Showing posts with label Folk music. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Folk music. Show all posts

July 30, 2025

Don't Think Twice, It's All Right (featuring the actual song!)




We did actually have think twice because the previous film went up without sound.

Reprising our Joan'n'Bob act ( see Diamonds and Rust Gareth-calway – Diamonds-and-rust) with a return fixture, Bob's trademark protest song against one of his early women. His second album but the first to feature a more or less complete sweep of his own songs, unlike the first which mainly showcased him as a performer of other people's. In other words, the real Dylan. Who was the discarded lover? Some internal evidence suggests this may even be pre-New York with its rustic setting of roosters and dark roads and sense of setting out and travelling' on in which case it might be a memory of some Mid Western affair rather than Suzi Rotolo but who knows. "You just kinda wasted my precious time" is pretty damning but mild compared to some of his later accusations and restless attacks on whoever was upsetting him at the time. We both bought this album about 8 years after it came out probably on the strength of Blowing in the Wind as one of those must have vinyl classic albums from one of the masters of folk rock and Americana and fellow architect of the 60s (with the Beatles) first heard as children but now understood as teenagers and were sent back to it recently by the brilliant film about Dylan's early years (up to 1966) 'A Complete Unknown' which ends with him roaring away from Pete Seeger type folk on a rocknroll motorbike. Around the time of Hendrix there was a rumour that Dylan couldn't really play guitar but made up for it with a unique dramatising voice and the poetry of the lyrics but one listen to the original will banish that thought: his guitar picking (honed by all those folk club performances) is astonishingly good and drives the song.. And contrary to most people's recall, this is not a solo track but has a band behind him playing drums, two bass guitars, piano and a second guitarist. Our version concentrates on the heart-yearning pretty tune. We have a female lead vocal, bass, percussion and add some vocal layers. On the liner notes Dylan protests that it isn't a (slow and easy going) love song. And so of course that's exactly the way we do it.

Don't Think Twice It's All Right


Reprising our Joan'n'Bob act ( see Diamonds and Rust Gareth-calway – Diamonds-and-rust) with a return fixture, Bob's trademark protest song against one of his early women. His second album but the first to feature a more or less complete sweep of his own songs, unlike the first which mainly showcased him as a performer of other people's. In other words, the real Dylan. Who was the discarded lover? Some internal evidence suggests this may even be pre-New York with its rustic setting of roosters and dark roads and sense of setting out and travelling' on in which case it might be a memory of some Mid Western affair rather than Suzi Rotolo but who knows. "You just kinda wasted my precious time" is pretty damning but mild compared to some of his later accusations and restless attacks on whoever was upsetting him at the time. We both bought this album about 8 years after it came out probably on the strength of Blowing in the Wind as one of those must have vinyl classic albums from one of the masters of folk rock and Americana and fellow architect of the 60s (with the Beatles) first heard as children but now understood as teenagers and were sent back to it recently by the brilliant film about Dylan's early years (up to 1966) 'A Complete Unknown' which ends with him roaring away from Pete Seeger type folk on a rocknroll motorbike. Around the time of Hendrix there was a rumour that Dylan couldn't really play guitar but made up for it with a unique dramatising voice and the poetry of the lyrics but one listen to the original will banish that thought: his guitar picking (honed by all those folk club performances) is astonishingly good and drives the song.. And contrary to most people's recall, this is not a solo track but has a band behind him playing drums, two bass guitars, piano and a second guitarist. Our version concentrates on the heart-yearning pretty tune. We have a female lead vocal, bass, percussion and add some vocal layers. On the liner notes Dylan protests that it isn't a (slow and easy going) love song. And so of course that's exactly the way we do it.

