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The Man With The Concertina


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I just thought I'd share this with concertina netters, I suspect it's not widely known.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7kRaXAsn-ok

 

This song is the reason I became a member of Cnet. I was learning it from a recording of Dave de Hugard and couldn't decipher a couple of lines so I thought I'd ask in here. I thought I'd get an answer from Australia but was surprised when Jim Lucas, ever on the ball, came back with the words. Thanks again Jim.

 

I just play the melody line with a few chords thrown in, pretty much as Dave plays it, but he plays anglo and I can't quite get the bounce. Perhaps some of you anglo-ers might like to try it. There you go Jody or anyone else up for the challenge.

 

Here are the words attached.

 

The Man with the Concertina.doc

 

Enjoy.

 

PS. Warning. Smoking is a health hazard. It causes cancer!

Edited by Steve Wilson
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Thank you David, but my stage presence is all a bit of an act. Since they are videos i do make an effort to make them visually appealing and try to make it look like i'm enjoying myself when really I'm concentrating like mad to get it right. Beyond the playing and singing performance is an art form in it's own right. Some are natural at it. Some, like me, have to work at it and some just don't get it much. But that's OK. Pretty much the way of the world in most things, eh.

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...my stage presence is all a bit of an act. Since they are videos i do make an effort to make them visually appealing and try to make it look like i'm enjoying myself when really I'm concentrating like mad to get it right. Beyond the playing and singing performance is an art form in it's own right. Some are natural at it. Some, like me, have to work at it and some just don't get it much. But that's OK. Pretty much the way of the world in most things, eh.

 

I like that as a perspective (albeit I might fall under the latest category and thus have to rely just on the music itself). And you're truly successful (not only) in that particular art, Steve!

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Beyond the playing and singing performance is an art form in it's own right. Some are natural at it. Some, like me, have to work at it and some just don't get it much.

 

This might be a bit of thread drift, but I think there's a bit of a false dichotomy here, i.e., the natural talent and those who are good because they work at it. Even those who have personality traits that might make it easier for them to perform, still need to work at their art to make it an art, as opposed to, say, a talent. So don't depreciate having "to work at it" as opposed to the folks who supposedly just walk out and perform brilliantly. I suspect there are few, if any, of the latter. Indeed, part of the art is projecting that "confident stage presence" that David attributed to you, even if you don't feel it. I second the others: Good Show!

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Thank you David, but my stage presence is all a bit of an act. Since they are videos i do make an effort to make them visually appealing and try to make it look like i'm enjoying myself when really I'm concentrating like mad to get it right.

 

Well, you're doing it a lot better than I am:

 

http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCZIVVA2D4DjWDhw8dc5o-vA

 

My wife has stopped sending links of my videos to her buddies because they always ask if I ever smile.

 

I smile a lot. I make funny jokes. Just not when I'm recording a video.

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My wife has stopped sending links of my videos to her buddies because they always ask if I ever smile.

 

I smile a lot. I make funny jokes. Just not when I'm recording a video.

 

 

Depending on what you were playing, it might look worse--even bizarre--if you were smiling.

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Beyond the playing and singing performance is an art form in it's own right. Some are natural at it. Some, like me, have to work at it and some just don't get it much.

 

This might be a bit of thread drift, but I think there's a bit of a false dichotomy here, i.e., the natural talent and those who are good because they work at it. Even those who have personality traits that might make it easier for them to perform, still need to work at their art to make it an art, as opposed to, say, a talent. So don't depreciate having "to work at it" as opposed to the folks who supposedly just walk out and perform brilliantly. I suspect there are few, if any, of the latter. Indeed, part of the art is projecting that "confident stage presence" that David attributed to you, even if you don't feel it. I second the others: Good Show!

 

 

I know quite a few performers Mike, and some of them just shine. Yes of course they have to work at it but not as much as some of us others. And yes us others do have a bit of shine. It just needs a bit more polishing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My wife has stopped sending links of my videos to her buddies because they always ask if I ever smile.

