Who Owns the Game?

Traditional songs and melodeon tunes from Central Suffolk

Cecil Pearl (Claydon) Charlie Stringer (Wickham Skeith) Dolly Curtis (Dennington) Fred Whiting (Kenton) Cyril Barber (Felsham) Roy Last (Mendlesham Green)

Fifty years ago the villages in the centre of Suffolk were hotbeds of traditional music making. On a Saturday night pubs such as Dennington Bell, Stadbroke Ivy House, Brundish Crown, Wickham Skeith Swan and the Green Man at Mendlesham Green would ring with the classic combination of unaccompanied singing and lively melodeon playing, probably with a bit of stepdancing thrown in for good measure. Here we have six of the finest exponents of this rural art. All were regulars in one of those pubs and all relished a good night out!

CD Listing

  1. Dick Iris’s Hornpipe - Cecil Pearl (1.25)
  2. Kibosh the Cobbler - Charlie Stringer (1.50)
  3. Walter Read’s Hornpipe - Dolly Curtis (1.19)
  4. Poison Beer - Fred Whiting (2.50)
  5. Sonny’s Tune - Cyril Barber (1.20)
  6. Peter the Paynter - Roy Last (1.50)
  7. Peachey’s Polkas - Cecil Pearl (2.40)
  8. Woodland Flowers - Cecil Pearl /Dolly Curtis (1.41)
  9. Little Cock Sparrow - Roy Last (1.04)
10. Speed the Plough - Cecil Pearl (0.43)
11. The Costermonger’s Song - Roy Last (1.38)
12. Hornpipes - Dolly Curtis (1.57)
13. Alf Peachey’s March /Marborough’s March - Cecil Pearl (1.54)
14. William Rufus - Roy Last (1.52)
15. Stepdance Tune - Cyril Barber (1.14)
16. Tommy Doddler - Charlie Stringer (1.00)
17. Jig (Larry O’Gaff) - Dolly Curtis (1.16)
18. One and Twenty - Roy Last (0.54)
19. Hornpipes - Cecil Pearl (1.10)
20. Who owns the Game? - Fred Whiting /Botany Bay - Roy Last (4.42)
21. Polkas - Cecil Pearl (1.14)
22. John Barleycorn - Roy Last (2.50)
23. La Russe - Cecil Pearl (1.06)
24. Dennington Bell /On the Waggon - Dolly Curtis (3.05)