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Wurzel Songs
- Part 2 (D - F)
The
Wurzel Songs pages list in alphabetical order as many of
Adge Cutler & The Wurzels' songs as I have been able
to find, and gives brief notes about each. This part covers songs
beginning with D to F. Obviously there is no substitute
for hearing them, but at least this might give readers who have
not had that privilege some insight into the West Country
humour unique to Scrumpy 'n' Western music.
For
some of the songs I haven't been able to make out all the words.
I've pinpointed where this is the case in the descriptions below.
Also I've never heard some of the songs and don't know the composers
of some of them. So if anyone can enlighten me with any of this
missing information, or knows of any other songs not in the list,
then please Don't
Tell 'Ee - Tell I!
Dead From The Waist Down
(Matthews, Roberts, Jones, Richards, Powell) |
A
re-make of the Catatonia single, all Wurzelled
up, and released on their Never Mind The Bullocks
album. The song was planned as a single - entitled Make
Love Not War (Dead From The Waist Down) - timing
the release to take advantage of the strong anti-war feeling
at the time. Events moved too fast, and it was decided that
releasing an anti-war single during the week that the war
started might backfire, and so the single release was pulled.
CD-single
(a-side); CD:
Never Mind The Bullocks - 'Ere's The Wurzels |
Don Juan Of The West
(Tommy Banner, Tony Baylis, Pete Budd, Ed Welch)
|
Issued
on the b-side of Drunk On A Saturday Night
- sung by Tommy Banner.
45
rpm single (b-side); LP:
The Wurzels; CD:
The Wurzels;
CD: The Wurzels
Collection |
Don't Look Back In Anger
(Gallagher) |
Following
the Oasis tribute to The Wurzels - the smash album
(What's The Story?) Morning Glory,
named after one of the Wurzels' best loved songs - The Wurzels
decided to return the compliment by recording one of Oasis'
biggest 1990s hits Don't Look Back In Anger
as a tribute to their favourite Manchester band. A straight
cover lyrically, but definitely not musically, being performed
in The Wurzels' inimitable style, the record reached the UK
Top 60 during its first week of release, but surprisingly
failed to crack the all-important Top 40 despite plenty of
airplay and interest from the media.
This
song has rather unlikely found its way into The Wurzels live
set as part of their encore - with a little help from backing
tapes; still, it always goes down well!
CD-single
(a-side); CD:
Never Mind The Bullocks - 'Ere's The Wurzels;
CD: Top Of The Crops;
CD: The Wurzels
Greatest Hits |
Don't Tell I, Tell 'Ee
(Kevin Sheldon, Trevor Crozier) |
Although
not written by him, this song seems to sum up the Adge Cutler
laid-back attitude to life, and is a song forever be associated
with Adge, even though others have sung it. This was the band's
fifth single on the Columbia label, issued in 1968 but not
available on album until the 1974 compilation of the same
name. A different live version was recorded by The Wurzels
on their 1975 Wurzels Are Scrumptious
LP. Anyone
know when or where the original single was recorded?
45
rpm single (a-side); LP:
Don't Tell I, Tell 'Ee (1974), Don't
Tell I, Tell 'Ee (1978), LP:
The Very Best Of Adge Cutler, LP:
Adge Cutler's Cider Drinking Favourites, LP:
The Wurzels Are Scrumptious!, LP:
The Wurzels Greatest Hits; CD:
The Wurzels and Adge Cutler & The Wurzels; CD:
The Finest 'Arvest of The Wurzels featuring Adge Cutler (2000);
CD: The Finest 'Arvest
of The Wurzels featuring Adge Cutler (2001);
CD: Top Of The Crops |
Dorset Is Beautiful
(adapt. Trevor Crozier)
|
Adge
sang this on his third album to prove he wasn't racially prejudiced.
Sung to the folk tune The Nightingale, with
lyrics by Tevor Crozier.
