Thursday, February 17, 2011



Excerpt from Ken Russell's In Search of the English Folk Song documentary from 1997

Stumbled on this quite by chance on TV several years, saved it on the cable box/DVR for ages and rewatched it many a time, then lost when the cable box went on the blink... It's a very eccentric journey through English folk, with many people included seemingly because they're mates of Ken's or he met them in his local village pub... a haunting a cappela "King of Rome" from June Tabor... an extraordinary song called "The Fawley Flame" by one Bob Appleyard, about a local offshore refinery if i recall right... the saucy Lynne Fortt... Greenham Common wimmin's song.. Carthy Waterson... a really bizarre Glastonbury performance troupe called Edward II with a cast of dozens across multiple floats ... wish there more bits from this on YouTube (the bit with Donovan below is one of the least interesting)

I must order the DVD...

here's what i wrote about it when i first saw it five years ago