Hi Nicky B, yes I love Roots and I'm going to see Show of Hands at Pacific Rd next month.
But don't expect too much of a response to this kind of post on this site. I think the usual crowd here are far more into Irish Traditional tunes than the English songsters that you mention in your biog, so they will probably give this a miss. Don't take it personally.
Do you play in any Irish sessions in Rochdale?
Interesting song.It's almost a kind of lament that the English seem to have lost the roots of their musical tradition whilst the Irish have succeeded in retaining theirs.
Well, not just the Irish, everyone else, going by my listening to it. I quite liked the sentiment, but am not all a fan of the Union Jack ("It's my flag too and I want it back"), rightly called the butcher's apron by some Irish people.
Then there's the whole package of the song. It's not done in an English-trad ("Rootsy") style....then, of course it wouldn't sell if it were. So it has an inbuilt contradiction. Lamenting the loss of a tradition, yet transmitting the lament in a form which has superseded the lost tradition.
Apart from that I find it almost listenable-to.
Yes,yes,yes,KML.Hope you're having a nice weekend?
Those are some of the points that make it an interesting song,it touches lots of nerves.I'm not talking a partisan position,merely observing.The big question 'where are we going wrong? I like because it might make some people think a bit.I've met quite a few English,Welsh,and especially Americans,who have a very outdated image of Ireland,quaint faery folks cutting peat and riding donkeys rather than the reality of running a new motorway through the middle of Tara.As for the music,well,if we were 'authentic roots'
ourselves,you and I'd be on some ancient bench on the village green,with church bells pealing in the background,not using high tech broad band computer keyboards to talk...
I agree entirely, wolfbird. It's still an inherent contradiction. I quite liked the song, and of course the sentiment, maybe I should have sounded more positive. I wouldn't choose to put it on my player but also I wouldn't switch it off Hope that clarifies.
I wouldn't buy the music because I know that i'd only listen a couple of times.But most popular music is like that,ephemeral,it hits the people with a message in an easily accessible package,like a newspaper headline,and the next day everybody moves on to the next bit of entertainment.
I think that to be effective 'roots' music has to contain a more profound element somewhere,something that lasts through generations.
I've been listening to a really lovely fiddle track by Sian Phillips called Farewell to Aberystwyth.It's said to be traditional Welsh but I have not been able to find any solid info about it.
I grew up there,so that's MY roots.I learned my music there,in the pubs.In those days lots of people played in the pubs and guys would actually show you how to play things.Then everything got changed.Buildings,roads,people,everything.I'd hate to go there,because almost everything would be unrecognisable.I prefer the old reality that still exists in my memory and imagination.
For a similar sentiment, seek out the movie Educating Rita (1983, Michael Caine, Julie Walters)
just for the scene where Rita is recounting sitting in the boozer with her Gran, listening to others sing the likes of TV jingles. Gran has tears trickling down her face, and Rita asks what is wrong.
"Are these the best songs we have?" asks Gran.
'I quite liked the sentiment, but am not all a fan of the Union Jack ("It's my flag too and I want it back"), rightly called the butcher's apron by some Irish people. "
I thought he sung "I lost St. George in tthe Union Jack, It's my flag too and I want it back", in which case he's agreeing with you regarding your disdain for the Union Jack. Not everyone in England (as in Wales and Scotland) is overly enamoured with the whole British thing, and would rather be standing alongside our fellow islanders rather than opposite them, as so many seem to think they do.
Roots
Roots
Who likes the song Roots by Show of Hands??? cause I love it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
# Posted on September 29th 2007 by Nicky.B
Re: Roots
Pray, do tell, Nicky B, what does your message or this song have to do with ITM?
Funny how the odd people seem to come out of the woodwork on Saturday afternoons on The Session, isn't it? Oh, dear, I'll get my coat.
# Posted on September 29th 2007 by Floss the Tethers
Re: Roots
Hi Nicky B, yes I love Roots and I'm going to see Show of Hands at Pacific Rd next month.
But don't expect too much of a response to this kind of post on this site. I think the usual crowd here are far more into Irish Traditional tunes than the English songsters that you mention in your biog, so they will probably give this a miss. Don't take it personally.
