Roy Bailey

w/ Guests:

David Ferrard
Dick Gaughan
Karine Polwart



Edinburgh Folk Club,
Pleasance Cabaret Bar, Edinburgh, Scotland

15th October 2010


Roy Bailey's 75th Birthday party



1st Set (83:29)

1. Intro (MC)

David Ferrard
2. Intro
3. I'm an Immigrant Too (I'm From Here)
4. Turn Turn Turn (w/ Karine Polwart)


Karine Polwart
5. Gunsore
6. House of Cards
7. Better Things
8. Whaur De Ye Lie? (w/ Roy Bailey)


Roy Bailey
9. Intro
10. What You Do With What You've Got
11. Go to Work on Monday
12. I Remember Loving You
13. (Reading - Letter about a radio)
14. Intro to.....
15. Skin
16. Kangaroos Like to Hop
17. Tomorrow Lies in the Cradle
18. We Were Young (w/ David Ferrard & Karine Polwart)
19. MC


2nd Set (68:04)

Dick Gaughan
1. Intro
2. No Gods and Precious Few Heroes
3. Whatever Happened
4. Lemmings


Roy Bailey
5. Johnny I Hardly Knew You
6. Palestine
7. Intro to.....
8. Palaces of Gold
9. Calling Joe Hill
10. The Writing on the Wall
11. I Ain't Afraid
12. World Turned Upside Down (w/ Dick Gaughan)
13. Intros & Thanks
14. How Beautiful Upon The Mountain (All)
15. Happy Birthday Roy





Lineage: Zoom H2 (Internal Mics) > Soundforge (edits)

Many thanks to primula.





Edinburgh FC gig - Roy Bailey's 75th birthday


Friday, October 15, 2010 · 7:30pm - 11:00pm

Pleasance Cabaret Bar
The Pleasance
Edinburgh, United Kingdom

This gig is a very special one-off for Edinburgh FC. Also appearing this evening with our eponymous hero will be Dick Gaughan, Karine Polwart and David Ferrard.

Tickets: £10, (£8), and EFC members £6 in advance from Paddy Bort (t: 0131-650 2458, e: ebort@ed.ac.uk) or on the door and at the regular club night on Wednesday 11 October.

For over 50 years, Roy Bailey has been one of the best loved and admired performers working in UK... folk & acoustic music. From his early days performing skiffle in student union bars in the 1950's, through his love of traditional songs and the stories they tell, and on to developing a unique repertoire of songs of dissent and hope, Roy has performed on stages, TV and radio all over the world. An internationalist in a very real sense.

In 2000 Roy was awarded an MBE for Services to Folk Music – which he later returned in protest at the UK Government’s Foreign Policy.

In the 1970’s Roy joined forces with Tony Benn to present their show, 'The Writing on the Wall', for which they won Best Live Act at the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards in 2003.

Now, after more than 50 years as a performer, Roy is as compelling, entertaining, thought provoking and moving as ever, and still recording as well. His new CD ‘Below the Radar’ is, " … so impeccable it must surely merit consideration as the best thing he’s ever done." (fRoots June 2009).

Billy Bragg commented, " … as powerful as anything I’d heard by The Clash – it was Roy’s voice, the strength of it and the compassion in it."

Introducing Roy at his highly successful Royal Albert Hall concert in 1998 Chris Smith, the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, described Roy as, "one of folk music's finest performers and one of the world's best carriers of the people's message."

Roy has also pursued a distinguished academic career lecturing in universities and colleges in Britain, Germany, Belgium, the USA, Canada and Australia. Roy is an Emeritus Professor of Sheffield Hallam University and in 1989 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts (FRSA).





This review from local high brow press:


What a fantastic night that wiz, soitwiz!

We arrived early in Edinburgh so that we could find the place and a parking space annaw. After driving up n doon the Pleasance twice tae nae avail CJ hid the bright idea ae phonin Ony who telt him exactly wherr tae go.

So Me, Mr S, Raddy, CJ, Mrs CJ, Lorry Riley, Raddy n Krust Wart aw found a seat n sat doon tae enjoy the entertainment. Tae ma surprise n delight Effs joined us coz she wiz able tae get away.

First up wiz David Ferrard. He hiz come a long way fae the boay thit he wiz when he first appeared. Ah think it's prolly doon tae, as he said, bein under the tutalage ae Roy thit's helped him tae begin tae grow intae his ain skin n personality. Ah'm no sayin thit his songwritin is that great, coz ah don't think it is, but ah can see it goin in a good direction.

Karine Polwart wiz up next wi a fine selection ae songs fur oor delectashun. She's goat a wonderful voice and ah loved when she wiz singin 'Whar Dae Ye Lie' wi Roy thit, oan a verse thit she was singin alone she sung it is Scots, yet when she was accompanying Roy on a verse she sung it in English coz that's whit Roy wid sing in (coz -er-- Roy IS English :) )

But then, it wiz the reason why we hid aw came. The man hissel - Roy Bailey at 75! It wizny really his birthday last night - that's comin in a few days time. But it wiz wan man's birthday that we aw wish wiz still here -Alistair Hulett widda been 58, and we aw know that he widda been there if he could.

Wannae ma greatest pleasures is tae watch a master of Stage Craft in action and Roy Bailey is a superlative example of a performer who has the ability tae gather up an audience intae the palm ae his hauns n charm, direct, instruct and inform an audience. He charmed us wi songs n stories about songs he had written and performed for children. Many of us had bought his cd's for oor weans and we adults sang as heartily as any 6 year old about the need for Skin and how Kangaroos like to hop. :clap: At times he was more of a comedien than many of those on the so-called comedy circuit. The first half ended wi Dick Gaughin joining Roy on stage tae sing Rosselson's 'World Turned Upside Down'. Brilliant.

After the interval it was time for Dick Gaughan tae gie us a tune and a song. His cough of two weeks ago hisny got better but he, the trouper thit he is, gave us his usual high octane act thit didny conserve the oxygen thit he said he wid conserve afore he went oan stage coz he wiz feelin so yuchy.. He opened wi a blisterin 'No Gods' which, if ye hidny been telt, ye widny hiv known thit there wiz anythin amiss. Unfortunately, ah didny look tae see whit shoes he wiz werrin.... :sheep:

Roy came back on fur anurra set n this time the songs wur much mair political in content. The thing aboot Roy Bailey is thit he's a fantastic source singer fur urrer singers... listen tae wannae his cd's n ye'll discover lots ae wonderful songs by songwriters from all over the world. If ye want ye can sing thum yersel at sessions. Ye prolly won't sing the songs as well as Roy but ye will, in Roy's ain words (in a song o corss) ye'll make them all yer own coz that's the mimetic quality ae the Tradition. Re-invention and re-interpretation of works, not blind copying of them. :clap:

All in all a superb evening for both artists and audience. Wan ae those nights that ye were glad tae be a part ae, a night that's left me feelin good still.