Albert Lancaster Lloyd (29 February 1908 – 29 September 1982),Eder, Bruce. (29 September 1982
A. L. Lloyd – Music Biography, Credits and Discography
AllMusic. Retrieved on 2013-02-24. usually known as A. L. Lloyd or Bert Lloyd, was an English

folk singer Folk music is a music genre that includes traditional folk music and the contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be called world music. Traditional folk music has b ...

and collector of folk songs, and as such was a key figure in the

British folk revival The British folk revival incorporates a number of movements for the collection, preservation and performance of folk music in the United Kingdom and related territories and countries, which had origins as early as the 18th century. It is particu ...

of the 1950s and 1960s. While Lloyd is most widely known for his work with British folk music, he had a keen interest in the music of Spain, Latin America, Southeastern Europe and Australia. He recorded at least six discs of Australian Bush ballads and folk music. Lloyd also helped establish the folk music subgenre of industrial folk music through his books, recordings, collecting and theoretical writings.

Early life

Lloyd was born in the

Wandsworth Wandsworth Town () is a district of south London, within the London Borough of Wandsworth southwest of Charing Cross. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London. Toponymy Wandsworth takes its name ...

district of London. His father was an AA Patrolman and failed

smallholder A smallholding or smallholder is a small farm operating under a small-scale agriculture model. Definitions vary widely for what constitutes a smallholder or small-scale farm, including factors such as size, food production technique or technolo ...

. His mother sang songs around the house, and according to Lloyd, mimicked the gypsy singers that she had heard. By the age of fifteen his mother had died and his father, an ex-soldier, was a semi-invalid, and Lloyd was sent as an assisted migrant to Australia in a scheme organised by the

Royal British Legion The Royal British Legion (RBL), formerly the British Legion, is a British charity providing financial, social and emotional support to members and veterans of the British Armed Forces, their families and dependants. Membership Service in th ...

. There, from 1924 to 1930, he worked on various sheep stations in

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

and it was during this time that he began to write down folksongs he learned. In the outback of New South Wales he discovered that he could access the State Library and order books. His special interests being art and music, he could get a grasp of those topics without seeing a painting or hearing any music. He also bought a wind-up gramophone and began to investigate some of the classical music he had previously read about.

Career as folklorist

When Lloyd returned to the UK in 1935, during the

Great Depression The Great Depression was a severe global economic downturn from 1929 to 1939. The period was characterized by high rates of unemployment and poverty, drastic reductions in industrial production and international trade, and widespread bank and ...

, in the absence of a permanent job he pursued his interests in studying folk music and social and economic history, doing much of his research at the

British Museum The British Museum is a Museum, public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is the largest in the world. It documents the story of human cu ...

; he is quoted as saying that there is "nothing like unemployment for educating oneself". In 1937, he signed on board a factory whaling ship, the ''Southern Empress'', bound for the southern whaling grounds of the Antarctic. During this decade, Lloyd joined the

Communist Party of Great Britain The Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB) was the largest communist organisation in Britain and was founded in 1920 through a merger of several smaller Marxist groups. Many miners joined the CPGB in the 1926 general strike. In 1930, the CPGB ...

Brocken p. 25 and was strongly influenced by the writings of the Marxist historian, A. L. Morton, particularly his 1938 book ''A People's History of England''.Brocken p. 26 In 1937, Lloyd's article "The People's own Poetry" was published in the ''Daily Worker'' (since 1966 renamed '' Morning Star'') newspaper. In 1938, the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

hired Lloyd to write a radio documentary about seafaring life, and from then on he worked as a journalist and singer. As a proponent of communism, he was staunchly opposed to

Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (20 April 1889 – 30 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was the dictator of Nazi Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his suicide in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the lea ...

, and, in 1939, was commissioned by the BBC to produce a series of programmes on the rise of

Nazism Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During Hitler's rise to power, it was fre ...

. Between 1940 and 1950 he was employed as a journalist by ''

Picture Post ''Picture Post'' was a photojournalistic magazine published in the United Kingdom from 1938 to 1957. It is considered a pioneering example of photojournalism and was an immediate success, selling 1,000,000 copies a week after only two months. ...

