Thumb-nail sketch:

A great father-figure to the aspiring folk-revivalists of the 60s. His albums are good – well chosen traditional songs sung with great conviction – he sang beautifully if not always in perfect pitch. He was a consummate performer and put great gusto and spirit into the songs he sang. He was recorded in Australia, (where he spent most of the years of his childhood) in America and England. There are probably over 100 albums that he has sung on.

Lloyd published The Singing Englishman (Workers' Music Association) in 1944, and this work became the best introduction to folk-song before the later Penguin book of English Folk Songs, written in 1959. The latter established him as the leading authority on his subject. He co-wrote the book with Ralph Vaughan-Williams and it has finally been reprinted by the FDSS. Order it here. The first printing provided the source of many of the folk song revivalists in the 60s and 70's

Lloyd's work, including his collection of foreign folk music, is archived at Goldsmith College where he taught. See here

Lloyd was also a founder member of Topic Records, and besides writing many sleeve notes also performed on many of the recordings

Reinhard Zierke's English Folk Music Website has the definitive database of Lloyd's recordings, with discography, song lists, liner notes and lyrics all cross-referenced.

SEE  HERE

In line with my policy on this site I shall not attempt to compete with those more expert than I, but I will keep here information for thosealbums I have in my collection.

After my small discography there is the links list. This is substantial in that it points to a variety of on-line texts (one written by Bert Lloyd himself) and provided a really detailed resource to this singer and collector.

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Albums

	T I T L E	DATE	LABEL	REFERENCE	TYPE
TRADITIONAL SONGS Re-release of Topic recordings		1994	Fellside	LC5382

01    John Barleycorn 02    The Foggy Dew 03    Skewball 04    Farewell To Tarwathie 05    Talcahuano Girls 06    Blood Red Roses 07    Cockies of Bungaree 08    Flash Jack From Gundagai 09    Weaver and the Factory Maid 10    Byker Hill 11    Young Girl Cut Down in Her Prime 12    I Wish I Wish 13    Jack Orion 14    The Lovers Ghost 15    Short Jacket and White Trousers 16    Sovay 17    Reynardine 18    Farewell Nancy 19    Fanny Blair 20    Two Magicians 21    The Demon Lover 22    Roll Her Down the Bay 23    Tamlin 24    The Widow of Westmorlands Daughter

With Alf Edwards, English Concertina and Dave Swarbrick, fiddle. The compilation CD has extensive notes in the 16-page inlay booklet. The selections have been taken from these original Topic records: TOP66 All For Me Grog TOP77 Gamblers and Sporting Blades TOP99 A Hundred Years Ago 12T51 Outback Ballads 12T86 The Iron Muse, a Panorama of Industrial Folk (now re-issued on CD) 12T103 English and Scottish Folk Ballads (now on CD) 12T118 First Person 12T135 The Bird in the Bush 12T174 Leviathan ! Ballads and Songs of the Whaling Trade (now on CD) 12TS203 The Great Australian Legend 12TS234 Sea Shanties

 

 

	T I T L E	DATE	LABEL	REFERENCE	TYPE
PENGUIN BOOK OF ENGLISH FOLK SONGS		1960	Collector	JGB 5001	LP

	01    The Devil and the Ploughman 02    The False Bride 03    A Sailors Life 04    Rounding the Horn 05    Salisbury Plain 06    One Night As I Lay On My Bed 07    George Collins 08    Gaol Song 09    The Whale Catchers 10    The Trees They Do Grow High 11    Ye Mariners All 12    Six Dukes Went A Fishing 13    The Grey Cock 14    The Sailor From Dover 15    Lovely Joan 16    Gentleman Soldier
With Alf Edwards, English Concertina. The songs on this record were chosen from The Penguin Book of English Folk Song (edited by R. Vaughan Williams and A.L.Lloyd) and published by Penguin Books.

 

 

	T I T L E	DATE	LABEL	REFERENCE	TYPE
BLOW, BOYS, BLOW with Ewan MacColl		1962? 1997	Tradition Tradition	TLP1026 TCD1024	LP and

	01    Row Bullies Row 02    Paddy Doyle 03    Wild Goose Shanty 04    While Cruising Around Yarmouth 05    Old Billy Riley 06    Handsome Cabin Boy 07    South Australia 08    Blow Boys Blow 09    Whup Jamboree 10    Banks of Newfoundland 11    Whiskey Johnny 12    Do Me Ama 13    Jackie Tar 14    Paddy West 15    Haul On the Bowline 16    Hundred Years Ago
With Alf Edwards, English Concertina, Ralph Rinzler, banjo, mandolin and Steve Benbow, guitar. Sea shanties.

 

 

	T I T L E	DATE	LABEL	REFERENCE	TYPE
A BIRD IN THE BUSH with Anne Briggs, Frankie Armstrong		1966 1998	Topic Topic	12T135 TSCD479	LP and

01    The Two Magicians (Bert)(Child 44) 02    The Old Man From Over the Sea (Frankie) 03    The Wanton Seed (Bert) 04    Gathering Rushes in the Month of May (Anne) 05    The Bonny Black Hare (Bert) 06    The Whirly Whorl (Anne) 07    Pretty Polly (Bert) 08    The Old Bachelor (Bert) 09    The Stonecutter Boy (Anne) 10    The Mower (Bert) 11    The Bird in the Bush (Frankie) 12    The Pegging Awl (Bert) 13    Martinmas Time (Anne) 14    The Widow of Westmorlands Daughter (Bert)

Mainly unaccompanied tracks, but with Alf Edwards playing concertina and Dave Swarbrick playing fiddle on some tracks. Extensive sleeve notes by Bert Lloyd. This album, which has just been re-released on CD, is subtitled Tradition erotic songs. For similar albums, see Rap-A-Tap-Tap and Down Among the Barley Straw.

 

 

	T I T L E	DATE	LABEL	REFERENCE	TYPE
A SAILOR'S GARLAND with Ewan MacColl		1966	Transatlantic	XTRA 5013	LP

01    The Sailors Alphabet 02    Bold Riley 03    Haul Away For Rosie 04    Nancy of Yarmouth 05    Toms Gone To Hilo 06    Sally Brown 07    The Dockyard Gate 08    Hilo Somebody 09    The Dolphin 10    Trim Rig Doxie 11    Little Sally Racket 12    Gal With the Blue Dress On 13    The Leaving of Liverpool 14    Bring Em Down 15    Hilo John Brown 16    Short Jacket and White Trousers 17    The Blackball Line 18    General Taylor

With Alf Edwards playing concertina and Dave Swarbrick playing fiddle on some tracks. Extensive sleeve notes by Bert Lloyd, including a short history of sea shanties.

 

 

Work	Where to go
A.L. Lloyd: The Singing Englishman: An Introduction to Folk Song, 1944, repr. 1951; with an introduction and commentary by Georgina Boyes	online at mustrad.org
E. David Gregory: A. L. Lloyd and the English Folk Song Revival, 1934-44, Canadian Journal for Traditional Music, 1999/2000	online at icaap.org
E. David Gregory: Starting Over: A. L. Lloyd and the Search for a New Folk Music, 1945-49, Canadian Journal for Traditional Music,1997	online at icaap.org
Interview with A.L. Lloyd: Australian Folk Songs, 1970	on line at unionsong.com
Complete discography listing	At Reinhard Zierke's
Songs, notes and lyrics	At Reinhard Zierke's
Biography
Biography

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