Sweet England, the long unavailable 1958 debut by the grande dame of English folk Shirley Collins, conjures a simpler world, where children learned Cecil Sharp’s Folk Songs For Schools in assembly.
Yes, there’s a whiff of Kenneth Williams’ folk singer character Sid Rumpo in the hey nonny vocaleese, and Shirley herself writes “as I matured, the lighter banal songs disappeared from my repertoire”, but she is unnecessarily critical of her “youthful and naïve singing”.
The austere and emotionally direct simplicity of her version of The Cherry Tree Carol cuts to the mystic essence of faith and myth, immolating all rational thought.
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Zombie Hamster, Twitter
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Clampdown59, Twitter.
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Gwaites, Digitalspy
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Johnny Kitkat, dontstartmeoff.com
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Meninblack, Twitter
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Cabluigi, Guardian.co.uk
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Visualiser1, Twitter
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Microcuts 22, Twitter
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Anonymous, don'tstartmeoff.com
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Lucinda Locketts, Twitter
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Deepbass, Guardian.co.uk
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Alex Quarmby, Edfringe.com
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Anon, westhamonline.com
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Iain, eatenbymissionaries
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Kozzy06, Youtube
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Spanner, dontstartmeoff.com
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Contrapuntal, Twitter
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Lee Mack, Mack The Life, 2012
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Maninabananasuit, Guardian.co.uk
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Meanstreetelite, Peoplesrepublicofcork
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Tin Frog, Twitter
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Ishamayura Byrd, Twitter
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Esme Folley, Actress, cellist, Twitter
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Liam Travitt, Twitter
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Yukio Mishima, dontstartmeoff.com
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Cojones2, Guardian.co.uk
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Pudabaya, beexcellenttoeachother.com
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Brendon, Vauxhallownersnetwork.co.uk
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Len Firewood, Twitter
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BBC iPlayer edition of discussion of Stewart Lee on A Good Read
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Horatio Melvin, Twitter
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Genghis McKahn, Guardian.co.uk
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Dominic Cavendish, Daily Telegraph
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Sweeping Curves, Twitter
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Joycey, readytogo.net
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Richard Herring, Comedian
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Birmingham Sunday Mercury
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GRTak, finalgear.com
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Guest, Dontstartmeoff.com
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John Robins, Comedian
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Henry Howard Fun, Twitter
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Fairy Pingu, Twitter
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Mearecate, Youtube
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General Lurko 36, Guardian.co.uk
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Al Murray, Comedian
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Gmanthedemon, bbc.co.uk
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Pnethor, pne-online.com
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Leach Juice, Twitter
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Anon, dontstartmeoff.com
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Lancethrustworthy, Youtube
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Rowing Rob, Guardian.co.uk
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Joskins, Leeds Music Forum
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Sam Rooney, Youtube
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James Dellingpole, Daily Telegraph
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DVDhth's grandparents, Twitter
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Foxfoxton, Youtube
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Neva2busy, dontstartmeoff.com
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Robert Gavin, Twitter
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Coxy, Dontstartmeoff.com
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Mini-x2, readytogo.net
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Mrdavisn01, Twitter
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Tres Ryan, Twitter
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Lenny Darksphere, Twitter
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Anamatronix, Youtube
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Frankie Boyle, Comedian
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98rosjon, Twitter
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Stokeylitfest, Twitter
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Dominic Cavendish, Telegraph
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Secretdeveloper, Youtube
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Bobby Bhoy, Twitter
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Carcrazychica, Youtube
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Joe, Independent.co.uk
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Pirate Crocodile, Twitter
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NevW47479, UKTV.co.uk
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Mpf1947, Youtube
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Tweeter Kyriakou, Twitter
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12dgdgdgdgdgdg, Youtube
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Tweeterkiryakou, Twitter
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Tokyofist, Youtube
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Karen Laidlaw, Edfringe. com.
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Lents, redandwhitekop.com
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Anon, BBC Complaints Log
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Fowkes81, Twitter
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Guest1001, Youtube
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Pudabaya, Twitter