Cyril Tawney
| Cyril Tawney | |
|---|---|
| Born |
12 October 1930 Gosport, Hampshire, U.K. |
| Died | 21 April 2005 (74) Exeter, Devon, U.K. |
| Genres | Folk, maritime |
Cyril Tawney (12 October 1930 – 21 April 2005) was an English singer-songwriter and a proponent of the traditional songs of the West of England, as well as traditional and modern maritime songs.
Tawney was born in Gosport, Hampshire. Perhaps because of the family tradition of maritime service, Tawney joined the Royal Navy at the age of sixteen, serving for thirteen years, several of which were spent in submarines. During this period he developed his lifelong interest in English traditional music.
While still in the Navy in 1957, he performed on an Alan Lomax radio show broadcast on Christmas Day, Sing Christmas and the Turn of the Year. He appeared on television on the following Easter Sunday. It went well and soon he had a weekly television spot and a networked show, Watch Aboard. Encouraged by these successes, Cyril left the Navy early in 1959 to become a full-time professional musician and broadcaster. He earned his living in this way for 44 years, making him Britain's longest-standing professional folksinger.
Tawney continued to work in broadcasting and had a weekly radio show, "Folkspin." Meanwhile, he researched the traditional songs of southwest England and 20th Century Royal Navy songs. In the early 1960s he established his first folk club in Plymouth, where he met his wife Rosemary. He founded the West of England Folk Centre and was instrumental in setting up folk clubs in other places in the region. He is often referred to as the Founding Father of the West Country folk revival.
His song The Oggie Man written in 1959, appeared on the album A Cold Wind Blows on the Elektra ’66 label. It reappeared in 1971 on the Decca Record Company Ltd album The World of Folk. The song tells the story of the demise of the 'Oggie Man' from the Devonport Naval Dockyard, at a time when old-fashioned "fast food" was being replaced by the more modern purveyors of hot dogs (and all) (the "big boys" of the song). The Oggie Man had until that time offered his oggies (pasties) to sailors returning from sea, or from shore leave, from a box at the Albert Gate of the dock. It has been suggested that the sale of oggies here dated back to the 1700s.
The first verse of "Oggie Man" runs
And the rain's softly falling and the Oggie man's no more.
I can’t hear him calling like I used to before
I came through the gateway and I heard the sergeant say
"The big boys are a coming, see their stands across the way"
And the rains softly falling and the Oggie man's no more...
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