Scrumpy & Western EP
| "Scrumpy & Western EP" | ||||
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Adge Cutler (sitting) on the front cover of his Scrumpy & Western EP
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| Single by Adge Cutler & The Wurzels | ||||
| A-side | Pill, Pill : Twice Daily | |||
| B-side | Hark At 'Ee Jacko : Drink Up Thy Zider | |||
| Released | 1967 | |||
| Format | 7" Mono EP | |||
| Recorded | 2 November 1966, Royal Oak Inn, Nailsea | |||
| Genre | Scrumpy and Western | |||
| Label | Columbia SEG8525 | |||
| Writer(s) | Adge Cutler | |||
| Producer(s) | Bob Barratt | |||
| Adge Cutler & The Wurzels singles chronology | ||||
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Scrumpy & Western EP was the second record release by Adge Cutler and The Wurzels and contained the 2 tracks from their original 1966 hit single "Drink Up Thy Zider / Twice Daily", plus 2 further tracks "Pill, Pill" and "Hark At 'Ee Jacko". The band's first single had reached #45 in the UK charts, despite the B-side "Twice Daily" being banned by the BBC for being too raunchy.[citation needed] The subsequent Scrumpy & Western EP released the following year, did not achieve as high a chart placing, however it gave name to whole new genre of music Scrumpy and Western.[1][2] All the tracks were recorded live by Bob Barratt at The Royal Oak Inn, Nailsea on 2 November 1966.
The front cover of the EP has a photo of Adge Cutler (seated) with the band, against the background of a typical farm building. All are wearing "Yokel Wear", that includes corduroy trousers, waistcoats, red kerchiefs and hats. Adge is holding the ubiquitous "Zider Jar".
Contents
Band history
Adge Cutler and The Wurzels
The Wurzels were formed in 1966 as a backing group for, and by, singer/songwriter Adge Cutler. With a thick Somerset accent, Adge played on his West Country roots, singing many folk songs with local themes such as cider making (and drinking), farming, dung-spreading, local villages and industrial work songs, often with a comic slant. A number of live albums were recorded at local pubs and clubs, and included Adge Cutler penned songs such as Easton in Gordano, The Champion Dung Spreader, and Thee's Got'n Where Thee Cassn't Back'n, Hassn't? together with songs written by others and some re-workings of popular folk songs of the time. Adge Cutler died after falling asleep at the wheel of his car which overturned on a roundabout approaching the Severn Bridge on 5 May 1974. He is buried in Nailsea.[3]
The Wurzels
After Adge's death the band continued to record, but deprived of their main songwriter they released in 1975 The Wurzels Are Scrumptious!, an album containing many favourites from the back catalogue, including a number of previously unrecorded Cutler songs. In order to continue the band used the common Scrumpy and Western device of re-writing popular pop songs of the time with the lyrics changed to include the usual yokel themes of cider, farming, local villages and west country traditions. In 1976, they released "The Combine Harvester", a re-working of the song "Brand New Key", by Melanie, which became a UK hit, topping the charts for 2 weeks.[4] The band quickly followed its success with the release of a number of similarly themed songs such as I Am A Cider Drinker (a rework of an existing melody "Una Paloma Blanca", which had been a hit for the George Baker Selection) which got to No 3 in the charts,[5] and Farmer Bill's Cowman. In 2007, The Wurzels and Tony Blackburn re-released I Am A Cider Drinker with the royalties from the song going to the BUI Prostate Cancer Care Appeal in Bristol.[6]
Drink Up Thy Zider and Bristol City Football Club
Although The Wurzels song "One For The Bristol City"[7] is the official club song for Bristol City F.C., most fans recognise another Wurzel song "Drink Up Thy Zider" as their anthem. It is played at the final whistle at Ashton Gate if the home club win and it is sung by fans along with another Wurzel song "I am a cider drinker".
Scrumpy and Western Genre
The Scrumpy and Western genre refers to mainly humorous music from England's West Country[8] that fuses comical folk-style songs, often full of double entendre, with affectionate parodies of more mainstream musical genres, all delivered in the local accent/dialect. Scrumpy is a name given to traditional Somerset cider, and is frequently referred to in The Wurzels songs.
Exact styles vary by band or musician, and very few are known outside their native county. The main exceptions to this are The Wurzels and Fred Wedlock. Other artists who are included in the Scrumpy and Western genre include: The Yetties[9] from the village of Yetminster in Dorset, The Golden Lion Light Orchestra from Worcestershire, Who's Afear'd (also from Dorset), Trevor Crozier, Combyne Arvester (from Weston-super-Mare),[10] the Yokels (from Wiltshire), Shag Connors and the Carrot Crunchers,[11] and the Pigsty Hill Light Orchestra.[12]
See also
References
- ↑ Biography by Sharon Mawer at allmusic.com
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