'' magazine but he left the job in an act of solidarity with one of his colleagues. By the 1950s, Lloyd had established himself as a professional folklorist—as Colin Harper puts it "in a field of one". Harper went to note that, at a time when the English folk revival was dominated by young people who wore jeans and pullovers, Lloyd was rarely seen in anything other than a suit (and a wide grin). Ewan MacColl is quoted as describing Lloyd affectionately as "a walking toby jug". In 1959, Lloyd's collaboration with

Ralph Vaughan Williams Ralph Vaughan Williams ( ; 12 October 1872– 26 August 1958) was an English composer. His works include operas, ballets, chamber music, secular and religious vocal pieces and orchestral compositions including nine symphonies, written over ...

, ''The Penguin Book of English Folk Songs'', was published. The 1956 film ''

Moby Dick ''Moby-Dick; or, The Whale'' is an 1851 Epic (genre), epic novel by American writer Herman Melville. The book is centered on the sailor Ishmael (Moby-Dick), Ishmael's narrative of the maniacal quest of Captain Ahab, Ahab, captain of the whaler ...

'', directed by

John Huston John Marcellus Huston ( ; August 5, 1906 – August 28, 1987) was an American film director, screenwriter and actor. He wrote the screenplays for most of the 37 feature films he directed, many of which are today considered classics. He rec ...

, featured Lloyd singing a sea shanty as the Pequod first sets sail. There is also a brief visual clip of him. In the early 1960s, Lloyd became associated with an enterprise known as " Centre 42" which arose from Resolution 42 of the 1960

Trades Union Congress The Trades Union Congress (TUC) is a national trade union center, national trade union centre, a federation of trade unions that collectively represent most unionised workers in England and Wales. There are 48 affiliated unions with a total of ...

, concerning the importance of arts in the community. Centre 42 was a touring festival aimed at devolving art and culture from London to the other main working class towns of Britain. It was led by Arnold Wesker, with MacColl and Lloyd providing the musical content and Charles Parker on production. Centre 42 was important in bringing a range of folk performers to the public attention:

Anne Briggs Anne Patricia Briggs (born 29 September 1944) is an English folk singer. Although she travelled widely in the 1960s and early 1970s, appearing at folk clubs and venues in Britain and Ireland, she never aspired to commercial success or to achie ...

, the Ian Campbell Folk Group, The Spinners and

The Watersons The Watersons were an English folk group from Hull, Yorkshire. They performed mainly traditional songs with little or no accompaniment. Their distinctive sound came from their closely woven harmonies. They have been called the "most famous f ...

. Lloyd recorded many albums of English folk music, most notably several albums of the

Child Ballads The Child Ballads are 305 traditional ballads from England and Scotland, and their American variants, anthologized by Francis James Child during the second half of the 19th century. Their lyrics and Child's studies of them were published as ...

with MacColl. He also published many books on folk music and related topics, including ''The Singing Englishman'', ''Come All Ye Bold Miners'', and ''Folk Song in England''. He was a founder-member of

Topic Records Topic Records is a British folk music label, which played a major role in the second British folk revival. It began as an offshoot of the Workers' Music Association in 1939, making it the oldest independent record label in the world.M. Brocken ...

and remained as their artistic director until his death. The accompanying book to the Topic Records 70 year anniversary boxed set ''

Three Score and Ten ''Three Score and Ten: A Voice to the People'' is a multi-CD box set album issued by Topic Records in 2009 to celebrate 70 years as an independent British record label. The album consists of a hardback book containing the seven CDs and a pa ...

'' includes a short biography and lists two albums he is closely associated with as classic albums, ''The Iron Muse'' and ''Frost and Fire'' by The Watersons. Track five on the second CD has Lloyd singing " The Two Magicians" from another album he was closely associated with, being '' The Bird in the Bush (Traditional Erotic Songs)''. Mark Gregory interviewed him in 1970 for the National Library of Australia, and Michael Grosvenor Myer for '' Folk Review'' magazine in September 1974. Lloyd died at his home in

Greenwich Greenwich ( , , ) is an List of areas of London, area in south-east London, England, within the Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county of Greater London, east-south-east of Charing Cross. Greenwich is notable for its maritime hi ...

in 1982.Lucy Duran, "A. L. Lloyd. A Tribute", published in '' Yearbook for Traditional Music'', Vol. 14, 1982 (1982), pp. xiii–xv His version of the folk song "Doodle Let Me Go (Yaller Girls)" was used in the credits and trailer of the 2019 film '' The Lighthouse''.