June 28, 2025

The Keeper




‪@PeacocksTaleMusic‬ for all our videos We performed this at our recent summer solstice party expecting our pagan friends to know it and join in. They didn't and didn't, citing a Christian-indoctrinated primary schooling. My class in Milk St Primary School Frome (the one before the 11 plus year) used to sing this with hip, miniskirted Miss Millington who possibly got it from the Pete Seeger version and worldview. Seeger was deeply involved in the civil rights movement led by Martin Luther King and no doubt enjoyed the progressive implications of the song, the keeper freeing the doe into the woods (among the leaves so green-o) rather than killing her or holding her captive. In the early 70s, as the English folk rock band Steeleye Span took Irish Republican folk songs like "All Around My Hat" ("I will wear a green willow) and McCartney singing "Give Ireland Back To The Irish" up the charts, I assumed "The Keeper" was a similarly progressive song about the changing relationship between England and Ireland. It could be though I'm not sure it started out like that. Apparently, it's just one of those eternal hunter/hind songs about sex, "under his cloak he carried a bow for to shoot a merry little doe." I prefer the green 1965 version with miniskirted Miss Millington where, despite our incipient pubescence and a propensity for innuendo, Class 7 thought it was about a keeper hunting and then releasing an elfin doe among the trees into a semi-magical wood, like the ones we knew in Somerset. (It was a progressive school but also marked by the limitations of its time : when the whole year group sang together, the 'remove' class was always and only given the percussion instruments. Pic of me as the Keeper by Bhas Allan.

June 21, 2025

Cruel



@PeacocksTaleMusic for all our videos. Our take on Kate Rusby's "Cruel". Traditional folk but also a deconstruction of it, as is Rusby's thoroughly contemporary way; the 'female' side of all those 'heave away, haul away' shanties, revealing a tender human story of cruelly divided lovers. Nowadays, they'd probably stay and build a home together... Cruel were my parents, to tear my love from me Cruel was the pressgang that took him to the sea Cruel was the little boat that rowed him off the strand And cruel was the big ship, that took him from the land Haul away, boys, haul away Haul away, boys, haul away Cruel was the water, that ship it sailed upon Cruel was the fair wind, for now my loves he's gone Had you blown a roaring gale they'd have left him on dry land Where he would walk besides me and I would hold his hand Haul away boys, haul away Haul away boys, haul away The ring beneath my pillow, is the ring he gave to me I'll wear it on my finger, for all the world to see But cruel was the captain, the bo'sun, and the men For they didn't give a farthing if I saw my love again Haul away, boys, haul away Haul away boys, haul away Cruel were my parents, to tear my love from me Cruel was the pressgang that took him to the sea Cruel was the little boat that rowed him off the strand And cruel was the big ship, that took him from the land Haul away, boys, haul away Haul away, boys, haul away from Poachers on the Common (LP), released September 8, 2022 https://peacocks-tale.bandcamp.com/album/poachers-on-the-common-lp Song by Kate Rusby


February 10, 2025

Come All Ye (A Folk Song)