LP:
Cutler Of The West, CD:
Cutler Of The West, Don't
Tell I, Tell 'Ee (1978), LP:
Vintage Zider |
Down In Nempnett Thrubwell
(Adge Cutler, Henry Davies)
|
Another
song co-written by Adge and Henry, which The Wurzels recorded
live after Adge's death. There is no record of whether Adge
ever recorded this song himself, and I suspect that Henry
put music to Adge's lyrics after his death.
Nempnett
Thrubwell is a sleepy Somerset village with no pubs - in spite
of what Pete Budd says on the record! Tommy Banner sings the
lead on this slow, restful number. The
Wurzels subsequently re-recorded this song for their A
Taste of the West album.
LP:
The Combine Harvester, LP:
The Wurzels; CD:
The Wurzels; CD:
The Finest 'Arvest of The Wurzels featuring Adge Cutler (2000);
CD: The Finest 'Arvest
of The Wurzels featuring Adge Cutler (2001); CD:
A Taste of the West |
Down On The Farm
(Ian Whitcomb)
|
Written
by singer/songwriter Ian Whitcomb, who also recorded
it himself on a later album and single.
LP:
Carry On Cutler! |
Down Our Street
(Sammy King)
|
A
nostalgic song about childhood, sung as a duet by Tommy
Banner and Gaffer Baylis.
LP:
Never Get A Scrumpy Here, LP:
I Am A Cider Drinker |
Drink, Drink Yer Zider Up
(Roger Greenaway, H. Barter, R. Barter)
|
The
title sounds familiar, somehow...! This song was released
on the Golden Delicious album and features a wobble-board
accompaniment by some bloke Pete and Tommy told me about,
but whose name I've forgotten... I don't think 'twere Rolf
Harris though!
This
song appeared on the 2001 re-issue CD of Finest 'Arvest
but not the original 2000 version, so if you are looking for
this song, make sure you buy the right version!
LP:
Golden Delicious;
CD: The Wurzels
Collection; CD:
The Finest 'Arvest of The Wurzels featuring Adge Cutler (2001);
CD: The Wurzels
Greatest Hits |
Drink Up Thy Zider
(Adge Cutler) |
This
song that started it all - written by Adge Cutler and
in his words "the National Anthem of North Zummerzet". According
to the sleeve notes on Adge Cutler's Cider Drinking Favourites,
Adge 'wrote Drink Up Thy Zider about 1958 and the
song just spread'. It
was also Adge Cutler's (as opposed to The Wurzels) greatest
hit, being a huge regional hit in the West Country and
even reaching no. 45 in the British singles charts in February
1967, receiving much airplay on the BBC. The song has been
adopted as a theme song by Bristol City FC fans, and
they still sing Drink Up Thy Zider after a
home win.
A
hymn of praise to Zummerzet's greatest product, the song has
become a standard among scrumpy lovers and is still sung wherever
two or more cider drinkers are gathered together. As
an example for those who haven't heard it, the second verse
goes:
Drink Up Thy Cider George, thee bissn't goin' far
Drink Up Thy Zider George, thee's gettin' quite a star
There's dung oe'r all thy taters
An' 'alfway up thy gaiters
An' there's still more zider in the jar.
The
original recording of the song was recorded as part of the
legendary session at the Royal Oak, Nailsea, on 2nd November
1966, from which Adge Cutler & The Wurzels' first album
was taken. This was the one issued as a single, which got
into the UK charts. It was re-issued the single in 1974 after
Adge's death.
A
second version was made by Adge & the lads on the Carry
On Cutler! album - this is the cut that appears on
most of their compilation CDs. An
even later recording was made by The Wurzels in 1975 for their
The Wurzels Are Scrumptious! album,
and a different live version also appears on Mendip
Magic. A live version of the single formed the
b-side to the 2001 Christmas single Come On Santa!
and One For The Bristol City 2007
(no idea where either were recorded - if indeed they were
different versions!)
On
the Cutler Of The West and Carry
On Cutler! albums (as well as the Don't
Tell I Tell 'Ee compilations), it is the Webbington
Country Club house band who play Drink Up Thy Zider
to welcome The Wurzels on and off stage (so don't be fooled
by the track listing!).
