AUDIO FIDELITY AFLP 1806
Bawdy Songs and Backroom Ballads -Vol. II
OSCAR BRAND, Folk Singer
This collection of folk songs is as valid a manifestation of America's
culture as any other. They've been sung around the country for hundreds of
years while the nation was being built, and some of them date back hundreds
of years before then. A number of the songs are to be found in a famous
collection in the British Museum entitled "Pills to Purge Melancholy — a
collection of old songs," dated 1607. These are as distinctly English as
"Erie Canal" is American.
Lovers, libertines and lusters, lend us your ears. Lend us your ears in
order that you may hear a tantalizing, titillating medley of musical
lasciviousness. Give us your attention in order that you may sample aurally
the rich potions of forbidden, yet forced, love.
If there be any among you who blush easily, cast aside your modesty. If
there be any among you who are chaste, cast aside caution. If there be any
among you who frown upon fallen angels, risen devils, sin, sex and
shamelessness, take warning and begone. Otherwise be prepared to join our
merry circle and rejoice in these roundelays of rakery.
You will find in these recorded strains a tidbit to tickle each of the
senses — touches of passion, pathos, Platonism and pruriency. And if your
repression is as strong as your desire, you may get a vicarious thrill from
ribald sallies into the realm of Aphrodite.
This recording carries the listener further along the road of lusty
balladry and songs of fallen virtue than the earlier release under the same
title. It represents a more daring sortie into the body of fine old folk
songs, several of which are presented in unexpurgated version.
About 225 years ago John Wesley, founder of the Methodist Church, said
"It is a pity that the devil should have all of the good songs."
Fortunately, the wonders of high fidelity recording have captured for you
here some of these songs the devil has claimed.
Unfortunately, in Wesley's day there was no middle road for mortals.
Either one stood committed to righteousness and the straight, narrow course;
or one was marked as a sinner and relegated to the ways of the devil. There
was no way of sampling a lusty tune without being identified with those of
questionable moral character.
In more recent times bawdy balladeers and lusty lyricists were able to
take refuge not only within the privacy of their own homes, but behind back
doors, where a tradition gradually was established and nurtured over the
years. Much as self-styled, respectable guardians of public morality tried
to direct what is or is not of proper moral cast, they were never able to
compete, and still are not, with the balladeers of the back room. For these
balladeers somehow managed to capture a flavor and spice of frayed virtue
not merely local, but truly international in scope.
America is rich in its sources of folk songs and ballads. Many of these
come from the rolling hills of the southeastern and northwestern sections of
our country. Others come from the rolling plains where men once were men.
Still others come from the Great Lakes area and coastal regions where river
songs and sea shanties are still somewhat fresh on the lips of balladeers.
Finally, there is the vast store of ballads we in this country have
inherited from other lands.
Only within recent years have Americans come to appreciate — through
radio, recordings and now television - the rich heritage of folk songs we
have at our disposal. But while this awakening has taken place, prudishness
has kept these ditties confined still to backrooms — unpublished, but not
unsung.
There is a bittersweet theme in most of the ballads or folk songs in this
recording. Those dealing with the subject of virtue lost have an irony
which, while characteristically tragic, is touched with enough
devil-many-care humor to be taken in the appropriate light-hearted manner.
The surprises in these ballads lie not in the loss of maidenly virtue,
but rather in the sudden twists of words, and the spice of the words
themselves. The twists of fate are more expected than the brusqueness with
which they are told.
So, curl up in your love seats, lads and lasses, and focus your attention
on what these grooves to have to offer. Beware, those of you who blanch at
the risque word and flinch over the roguish act. You sanctimonious souls who
would practice censorship in place of common sense, take cover. For you may
be shocked into admitting, after you have heard these tunes, that there but
for the grace of timidity, go you.
SIDE 1
NO. 1 ZULAIKA — Here is a little-known ballad with considerable
subtlety about a Persian maiden whose papa kept her locked up in order
to keep sin out of her life. She, however, kept her own key and all too
frequently managed to drop it out of the window with interesting
results.
NO. 2 WINNIPEG WHORE - This is a ditty of ancient vintage which made
its way to Canada from merry old England. It is an object lesson in how
young men should guard themselves against being "taken" by women who are
both immoral and unscrupulous.
NO. 3 CHRIS COLOMBO — Another famous ballad, this presents an
interesting explanation of how Christopher Columbus managed to get Queen
Isabella to put her faith in his abilities at discovery.
NO.4 BALL O' YARN — This is a play on words which in typical
classical ballad style describes how a maid loses her virtue.
NO. 5 SQUIRE OF GREAT RENOWN -- Many folk songs use sound effects in
place of words to suggest certain actions. Here the squire uses this
technique which, in effect, is "knocking it up."
NO. 6 A GOB IS A SLOB — A girl's shameful experience witha rough and
ready sailor is the subject of this ditty, which tells all in sad, frank
fashion. Oscar Brand's pop version of this song was once number one on
the Hit Parade.
NO. 7 LIMERICKS — Here is a hodgepodge of rhymes without much reason,
but with considerable humor about lads and lasses and the ways of the
world. They don't make sense, but they do provide plenty of fun.
SIDE 2
NO. 1 ERIE CANAL — A true and effective American folk song, this,
too, has become very well known through its presentation in records and
on radio by many folk singers.
NO. 2 CRUSHER BAILEY - This little epic concerns Crusher Bailey and
some of his unorthodox activities in life. Of Welsh origin, the ballad
is rich in brogue, and Oscar Brand shows himself a skillful interpreter.
The words "Sean Fach Fwyn" mean "sweet little Jane."
NO. 3 THE SAME THE 'OLE WORLD OVER - Here's another true classic much
of whose charm is in the deep cockney accent with which it should be
sung. The moral, famous the world over, is "It's the rich wot gits the
gravy . . . it's the poor wot gits the blame."
NO. 4 THE HERMIT — A hermit who is wont to live alone and like it
suddenly finds himself taking his annual bath and confronted by two
ladies. What happens in the end is called a "blessed miracle," yet is a
common weakness in all men.
NO. 5 FOGGY DEW — This favorite has been heard innumerable times in
recent years, what with the revival of folk songs by so many 20th
century minstrels. Oscar Brand does a fine job in delineating its tender
lines.
NO. 6 DARBY RAM — Here's an ancient English tune which ranks as
somewhat of a classic, This is the type of ballad which served as a
model for thousands of others imported to this country from the British
Empire or born right here in America.
NO. 7 BLACK EYED SUSIE --The tempo of this ballad is such that the
listener is apt to be more taken by surprise than little Susie, who
herself is the dupe of many a bold adventurer. You'll enjoy the
liveliness of this tune.
OSCAR BRAND
Balladeer Oscar Brand has a singing acquaintance with backrooms and
barracks, concert and radio, and human nature from San Diego to San
Pietro. Born in Winnipeg, Canada, and borne through America's midwest,
he caught many a shady shanty out of the corner of a ready and keen ear
.
In the wicked metropolis of New York City he has been collecting folk
songs for about ten years as director of folk music for the Municipal
Broadcasting System, WNYC, New York City's own radio station. In this
album he gets an opportunity to sing some of the unexpurgated words he
has aired over Station WNYC. In some cases Mr. Brand recorded one voice
and then recorded the second voice in intervals by matching it to the
first.
