"The Sheep Stealer" -a lesser known English folksong -Dropbox link

[Matt Heumann]

Haven't had much time to make new recordings or videos, but found this favorite old audio from the early days (long ago), when i was first learning to play and sing at the same time. It's from the Ewan MacColl album "Manchester Angel". I hadn't yet learned to use split chords, counter melodies or just chords, but it wasn't bad for a first attempt back in the days.

As an instrumentalist, I found singing the bigger challenge. 

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/bcpd5pz1gwxq3vdl24bji/_The-Sheep-Stealer.mp3?rlkey=fbjjpc34su76svk5cxmzbzl02&st=ylejflqx&dl=0

 

MacColl noted: H.E.D. Hammond recorded two Dorset sets of this curious song in 1905 and 1906. It appears to be unknown elsewhere. In 1964 I heard an almost identical version from Caroline Hughes. She sang it freely, almost conversationally, with a great deal of sly enjoyment, afterwards remarking “that’s a good old song, and many a time I’ve heard it sung around the fire with a sheep’s head boiling in the pot”.

Edited October 31 by Matthew Heumann
typo

[Robin Harrison]

One of my fav. trad songs Matt..............very nice !

Robin