Discography

Solo albums

*''The Shooting of His Dear / Lord Bateman'', HMV B.10593, 78rpm, 1953 *''Down in Yon Forest / The Bitter Withy'', HMV B.10594, 78rpm, 1953 *''Bold Jack Donahue / Banks of the Condamine'', Topic TRC84, 78rpm, 1954 *''Australian Bush Songs'', Riverside RLP 12-606, 1956 *''The Foggy Dew and Other Traditional English Love Songs'',

Tradition Records Tradition Records was an American record label from 1955 to 1966 that specialized in folk music. The label was founded and financed by Guggenheim heiress Diane Hamilton (the pseudonym of Diane Guggenheim) in 1956. Its president and director was ...

TLP 1016, LP, US, 1956 *''Banks of the Condamine and Other Bush Songs'', Wattle Records (Australia) 10-inch LP, 1957 *''Across the Western Plains'', Wattle Records (Australia) LP, 1958 *''Outback Ballads. Folk songs of Australia.'' Topic Records 12T51, 1958 *''English Drinking Songs'', Riverside Records (US) LP, 1961. CD Reissue: Topic records *''England and Her Folk Songs (A Selection From The Penguin Book)'', with Alf Edwards, Collector Records (UK) 7-inch EP *''First Person (Some of His Favourite Folk Songs)'', Topic Records LP, 1966 *''The Best of A. L. Lloyd'', Xtra (UK) LP, 1966 *''Leviathan'', Topic Records (UK) LP, 1967. CD Reissue: Topic records *''Ten Thousand Miles Away: English and Australian Folk Songs'', Fellside Records (UK) 2CD, 2008 *''An Evening with A. L. Lloyd'' Fellside Recordings (UK) CD, 2010 *''Turtle Dove'', Fellside Records (UK), 2014

With Ewan MacColl

*''The English and Scottish Popular Ballads'' 9 Volumes, Washington albums, 1952 *''Blow Boys Blow (Songs of The Sea)'', Tradition Records (US) LP, 1957. LP Reissue: Transatlantic, 1967. CD Reissue: Tradition, 1996 *''Thar She Blows! (Whaling Ballads and Songs)'', Riverside RLP 12-635 (US) LP, 1957 *''Convicts and Currency Lads.'' Wattle Recordings B2, EP, 1958 *''Whaling Ballads'', Washington WLP 724 (US) LP, 196x. This was a reissue of the Riverside album above. *''English and Scottish Folk Ballads'', Topic Records (UK) LP, 1964 *''Bold Sportsmen All'', Topic Records (UK) 10-inch, 1958. CD reissue: Topic Records *''Gamblers and Sporting Blades (Songs of the Ring and the Racecourse)'', Topic records (UK) 7-inch EP, 1962 *''A Sailor's Garland'', Xtra Records (UK) LP, 1966

Compilations and contributions

*''Blow The Man Down'', Topic Records (UK) 7-inch EP, 1956 *'' The Iron Muse (A Panorama of Industrial Folk Music)'', Topic Records (UK) LP, 1963 *''Farewell Nancy (Sea Songs and Shanties)'', Topic Records (UK) LP, 1964 *'' The Bird in the Bush'' – by A L Lloyd,

Frankie Armstrong Frankie Armstrong (born 13 January 1941) is an English singer and voice teacher. She has worked as a singer in the folk scene and the women's movement and as a trainer in social and youth work. Her repertoire ranges from traditional ballads to m ...

, Topic Records (UK) LP, 1966 *''Singing The Fishing – A Radio Ballad'', Argo Records (UK) LP, 1967 *'' "Babbacombe" Lee'' by

Fairport Convention Fairport Convention are an English British folk rock, folk rock band, formed in 1967 by guitarists Richard Thompson (musician), Richard Thompson and Simon Nicol, bassist Ashley Hutchings and drummer Shaun Frater (with Frater replaced by Marti ...

