Good Order

Traditional Singing and Music from the Eel’s Foot

Mrs Howard, Jumbo Brightwell, Fred Ginger, Jack Clark, Velvet Brightwell, Tom Goddard, Douglas Morling, Harry ‘Crutter’ Cook, Edgar Button, Albert ‘Diddy’ Cook, Alec Bloomfield, Jack ‘Dot’ Button

"Folksong is quaint now. Folksong is arty. But once this was not so. Once the farm labourers and the weavers, the road-menders and tinsmiths who made up these songs two hundred, three hundred years ago, were the fellows who sang them. And to this day there are still places where the songs and style of the old traditional singers are still kept alive by the people themselves.

The Eel’s Foot is such a place. The Eel’s Foot is in Eastbridge. Eastbridge is in Suffolk. The weather is bleak, but the beer is good. On Saturday nights in the Eel’s Foot, the little bar-room is too crowded to play darts. The locals sit formally round two tables and sing. They sing in turn, as they are called upon by the chairman. They sing songs of a forgotten time - songs about highwaymen and sailing ships, about deserted soldiers and servant girls betrayed." From Picture Post Magazine 14th December 1940

CD Listing

  1. Introduction and stepdancing - Mrs Howard
  2. False Hearted Knight - Jumbo Brightwell
  3. The Old Sow - Fred Ginger
  4. The Dark-eyed Sailor - Jack Clark
  5. The Princess Royal - Velvet Brightwell
  6. Poor Man’s Heaven - Tom Goddard
  7. The Foggy Dew - Douglas Morling
  8. The Indian Lass - Velvet Brightwell
  9. Duck Foot Sue - Harry ‘Crutter’ Cook
10. Underneath her Apron - Edgar Button
11. Pleasant and Delightful - Velvet Brightwell
12. The Blackbird - Albert ‘Diddy’ Cook
13. The Farmer from Cheshire - Alec Bloomfield
14. The Old Sow (2) - Fred Ginger
15. Jack’s the Boy - Jack ‘Dot’ Button