THE HIGHWAYMEN – "Michael"

The first number one from the folk revival, and I think the next is Mr Tambourine Man which shows how fast things moved in four years. The folk revival was an almost exact parallel to the UK’s trad jazz boom – popular with beatniks, students, young liberals, civil rights activists, nascent hippies, though much of it (like the sweet but hardly firestarting Michael) sounds very tame compared to what was around the corner.

The folk scene was a much bigger deal on the US charts than UK ones; it was mostly an album phenomenon, but the Brothers Four’s Greenfields had reached no.2 in 1960 a year earlier, and the Rooftop Singers’ Walk Right In was another no.1 in ’63. The Kingston Trio had 17 Hot 100 hits from Tom Dooley in 1958 (their only UK hit) to 1963, when Peter Paul & Mary appeared to provide a more rootsy option (they were put together like Boyzone, but who knew it then?).

The Highwaymen met at Wesleyan University and sang together on campus, not unlike a middle class version of a doo wop act. Gil Robbins, a Highwayman some time after Michael was a hit, is the father of Tim Robbins who is now also on the road as a folkie.

They had another US Top 20 hit later in the year with Cottonfields, which is presumably the version the Beach Boys were familiar with when they cut it in 1969. It was traditional, copyrighted in 1850, which must make it one of the oldest UK Top 5 hits. Amazing Grace is officially older, written by John Newton in 1779 – any other candidates?

I should add that Mull of Kintyre sounds as though it may be of a similar age to Amazing Grace.

Re 5. Wicheta, I think you may be mistaken on this one, and I think it is an adaptation of a much older song written by J P Long in the 1920s. The only reliable source I can find to support this is at http://nla.gov.au/nla.mus-an10545598

I can recall chanting My Old Man’s A Dustman as a child in the mid 50s, as an anti-German song, a version that probably dated back to World War 2. I know it is often an unreliable source but the internet has message boards dealing with playground songs with versions similar to the one I remember.

On a similar theme, the label of Lonnie Donegan’s Rock Island Line is shown with “traditional” as author, although I thought it was written by Leadbelly. I’m not sure if there are issues of songwriter royalties in these cases (like Elvis’ name appearing as a writer on All Shook Up)?

The song I thought was contemporary to Lonnie Donegan “Does your chewing gum lose its flavour on the bedpost overnight?” is also from the 1920s according to that same source. However, this time it is correctly attributed to the original composers on the record label.

Until yesterday I genuinely believed this was the same thing as that other popular sea shanty, Drunken Sailor.. crushingly disappointed, as with a hook like that anyone under the influence could make that sound quite extraordinary.

On a more dubious note, thought “What’s it like to lose a war, Argentina?” (as yelled at Ricky Villa and Ossie Ardiles c. 1982) also came from the former, rather than this pipe-and-slippers non-event.
Something like the Mumfords or Kodaline of their day. 2.

Doesn’t do a lot for me this one, I’m sorry to say. 3/10.