Sammy's Bar

It's hard to know what to say about Cyril Tawney, every new thing that I find out about him makes him seem all the more incredible. In my most recent performances I have been touching closely on the subject of honesty in folk song; honesty in song, in performance and in subject. It may seem obvious, trite or naive to say that, without a sense of honesty, folk music cannot survive but I feel it is an often overlooked subject in the many debates happening about folk music and its current state.

Whenever I listen to Cyril's voice and his music I understand that he really lived the events of which he sung, his travels around the globe aboard ship and the subsequent experiences have lead to songs that come across as raw and beautifully true despite them being fictional tales.

This song is a prime example of that; Sammy's bar was a real place, Cyril was involved in a car crash, the call of 'Hey, the last boat's a-leaving' and 'Haul away the daighsoe' reflect the final call for shipmates to get back to the ship at the end of a night ashore, failure to do so would mean either deserting or finding a far more expensive way back to the craft. The presentation of this song as a shanty, a work song, seems to be contradictory to a man who is simply giving up after his heart's broken first by a girl and then by her death and counterpoints his delusion in the need to work, to afford the fast car and impress the girls and further emphasises the overall effect.

This recording came just after Rosie Upton had told me that Cyril had actually drunk in The Star Inn in the 70's in between travelling to gigs as part of a Bath-wide pub crawl. I was so taken aback by the fact that this man had drunk (and been drunk) in the pub that our session takes place that I felt moved to sing this song in response. 

Tim

I went down to Sammy's Bar 
Hey, the last boat's a'leavin
By the shore at Pieta
Haul away the daighsoe

And my real love, she was there
There was sand all in her hair

How did sand get in your hair
Darling Johnny put it there

He's a better man by far
Because he's got a Yankee car

I went out from Sammy's Bar
To hire a Yankee car

Fourteen days I drank no wine
Saving for that love of mine

Then one day in Paula square
At a paper I did stare

Johnny tried a hairpin bend
For my love, it was the end

Going back to Sammy's Bar
I don't need no Yankee car