In
addition there is a Disco Version (!), which
was much sought after by collectors before its inclusion on
the The Wurzels Greatest Hits and
The Wurzels albums, and The
Wurzels Collection CD.
45
rpm single (a-side); EP:
Scrumpy & Western; CD-single
2001 (b-side);
CD-single
2007 (a-side); LP:
Adge Cutler & The Wurzels, LP:
Cutler Of The West, CD:
Cutler Of The West, LP:
Carry On Cutler!, LP:
Don't Tell I, Tell 'Ee (1974), Don't
Tell I, Tell 'Ee (1978), LP:
The Very Best Of Adge Cutler, LP:
Adge Cutler's Cider Drinking Favourites, LP:
The Wurzels Are Scrumptious!, LP:
The Wurzels Greatest Hits, LP:
Mendip Magic, LP:
Vintage Zider, LP:
The Wurzels; CD:
The Wurzels; CD:
The Wurzels and Adge Cutler & The Wurzels;
CD: The Wurzels
Collection; CD:
The Finest 'Arvest of The Wurzels featuring Adge Cutler (2000);
CD: The Finest 'Arvest
of The Wurzels featuring Adge Cutler (2001);
CD: The Wurzels
Live; video:
The Wurzels Live;
CD: Top Of The Crops;
CD: The Wurzels
Greatest Hits |
Drinking Man's Life, A
(Tony Baylis)
|
Gaffer
Baylis's song about the trials and tribulations of being
an alcoholic. The only cure is more scrumpy...
LP:
The Wurzels Are Scrumptious! |
Drunk Again
(John Macey, Reg Quantrill)
|
The
only composition by this songwriting team recorded by the
band (to my knowledge anyway). A subject dear to the heart
of Adge and the lads.
LP:
Adge Cutler's Family Album |
Drunk On A Saturday Night
(Pam & Chic Warner) |
Another
drinking song with a good old singalong chorus. This was recorded
for the 1978 Never Get A Scrumpy Here album,
and released as a single in 1980.
45
rpm single (a-side); LP:
Never Get A Scrumpy Here, LP:
I Am A Cider Drinker; CD:
The Wurzels and Adge Cutler & The Wurzels; CD:
The Finest 'Arvest of The Wurzels featuring Adge Cutler (2000);
CD: The Finest 'Arvest
of The Wurzels featuring Adge Cutler (2001) |

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Faggots Is The Stuff
(Adge Cutler)
|
The
song is a hymn of praise to this gourmet's delight, and tells
of its health giving properties and the various historical
characters who owed their success to it. For the benefit of
those people already sniggering at the back, a faggot is a
kind of meatball, a traditional dish in the UK, especially
the South West of England, Wales, and the Black Country (and
definitely not a bit of firewood or whatever else you thought
it was); see the Wikipedia entry for faggots.
This
song was written by Adge for a series of (radio?) commercials
in 1967 for Mr Brain's Faggots which was (and still is) the
best-known commercial brand of faggot. The company was based
in Bristol (founder Herbert Hill Brain was Bristol born and
bred), and owned by Irish company Hibernia when Adge wrote
the song. The company closed
it's Bristol factory in 2003, and went
into receivership later the same year. Mr Brain's Faggots
are now made in Hartlepool!
Issued on the B-side of the single Don't Tell I, Tell
'Ee in 1968, I think it was probably recorded at
the same session as the Cutler of the West
album at the Webbington Country Club - can anyone confirm
this?
45
rpm single (b-side); LP:
Don't Tell I, Tell 'Ee (1974), Don't
Tell I, Tell 'Ee (1978) |
Farmer Bill's Cowman
(Roger Greenaway, Roger Cook; special lyric: Tommy Banner, Pete
Budd, Tony Baylis, Bob Barratt) |
Another
Wurzels' parody, this was based on the 1967 UK instrumental
hit I Was Kaiser Bill's Batman by Whistling Jack
Smith. The Wurzels' version reached #32
in the UK singles charts in June 1977, and was their last
top 40 single (to date!).
