and - increasing as the years went by - his own physique. He was so enormous in physical size by his death that they were unable to force his three hundredweight bulk into the stone coffin in his family tomb at Houghton and he reportedly burst before they finally managed to do so.
An (extra large) folk ballad is a perfect fit for such a mortal. If some of his faults are unattractive, many of them are entertaining - a 'dodgy' Norfolk builder brilliantly running an Empire. He has flawed greatness and grandeur but it is comic rather than tragic. He is more Adam than Satan. And, like all hopeful mortals, in the end he comes a cropper. We love the Egyptian* figures Warwick brings to our "Pharaoh of the Flaw" and the Flanders and Swann* which move this folk ballad away from the understated and dignified sinking of a Sir Patrick Spens towards the comic trapdoor exit of a Falstaff. We hope you enjoy him as much as we do.
Maz singing the chorus in a field near Houghton Hall.
lyrics
The Ballad of Sir Robert Walpole (Bob of Lynn)
Knight of the slightly drooping Garter,
King of Bankrupt Hall,
Lord of the Backstairs Tower Tryst,
Stout Adam of the Fall.
Richeldis, Julian, Sawtrey, Nelson,
Boleyn and Boudicca tall,
Margery, Fanny, Turnip, Kett,
Old Tom Paine and all-
Norfolk and good our heroes stand
With something pure about ’em
But none more Norfolk nor more good
Than Dodgy Bob of Houghton.
Sir Robert Walpole, King of Sink,
The Pharaoh of the Flaw,
The not so bumpkin Norfolk dumplin’
Loophole in the Law.
The first Prime Minister and still
Unequalled in that office;
The backwoods front-man, laughing loud,
The Prince of Peace – and Profits.
The Age he named is hero-free,
No children need to know.
They keep it off the syllabus,
No killers boldly go.
No Bonnie Charlie anthems, saints,
No bagpipe calls to arms;
Just German Georges 1 and 2,
Enlightenment and farms.
The beau, the rake, the dandy, fop,
The mistress-paying knights,
The hypocrite with itchy palm:
‘All thesemen have their price.’
Sir Robert Walpole, Count of Cash,
The Pharaoh of the Flaw,
The not so bumpkin country speakin’
Loophole in the Law.
His Babel built ‘too far from London’ [12]
Under a Norfolk bushel
The Neptune and Britannia Rampant
Counting House as Castle.
His bust and Caesar hairdo placed
A British cut above
The classic Mantle he assumed
Of Wisdom, Justice, Love.
Removed the timber duty while
He ordered his supplies,
Avoided Finished Buildings tax
With one unfinished frieze.
Sir Robert Walpole, Earl of Ease,
The Pharaoh of the Flaw,
The ruddy cunnin’ Norfolk rulin’
Loophole in the Law.
Our burly boisterous backhand Bob
Was bawdy in his cups
Had heart-to-hearts with kings and queens
Yet kept the common touch.
And when the South Sea Bubble burst
And drowned both Whig and Tory,
He saved the country with a speech
And rode the tide to glory
Avoided War for eighteen years
Of Profit weighed with cost,
‘They ring the bells, they’ll wring their hands,’
He said when Peace was lost.
Sir Robert Loophole, Laughin’ Bob,
The Prophet of the Flaw,
Three hundredweight of Killed Cock Robin
Loophole in the Law.
Knight of the slightly drooping Garter,
King of Bankrupt Hall,
Lord of the Backstairs Tower Tryst,
Stout Adam of the Fall.
Richeldis, Julian, Sawtrey, Nelson,
Boleyn and Boudicca tall,
Margery, Fanny, Turnip, Kett,
Old Tom Paine and all-
Norfolk and good our heroes stand
With something pure about ’em
But none more Norfolk nor more good
Than Dodgy Bob of Houghton.
Sir Robert Walpole, King of Sink,
The Pharaoh of the Flaw,
The not so bumpkin Norfolk dumplin’
Loophole in the Law.
The first Prime Minister and still
Unequalled in that office;
The backwoods front-man, laughing loud,
The Prince of Peace – and Profits.
The Age he named is hero-free,
No children need to know.
They keep it off the syllabus,
No killers boldly go.
No Bonnie Charlie anthems, saints,
No bagpipe calls to arms;
Just German Georges 1 and 2,
Enlightenment and farms.
The beau, the rake, the dandy, fop,
The mistress-paying knights,
The hypocrite with itchy palm:
‘All thesemen have their price.’
Sir Robert Walpole, Count of Cash,
The Pharaoh of the Flaw,
The not so bumpkin country speakin’
Loophole in the Law.
His Babel built ‘too far from London’ [12]
Under a Norfolk bushel
The Neptune and Britannia Rampant
Counting House as Castle.
His bust and Caesar hairdo placed
A British cut above
The classic Mantle he assumed
Of Wisdom, Justice, Love.
Removed the timber duty while
He ordered his supplies,
Avoided Finished Buildings tax
With one unfinished frieze.
Sir Robert Walpole, Earl of Ease,
The Pharaoh of the Flaw,
The ruddy cunnin’ Norfolk rulin’
Loophole in the Law.
Our burly boisterous backhand Bob
Was bawdy in his cups
Had heart-to-hearts with kings and queens
Yet kept the common touch.
And when the South Sea Bubble burst
And drowned both Whig and Tory,
He saved the country with a speech
And rode the tide to glory
Avoided War for eighteen years
Of Profit weighed with cost,
‘They ring the bells, they’ll wring their hands,’
He said when Peace was lost.
Sir Robert Loophole, Laughin’ Bob,
The Prophet of the Flaw,
Three hundredweight of Killed Cock Robin
Loophole in the Law.
credits
released January 18, 2024
Warwick Jones composed the tune and plays it.
Gaz sings lead vocal, pitches in on the final chorus, plucks a minimalist bass line, hits a snare and bashes a hi hat.
Maz sings harmony vocal.
Warwick Jones writes:
"This, like most of the tunes that I composed for the “Doin different” ballads, had the guitar tuned to DADGAD as opposed to the conventional EADGBE.
Bob Walpole was originally done without the capo and started in a sort of D minor key for the intro which then changes into a D major key for the verse.
Using the capo on the second fret for the version on the video, this equates to E minor turning into E major (Cole Porter eat your heart out….).
The “E minor” is not a conventional western scale but is more of an oriental version.
A classically trained musician would probably be able to tell me exactly what I was doing, but I just played what felt good.
The two different “modes” for verse and chorus just seemed to naturally fit the narrative."
Warwick Jones composed the tune and plays it.
Gaz sings lead vocal, pitches in on the final chorus, plucks a minimalist bass line, hits a snare and bashes a hi hat.
Maz sings harmony vocal.
Warwick Jones writes:
"This, like most of the tunes that I composed for the “Doin different” ballads, had the guitar tuned to DADGAD as opposed to the conventional EADGBE.
Bob Walpole was originally done without the capo and started in a sort of D minor key for the intro which then changes into a D major key for the verse.
Using the capo on the second fret for the version on the video, this equates to E minor turning into E major (Cole Porter eat your heart out….).
The “E minor” is not a conventional western scale but is more of an oriental version.
A classically trained musician would probably be able to tell me exactly what I was doing, but I just played what felt good.
The two different “modes” for verse and chorus just seemed to naturally fit the narrative."
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