The Cornish Pasty |
by
Cyril Tawney
(written 1959)
Copyright Dick James Music, Ltd.
4 The pasty in music, art, and literature
The pasty or "oggie" (Tawney's spelling) made its way into music via the writing of Cyril Tawney. Tawney (12 October 1930 - 21 April 2005), was born in Gosport, Hampshire and became an English folk revivalist specialising in maritime songs[11]. He wrote the song The Oggie Man in 1959 and it appeared on the album A Cold Wind Blows on the Electra '66 label. It reappeared in 1971 on the Decca Record Company Ltd album The World of Folk [12]. The song tells the story of the disappearance of the Oggie Man from the Devonport Naval Dockyard replaced by the hot dog sellers (the big boys of the song). The Oggie Man was found selling his oggies to sailors returning from sea, from a box at the Albert Gate to the docks. It is believed that the sale of oggies here, dates back to the 1700s[13].
The first verse runs
And the rain 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
Acknowledgement:
The above is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article - Cornish pasty
We have not pursued permission yet to show the entire song but it can be seen HERE.
The second verse goes on to tell of the sailor's sweetheart promising to be as true as the ever-present Oggie man by the dockyard wall. However, on his return, both were gone.
There is another web page about Cyril Tawney and The Oggie Man on Wikipedia.
You can hear it sung by Jim Wearne HERE (leading to HERE).
He also added an extra verse to There's something about a pasty which he sings HERE with an extra verse. Vocally, he is very reminscent of the early Johnny Cash, for those with memories as long as mine ..... amazing for a Cornish Bard - but he's from the American mid-West. His bardic name is "Canor Gwanethtyr" which means "Singer of the Prairie"
This web site is also worth a visit: http://www.jimwearne.com/
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