MEGSON

TAKE YOURSELF A WIFE (EDJ)

Label: EDJ

Cat No: EDJ015

Release date: out now

"For my money" says Seth Lakeman "Megson are amongst the most exciting trailblazers of British Contemporary Folk." Creating one of the folk scene's most compelling sounds, Megson is Stu and Debbie Hanna-Palmer. For the duo's third album - Take Yourself A Wife - they assemble a collection of songs from the old songwriters of the North-East of England. They have chosen nine writers from the 250 years that span 1700-1950, some still remembered, others long forgotten, all of whom lived and worked north of the Cleveland Hills to south of the Scottish borders. Taking a song from each writer, with themes ranging from political satire to bitter love-wounded ghosts, Megson has brought these distant voices back to life with their own music and arrangements, preserving and making them relevant for a new generation.
Stu vocal, guitar, mandolin and mandola. Debs vocal and concertina.

The Songs and Songwriters
O Mary Will You Go ‹ Richard Watson (1833 - 1891)

Richard Watson, aka 'Poet Dick’, was one of the lucky ones. At a time when education amongst the working class was minimal, Richard's parents managed to keep him in the company school till the age of ten. After that he was, like most boys, sent down the pits, and at age 14 he found himself supporting his mother and eight siblings. This did not stop him developing his talent for writing and after his first poem was published in the Teesdale Mercury his popularity began to spread. 'O Mary Will You Go' tells of a couple debating the financial and emotional benefits of emigration.

Little Joe ‹ Joe Wilson (1841 - 1875)

Joe Wilson from Newcastle wanted to write songs that would be taken into the hearts of his native people. That he did, and he ended up becoming one of the most successful of the North Eastern songwriters, travelling far and wide to perform his songs to packed audiences. But, at the peak of his fame, he had also worn himself out physically and he retired aged 31. The lure of the road was too strong, however, and he returned a year later at huge cost: he died shortly after, aged just 33.

Take Yourself a Wife ‹ Mrs G M Tweddell (1824 - 1899)

Elizabeth Tweddell is the only female songwriter featured on this album and was a rarity of her time. She was married to George Markham Tweddell, who worked in the literary world and who first printed a newspaper for the ordinary folk of Cleveland in 1842 before going on to write and publish many magazines and books. During this period Elizabeth spent her time as a wife and mother,

john crosby

music publicity/PR

PO Box 230

Hastings

East Sussex

TN34 3XZ

Tel:   0845 108 7811

Fax:  0870 041 0577

Email:

return to home page

"and it wasn't until her children were older that she was encouraged to write literature. In 1875 she published 'Rhymes and Sketches' to illustrate the Cleveland Dialect and 'Tak theself a wife' is comical song taken from this collection. The first edition soon went out of print but was republished in 1892.

The Pitman’s Happy Times ‹ James Robson (unknown) James Robson was a stonemason from Thropton near Rothbury, Northumberland. He was also a musician in the Jacobite Army in 1715 but imprisoned in Preston, Lancashire after the Jacobite Army was defeated. He kept himself from starvation by writing and singing songs through his prison bars for money including songs such as 'Hobby Elliott', 'Satyr on Woman' and 'The Pitman's Happy Times'.

Fourpence A Day ‹ Thomas Raine (unknown) Not much is know of the author of this industrial folk song. Ewan MacCall and Joan Littlewood collected it from John Gowland a retired Lead-Miner from Middleton-in-Teesdale and attributed it to 'Thomas Raine a lead-miner and Bard of Teesdale'. The song tells of the life of a washer boy who would clean the ore from the mines once it had been crushed to leave the pure lead. They started this work when they were just nine years old working twelve hour shifts for the princely sum of fourpence a day.

The Oakey Strike Evictions ‹ Tommy Armstrong (1848 - 1919) According to folk legend, this song was the end product of a bard-cutting competition at the Red Row public house in Beamish Burn and one that the five foot tall, bow-legged Pitman Poet Tommy Armstrong won. Written at a time when the miners unions were struggling to become established, it tells of the frequent practice of evicting striking miners from their homes. The 'Candymen' that Armstrong depicts so hideously were the special recruited bailiffs for this job, brought in from the Docks. Tommy Armstrong wrote many of the areas best-loved songs and it was a good job he enjoyed such success as he had 17 children to support!

Jane Jamieson's Ghost ‹ Robert Emery (1794 - 1871) Originally born in Edinbugh, Robert Emery moved to Newcastle when he was very young and like many of the 'Northern Bards' served his apprenticeship as a printer. The song 'Jane Jamieson’s Ghost' is taken from number seven of a series of chapbooks called 'Songs of the Tyne'. It is a ghost story about Jane Jamieson, a street vendor, who was executed on 7th March 1829 for the murder of her mother. Chapbooks (short for cheapbooks) were pocket-sized booklets sold in bulk at a very low cost. It is thanks to these books that many of the songs still sung today have survived.

The New Fish Market ‹ William Mitford (1788 - 1851) Protest songs have been around a lot longer than the 1960's, as this chirpy ditty proves. When town planner, Richard Grainger, laid down plans for his 'Grainger Town' the public of Newcastle were furious as this would involve the building of a new fish market at the expense of already established shops and merchants. Change is never popular and Preston born William Mitford put down his concerns in song:

'Where's the wee shop that once held Jack the Barber? ‹ Gone to make way for the fish brought to harbour!'

Sandgate Lassie's Lament ‹ Henry Robson (circa 1775 ‹ 1850) Henry Robson was a printer who lived in Tyneside and who, unlike a lot of the other writers at the time, didn't write his songs in a Northern dialect. This particular song has been taken from John Bells' collection 'Rhymes of the Northern Bards' to which we owe much of the collected material from the North East. The song deals with the loss of a young keelman who has been press-ganged into the Royal Navy and is one of many songs of the time dealing with the subject. In the late 1700's, the keelmen around Tyneside lived in constant fear of the Press Gangs who operated under Captain Bover on the Newcastle Quayside.