45
rpm single (a-side); LP:
Give Me England!,
LP: The Wurzels Greatest
Hits; CD:
The Wurzels and Adge Cutler & The Wurzels; CD:
The Finest 'Arvest of The Wurzels featuring Adge Cutler (2000);
CD: The Finest 'Arvest
of The Wurzels featuring Adge Cutler (2001);
CD: Top Of The Crops;
CD: The Wurzels
Greatest Hits |
Farmer Jonesie's Travellin' Disco Show
(Moody)
|
Tommy
Banner and Pete Budd tell me this was originally
a poem that someone (Mr Moody?) sent in to The Wurzels.
They liked it and set it to music. It's about a farmer who
runs a disco in his spare time - 'course, all they varmers
got plen'ay o' that, en'm?!
LP:
Give Me England!,
LP: I Am A Cider Drinker;
CD: The Wurzels;
CD: The Wurzels
Collection |
Feed The Wurzels: Bristolian Band Aid
(Geldorf, Ure)
|
Charity
single release featuring GWR FM DJs Bush and Troy, The Wurzels
and various other local celebrities singing the Live Aid song
Feed The World.
CD-single
(a-side) |
Ferry To Glastonbury
(Adge Cutler, Colin Thomas) |
One
of Adge's few restful songs - in his words "a bit
of a jog-along number". Bob Barratt describes it
as "the answer to Glastonbury's traffic problem"
(not that Glastonbury has a traffic problem!).
Originally
recorded live for the Carry
On Cutler! album - and released as a single in 1969,
a later studio version was recorded by The Wurzels for their
Never Get A Scrumpy Here album. The Wurzels then re-recorded
the track for their 2004 CD A Taste of the West,
and planned to release it on a CD-EP which never saw the light
of day.
45
rpm single (a-side); CD-EP
Ferry To Glastonbury; CD-EP:
I Am A Cider Drinker 2007; LP:
Carry On Cutler!, LP:
The Very Best Of Adge Cutler, LP:
Adge Cutler's Cider Drinking Favourites, LP:
Never Get A Scrumpy Here, LP:
The Wurzels; CD:
The Wurzels; CD:
The Wurzels and Adge Cutler & The Wurzels;
CD: The Wurzels
Collection; CD:
A Taste of the West;
CD: The Wurzels
Greatest Hits |
Five Foot Flirt
(Cyril Tawney)
|
Humorous
song written by well-known Devon folk singer Cyril Tawney.
LP:
Cutler Of The West, CD:
Cutler Of The West, LP:
Vintage Zider |
Folk Song
(Ted Dicks, Myles Rudge)
|
A
song about a plan to purchase a double bed, written by Ted
Dicks & Myles Rudge who also wrote the hits Hole
In The Ground and Right Said Fred
for Bernard Cribbins - who also recorded the original
version of this song.
LP:
Carry On Cutler! |
Forget-Me-Not |
LP:
Freshly Cut |
Forty And Bone Dry
(Geoff Betsworth)
|
A
country & western style track released on the Eddie Stobart
EP.
CD-EP
I Want To Be An Eddie Stobart Driver |
Freak-Out In Somerset
(New words & music adapt. Bob Barratt)
|
A
Bob Barrett adaptation of the well-known rugby song Four
& Twenty Virgins, this describes the dubious
goings on at a freak-out where the participants have been
indulging in too much of that Sixties hallucinogenic substance,
scrumpy!
LP:
Adge Cutler's Family Album |
Funky Farmyard
(Tony Baylis) |
"Everybody's
havin' fun, down by the chicken run" in The Wurzels'
funky farmyard. Has a good "Ooh Arr!" type chorus.
This was the b-side of The Tractor Song.
45
rpm single (b-side); LP:
Never Get A Scrumpy Here, LP:
The Wurzels Greatest Hits; CD:
The Wurzels and Adge Cutler & The Wurzels;
CD: The Wurzels
Collection |
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