Recorded in London, 1934, organised by E.J. Moeran

Musicians

Harry Cox: vocals

Tracks

Side 1

1. Down By the Riverside (The Bold Fisherman) (Roud 291; Laws O24; G/D 4:834) (2.59)

Side 2

2. The Pretty Ploughboy (Roud 186; Laws M24; G/D 1:170; Henry H105) (2.59)

Both tracks are now available on the Topic anthologies Come Let Us Buy the Licence and My Ship Shall Sail the Ocean (The Voice of the People Series, Volumes 1 and 2, 1998).

Video

Recorded by Peter Kennedy 1953-1956

Folk-Legacy album booklet

Musicians

Harry Cox: vocals

Tracks

Side 1

1. Seventeen Come Sunday (Roud 277; Laws O17; G/D 4:791; Henry H152)
2. The Spotted Cow (Roud 956)
3. Next Monday Morning (Roud 579)
4. The Greasy Cook (Roud 510; G/D 4:914)
5. Colin and Phoebe (Roud 512)
6. The Birmingham Man (Roud 510; G/D 4:914)
7. Betsy the Servant Maid (Roud 156; Laws M20; G/D 6:1094)

Side 2

8. The Bonny Labouring Boy (Roud 1162; Laws M14; Henry H576)
9. The Female Drummer (Roud 226; G/D 1:182; Henry H497)
10. The Squire and the Gypsy (Roud 1628)
11. Marrowbones (Roud 183; Laws Q2; G/D 2:318; Henry H174; TYG 6)
12. The Groggy Old Tailor (Roud 311; G/D 7:1463)
13. Up to the Rigs of London Town (Roud 868; G/D 2:299)
14. The Old German Musicianer (Roud 17774)

Recorded by Peter Kennedy;
Photograph by Peter Kennedy

Musicians

Harry Cox: vocals, fiddle, melodeon

Tracks

Side 1

1. Barton Broad Ballad (Roud 1781)
2. The Prentice Boy (Roud 263; Laws P35; G/D 2:200)
3. Windy Old Weather (Roud 472)
4. Newlyn Town (Roud 490; Laws L12; G/D 2:260; Henry H691)
5. The Bonny Bunch of Roses O (Roud 664; Laws J5; G/D 1:155)
6. Adieu to Old Eng-e-land, Here’s Adieu (Roud 1703)
7. Blackberry Fold (Roud 559; Laws O10)

Side 2

8. Widdliecombe Fair (Roud 666) / The Ploughboy fiddle
9. Talk about himself
10. What Will Become of England? (Roud 1779)
11. Talk about his father
12. Waltz melodeon
13. Talk and melodeon tunes
14. Talk about singing / Hornpipes fiddle
15. The Foggy Dew (Roud 558; Laws O3; G/D 7:1495)
16. Nancy and Johnny (Roud 32572)
17. Firelock Stile (Roud 1780)

Review

This review is from Norm Cohen: Folk Music Discography, Western Folklore, Vol. 30, No. 2 (April 1971), pp. 157-166:

(…) Harry Cox, another great English folksinger, has been better represented on LP. In addition to seven selections on the Caedmon set, Folk Legacy issued an entire LP of his songs in 1965. Harry Cox (EFDSS LP 1004) includes another fourteen selections from his repertoire issued in 1965 when the singer was eighty years old; there are no duplications with the other LPs cited. Recorded and edited by Peter Kennedy, the album includes several familiar ballads (Laws J5, L12, O3, O10, P35) and songs, two examples of Cox’s fiddling and four excerpts from interviews in which Cox talks about himself and his music. Cox was first “collected” in 1922 by composer E.J. Moeran; ten years later he was featured on the first recording of an English traditional singer issued by the EFDSS.