Do you play in any Irish sessions in Rochdale?
# Posted on September 29th 2007 by flossie
Re: Roots
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P5h4PFBuzvw
Hi Nicky.B
Interesting song.It's almost a kind of lament that the English seem to have lost the roots of their musical tradition whilst the Irish have succeeded in retaining theirs.
# Posted on September 30th 2007 by wolfbird
Re: Roots
Well, not just the Irish, everyone else, going by my listening to it. I quite liked the sentiment, but am not all a fan of the Union Jack ("It's my flag too and I want it back"), rightly called the butcher's apron by some Irish people.
Then there's the whole package of the song. It's not done in an English-trad ("Rootsy") style....then, of course it wouldn't sell if it were. So it has an inbuilt contradiction. Lamenting the loss of a tradition, yet transmitting the lament in a form which has superseded the lost tradition.
Apart from that I find it almost listenable-to.
# Posted on September 30th 2007 by Key Maniac Lad
Re: Roots
Yes,yes,yes,KML.Hope you're having a nice weekend?
Those are some of the points that make it an interesting song,it touches lots of nerves.I'm not talking a partisan position,merely observing.The big question 'where are we going wrong? I like because it might make some people think a bit.I've met quite a few English,Welsh,and especially Americans,who have a very outdated image of Ireland,quaint faery folks cutting peat and riding donkeys rather than the reality of running a new motorway through the middle of Tara.As for the music,well,if we were 'authentic roots'
ourselves,you and I'd be on some ancient bench on the village green,with church bells pealing in the background,not using high tech broad band computer keyboards to talk...
# Posted on September 30th 2007 by wolfbird
Re: Roots
I agree entirely, wolfbird. It's still an inherent contradiction. I quite liked the song, and of course the sentiment, maybe I should have sounded more positive. I wouldn't choose to put it on my player but also I wouldn't switch it off
Hope that clarifies.
# Posted on September 30th 2007 by Key Maniac Lad
Re: Roots
Well, there you go. I had to switch it off after approx 2.5 seconds ...
# Posted on September 30th 2007 by benhall.1
Re: Roots
Perfectly clear
I wouldn't buy the music because I know that i'd only listen a couple of times.But most popular music is like that,ephemeral,it hits the people with a message in an easily accessible package,like a newspaper headline,and the next day everybody moves on to the next bit of entertainment.
I think that to be effective 'roots' music has to contain a more profound element somewhere,something that lasts through generations.
I've been listening to a really lovely fiddle track by Sian Phillips called Farewell to Aberystwyth.It's said to be traditional Welsh but I have not been able to find any solid info about it.
I grew up there,so that's MY roots.I learned my music there,in the pubs.In those days lots of people played in the pubs and guys would actually show you how to play things.Then everything got changed.Buildings,roads,people,everything.I'd hate to go there,because almost everything would be unrecognisable.I prefer the old reality that still exists in my memory and imagination.
# Posted on September 30th 2007 by wolfbird
Re: Roots
For a similar sentiment, seek out the movie Educating Rita (1983, Michael Caine, Julie Walters)
just for the scene where Rita is recounting sitting in the boozer with her Gran, listening to others sing the likes of TV jingles. Gran has tears trickling down her face, and Rita asks what is wrong.
"Are these the best songs we have?" asks Gran.
# Posted on September 30th 2007 by oldstrings
Re: Roots
i LOVE the song roots by show of hands its my favourite song ever!!!
# Posted on September 30th 2007 by Kathryn123
Re: Roots
'I quite liked the sentiment, but am not all a fan of the Union Jack ("It's my flag too and I want it back"), rightly called the butcher's apron by some Irish people. "
I thought he sung "I lost St. George in tthe Union Jack, It's my flag too and I want it back", in which case he's agreeing with you regarding your disdain for the Union Jack. Not everyone in England (as in Wales and Scotland) is overly enamoured with the whole British thing, and would rather be standing alongside our fellow islanders rather than opposite them, as so many seem to think they do.
# Posted on October 1st 2007 by Sugarfoot Jack