Ralph McTell - Dranouter Folk Festival, Belgium 1989 - The Girl From The Hiring Fair

[Bjowolf2]

1 person ought to be strangled slowly - with a thin E-string ;-)

[bickerandrue2]

@Bjowolf2

Que?!

[Bjowolf2]

@bickerandrue2

Que? - to what?

[bickerandrue2]

@Bjowolf2

Que to this comment?? Aha I get it, the 1 dislike! LOL I see it all.......

[Donnaliz14]

What a beautiful, beautiful song. Ralph McTell is so talented. One of my all time favorite songs!

Fan from North Carolina USA

[tennis11ish]

OK, who doesn't like this video? Are you kidding?

[Bjowolf2]

@tennis11ish

No idea what happened there - I didn't do it! ;-)

Thank you for your nice comments, and please add those wonderful lines again.

[tennis11ish]

@Bjowolf2 - Reading Richard Thompson's bio right now....so many great names coming up: McTell, Carthy, Denny, Mattacks, Swarbrick....imagine, Thompson jamming with John Bonham, Page and Plant in LA way back when! Rock/Folk mesh so well. What McTell album would you recommend? I don't own any (don't download - prefer my old, dusty local 2nd hand CD/vinyl shop)

[Bjowolf2]

@tennis11ish

Great ;-) Yes, I can imagine. Amazing how versatile these folks are and able to cross between the genres.

Well, I think he is at his best live, so must-haves to me would be

"Ralph, Albert & Sydney" (1976)

+

"Songs for Six Strings - Vol. 2" (1992) ( "R,A & S" is Vol. 1) - fine collection of live perf.s.

It has an incred. moving version of Red & Gold

+

"Travelling Man" (1998) - excellent 2xCD the from Purcell Room, London.

These will give you a good impression.

[Bjowolf2]

@rocktenniscat

"thanks for those recommendations."

You are welcome - it was for tennis11ish, but you are of course welcome to "listen in" ;-)

"Is "Travelling Man" a compilation of his work done live? Thx, or "Ta" if you're British! "

Yes, you could say that - along with "Songs for Six strings" - no overlap there!

( and then there are many other fine songs that didn't make it - or are of later date! )

Well, I am Danish, so "Tak" will do nicely - I think it's related to "Ta" ....

[Bjowolf2]

@Bjowolf2

"Many" folks in Britain are saying "Tak" anyway now bec. of the Danish crime series "The Killing"

(Forbrydelsen), which was a big success on BBC4 recently - with subtitles! What are the odds of that happening? LOL ( they hardly ever get subtitled programs).

An adapted version in E. (AMC) is airing currently in the US. They seem to have hit the same feeling and dark atmosphere and transformed it really well - for a change, So you may want to check it out, if it comes up your way.

[Bjowolf2]

This is his webiste ( Leola records)

ralphmctell.co.uk

Great studio albums in my opinion are:

"The Journey" is a 4CD-boxset ( 2006, i think?) - a compilation of some of  his work from all periods -

some great, some newly recorded, some early and some more of interest to the superfan ;-)

"Somewhere Down the Road"" is the recent, great studio album - apart from a couple of songs ;-)

"Sand in your Shoes" (1992?) is also really great & well produced.

[Bjowolf2]

"Water of Dreams", "The Boy With a Note" (about Welsh poet Dylan Thomas), "Right Side Up", "Red Sky" all have sev. great songs and really fine moments. Espec. RS.

"Bridge of Sighs" was where "The Girl from the Hiring Fair" had its debut + the fantastic songs

"Mr. Connoughtan" & "The Setting".

"National Treasure" & "Blue Skies, Black Heroes" are for people who are into

blues, country ragtime guitar & great guitar work.

"Gates of Eden" is a tribute album to his musical heroes.

[Bjowolf2]

@Bjowolf2

"Summer Girls" is a great song from the "The Boy With a Note" album.

watch?v=UfKovOhGIjE

Others are the amazing "Slip Shot Tap Room Dance" & the very beautiful "Caitlin's Song" / "Summer Birds are Leaving" sung by Maggie Reilly of

Mike Oldfield & "Moonlight Light Shadow" fame - at her very best voice!

[Bjowolf2]

"Affairs of the Heart" - a recent collection of his best songs (2xCD).

Of his early work "Easy" and "Not Til Tomorrow" stand out the most - many fine songs, although some of them are a bit overproduced to my liking, but then again those were different times ;-)

"As Far As I Can Tell" is a recent fine audiobook with songs and the stories behind them - several fine songs. The 'new' "Brighton Belle" is a fantastic song.

OK, I think that covers the essentials - wishing you a good hunting ;-)

[Bjowolf2]

@Bjowolf2

Correction: "Affairs of the Heart" is a 4X compilation CD-box!

Also gives a really good impression of his career, although the focus

here is mainly on "love songs" in the widest sense of the word.

[tennis11ish]

@Bjowolf2 - Thank you for all the work you did. I see you had so much good info, you had to write it up in a few replies! Again, Tak dig mycket

[Bjowolf2]

@tennis11ish

You are welcome - you may also want to check out the fansite mentioned at the top,

which has several live sound samples, a complete discography as well as several

articles and reviews etc.

Yes, I got carried away a bit there LOL - there are so many of his songs

that are among my favourites, so hard to select which albums to recommend.

( "At the End of a Perfect Day" is a no-go btw. - think it was made under some

contractual obligation and far from his normal style ).

[Bjowolf2]

@Bjowolf2

The same goes for most of the early compilations - usually called "Best of", "Greatest Hits" etc.

and released by Transatlantic or subsidiaries of it.

"Tack så mycket" is Swedish, but I get it ;-) = "tak så meget" in D., but we would say "MANgE tak" ( MANY thanks) or "Tusind tak" ( Thousand .. ) ).

dig = you , yes - even "thik" [theek] originally, corresponding to "thee" in E.

( just as du <- thu ~ thou & din ~ thine / thy )

[tennis11ish]

Talk about Romantic! I'm a goner!

"....But my envy grew like the corn in the field for in his house was my treasure,

And I'd watch her carry water, or drive cows from the byre,

And the heat from the sun made the corn grow strong and with it my desire...".

[tennis11ish]

Talk about Romantic! I'm a goner!

"....But my envy grew like the corn in the field for in his house was my treasure,

And I'd watch her carry water, or drive cows from the byre,

And the heat from the sun made the corn grow strong and with it my desire...".

[doomsdaypreacher]

She put his hand on her breast very romantic, Is there still romance?

[Bjowolf2]

@doomsdaypreacher

Hopefully ;-)

[rocktenniscat]

Thank you very much for uploading again.....I love the Fairport version, but was really missing this one. Ralph McTell is a treasure....cheers from Canada