Recorded by Peter Kennedy in Catfield, Norfolk in October 1953 [3, 5-6, 12-15, 18-19, 25-26, 32, 34, 36, 39, 41, 43-45],
by Alan Lomax in Sutton, Norfolk in October 1953 [9, 23-24],
by Alan Lomax in London in November 1953 [1-2, 4, 7-8, 11, 16-17, 22, 28, 30-31, 33, 35, 38, 42, 46],
by Alan Lomax and Peter Kennedy in London in December 1953 [20],
and by Peter Kennedy in London in December 1953 [10, 21, 27, 29, 37, 40];
Edited and with notes by Peter Kennedy

• Musical Traditions CD review by Mike Yates
• Musical Traditions CD review by Steve Winick

Musicians

Harry Cox: vocals, fiddle, melodeon

Tracks

1. What Will Become of England? (Roud 1779) (0.50)
2. My life talk (1.05)
3. A-Going to Widdliecombe Fair (Roud 666) (1.07)
4. Working in a gang talk (0.25)
5. The Spotted Cow (Roud 956) (1.40)
6. Barton Waltz melodeon (0.49)
7. The harvest talk (0.47)
8. The Barley Straw (Roud 19112) (2.51)
9. The Farmer’s Servant (Roud 792) (2.37)
10. The Pretty Ploughboy fiddle air (0.33)
11. My grandfather and my father talk (1.18)
12. Jack Tar on Shore (Roud 919; Laws K39) (2.26)
13. Two Hornpipes: Yarmouth / Meg Merilees fiddle (0.44)
14. On Board of the Kangaroo (Roud 925; G/D 6:1211) song fragment (0.17)
15. Young and Growing (Roud 31; Laws O35; G/D 6:1222) song fragment (0.58)
16. My mother talk (1.16)
17. My upbringing talk (0.57)
18. The Foggy Dew (Roud 558; Laws O3; G/D 7:1495) (3.55)
19. Hunger and pay talk (1.07)
20. Three Toasts (1.43)
21. Nelson’s Monument (Roud 1552) (2.56)
22. I used to go along of him talk (1.12)
23. Barton Broad Babbing Ballad (Roud 1781) (2.16)
24. Babbing for eels talk (0.49)
25. Talk and melodeon pieces talk (2.40)
26. Singing in public houses talk (0.59)
27. Charming and Delightful (Roud 660; Laws O30; TYG 51) (0.34)
28. The old songs talk (0.27)
29. On Yon Lofty Mountain (Roud 688; Henry H520) song fragment (0.30)
30. Learning from my father talk (1.28)
31. She never had time to sit down talk (1.00)
32. The Turkish Lady (Roud 8124; Laws O26) (1.50)
33. Poaching talk (1.36)
34. Henry the Poacher (Roud 221) (5.23)
35. Windy Old Weather (Roud 472) (1.53)
36. My father at sea talk (1.00)
37. Sweet William (Roud 273; Laws K12; G/D 6:1245) (2.53)
38. How my father learned songs talk (0.18)
39. The Yarmouth Fishermen’s Song (Roud 2434) (2.58)
40. The Crocodile (Roud 886; G/D 8:1700; Henry H231a) (1.15)
41. The Soldier and Sailor’s Prayer (Roud 350; G/D 3:685) (1.57)
42. London Is As Sharp As the Edge of a Knife (Roud 15036) song fragment (1.23)
43. Up to the Rigs of London Town (Roud 868; G/D 2:299) (3.31)
44. Up the present I ain’t forgot anything yet talk (1.36)
45. Blackberry Fold (Roud 559; Laws O10) (5.25)
46. Adieu to Old Eng-e-land, Here’s Adieu (Roud 1703) (1.10)

Recorded between 1945 and 1970;
Compiled and researched by Paul Marsh, Steve Roud and Reg Hall;
Design by John Haxby

