ox18 Songs

The songs in this collection have been taken from the manuscripts of Alfred Williams, collected in the West of Oxfordshire between 1912 and 1915. He was born in South Marston on 7th February 1877, and lived there nearly all his life. He was a self- taught poet, scholar and writer who inspired all with his books and writings. He worked as a hammerman at the Swindon Railway Works, but when his health broke down he had to leave the forge. To regain his health he took to cycling around the villages, going further and further away from home to collect the "old- fashioned songs", as he called them, from the old people. He collected over 800 songs altogether, 261 of which he published in "Folk Songs of the Upper Thames". These songs were from parts of Berkshire, Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire and Wiltshire. He wrote country books about the Thames Valley and published his own poems in "Poems of Wiltshire" and "Songs in Wiltshire", also "Life in a Railway Factory" which revealed the terrible conditions of labour in the Works. Alfred died a poor and broken man in 1930 and was laid to rest in South Marston Churchyard. He left us a legacy of words, poetry, prose and song, and it is the latter this book deals with.

Note by Barbara Berry, the author of this book, if you wish to purchase a copy ring Barbara at 01691 772903

As Alfred did not collect any tunes at all, I had to set about finding them. I have spent many hours, poring over books and manuscripts, and listening to records, hoping to find the tune that was right for each song. Every time we heard someone sing a song that was similar to one on a manuscript, we obtained the tune from them. Where there was more than one tune, we chose the nearest one. Some of the songs were so beautiful that I felt I had to write new tunes; and then, of course, somebody comes up with the right one.

The collection is a huge variety of Music Hall, Folk and Art Songs, and shows the wonderful mixture of song that was sung in our country villages at the turn of the century.

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The songs and music can be accessed from the list on the left or from the details of the songs below