Frankies Trade
Date: 08/08
Back to Kipling/Bellamy again, although this really does have the feel of a song rather than a poem about it and in my hastily mugged appreciation, It’s looking likely. Jon attributes his learning of this to a beery Oxford session or too, “Dave Webber is one of favourite singers on the scene and he does this song particularly well. He and Annie once came along to the Half Moon after playing the Oxford Folk Club, and after a few pints Dave treated us to his secret talent for singing blues and country and western. Must try and get him drunk again one of these days.” Meanwhile as to matters Kipling, This appears attached to a short story (more of an episode really) in Kipling’s book Rewards And Fairies, the follow up to Puck Of Pook’s Hill (link to Wiki here.) Both volumes concern children Dan and Una, who meet the Fairy or Elf Puck, as in (A Midsummer Night’s Dream), who gives them a series of magical, interactive history lessons introducing them to a cast of characters from down the ages. Frankie’s Trade comes attached to a tale about Simple Simon and the moving of a tree trunk to make a ship. Puck teases Simon about poisoning Francis Drake (bad cooking not malice) and thus the tale (at least as the story has it), of Drake’s early heroics in rescuing persecuted protestants from the Low Countries is allowed to unfold from Simon’s memories. Drake was certainly protestant and his family had to flee Devon to avoid persecution themselves, but whether these seafaring adventures are true, my idiot’s guide simply doesn’t cover. These poems are tagged onto the end of the stories and as others attached to the individual episodes are called things like A Truthful Song, An Astrologers Song and A St. Helena Lullaby, the sense that these should be sung seems right. I don’t believe that any music was actually composed, however, but Frankie’s Trade seems to have a functioning chorus and concerns itself with the young Drake learning a mastery of the waves. The whole of Rewards And Faries seems to be reproduced online here (although I’d buy the book if you are really that interested), and there’s a good Mudcat thread to get your teeth into, which includes a rather good Kipling/Shakespeare joke. Mainly Norfolk again has the Bellamy angle covered with information about his Oak, Ash And Thorn release. Interestingly Jon’s version of this song will appear on a remaking of that album on the Folk Police label (something I need to find out more about.) You’ll get the gist from this link here, although if this (from an email) is anything to go by it may take me a while to add to that… “I’m in Brittainy, searching for bearded loons ecstatically grooving with bagpipes and hurdy-gurdies for the next two weeks. If it’s urgent please text me. I’ll try to check my emails when I can. Thanks!” I rest my case…
You can buy the August digital album now from all good download stores:
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