David Franks’ WALKABOUTS: TRAVELS AND CONCLUSIONS IN VERSE

and CHANTS FROM WALKABOUTS are found at: walkaboutsverse.webs.com

Furthermore, those who wish to hear me may visit - myspace.com/walkaboutsverse

(where you will also find a blog-scroll of the same collection, plus videos, pics, etc.).

* WEEKLY WAV

* MY BIOGRAPHY

* ENGLISH TRADITIONAL REPERTOIRE

* MY SELECTION OF ENGLISH CAROLS

* MY SELECTION FROM HYMNS ANCIENT AND MODERN, THE

NEW ENGLISH HYMNAL, & THE BOOK OF COMMON PRAYER

* MESSAGES / ENGLISH DANCES AND INSTRUMENTS

* PHOTOGRAPHS OF MY MUSIC AND MY WALKABOUTS

* PERFORMANCES / GIGS / PURCHASES – CHANTS C.D. & WALKABOUTS BOOK

WEEKLY WALKABOUTSVERSE, E.G.

Poem 112 of 230:  FROM AN ECCLES FLAT - SPRING 2000

The bedroom window’s southerly views

    Contained allotters paying their dues -

All kinds of veg. brought to fruition,

    And youngsters receiving tuition;

Starlings and sparrows I’d often see -

    On a roof or a nearby tree;

And, in a distant poplar, perched high,

    The large twiggy nest of a magpie;

In spring, daisies would yellow the floor -

    Matched by Forsythias, grown next door;

Behind terraces, a moony crest -

    The Dome of the new Trafford complex;

And the moon itself, in the right spot,

    Would light the night’s clouds up quite a lot.

The kitchen window’s northerly views

    Included an agent selling news;

A butcher struggling with position -

    Much sunlight aimed at his nutrition;

And a popular English chippie -

    Mashed-peas and red-sauce on top, for me;

White gulls dotting a sombre grey sky,

    Plus light- and large-aircraft flying by;

Walkers and traffic would make a roar -

    At peak-travel hours all the more;

Handsomely-set skies, toward the west,

    As the day’s sun took its nightly rest;

And a bucket-pond and ivy plot,

    That, on a shoestring, I loved a lot.

(C) David Franks 2003; from walkaboutsverse.webs.com  HOME

BIOGRAPHY

Welcome aboard!

I'm David Franks/"WalkaboutsVerse," an English folk and Christian musician plus poet; and 

my web-nickname is an abbreviation of my life's work (originally a paperback) "Walkabouts:

Travels and Conclusions in Verse" - which, along with info on a related C.D., "Chants from

Walkabouts," you may read, for free, via my fully-linked e-scroll or my blog (linked atop);

also, at both sites, you'll find further links to other things about me (other info on repertoire,

other publications and performances, messages, etc.). 

But here is THE BLURB from WALKABOUTS, and some other abridgment - "ABOUT

THE POET AND THE POETRY: David Franks was born and, after a long time away, lives

in England. The four-part collection has travels and conclusions, in poems and songs, from

 his nomadic first-thirty-six years. The experience behind the verse includes shoestring-travel

through about forty countries, A-grade junior sport, a B.A. in humanities, four technical

certificates in manufacturing, plus several years on the shopfloor. The style is mostly direct;

and the substance informative, humorous and didactic." 

Armed with poems, unaccompanied Chants and E. trads, I began participating in folk and

 poetry clubs, festivals, and forums during 2004, before beginning to teach myself keyboards

and recorders a year later. I've since placed in folk-festival competitions, done a few mini-

gigs, recited on radio, and, as suggested above, some WalkaboutsVerse has also been

published in journals, etc. 

In broad summary, then, I travelled and studied in humanities, before writing the verses and

finding a way to sing or chant some of them; I learnt (formally and informally) desktop

publishing, P.C. recording, as well as other I.T.; and, lastly, I taught myself to read and play

music, plus, eventually, to write it by mimicking my singing with the above instruments. 