We played this live at our local Burns Night Supper then recorded and the following morning filmed it on a mobile phone first take in our front room - a morning after with glorious winter sunshine streaming in. The first part of this video is that live studio first take. The second is the same film and same basic track but with all the sound overdubs we added over the next two days. Which do you prefer? Please let us know. Here's the press release. "This Hutchings/Denny number is the one that kicks off the greatest folk-rock album of all time 'Liege and Lief'. (1969, on the Island label. Essential listening if you've never heard it. ) "Part celebration of traditional English/British folk music and festival, part heart-singing pagan hymn (Oh Come All Ye Folkful?) but above all having some fun (mostly at our own expense) this is our BRAND NEW ONE, rehearsed and gigged and lived since the run up to Christmas and OUT TODAY. We've adapted two of the lyric verses to fit the instruments we have in our repertoire including on this occasion leader of the JD BIG BAND John Davies on sexy sax and his bonnie lassie Kathleen on guest drum roll on the drum verse. (They also have a little married duet of sax and drum roll in the play out.) It was an absolute treat to play live with them at Burns Night and to have their jelly roll jazz ( it's probably swing but you know where I and it's coming from) as part of our folk minstrel one. You can watch a film of us playing this track live with the JD Big Band and the Ecclefechan Tarts Orchestra and Choir last week at our annual Burns Night supper on YouTube film The Full Rabbie which recently premiered -    • The Full Rabbie  (International Burns...   " Come all ye rolling minstrels And together, we will try To rouse the spirit of the earth And move the rolling sky Those that dance, will start to dance And those who don't will stay In time to list our merry tune That we play for you today So, come all ye rolling minstrels And together we will try To rouse the spirit of the earth And move the rolling sky Our tooter, he just loves to toot Upon his common flute Recorder by another name Much better with a mute. So, come all ye rolling minstrels And together we will try To rouse the spirit of the earth And move the rolling sky Possessor of our sax appeal (see picture) And no old folkie he Folk is just some wayward notes Jazz a wayward key. So, come all ye rolling minstrels And together we will try To rouse the spirit of the earth And move the rolling sky Sound of beating on the drum Song behind you'll hear And to the rhythm of guitar We hope you'll lend an ear So, come all ye rolling minstrels And together we will try To rouse the spirit of the earth And move the rolling sky Well, the man who plays the bass does make Those low notes that you hear And the high notes come from you and me For we will sing so clear So, come all ye rolling minstrels And together we will try To rouse the spirit of the earth And move the rolling sky
Source: Musixmatch Songwriters: Sandy Denny / Ashley Stephen Hutchings / Dp Come All Ye lyrics © Warlock Music Ltd Comic adaptations to lyrics of verses 2 and 3 to fit our instruments (and in my case level of virtuosity) by Peacock's Tale.

December 07, 2021

Saints and Sinners Christmas EP by Peacock's Tale Audio

 


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about

Press Release 

‘Saints and Sinners' is a cover of a folk song by Scots-Canadian David Francey performed live to camera on YouTube from our cottage in Sedgeford. 

“We set up the studio so that everything – voices, harmonies, guitars, percussion – rings out like a bell. In case the audience is in any doubt, we’ve blended some Fring Church bells (as rung on a Sunday morning by our local vicar) into the live mix.” 

The song’s composer won a John Lennon award for songwriting in 2010. The down to earth message of the lyric is that “it’s a long way from heaven to Bethlehem”but with a deep sympathy for “the joy and the sorrow of my fellow man.” Fellow survivors of the early 70s will recognise the nod to Lennonism in the jingly jangly hippy 60s mix. 

The EP covers the 'Christ' and the "Mess' of Christmas with a sonnet set to a drum and bass soundtrack narrating the 'Journey of the Magus' and an a capello cover of the Scots folk song 'The Parting Glass.' This Saints and Sinners motif is further pursued with two gospel covers 'You Gotta Move' and 'Down to the River To Pray'. 

The whole package may be streamed or downloaded from Bandcamp (search for ‘Peacock’s Tale folk indie duo’) and the ‘A’ side viewed on YouTube from December 6.

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released December 6, 2021

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Peacock's Tale Folk/Indie DuoSedgeford, UK

It's all right, folks, we're married. A marriage of melody and rhythm. Indie folk, Norfolk noir, historical ballads, musical ... more

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February 27, 2018

The Full Phezants Phirst Phlight! - photo gallery (part of the Cambridgeshire Libraries Presents Arts Alive project)

THE PENLAND PHEZANTS AT WISBECH LIBRARY SAT. 24 FEBRUARY 2018
TELLING THE STORY OF THE 1816 LITTLEPORT AND ELY RIOTS
(OUR FIRST GIG AS A THREE PIECE)


Foisting the Hezant! Pholk tales and music.



Phirst night! Looks like a phull house!



Show them the instruments!



Once upon a time, when people might as well be hanged as starved...



Our mime section. Upwardly mobile farmer's daughter Mary Martin plays bad harpsichord.


There's a riot going on around here. (But I don't think it's going to end well, Jack...)



Told you!


That's all pholks!