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espite their sufferings, Ed, Will
and Ginger got a taste for this
slow-moving way of life. They
worked out what was neces-
sary: a good sleeping bag,
walking boots, layers of clothing and a
sheet of tarpaulin to string up among the
trees they slept under. They lived off
berries and mushrooms, learning how to
forage dry wood for fires, steam clothes
dry and keep warm in freezing conditions.
They learned how to poo in the woods.
“People don’t know how to take a
crap outside any more,” said Ed. “The first
thing you see in a copse of woodland is a
ring of hastily laid poos with bits of shitty
paper everywhere.”
“It’s an art that we have lost,” said
Ginger solemnly, nodding reflectively into
the fire. “You dig a nice big hole with a
stick, get some water, wash your bum, and
Will Hodgkinson
use leaves. Any leaves will do once you get
So I had a simple idea to go around Britain
the hang of it.”
making field recordings without too much
“Or moss,” added Ed in a wistful tone.
thought or making myself rules about
“Or best of all, sphagnum,” added what constituted a field recording. My
Will, plaintively. “Ooh, that’s a treat…” W
riter Will Hodgkinson had
a portable digital recorder,
a supportive wife, a
clapped out Vauxhall Astra
and a mission to discover only rule was that I had to learn how to
When it became evident that they had
whether the British character still press ‘Play’ and ‘Record’, and I had to keep
to find some way of making money for
expressed itself through music. So he it that way because I’m almost disabled
food and the occasional beer, the trio dis-
spent half a year on the road travelling with my technological ability!”
covered that people seemed to respond
from his home in Peckham to Cornwall
“My wife had bought me a Zoom 8-
well to the sight and sound of three
and Kent, Fife and Glasgow, from indus-
track home digital recorder to try to
strangely dressed young men heartily belt-
trial Bradford to Headington Quarry in
encourage me to write my own songs,
ing out traditional songs in a village Oxford, made field recordings and wrote which I just hadn’t done, and I’d been
square. They also discovered that, in a thought-provoking, wryly amusing wanting to write a book about the myster-
Britain, singing in public is a legal issue. book about his adventures, the connec- ies and regionalism of British life, and she
“The best place to sing is in pubs,”
tions he made (human, historical and
came up with the suggestion of going
said Will. “Everyone loves it. But you actu-
philosophical) and the eventual demise of
around Britain making field recordings.”
ally need a licence to sing in a public space
the Astra and its one cassette tape, an
“One person led to another. In Corn-
in Britain.”
endlessly played folk compilation.
wall, via the Rosemary Band, I met Alex
“The laws are crazy,” said Ed. “Legally,
Its central core is all about folk music and Lavinia from Glasgow who now do
you can’t sing Happy Birthday unless the
but the book’s not just about folkies. It the band Trembling Bells, and they told
pub has a licence, and yet you can shout
includes performers of all ages, some play- me about Stephanie Hladowski from Brad-
and swear as much as you like and the
ing free noise jazz, pedal-powered blues ford. It’s a loose collection of things and
television can be on top volume.”
buskers, early music aficionados, the odd the journey dictated what I found. I think
They also discovered that there is no
nascent Welsh pop star, a Manchester it’s best to not be too romantic about
better way to break down social barriers
indie band and the strange legacy of Pink these things, but there’s a tendency to
than to sing. Busking led to offers to stay
Floyd in Liverpool as well as Sam Lee, Cecil think that unless it’s a bunch of people
in strangers’ homes, especially after
Sharp House, Clive Palmer, Doc Rowe and a who can’t read or write, all wearing
explaining the nature of their mission to
Robin Hood’s Bay at-home with the ornate rustic clothing, all going to the
walk across Britain, and even pub land-
Carthys. The common factor along the way same pub, all beautifully rural, then it has
lords that had earlier in the evening told
was how he found that people were a no validity. MySpace is a valid community.”
them they weren’t allowed to sing would
product of their own environment and
“One of the other reasons to do the
offer the trio the use of the garden or an
that their music reflected this.
book is that the music industry is changing
upstairs room for the night. “My musical interests have been the hugely, psychologically. I just don’t think
“You get passed around,” said Will.
story of discovering the ‘60s because I there’s a yearning for the U2s and Led Zep-
“Somebody offers you shelter and then
grew up in the ‘80s, discovering Jimi Hen- pelins of this world any more. It got too
they tell their friend in the next village to
drix, The Byrds and so on,” he tells me. “As ridiculous, too big, this distance between
look out for you. We have found a far
that developed I discovered that those the superstar performer who can do this
greater hospitality and openness than
people were listening to blues, folk and so thing that you can’t do, and the passive
most people expect, but there’s a lot of
on so I started going further and further consuming fan. Most people I met weren’t
isolation too. You pass through a suburb
back and listening to British traditional bothered about being in the mainstream
and see a TV glowing out of every win-
music which, as a teenager in the ‘80s and music industry but they had a story to tell.
dow, showing the same programme. Yet
‘90s, I didn’t know anything about and That’s the philosophy of the book. That and
give people the opportunity to come
thought was a bit dowdy and plain and the fact that the most interesting thing in
together through singing and they do,
not really what I was interested in. But the your life might be right on your doorstep.”
and they love it.”
more I looked into it I realised there was
“I think people are reconnecting with
If three ragged men could bring out
some kind of magic, mystery and a mythi-
traditions that have been rather rejected
the latent generosity of the average person
cal aspect to what’s right there in front of
and seen as dowdy or even silly. The fasci-
simply by walking and singing traditional
you. So there was almost a psychological
nation over the last 20 years with The
songs, then surely these old ballads did still
reason for doing the book.” Wicker Man is obviously because it’s a
have power and relevance. And the songs
“But things have changed and we live
Hammer Horror style fantasy, but also
were still a part of the travelling people I
in a digital age, an internationalist age.
because it bastardises all these little bits of
had met the week before. We said goodbye
Could I still go to an area where everybody
tradition from here and there which peo-
to these young lords of the woods. NJ had can turn on the TV and watch Britain’s Got
ple somehow connect with. They kind of
come with me because she wanted to visit a Talent or turn on the radio and listen to
know that in their area there was the
friend who lived in the next village along, the new Coldplay single, but find that it’s
‘Obby ‘Oss or the sword dance and that
so after dropping her off at a converted still got musical character of its own? Are
actually goes deep.”
barn about three miles up the road, I made the landscape, the people, the community Will Hodgkinson’s The Ballad Of
the drive to Chatham, where a world await- and the ethics reflected in the music?” Britain: How Music Captured The Soul Of
ed that could not have been more different
“I knew about the field recordists of
A Nation is published in August by Portico,
from the one I had just left.
the past, obviously the most famous being
an imprint of Anova Books, £12.99 paper-
[More about Ed, Will & Ginger at Alan Lomax, and I’d met Shirley Collins
back. ISBN 9781906032548.
www.awalkaroundbritain.com ] F and found her quite an inspiring character. www.anovabooks.com F
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