Musical Traditions CD review by Mike Yates

Musicians

Harry Cox: vocals, fiddle, melodeon

Tracks

CD 1

1. “You must get the tune first…” (0.07)
2. The Female Drummer (Roud 226; G/D 1:182; Henry H497) (4.27)
3. “People what don’t like to hear an old song…” (0.26)
4. Two Jolly Butchers (Roud 17; Laws L4; G/D 2:186; Henry H185) (5.15)
5. Polka melodeon (1.06)
6. “When I sing a song my mind is on it…” (0.18)
7. Bold Archer (Roud 83; Child 188; G/D 2:244) (3.34)
8. There’s Bound to be a Row (Roud 1616; G/D 7:1287) (2.38)
9. Betsy the Servant Maid (Roud 156; Laws M20; G/D 6:1094) (4.35)
10. Firelock Stile (Roud 1780) (2.06)
11. The Green Mossy Banks of the Lea (Roud 987; Laws O15) (2.31)
12. The Pretty Ploughboy (Roud 186; Laws M24; G/D 1:170; Henry H105) song / fiddle (5.54)
13. The Watercress Girl (Roud 1541) (2.17)
14. A Week’s Matrimony (Roud 1692) (5.58)
15. The Black Velvet Band (Roud 2146) (3.21)
16. A Hornpipe fiddle (0.55)
17. The Maid of Australia (Roud 1872) (3.31)
18. Alone, Alone in London (Roud 16059) (1.50)
19. Miss Doxy (Roud 1638) (3.32)
20. The Bonny Labouring Boy (Roud 1162; Laws M14; Henry H576) (3.25)
21. The Good Luck Ship (Roud 951; G/D 1:40) (3.47)
22. The Fowler (Roud 166; Laws O36; Henry H114) (2.46)
23. In Scarborough Fair Town (Roud 185; Laws K18; G/D 1:20; TYG 7) (4.34)
24. I Had an Old Hoss (Roud 974) (0.46)
25. The Green Bed (Roud 276; Laws K36; G/D 1:48; Henry H779) (3.23)
26. A Jig melodeon (0.26)
27. The Bold Drover (Roud 311; G/D 7:1463) (3.27)

CD 2

1. Georgie (Roud 90; Child 209; G/D 2:249) (3.13)
2. A Schottische melodeon (4.27)
3. Black-Hearted Gypsies O (Roud 1; Child 200; G/D 2:278; Henry H124) (6.07)
4. Rigs of the Times (Roud 876) (2.23)
5. The Grand Hotel (Roud 564; Laws P18; G/D 6:1188) (2.05)
6. The Transports (Roud 221) song / fiddle (6.23)
7. Where the Shamrocks Grow (Roud 16061) (2.33)
8. Barton Broad Ditty (Roud 1781) (1.55)
9. Adieu to Old England (Roud 1703) (0.49)
10. Bold Fisherman (Roud 291; Laws O24; G/D 4:834) (4.47)
11. Polka fiddle (0.57)
12. Ekefield Town (Roud 263; Laws P35; G/D 2:200) (4.05)
13. A Happy Family (Roud 850) (1.19)
14. Old Joe, the Boat is Going Over melodeon (1.19)
15. Blackberry Fold (Roud 559; Laws O10) (5.40)
16. They Told Me in the Gaol (Roud 16058) (0.28)
17. The Fowler fiddle (0.56)
18. Colin and Phoebe (Roud 512) (3.40)
19. Jack Tar on Shore (Roud 919; Laws K39) (2.34)
20. The Turkish Lady (Roud 8124; Laws O26) (4.57)
21. Slow Stepdance Tune melodeon (1.32)
22. Lost Lady Found (Roud 901; Laws Q31) (4.10)
23. Coming Home From the Wake (Roud 1606) (1.58)
24. The Poacher’s Fate (Roud 793; Laws L14) (1.38)
25. The Poor Smuggier’s Boy (Roud 618) (0.29)
26. A Hornpipe dancing doll and voice (0.29)
27. The Bonny Bunch of Roses O (Roud 664; Laws J5; G/D 1:155) (4.15)