Other main interests are - as with many English folk - gardening and tennis (use atop links).  HOME

ENGLISH TRADITIONAL REPERTOIRE

(A C.D. is being made…)

(P.S:  most of these are on Mudcat’s Digital Traditional Mirror.)  HOME

MY SELECTION OF ENGLISH CAROLS

(A C.D. is being made…)

MY SELECTION FROM HYMNS ANCIENT AND MODERN, THE

NEW ENGLISH HYMNAL, & THE BOOK OF COMMON PRAYER

(A C.D. is being made…)

A MESSAGE EMAILED-OUT DURING 2005

Folk music is meant to be local/regional/national.  Our forebears were loyal to this when they

formed the English Folk Dance and Song Society, as were our earliest folk-clubs in strongly

encouraging participants to select from their own culture.

My usual and only complaint with our present English-folk scene is the lack of such loyalty. 

there are more than enough good English songs, tunes and dances (plus instruments) for

anyone’s lifetime – let’s appreciate others but perform our own!

More broadly:  nationalism with conquest is bad; but positive-nationalism with respect for

indigenous peoples, eco-travel, and fair-trade (via the U.N.) is good for humanity.

OTHERS – FROM INTERNET-FORUMS AND OTHER DISCUSSIONS (2006)                                                  

TRADITIONS

Traditions exist due to folks being impressed by how their forebears did things; and, when people

lose their own culture (due to globalisation/Americanisation, etc.), society suffers, plus our world

becomes less-and-less multicultural (as I’ve said in verse, and during a brief, 2009, Sage Gateshead/

B.B.C. talk – quickly stressing the difference between being anti-American and anti-Americanisation).

FORKS

Folk music may usefully be divided into two main categories – Traditional (unknown composer),
& Composer (known:  either deceased or contemporary, which appear as self-penned or covers).

VOICES

Singing a folk-song in a phoney foreign accent, or in classical- or pop-style, is surely “not cricket.”

Exceptions, however, are genre-overlapping traditional carols - which may be sung with either an

earthy folkie timbre or a classical “Sunday-best” timbre, as in A Christmas Carol, by C. Dickens.

And why bother affecting our voice for the genre - as well as, occasionally, for different lyrics

within the genre - instead of just putting our natural speaking-timbre into song?  In a word - culture.

EXTRA COLOURS?

There are, of course, many ways of accompanying a song but, if we are to accompany traditionally-

unaccompanied English folk-songs, we should surely keep it light; I, e.g., usually sing E. trad.s U/A

but, occasionally, key just the top-line melody; with the understanding that English folk-music, for

centuries, has entertained people via, mostly, the repetition of tunes, in both song and dance:  more-

sophisticated polyphony and chords being found, rather, in church and court - eventually, that is.

STRINGS

I’ve been well into folk music since the spring of  2004 and, although having enjoyed the guitar being

played in an English style, it would be nice to hear more of the English cittern on our folk-music scene. 

Accordingly, I like the idea of the lute having evolved into different guitar-like instruments in different

lands - e.g., Portuguese guitar, English cittern, Russian balalaika, Italian mandolin, Greek bouzouki,

Hawaiian ukulele, American lap-steel, African/American banjo, plus, of course, as the Spanish guitar.

PLAYING THE FIDDLE?

There are many different fiddles from many different lands – for example, the Chinese erhu fiddle,

the Norwegian hardanger fiddle and, the one most in the West now play, the Italian fiddle/violin.

SQUEEZE-BOXES

I know for a fact that schools in England have been gifted (French) piano-accordions and (German)

button-accordions/melodeons – but why not English-concertinas, with their beautiful homely timbre?!

CLOGS

English clog-dancing, which a handful of us watch at folk festivals, is just as good, in its own way,

as the Irish-dance spectaculars, which thousands of English have paid to see live &/or watched

on prime-time television.

“WORLD MUSIC”

World-music stalls and stages should be places where folkies of different nationality present

different unfused music to each other.

CLUBBING

Apart from some local government, all any citizen of our modern world needs is their own nation

and the United Nations.

