Yesterday would have been Cyril Tawney’s 90th Birthday. He was best known for his maritime songs and spent thirteen years in the Navy from the age of sixteen during which time he developed an interest in English folk music. While still in the Navy, he got a slot on an Alan Lomax Christmas broadcast Sing Christmas and the Turn of the Year. This and a further show seemed to pave the way forward, as upon leaving in 1959 he became a full-time professional musician and broadcaster.
He went on to have a weekly folk show called ‘Folkspin’ and set up his first folk club in Plymouth during the 1960s.
His song ‘The Oggie Man’ featured on a 1966 compilation A Cold Wind Blows which included the likes of Johnny Handle, Matt McGinn, as well as Alasdair Clayre, Peggy Seeger and Martin Carthy singing of Hawthorne Berries. The song told the demise of Devonport Naval Dockyard pastie seller, pushed aside by the fast-food hot-dog sellers. A long rocky road to ruin…
And the rain’s softly falling and the Oggie man’s no more.
I can’t hear him calling like I used to before
I came through the gateway and I heard the sergeant say
“The big boys are a coming, see their stands across the way”
And the rains softly falling and the Oggie man’s no more…
Daragh Lynch of Lankum, clearly a fan of Tawney, did not let the occasion pass unnoticed and shared a version of his glorious ode to hangovers, ‘On A Monday Morning‘…it appeared on his 1972 album “In Port” – if you’re new to Cyril Tawney then check that album as it also includes some other greats including Sally Free And Easy, The Grey Funnel Line and not forgetting…Chicken on a Raft, the latter named after an unpopular dish served in the Royal Navy, consisting of fried egg on fried bread.
Anyhow, here’s Daragh with On A Monday Morning, also our Song of the Day:
Junior Brother will perform alongside special guest, Lankum’s Ian Lynch on Tuesday 20 October as a special livestream performance via The National Concert Hall, Dublin.
Further details and tickets here: https://dice.fm/event/6papb-junior-brother-special-guest-ian-lynch-lankum-20th-oct-stream-via-the-national-concert-hall-dublin-dublin-tickets