''We All Had Doctors' Papers'' is a live album by Welsh comedian and singer

Max Boyce Maxwell Boyce, (born 27 September 1943) is a Welsh comedian, singer and entertainer from Glynneath, Wales. He rose to fame in the mid-1970s with an act that combined musical comedy with his passion for rugby union and his origins in a South Wal ...

, first issued in 1975 and recorded at Pontarddulais Rugby Club. It was his fourth album release and followed his breakthrough recording '' Live at Treorchy''. The album contains a mixture of comedic and traditional songs, along with Boyce's interactions with the crowd. Two songs on the album, "

Sosban Fach Sosban Fach ( Welsh for "little saucepan") is a traditional Welsh folk song. It is one of the best-known and most often sung songs in the Welsh language. The song is based on a verse written by Mynyddog in 1873 as part of his song ''Rheolau yr ...

" and "

Ar Lan y Môr is a traditional Welsh folk love song. A single verse was published by the Welsh Folk Song Society in 1937, and again (recorded from another singer) in 1948. A slightly different version was recorded by the BBC in 1953. Extra verses have been ad ...

", are in the

Welsh language Welsh ( or ) is a Celtic languages, Celtic language of the Brittonic languages, Brittonic subgroup that is native to the Welsh people. Welsh is spoken natively in Wales by about 18% of the population, by some in England, and in (the Welsh c ...

. It is the only comedy album to have topped the

UK albums chart The Official Albums Chart is the United Kingdom's industry-recognised national record chart for album, albums. Entries are ranked by sales and audio streaming. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the O ...

Album

''We All Had Doctors' Papers'' is a live recording similar to Boyce's recording of the previous year ''Live at Treorchy''. Just as ''Live at Treorchy'' was recorded at the town's local

rugby club Rugby football is the collective name for the team sports of rugby union or rugby league. Rugby football started at Rugby School in Rugby, Warwickshire, England, where the rules were first codified in 1845. Forms of football in which the ball ...

, Boyce continued his connection with the sport of

rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

by recording ''We All Had Doctors' Papers'' at Pontarddulais Rugby Club. The album was recorded in one take over one night. The album title comes from the song "9-3" which appeared on ''Live at Treorchy''. Celebrating

Llanelli RFC Llanelli Rugby Football Club () is a Welsh rugby union club founded on 30 March 1872. The club's historic home ground was Stradey Park in Llanelli, but they moved in 2008 to the new Parc y Scarlets in adjacent Pemberton. The club song is " ...

's 1972 win over

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

, the lyrics of the fourth verse follow; ''"But we all had doctors' papers, and they all said just the same, that we all had Scarlet Fever, and we caught it at the game"''. Boyce, whose comedic songs are now linked to the sport of

, included four rugby songs, "I Gave My Love a Debenture", "Deck of Cards", "The Devil's Marking Me" and "Pontypool Front Row", the last of which celebrates the

Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...

and British Lions trio of

Graham Price Graham Price MBE (born 24 November 1951 in Moascar, Egypt) is a former Welsh rugby union player, who was a member of the famous Pontypool RFC front row known as the "Viet Gwent". He won 41 caps for , and a record 12 for the British and Irish ...

Bobby Windsor Robert William Windsor (born 31 January 1948 in Newport, Monmouthshire), known as Bobby and nicknamed "The Duke", is a former rugby union player who gained 28 rugby union caps for Wales as a hooker between 1973 and 1979. Windsor published his a ...

and Charlie Faulkner. Of the songs on the album "Sospan Fach" and "Ar Lan y Môr" are both traditional Welsh folk songs, while "Swansea Town" is written by Swansea songwriter and composer, John M. Davies; the rest are original works by Boyce. "I Gave My Love a Debenture" is a parody of the song commonly known as " I Gave My Love a Cherry". The album cover and reverse is drawn by Welsh cartoonist Gren, who became the first cartoonist to receive a

gold disc Music recording certification is a system of certifying that a music recording has shipped, sold, or streamed a certain number of units. The threshold quantity varies by type (such as album, single, music video) and by nation or territory (see ...

from the record company

EMI EMI Group Limited (formerly EMI Group plc until 2007; originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records or simply EMI) was a British transnational conglomerate founded in March 1931 in London. At t ...

. The cover shows a crowded and detailed rugby international match at the

Cardiff Arms Park Cardiff Arms Park (), also known as The Arms Park, is primarily a rugby union stadium, and also has a bowling green. It is situated in Cardiff, Wales, next to the Millennium Stadium. The Arms Park was host to the 1958 British Empire and Common ...

, hidden in the crowd are several notable Welsh sportspeople and celebrities, such as comedian

Tommy Cooper Thomas Frederick Cooper (19 March 1921 – 15 April 1984) was a Welsh prop comedian and magician. As an entertainer, his appearance was large and lumbering at , and he habitually wore a red fez when performing. He served in the British Army ...

Chart history

''We All Had Doctors' Papers'' was released in October 1975, and first entered the UK albums chart on 1 November at number nine. It rose the following week to number three before topping the chart on 15 November 1975 replacing

Jim Reeves James Travis Reeves (August 20, 1923July 31, 1964) was an American singer, songwriter, and musician. One of the earliest pioneers and practitioners of the Nashville sound, he played a central role in the sonic development of country music in th ...

' '' 40 Golden Greats''. It remained at number one for a single week, spending 17 weeks in total in the Top 40, dropping out of the chart on 17 January 1976. It was the first and only comedy album to reach the number one spot in the UK chart.

Track listing

# "

" # "I Am an Entertainer" # "Ticketless (I Wandered Lonely)" # "I Gave My Love a Debenture" # "Rhondda Grey" # "Slow, Men at Work" # "Deck of Cards" # "Swansea Town" # "The Devil's Marking Me" # "

" # "Pontypool Front Row" # "Sosban Fach"

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:We All Had Doctors' Papers Max Boyce albums 1975 live albums EMI Records albums