... and no it's not the Tony Capstick song it's a different one entirely
Just voice and guitar, but sometimes that's all you need to tell the story :-)
https://soundcloud.com/mrbouzouki/the_sheffield_grinderBackgroundThis is my take on an old traditional song. The earliest reference I've discovered is around 1847. It supposedly had other titles 'The Grinders' and 'The Saddle on the Right Horse'
It is a vivid description of the lot of Sheffield Grinders, working and often dying early in life due to their trade. The 'Grinding Hull's' mentioned in the lyrics were grim places, full of particles of metal and dust from the grinding wheels. Historical evidence suggests boys were often apprenticed from nine to twelve years of age.
Through my working career I was employed in the Steel Industry engaged in scientistic work and environmental research, quite a bit of it related to occupational health problems, So it is no surprise to me and very fitting that I wanted to get this song recorded. As a Sheffield lad born and bred it connects for me I guess.
Apparently a version of this traditional song was recorded by 'The Ian Campbell Group' in 1972 and the band 'Afterhours' from their eponymous cassette only album from 1988. After hearing the 'Afterhours' 1988 version, I decided to work up a DADGAD guitar arrangement of my own. Here is the result.
---------------------------------------------------
Instrumentation and ArrangementI wanted a simple arrangement for this song as really it's all about the lyrics and overall message. I used a DADGAD guitar tuning and aimed for a strum pattern that hopefully reflects the cyclical rhythmic quality of the grindstones in use.
After the main vocals was recorded I decided a bit of backing vocals would add a bit of extra spice to the overall song. Sometimes voice and guitar is all you really need. :-)
--------------------------------------------------
The Sheffield Grinder (Lyrics around 1847)**( with small revisions for this version)
(Photograph taken from the Illustrated London News 1866)
The Sheffield grinder's a terrible blade.
Tally ho, the grinder!
'Fore he sets his little 'uns down to trade.
Tally ho, the grinder!
He sets ‘em all down to grind in the hull,
Till their bodies are stunted and their eyes are dull,
And their brains are all dizzy and dazed in their skulls.
Tally ho, the grinder!
He shortens his life and he hastens his death.
Tally ho, the grinder!
And he’ll drink steel dust with every breath.
Tally ho, the grinder!
And he won't wash his hands ‘ere he eats a meal
And he won’t wear a mask as he grinds at his wheel
And he’ll die as he’s lived, as hard as cold steel.
Tally ho, the grinder!
(Instrumental)
The Sheffield grinders of whom we do speak.
Tally ho, the grinder!
Well they’re men who’ll earn just one pound a week.
Tally ho, the grinder!
But of Sheffield grinders another sort
Methinks ought to be called to court,
Aye, and that’s the grinding Government Board.
Tally ho, the grinder!
At whose door lies the blacker blame?
Tally ho, the grinder!
Oh where lies the heavier weight of shame?
Tally ho, the grinder!
Is it the famine-price contractor's head,
Or on the workman who’s under-fed,
And who grinds his own bones and his children’s for bread?
Tally ho, the grinder!
