Come Write me Down

£20.00

Description

Come Write Me down by The Copper Family of Rottingdean finally brings the legendary 1950s and early ’60s Copper Family recordings to CD for the first time. These rare performances present the glorious ‘Southern harmony’, southern English that is, that The Coppers brought to prominence during the early part of the folk revival. The classic duet harmonies of cousins Bob and Ron Copper are featured along with previously unreleased recordings of the quartet including both their fathers, the brothers John and Jim Copper. The influence The Coppers and these recordings have had is inestimable. All this goes to make this release, arguably, the most important traditional music release this century. Come Write Me Down has been carefully remastered with astonishing results, sounding better than anyone had originally hoped for. Included are two booklets: a 60 page booklet with extensive biographies, historical notes and a 36 page book with full lyrics. With the recent sad demise of Bob, shortly after receiving national recognition by way of his MBE, this is possibly the finest archival tribute to his legacy.

1. Spencer the Rover
2. Good Ale
3. Thousands or More
4. Babes in the Wood
5. The Banks of the Sweet Primroses
6. Sweep! Chimney-sweep!
7. Two Young Brethren
8. The Brisk and the Bonney Lad
9. The Month of May
10. The Honest Labourer
11. The Birds in the spring
12. My Father Had an Acre of Land
13. Shepherd of the Downs
14. The Threshing Song
15. The Seasons Round
16. Sportsmen, Arouse!
17. Hard Times Of Old England
18. The Lark In The Morning
19. Warlike Seamen
20. When Spring Comes In
21. The Brisk Young Ploughboy
22. Cupids Garden
23. Dame Durden
24. The Claudy Banks
25. General Wolf
26. Adieu, Sweet Lovely Nancy
27. Talking
28. Come Write Me Down, Ye Powers Above

“What the Watersons are to folk harmony in the north of England, the Coppers are in the south. Often they have fewer resources: only a little of Come Write Me Down is by the full two-generational quartet of Bob, Ron, Jim and John. Most of the 28 songs are duets, most of those by Bob and Ron–but what singing it is! With sinewy grace their voices tell of a past peopled by chimney-sweeps, downland shepherds and brisk young ploughboys, where larks rise in the morning over banks of sweet primroses–pretty poetry, romantic, sometimes tender, but never remotely twee. There have been Coppers making music around Rottingdean on the Sussex coast for more than a century, and there still are, including Bob himself, but these performances, recorded almost half that time ago, make a unique portrait of the family tradition as it passed from old men to young, and they are among the treasures of English folksong. The big jewel-case accommodates two thick booklets, one on the songs and the other a brilliant, thought-provoking essay by Reg Hall on the family and its place in the social history of English music.” – Tony Russell