The Iron Muse Explained

A book of poetry of the same name by John Curtis Underwood was published in 1910[1] by G. P. Putnam's Sons as The Knickerbocker Press.

The Iron Muse (A Panorama of Industrial Folk Song)
Type:studio
Artist:Anne Briggs, Bob Davenport, Ray Fisher, Louis Killen, A. L. Lloyd, Matt McGinn and The Celebrated Working Man's Band
Cover:iron muse topic vinyl album.jpg
Released:March 1963
Recorded:November 17, 1962
Genre:Industrial folk
Label:Topic
Producer:A. L. Lloyd

The Iron Muse (A Panorama of Industrial Folk Song) is the title of two albums released by Topic Records, the first as a 12-inch Long Play vinyl record released in 1963 and the other as a CD released in 1993.

The album is listed in the accompanying book to the Topic Records 70 year anniversary boxed set Three Score and Ten as one of their classic records[2] with The Blackleg Miners as the sixth track and The Weavers March as the twentieth track on the sixth CD in the set. Both tracks appear on the two versions of the album.

The Vinyl album

The Iron Muse (A Panorama of Industrial Folk Song) arranged and produced by A. L. Lloyd is a thematic Industrial folk music album.[3] The featured singers and musicians are Anne Briggs, Bob Davenport, Ray Fisher, Louis Killen, A. L. Lloyd, Matt McGinn and The Celebrated Working Man's Band.[4] John Tams considers it to be in the form of a radio ballad.[2] The album was recorded at Champion's in Hampstead, London[2] by Bill Leader and Paul Carter in an ad hoc studio set up in a large room. Colin Ross said that they had to wait for the coke fire to stop crackling before they could record the tracks.[2] The album had a sleeve note commentary and a 4-page accompanying booklet with tune and song details, including lyrics, both written by A. L. Lloyd.

Side one consists of music and songs from coal mining, the majority of which are printed in a book of coalfield songs by A. L. Lloyd.[5] The second side starts with a weaving tune and continues with songs covering weaving, foundry work and shipbuilding, and ends with a final coal mining song and a set of coalfield tunes.

This album was Anne Briggs's first recorded work. This was also Matt McGinn's first recorded work after he won a songwriting competition with "The Foreman O'Rourke".[6]

In the booklet for the vinyl album, A. L. Lloyd writes that "The Poor Cotton Wayver" has a version to a different tune on Ewan MacColl's album Shuttle And Cage (1954),[7] which had been published under the title of "The Four Loom Weaver" in MacColl's book The Shuttle And Cage.[8] [9]

The record was issued in America by Elektra[10] in 1964, with the tracks ordered in a different sequence and without The Collier's Daughter.

Album Details

The numbers in superscript brackets refer to the track number on the CD release. All songs and tunes are traditional except where the author is identified following the title.

Side One

  1. Miner's Dance Tunes ("Newburn Lads", "The Bonny Pit Laddie", "The Drunken Collier")
  2. "The Collier's Rant"
  3. "The Recruited Collier"
  4. "Pit Boots"
  5. "The Banks of the Dee"(22)
  6. "The Durham Lockout"
  7. "The Donibristle Moss Moran Disaster"
  8. "The Blackleg Miners"(6)
  9. "The Celebrated Working Man"
  10. "The Row Between The Cages" - Tommy Armstrong(23)
  11. "The Collier's Daughter"

Side Two

  1. "The Weavers' March"(11)
  2. "The Weaver and the Factory Maid"
  3. "The Spinner's Wedding"(12)
  4. "The Poor Cotton Wayver"
  5. "The Doffing Mistress"(14)
  6. "The Swan Necked Valve"
  7. "The Dundee Lassie"(17)
  8. "The Foreman O'Rourke" - Matt McGinn
  9. "Farewell to the Monty"(26) - Louis Killen
  10. Miner's Dance Tunes ("The Jolly Colliers", "The Keelman over Land", "Sma' Coals an' Little Money")

