The Copper Family - Disc of the day

The Copper Family
Come Write Me Down

(Topic, 2001)

The authentic voice of England’s rural working people reverberates across the centuries. Death, thou shalt die!

This week is Folk Week on MOJO, and every Disc Of The Day will have a folk or folk-rock bent.

Some material on Come Write Me Down, a collection of 1951-1963 folk club recordings by the famous singing Copper family of Sussex, contrast oddly with what the rock canon finds important – few groups of the amplified era letting it happen with songs about General Wolfe, jolly ploughmen or steam powered threshing machines. The incongruities don’t end there; these a capella harmonies involve no showing off, the pub-singing performers (that’s Bob Copper, his father Jim, his uncle John and cousin Ron) preferring an ego-free approach that sees them disappearing, almost, into their timeless stories of work, the seasons, and the meaning of dignity and contentment. Highlights include Ron’s The Honest Labourer, Bob and Ron’s When Spring Comes In, Jim’s Thousands Or More and Bob and Ron’s Spencer The Rover, whose errant rambler is reminded of what’s important by simple bread and water. You don’t need a Masters degree in folk to enjoy it, or even to know the miraculous circumstances of this singing style’s survival through the efforts and memories of one family (the songs were written down by Jim Copper and Bob’s grandfather ‘Brasser’, since you ask, and the Coppers are STILL at it). In 2002 your writer was fortunate enough to meet the late Bob Copper in the 500-year old Black Horse pub in Rottingdean. He was a man who seemed tangibly delighted that these songs are still sung. Just watch out, they might make your heart burst.

Ian Harrison

Posted by Danny_Eccleston at 3:05 PM GMT 01/05/2008

Further Listening

The Copper Family – Coppersongs 3: The Legacy Continues (Coppersongs, 1998)

Various - Anthology of American Folk Music (Folkways, 1952)

Various – Music of the Balkans, Vol.1: Albania & Central Balkans, 1920-1940 (FM, 2002)

SUGGEST YOUR OWN DISC OF THE DAY ON OUR MESSAGE BOARD HERE, OR, MORE PRIVATELY, HERE!