Recorded by myself and Phil Robinson around 2004 on a 4 track anaogue recorder in the house of Duncan Friend in Lincoln, Off the Map was a mix of originals and old folk standards. It also featured Jon Fox (of the Hooleys) on recorder and whistles and Duncan Friend on guitar on Senator McCarthy. The well crafted cover and sleeve notes were printed gratis by a friend who hated his exploitative employers. The house on the rear cover is the house at Cold Keld, Cumbria, that we visited for several years. Other photographs, icluding the cover, were taken by Phil around the house and gardens.
The print run of 40 sold out and we ran off a few more so they are a real collectors piece.
The song Cold Keld Set tells of a particlar visit.
John the Insane is a tribute to someone I was introduced to many years ago. She was born to a mother out of wedlock and, because of this, was placed in a workhouse. It is difficult to know what her life would have been like had she been nurtured but, when I met her, she was in her seventies and had spent her whole life in institutions. Taking anonymity to its limits, I wrote a song about a man and set the song in a different century. The title is in your face, but the eponymous hero does gain his freedom and his revenge. It was too much for Jon, however. In spite of being a brilliant whistle player, politely pretended he couldn’t pick out a tune.
Thank you Alice, I hope the next life treats you better than this one.
Songs: Senator McCarthy (me), Star of the County Down, Little Black Cars (Robinson), She Moved through the fair (Colum, Hughes), John the Insane (me), Cold Keld Set (me), Wild Mountain Thyme, Come to terms with this (Robinson), The badger’s arse (Oldfield, Robinson)
“We gather at dusk to relive our saga, richards been playing his tune on the aga, we wash down our vittles with beer and with larger, and the tiles on the floor seem uneven” Cold Keld Set