I got this record at Value Village for one dollar. I bought it entirely because of the cover, and also because it contained the songs, Ten In A Bed, The Whore Of Dunblane and Virgin Sturgeon - pretty risqué stuff for 1963, when it was released!
Paddy Roberts, well known in England during the 1950s and 60s for his often bawdy lyrics, previously served as a WW II pilot and then went on to fly commercial airliners. Somewhere along the way he also did a bit of lawyering, and I don't know how someone like that ended up singing and recording what are basically brothel tunes. He's been dead almost 50 years as of this writing, but during his lifetime wrote several hit songs for other artists and penned still others for film. He also won five Ivor Novello awards, which are now sponsored by Apple and meant to recognize Britain and Ireland's songwriting talents. A bit of a big deal in his day, Roberts - like so many other entertainers of his era - has pretty much been forgotten in the decades since. I imagine this record ended up in Value Village because the grandson or granddaughter of somebody who bought it way back in '63 was cleaning out an attic.
At first glance, this record looked like crap. But after I ran it through the iSonic it looked almost new and played very quietly without any snap, crackle or pop. The cover - as ugly as it is - isn't in bad shape, either, and I was surprised to learn this pressing is worth between $16 - $40, depending on condition. The copy I've got is probably somewhere in the middle, although I can't imagine anyone actually paying that much for it. But a quick glance at Discogs indicated that 109 people have it on their want list, and it most recently sold a month ago. I don't know how much it sold for.
Truth is, I bought the album as a gag because of its title. And while it is mostly tongue in cheek - and while I wasn't expecting it to be any good at all - it's actually a fun listen. Today it would be classified as comedy, and maybe that was the original intent. Lyrically, it's hilarious. The song Sweet Fanny Adams, a tale of a girl whose name is carved into wood and ends in a woodpecker encounter, concludes with the following line: "… now all that's left of Sweet Fanny Adams is sweet F.A." In 1963, that was really edgy stuff!
All the songs on this record are age-old hand-me-downs from previous generations, all full of campy British humour and delivered in a sophisticated, upper-crust English accent. Roberts makes note that he is being accompanied by "a bunch of splendid musicians - and Peter Knight," who I think handles the acoustic guitar duties. Each song is preceded with a humorous anecdote of its (possibly imagined) origin, and none of the songs are more than a minute-and-a-bit in length. It's a mono recording, as were almost all recordings of that era.
I don't know how often I'll play this record, but it might come out if some friends come over and we all get very drunk.
I got this record at Value Village for one dollar. I bought it entirely because of the cover, and also because it contained the songs, Ten In A Bed, The Whore Of Dunblane and Virgin Sturgeon - pretty risqué stuff for 1963, when it was released!
Paddy Roberts, well known in England during the 1950s and 60s for his often bawdy lyrics, previously served as a WW II pilot and then went on to fly commercial airliners. Somewhere along the way he also did a bit of lawyering, and I don't know how someone like that ended up singing and recording what are basically brothel tunes. He's been dead almost 50 years as of this writing, but during his lifetime wrote several hit songs for other artists and penned still others for film. He also won five Ivor Novello awards, which are now sponsored by Apple and meant to recognize Britain and Ireland's songwriting talents. A bit of a big deal in his day, Roberts - like so many other entertainers of his era - has pretty much been forgotten in the decades since. I imagine this record ended up in Value Village because the grandson or granddaughter of somebody who bought it way back in '63 was cleaning out an attic.
At first glance, this record looked like crap. But after I ran it through the iSonic it looked almost new and played very quietly without any snap, crackle or pop. The cover - as ugly as it is - isn't in bad shape, either, and I was surprised to learn this pressing is worth between $16 - $40, depending on condition. The copy I've got is probably somewhere in the middle, although I can't imagine anyone actually paying that much for it. But a quick glance at Discogs indicated that 109 people have it on their want list, and it most recently sold a month ago. I don't know how much it sold for.
Truth is, I bought the album as a gag because of its title. And while it is mostly tongue in cheek - and while I wasn't expecting it to be any good at all - it's actually a fun listen. Today it would be classified as comedy, and maybe that was the original intent. Lyrically, it's hilarious. The song Sweet Fanny Adams, a tale of a girl whose name is carved into wood and ends in a woodpecker encounter, concludes with the following line: "… now all that's left of Sweet Fanny Adams is sweet F.A." In 1963, that was really edgy stuff!
All the songs on this record are age-old hand-me-downs from previous generations, all full of campy British humour and delivered in a sophisticated, upper-crust English accent. Roberts makes note that he is being accompanied by "a bunch of splendid musicians - and Peter Knight," who I think handles the acoustic guitar duties. Each song is preceded with a humorous anecdote of its (possibly imagined) origin, and none of the songs are more than a minute-and-a-bit in length. It's a mono recording, as were almost all recordings of that era.
I don't know how often I'll play this record, but it might come out if some friends come over and we all get very drunk.
