The Imperial College Folk Club started in 1963 and Derek Hall was one
of its regular performers almost from the start.
The club made two
LPs of its regular singers, one in 1964 and one in 1965, and Derek
contributed seven tracks in all, three of them on the first LP and
four on the second LP.
The 1964 LP, Hootenanny
Muleskinner Blues
This song was one of
several which Derek ‘borrowed’ from Rambling Jack Elliot, an
American singer who had been an associate of Woody Guthrie and who
came across to the U.K. in the 1950’s and became well known here
too. Derek bought the 1958 album ‘Jack Takes the Floor’ and spent
many hours listening to and learning the fundamentals of Jack’s
playing style. The arrangement here is Jack’s, almost note for
note, but what a magnificent job Derek made of it. The final yodel,
held on for as long as he could sustain it, could always be
guaranteed to bring the house down.
The song was
originally written and recorded in 1930 by Jimmie Rodgers, the
legendary country music star, who had been ‘discovered’ by Ralph
Peer of the Victor Recording Company in 1927. Ralph Peer had set out
to discover new talent for the expanding recording industry and came
back from this expedition having signed up not only Jimmie Rodgers
but The Carter Family too...what a haul! Jimmie Rodgers trade mark
was his yodelling, a comparatively rare device in 1920’s America.
Do-Re-Mi
Do-Re-Mi was one of
Woody Guthrie’s finest songs. It spells out the hazards facing the
Okies (residents of Oklahoma) as they fled the dust bowl disaster of
the 1930’s. The disaster started in 1931 and lasted for several
years as a severe drought hit the American Mid-West and dried out the
region’s already depleted soil. Strong winds stripped away the
topsoil, creating huge dust storms. The farmers and their families
gave up and left, many of them migrating to California, which they
thought was ‘a garden of Eden’, as Woody’s song puts it. In
California they met appalling prejudice and exploitation. Their story
became the theme of John Steinbeck’s great novel, ‘The Grapes of
Wrath’ which was turned into a movie by the famous director, John
Ford.
As usual, Derek’s
fine version of the song owes more to Rambling Jack’s performance
of it than to Woody Guthrie. It demonstrates Derek’s mastery of the
flat picking guitar style he copied from Rambling Jack.
Dink’s Song
This is another of
the songs Derek learned from Rambling Jack Elliot’s 1958 album
‘Jack Takes the Floor’. Jack’s version is quite mournful,
although he does speed up a little as the song progresses. Derek,
however, produces a more driving and energetic performance in which
his finger picked accompaniment is aided by a second guitar part
provided by Chris Wright. Chris was a member of ‘The Wayfarers’,
the resident folk group at Imperial College Folk Club. In the group
he usually played mandolin and added vocal harmony.
The song first came
to light in 1909 when American folklorist, John Lomax, visited a
migrant workers’ camp on the banks of the Greater Calhoun Bayou
River just outside Houston, Texas. There he met an African American
woman called ‘Dink’ who sang the song to him. The song mainly
consists of what are known as ‘floating verses’ i.e. verses which
‘float’ from song to song and do not appear to originate from any
one of them. Since there was no obvious title the song became known
as ‘Dink’s Song’ when published in song collections.
The 1965 LP,
‘Hoedown’
Sadie Brown
This is another song
Derek appropriated from Rambling Jack, this time from the album ‘The
Essential Ramblin’ Jack Elliot’. As with ‘Muleskinner Blues’,
Jack himself had learned the song from recordings by Jimmie Rodgers
in the 1930’s. Inevitably there is yodelling...don’t expect a
Jimmie Rodgers song without it.
Derek always
delivered this song with great exuberance, as the song demands, and
it was a great favourite at Imperial College Folk Club. A
showstopper!
Down and Out Blues
I remember when we
reconvened Imperial College Folk Club in October 1965, Derek arrived
with a new set of songs which did not derive from Rambling Jack. He
was now devising arrangements of his own, confident in his own
ability and style. One of the first he showcased was this superb
version of ‘Down and Out Blues’ (perhaps better known as ‘Nobody
Knows You When You’re Down and Out’...but that’s a bit of a
mouthful).
The song was
originally composed in 1923 by Jimmy Cox. Although the Roaring
Twenties were roaring loudly at that point, Jimmy’s song sounded a
cautionary note. Wealth and popularity could be lost just as quickly
as they were gained. In the late 20’s numerous people began to
record the song but perhaps one of the best versions was by the
magnificent blues singer, Bessie Smith. Her version gained great
currency as prosperity tipped into the hardships of the Great
Depression and it became one of her biggest hits and one of her most
memorable performances.
Geordie
Derek learned this
song from Ron Simmonds, a singer and guitarist who was fairly well
known around the London Folk Clubs in the early and mid 60’s. It
was quite unusual in Derek’s repertoire in that it is very much of
British origin rather than the American material he usually opted
for.
Versions have been
collected in both England and Scotland. Derek’s version follows the
English variants in which a lady pleads for the life of Geordie, who
is up before the judge charged with poaching the King’s deer. The
Judge replies that she has come too late and Geordie must hang. In
the Scottish versions Geordie has been in battle and has apparently
been involved in the slaying of a certain lord. Although the King is
determined to have his life, Geordie ends up being pardoned when a
large sum of money is raised and offered for his release. Whether the
Scottish or English version of the story came first is impossible to
say unless some new compelling evidence is found.
Derek’s guitar
work on this track is an outstanding example of what we used to call
‘clawhammer’ and, as usual, his playing is both precise and
energetic.
Roll in my Sweet Baby’s Arms
Of all the great
performances demonstrating Derek’s flat picking guitar style, this
one can surely be called a ‘tour de force’. It closed side 2 of
the ‘Hoedown’ LP because we simply couldn’t imagine anything
else being able to follow it. The guitar playing is powerful and hard
driving, full of thrilling syncopations. It must be said though, that
to his great credit, Derek never allowed the power of his guitar
playing to overwhelm his vocals. His voice was strong, clear and
expressive and you could always hear the words; quite simply, he was
just as great a singer as he was an instrumentalist.
It appears that
Derek probably got this traditional American song from Rambling Jack
Elliot (who else?) but it was a favourite with Bluegrass bands so it
might just as easily have derived from Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs.
(Brian Bull)