Songs About Concertinas

[Samantha]

Also one of the "Albert" monologues refers to his parentage, and his ma fell in love with the red-haired concertina-player in the Salvation Army band, if I remember rightly. I'll try to get the text (again, I had it once and have lost it ) this August when I see the guy who knows again ...

Samantha

[duckln]

'Cruising down the river' has the line 'an old accordian's playing,

a sentimental tune'. Could be, 'a concertina's playing'.

 

Joe

[JimLucas]

Also one of the "Albert" monologues refers to his parentage, and his ma fell in love with the red-haired concertina-player in the Salvation Army band, if I remember rightly.

I'm looking forward to seeing it. I have six of the Alfred stories, and two about the Ramsbottoms that don't mention Albert, but not that one.

 

I'll try to get the text this August when I see the guy who knows again ...

Can we bear to wait that long?

[Kurt Braun]

The Ferryboat Seranade mentions a ''man playing his concertina." I think it may have even made the hit parade back in the thirties or so.

Edited February 23, 2004 by Kurt Braun

[John Wild]

The song Concertina Man I referred to previously appeared in Concertina & Squeezebox magazine number 22 from Spring 1990. I am attaching two jpg files with the notes and words. The copyright owner is clearly stated on the page and I hope this is OK

 

- john Wild

[John Wild]

The song Concertina Man I referred to previously appeared in Concertina & Squeezebox magazine number 22 from Spring 1990. there are 3 verses and a chorus. I am not sure about the copyright position for reproducing them here, but in any case the file size is too large for the discussion forum limit.

 

- John Wild

[John Wild]

Sorry folks - I appear to have posted two drafts of the same message when i thought I had 'lost' the first one.

 

- John Wild

[Perry Werner]

Hi folks:

 

Not sure if either of these are about concertinas since I have yet to hear the recordings but

I just the other day purchased an old 78rpm record from somewhere entitled

"Me & My Concertina" which was recorded by Bobby Colt (whoever he is)

 

I also a few weeks ago located another 78 recorded by The Four King Sisters entitled

"If Only I could Play A Concertina"

which is labeled on the record label as a "Vocadance"

Interestingly one of the writers of the song is listed as Joe Burke though I doubt it if the great button accordion player had anything to do with this composition, especially since the record is probably older than Joe is.

 

I'll probably never get a chance to listen to either of these since I don't even own a turntable but I hope to someday when the compact disc goes by the wayside!

 

Has anyone ever heard of or heard either of these tunes or heard of the artists?

 

Best,

Perry Werner

[Eric Root]

Irving Burgee, pop calypso songwriter famous for such tunes as "Banana Boat Song" (Day-o), "Island in the Sun," and "Yellow Bird," also wrote one called "Angelina." The refrain goes:

 

Angelina, Angelina,

Bring down your concertina

and play a welcome for me,

For I am coming home from the sea.

 

It's in C and lies really well on DADGAD tuned guitar, for what that's worth.

 

-Eric Root

[John Wild]

In the 1950's, there was an italian song titled 'Papeveri E Papere'. In the English transalation, it was ' Poppa Piccolina'. One verse (the 1st?) reads:

 

All over Italy they know his concertina, Poppa Piccolina, Poppa Piccolina

He plays so prettily to every signorina, Poppa Piccolina from sunny Italy.

 

- John Wild

[Kurt Braun]

Australian poet Henry Lawson in 1891 wrote "The Good Old Concertina", set to music by Bob Bolton and published in Concertina Magazine #16, page 6 (1986)

And for those without access to old copies of Concertina Magazine, here is what appears to be the same song posted on Mudcat.org by Bob Bolton

 

http://www.mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=11304#83321

 

Lyrics, MIDItest and ABC too. Oh, my!

[Henk van Aalten]

Lyrics, MIDItest and ABC too. Oh, my!

You can say that again Kurt! And o what a wonderful lines:

 

Old Erin's harp may sweeter be, the Scottish pipes blow keener;

But sing an old bush song for me to the good old concertina.

 

Thanks for this link!

BTW: I hear a quite different tune, when I see the words. Maybe I can work it out.

 

Henk

[RAc]

I know this is an old thread, but I just came across a song about concertina making and thought this would be a good enough place to post here... sorry if this should be a dupe, I did a brief search on the forum and could't find a reference yet -

 

enjoy!

 

http://music.harveyandrews.com/track/spinning-concertinas

[jdms]

In the 1950's, there was an italian song titled 'Papeveri E Papere'. In the English transalation, it was ' Poppa Piccolina'. One verse (the 1st?) reads:

 

All over Italy they know his concertina, Poppa Piccolina, Poppa Piccolina

He plays so prettily to every signorina, Poppa Piccolina from sunny Italy.

 

- John Wild

 

...which has since appeared on Anglo International, done by John Kirkpatrick.

 

jdms

[jdms]

 

Then there's a contemporary "folk" song, the name and author of which I can't remember right now, with the first verse...

If the fiddle string felt no bow stroke,

If the concertina bellows broke,

If no one sang or cracked a joke,

The what's the good in living?

 

"Rosin Up Your Bow" (or "The Good in Living"), by Steven Sellors.

 

jdms

[Irene S.]

Nobody has yet mentioned Arthur Osmond's recording of "I played my concertina" from 1909, have they? Described as a comic song .... it can be found here

http://www.archive.org/details/ArthurOsmond-IPlayedMyConcertina1909

 

Edited June 22, 2011 by Irene S

[davidcorner]

When Neil Wayne had "Concertina Consciousness" as his slogan, Dave Goulder wrote a song of that name.

It's available on his January Man recording.

 

PS When Dave used to appear at folk clubs and saw me in the audience, he used to avoid this song, thinking I'd be offended!

I soon put him right on that!

I always enjoyed hearing the song.

[Pete Dunk]

Then there's "Fiddler's Green", with the line that goes

..."I'll play me old squeezebox as we sail along".

It doesn't specify what kind of "squeezebox", but I first heard it from Louis Killen, accompanying himself on the English, and I've been told that its composer is an anglo player.

 

Fiddler's Green was written by John Conolly who may play an anglo but certainly plays diatonic button accordion. Someone is playing concertina on the track but I'm not sure who.

 

Edit: added a comment after listening to the recording!

Edited June 22, 2011 by tallship