Personnel

The songs from Come All ye Bold Miners are included here on Side One: 1 2,[8] 3,5,6,7,8,10.[11]

The compact disc

The Iron Muse (A Panorama of Industrial Folk Song)
Type:studio
Artist:Anne Briggs, Bob Davenport, Ray Fisher, Louis Killen, The Celebrated Working Man's Band, High Level Ranters, Tommy Giffellon, Ewan MacColl, Dick Gaughan, Ed Pickford, Maureen Craik, Dave Brooks, Harry Boardman and the Oldham Tinkers
Cover:Iron muse CD album.jpg
Released:1993
Genre:Industrial Folk
Label:Topic Records

The second album with the same name was released as a compilation with only eight of the original tracks, the remainder being from other albums of the same period. None of the A. L. Lloyd or Matt McGinn songs appeared on the CD.

CD Tracks

All songs and tunes are traditional except where the author is identified following the title.All the authors listed below are from the Allmusic website.[12]

Tracks from the original album also appearing on the CD are marked with (*).

  1. "The Sandgate Girl's Lament / Elsie Marley"
  2. "Doon the Waggonway"
  3. "A Miner's Life"
  4. "The Coal-Owner and the Pitman's Wife"
  5. "The Trimdon Grange Explosion" - Tommy Armstrong
  6. "The Blackleg Miners" (*)
  7. "The Auchengeich Disaster" - Norman Buchan
  8. "Ee Aye, Aa Cud Hew"
  9. "The Durham Lockout" - Tommy Armstrong
  10. "Aa'm Glad the Strike's Done" - Thomas Kerr
  11. "The Weaver's March" (*)
  12. "The Spinner's Wedding" (*)
  13. "Oh Dear Me (The Jute Mill Song)"
  14. "The Doffing Mistress" (*)
  15. "The Little Piecer" - D. J. Brookes
  16. "The Hand-Loom Weaver's Lament"
  17. "The Dundee Lassie" (*)
  18. "Success to the Weavers"
  19. "Fourpence a Day"
  20. "Up the Raw"
  21. "Bonny Woodha'"
  22. "The Banks of the Dee" (*)
  23. "The Row Between the Cages" - Tommy Armstrong (*)
  24. "Aw Wish Pay Friday Would Come" - James Anderson
  25. "Keep Your Feet Still, Georgie Hinny" - Louis Killen
  26. "Farewell to the Monty" (*)

Personnel on the CD release

All track numbers are listed alongside the artists' names.

Source Topic Albums for tracks on the CD release

Notes and References

  1. http://guttedarcades.blogspot.co.uk/2012/05/john-curtis-underwood.html gutted arcades details of book cover
  2. http://www.topicrecords.co.uk/category/three-score-ten Three Score and Ten Accompanying Book
  3. Web site: The Iron Muse . Mainly Norfolk: English Folk and Other Good Music . 30 June 2014.
  4. Web site: A.L. Lloyd The Iron Muse . Allmusic . 30 June 2014.
  5. Book: Lloyd , A. L. . Come all ye Bold Miners: Ballads and Songs of the Coalfields . Lawrence & Wishart . 2nd . 1952. 1978 . London . 0853154120 .
  6. http://theballadeers.com/fc_1963_iron_muse.htm Balladeers site album details
  7. Web site: Ewan MacColl - Shuttle And Cage . . 13 May 2016.
  8. Book: MacColl , Ewan . The Shuttle And Cage: Industrial Folk-Ballads . Workers, Music Association . 1954.
  9. Web site: Ewan. MacColl. The Shuttle And Cage: Industrial Folk-Ballads. 1954. amazon.co.uk. 13 May 2016.
  10. http://www.atsf.co.uk/elektra/discography.php?from=1860&to=2340 Electra Album EKL279
  11. Vinyl Album accompanying booklet
  12. http://www.allmusic.com/album/the-iron-muse-mw0000108085 Allmusic review

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