Martin Carthy is 84 today, the day that Transform Me Then Into A Fish is released. I first heard him live in 1968 or 69 and many times since and a great deal of water has flowed under the bridge since then. To celebrate his birthday, he has taken as his starting point his eponymous 1965 debut album. This is no simple copy, though – some tracks have been omitted and some added and all are new recordings.
As I said, a lot of water has flowed under the bridge and, while Martin’s guitar playing is as strong and dynamic as ever, there is no getting away from the fact that his is now the voice of a more elderly gentleman. I had this fantasy of going back in time a century or so ago and hearing him singing these songs to Cecil Sharp or RVW. Not unreasonable, for some of them are at the core of English folk music.
Martin opens with ‘The Trees They Do Grow High’ which stretches his upper range a bit but as the song progresses more of the old Carthy appears. Eliza Carthy is one of two fiddlers who replace (the originally uncredited) Dave Swarbrick, firstly on ‘Ye Mariners All’ which gives the album its title. The line “when I am old and can scarcely crawl” seems particularly poignant. ‘Lovely Joan’ is a Carthy classic and he manages to imbue the song with an extra touch of lechery.
Sheema Mukherjee is the second guest fiddle play, joining Martin on ‘Dream Of Napoleon’ and ‘Eighteenth Of June’. The former concerns Bonaparte’s eventual downfall and the young Carthy learned it from Sam Larner in person. The latter recounts Bonaparte’s defeat at Waterloo with Mukherjee providing an imaginative arrangement for the song. The two solemn pieces fit well together.
Eliza is back for ‘The Handsome Cabin Boy’ restoring a little levity to the proceedings and ‘A-Begging I Will Go’ sort of follows suit but this is the rewrite that Martin and Swarb did for Life And Limb bringing the song right up to date. ‘High Germany’ is the opposite of the “female drummer” school of songs – he goes, she stays behind – but you knew that.
‘Famous Flower Of Serving Man’ would appear to be a bridge too far so Martin simply recites the words and it does make a nice contrast. More importantly, it’s very easy to become lost in the music and I don’t believe that I’ve properly followed the text before. Mukherjee returns for ‘Scarborough Fair’, a song that could not be left out and another intriguing arrangement for Eliza takes over for Ewan MacColl and Peggy Seeger’s ‘Ballad Of Springhill’. Martin seems to be choking with emotion as he tells the tragic story.
Transform Me Then Into A Fish will undoubtedly be Martin Carthy’s last new recording and I’ll leave you to judge whether it is a suitable valediction.
Dai Jeffries
Martin no longer maintains a website but try https://www.facebook.com/ComeSingItPlain
‘High Germany’ – live:
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