(1971), Island Records: Narration and arrangement *''The Valiant Sailor (Songs & Ballads of Nelson's Navy)'', Topic Records (UK) LP, 1973 *''Sea Shanties'', Topic Records (UK) LP, 1974 *''The Transports '' (A Ballad Opera by Peter Bellamy), Free Reed (UK) 2LP, 1977 *''Topic Sampler No. 1 – Folk Songs'', Topic Records (UK) LP *''Topic Sampler No. 2 – Folk Songs'', Topic Records (UK) LP *''Topic Sampler No. 3 – Men at Work'', Topic Records (UK) LP *''Topic Sampler No. 6 – A Collection of Ballads & Broadsides'', Topic Records (UK) LP *''Topic Sampler No. 7 – Sea Songs & Shanties'', Topic Records (UK) LP * "Doodle let me go (yaller girls)" Performed on soundtrack of The Lighthouse (2019)

Recorded and edited by Lloyd

*''Folk Music of Bulgaria'', Topic Records (UK) LP, 1964 *''Folk Music of Albania'', Topic Records (12T154) (UK) LP, 1966

Bibliography

* García Lorca, Federico (1937) ''Lament for the Death of a Bullfighter and other poems''; translated by A. L. Lloyd. London: Heinemann * Kafka, Franz (1937) ''

The Metamorphosis ''The Metamorphosis'' (), also translated as ''The Transformation'', is a novella by Franz Kafka published in 1915. One of Kafka's best-known works, ''The Metamorphosis'' tells the story of salesman Gregor Samsa, who wakes to find himself inex ...

''; translated by A. L. Lloyd. London: Parton Press; published as ''Metamorphosis'' (1946) by Vanguard Press, Inc. * Fallada, Hans (1952) ''The Drinker''; translated by C. Lloyd and A. L. Lloyd: Melville House, Hoboken, N.J. *Lloyd, A. L. & Vinogradoff, Igor (1940) ''Shadow of the Swastika'', London: John Lane The Bodley Head *Lloyd, A. L. (1944) ''The Singing Englishman: an introduction to folksong''. London: Workers' Music Association *Lloyd, A. L. (compiler) (1945) '' Corn on the Cob'' (Popular and Traditional Poetry of the USA) London: Fore Publications *Lloyd, A. L. (1951) ''Singing Englishmen: a collection of folk-songs specially prepared for a Festival of Britain concert given in association with the Arts Council of Great Britain'' *Lloyd, A. L. (compiler) (1952) ''Coaldust Ballads'' (Part-songs by various composers). London: Workers' Music Association *Lloyd, A. L. (compiler) (1952) ''Come All Ye Bold Miners (Ballads & Songs of the Coalfield)'' London: Lawrence & Wishart * *Lloyd, A. L. (1960) ''The Golden City'' London: Methuen *Lloyd, A. L. (1967) ''Folk Song in England'' London: Lawrence & Wishart (Paperback edition: Paladin, 1975)

Films

*John Huston, ''

'', 1965 (guest appearance) *Ken Taylor, ''Ten Thousand Miles: A. L. Lloyd in Australia'', 1970 *Gavin Barry, ''Bert a personal memoir'', 1985

References

External links

Biography of A. L. Lloyd
in ''

Canadian Journal for Traditional Music ''MUSICultures'' is a peer-reviewed academic journal An academic journal (or scholarly journal or scientific journal) is a periodical publication in which Scholarly method, scholarship relating to a particular academic discipline is published. T ...

(1999/2000)'': "Starting Over: A. L. Lloyd and the Search for a New Folk Music, 1945–49" by E. David Gregory
The A. L. Lloyd Collection
– Lloyd's library and papers at the Library of Goldsmiths College, University of London

Most complete Discography

– Australian Folk Songs website

– EFDSS Concert 15 November 2008
BBC Radio 3 highlights of Tribute to Bert
– Lucy Duran World Routes
EFDSS Book Launch
– Bert: The Life and Times of A. L. Lloyd {{DEFAULTSORT:Lloyd, A. L. Bert 1908 births 1982 deaths Communist Party of Great Britain members English folk musicians English folk singers English folk-song collectors Tradition Records artists English male singers English communists 20th-century English singers 20th-century English musicologists 20th-century English male singers Topic Records artists Riverside Records artists