It is Sunday afternoon and I am listening to a new CD that
arrived yesterday. What a nice album it is. The Harvard Tapes by Dick
Gaughan. In case you have not heard of Dick Gaughan before, he is a
Scottish singer-songwriter and guitarist born in 1948. I first became aware of his
music many years ago on a folk compilation album called Folk Heritage 11. Dick
contributed a song called The World Turned Upside Down which I loved. It
was written by Leon Rosselson and tells the story of The Diggers who tried
to bring about land reforms in the 17th century. I liked the sentiment of the lyrics. ‘You poor take
courage, You rich take care, This earth was made a common treasury, for
everyone to share’. As well as great songs and guitar playing I also
like the political content of many of Dick’s songs. You could call him a
protest singer if you wanted. Although I have liked his music for a long time, I
never got around to buying an album until this week.
This album was recorded in 1982. It was the last date on an
extensive US tour. Brian O’Donovan recorded it for broadcast on a Boston radio
station. It then lay undisturbed for 37 years until being rediscovered. As well
as the songs I also like the humorous banter of Dick who is quite a comedian by
the sounds of it. The first track is a traditional song called Erin-Go-Bragh.
It was included on an album recorded in 1981 called Handful of Earth which
was voted the best folk album of the 80’s by Folk’s Roots magazine. Also, from
that album is Now Wrestlin Winds, a fabulous song adapted from a poem by
Robbie Burns. Song for Ireland was written by an Englishman called Phil
Colclough. I remember first hearing this great song sung by Mary Black. The
Dubliners also recorded it. Your Daughters and Your Sons was written by Irish
singer Tommy Sands. Glenlogie is a traditional ballad that Dick has cut
down to reasonable length. On the Road is nothing to do with Jack
Kerouac, it is written by Joan Brown.
The UK folk scene has produced some legendary guitar
players, Richard Thompson, Bert Jansch, Nic Jones, Martin Simpson and Davey
Graham are just a few names that spring to mind. This album tells me that Dick
Gaughan is also one of the best, as shown on tracks like Reels, The
Gooseberry Bush/The Chicago Reel/Jenny’s Welcome To Charlie. The last three
songs are all political in content The Word Turned Upside Down, The Workers
Song and The Freedom Come All Ye. There are also three bonus tracks all
recorded live, Lemmings which is one of Dick’s own songs, Sliabh na
mBan, and Connolly Was There which was written by the great Dominic
Behan. As you can see, there is a huge Irish influence on this album. Dick’s
grandfather was Irish, and he grew up surrounded by Scottish & Irish music.
Dick suffered a stroke in 2016 which has curtailed his live
appearances. His friends got this album together free of charge to help him
out. This shows the high esteem he is held in. The album came out last year and
I am very pleased I bought it. I might buy that Handful of Earth album
one of these days.