 

 

 

 

Ah, I saw a little smile at the end of Xotis Romanes. I didn't realise you had so many videos up David. I enjoyed them, nice light playing, not too heavy as some tend to be on the duet. You do look fairly serious, a few more of those little smiles throughout the video could be good. Remember it's a video, people are not just listening, they're looking at you. Could be good to look back at them, make eye contact, smile a little as you would in person. It might seem silly doing it to a camera, takes a bit of practice, but the end result is more pleasing for your wife's buddies, and probably yourself.

 

The total performance has always been important for me. For many years I performed for children and always considered myself an entertainer more than a musician. I learnt a lot back then. In fact 'Bluey Bones-The Jolly Swagman' (see photo) is dusting off his swag for the Cobargo festival coming up. I was never really such a great musician back then but I realised you don't have to be if the performance is entertaining.

 

Now, since my illness, I'm working hard at being a better musician but I still try to make it entertaining. That's why I do some of the 'pop' stuff, Chim Chim, etc. It goes down much better with general public than obscure folky stuff. Connect with the audience I say.

 

But oh dear, this has moved away from "The Man with the Concertina". What a nice little song but I know nothing about it. Trad/annon?......composed by....? Can anyone fill in the gaps, come on Aussies.

 

Now in my original post I forgot to put in the warning so I'll just do it in a moment.

 

Cheers all.

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Ah, I saw a little smile at the end of Xotis Romanes.

 

Yes, that was my first entry into the world of YouTube. The smile was because after playing and erasing it dozens of times in front of my laptop, I realized I had finally got it right and wouldn't have to play it anymore. But it's been downhill from there. All the buddies were expecting me to recreate it every time and I just can't.

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Steve, this song that you sing in an extended and embellished form with added verses was originally a poem by the famous Australian poet Henry Lawson who wrote other poems that have since been favored with a musical setting such as the Outside Track. I really enjoyed your rendition.

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Steve, this song that you sing in an extended and embellished form with added verses was originally a poem by the famous Australian poet Henry Lawson who wrote other poems that have since been favored with a musical setting such as the Outside Track. I really enjoyed your rendition.

 

Our Henry has had quite a few of his poems set to music. I used to sing "The Shearers Dream" and a couple of others. I could not find anything about a man with a concertina in my collection of Lawson's poetry but an internet search found "The Good Old Concertina" which has some lines the same or similar to the song Dave de Hugard and I now sing. But generally the poem is quite different to the song. I'm going to have pursue this further and perhaps try to contact Dave. He may have adapted the poem himself.

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Sorry, Steve, I was not very clear. What I was assuming was that the tune you played was an offshoot from Lawson' s Good Old Concertina, since the tune had incorporated several of the verses. There have been several musical settings of Lawson's tune, but I don't care for any of them. I did like your tune, and I was wondering if you have the actual notes for it.

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Sorry, Steve, I was not very clear. What I was assuming was that the tune you played was an offshoot from Lawson' s Good Old Concertina, since the tune had incorporated several of the verses. There have been several musical settings of Lawson's tune, but I don't care for any of them. I did like your tune, and I was wondering if you have the actual notes for it.

 

G'day jg,

 

However this song that I sing arose, I'm sure it was influenced heavily by Lawson's poem and obviously some of Lawson's lines were borrowed. You use the words "Lawson's tune" but I don't think he would have written it as a song. Someone else has and i'm going to talk to people in Australia who should be able to help with the origin of the song. Sorry I don't have the musical notation. I learnt by ear from Dave's recording.

It's not that hard to figure out, just use the pause button a lot. If you're really stuck I could work it out but I'm pretty busy this coming week.

 

Cheers Steve.

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Steve,

 

Jggunn ins't the only one who'd like the dots, so if you get a chance to work something out, I love to see it too.

 

This is really an infectious song. I've been watching and listening to you, and it's been going through my head a lot.

 

Mike

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Hi, Steve, I mis-spoke again. I didn't mean Lawson's tune but the lyrics, and really only one verse from your song was actually appropriated from Lawson's but I think also there is some connection along the way. I tried the chords that Jim Lucas included but they did not seem to work just right, and I wondered whether the verse and chorus had the same chords. I think the Lawson poem plays well with chords in the key of F which also allows several melody variations. I am going to try to pick out your tune in F. I really do like the swing of it.

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