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Navvy Boots (Roud 516)

from Midlife by Jon Wilks

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    Due to popular demand, "Midlife" received a physical CD release. Much to my delight, Brummies (and non-Brummies) the world over got in touch saying they wanted the album on compact disc, either for themselves or as gifts for other Brummies (or non-Brummies). So who was I to refuse so many Brummies (and non-Brummies)?!

    The CD version comes with one extra song: "Oh, It Was My Cruel Parents Who Did Me First Trepan". Arguably the best title of any song ever in existence.

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    Get all 11 Jon Wilks releases available on Bandcamp and save 20%.

    Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of Before I Knew What Had Begun I Had Already Lost, The Cruel Mother, Up The Cut, God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen, Mary Ashford's Tragedy, Tell Old Bill, The Jovial Hunter of Bromsgrove [Roud 29], Toryanse - 通りゃんせ, and 3 more. , and , .

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about

Navvy Boots
(Roud 516)

This was collected in Pelsall Common, just north of Birmingham, on October 1st 1967, when it was sung to members of the Birmingham and Midland Folk Centre by a traveller named Eileen Hannoran. Irish in origin, several versions exist, and it’s not unusual to find that it was common in the Midlands area where many labourers worked on the construction of the railways and canals.

It’s not a meditation on hard labour, however, and keen-eared listeners will recognise several floating verses common to a number of Night Visiting Songs. I originally found it in Roy Palmer’s book, "Songs Of The Midlands".

credits

from Midlife, released November 1, 2018
Traditional. Arranged, produced and performed by Jon Wilks.

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Jon Wilks Whitchurch, UK

'The sort of performer folk circles mean when they talk of the living tradition' - Mike Davies, Folking.com

“One of the best of the New Wave of Folk Blokes. As a guitar player and arranger of traditional songs, Jon Wilks already deserves speaking of in the same breath as your Simpsons and your Morays.” – Ian A. Anderson, fRoots Mag
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