ENGLISH CEILIDHS?

My, English, late-godmother told me that, at school, whilst one or two Scottish dances were learnt,

at least 90% of their dancing was English Country Dance; a “ceilidh” is s Scottish folk-gathering/a

“ceili” an Irish one.

ALL THAT JAZZ

If folkies must test their technique by improvising on/“doing something with” a traditional tune, then,

in my opinion, they should begin their performance with a run-through of just the top-line melody –

otherwise, there would be no oral-tradition of tunes!  Alternatively, they could try adding the early,

classical, or sacred music of their nation (in England, e.g., Purcell was, himself, influenced by folk).

UNI’S

I think it’s good that students at Newcastle upon Tyne can do a Degree in Folk and Traditional Music,

but I wish it was a Degree in English Traditional and Contemporary Folk Music – to match Glasgow’s

Degree in Scottish Traditional Music, and Limerick’s Degree in Irish Traditional Music and Dance.

AWARDS?

On the B.B.C., I’ve heard, and appreciated, two lots of Scottish but no English or Welsh folk awards.

SPORTS (there’s more on football and tennis on this alternative site:  davidfranks.blogspot.com)

A similar mess over nationality occurs in the sporting world where an English boy, for example, can

hope to play (perhaps managed by a citizen of a nation he may compete against) football for England,

rugby-league for England/Great Britain, rugby-union for England/British Isles, athletics for England/U.K.,

golf for England/Europe, cricket for a combined England and Wales, or tennis for Great Britain -

but Wimbledon is still The All England Lawn Tennis Championships…Anyone for friendly-rival republics?!

JOBS

Traditions are handed-down, but they are best cared for by meritocracy – not nepotism.

ENDS

Within the broader music industry, and beyond, what some get for their hour’s work, compared with

others, is ridiculous and inhumane; hence, many relatively competent musicians within the folk-scene are

really struggling to make ends meet; so, if we like fair competition, we don’t like capitalism.  A better way,

as I’ve suggested in verse, is to accept that humans are competitive, and have strong regulations (partly via

nationalisation) to make that competition as fair as possible – whilst also providing “safety-net” support.

WONTS

Whatever the country, conquest and economic-immigration are both bad for indigenous culture; and, as
already suggested, I love our world being multicultural.

POSTED ON AN ANTI-FREE-VERSE FORUM-THREAD (2007)

After posting “Audience Lost” (poem 148, WalkaboutsVerse):  for centuries, our poetic-forebears said

things within the framework of metre &/or rhyme – thereby bringing much joy to their readers; and –

although it’s not the only reason – the downfall in poetry’s popularity has coincided with a collapsing of

this traditional framework by easily-translated but relatively-dull free-verse; finally, accordingly and sadly,

in contemporary performance-poetry, the amount of metre and rhyme seems to be inversely-proportional

to the amount of swear-words and shock-tactics.

SUMMARY OF NATIVE-GARDENING TALK – 2009 THEORY-SLAM

Green/eco-friendly gardening is native gardening, and vegetables, plus other consumables, should be the only

exotic-flora we plant - as doing so can help limit food-miles, etc.  By filling our other garden spaces with natives,

we use less water and other resources, whilst aiding the native-fauna that, over the centuries, evolved with them.

(Even high-nectar exotics, such as Buddleia, that are very attractive to SOME native-fauna, should be avoided,

because they upset nature's/God's balance – God created evolution, too, that is.)

Our green gardens, with their vegies and natives, can be made still greener by the addition of compost heaps/bins;

a wildlife pond – for native frogs, newts, and so on, rather than exotic goldfish; bee- and bird-boxes, plus carefully-

selected regularly-cleaned feeders; rain- and grey-water butts; by growing everything organically - including thrifty

home-propagation plus species-swapping; and by leaving some lush untidy patches, decaying branches, etc.

P.S:  whilst our selection of indoor plants is, logically, not as critical to the ecology of our greater environment,

I still choose natives, such as English ivy/Hedera helix.

POSTED ON A FOLK-FORUM – THE RE-IMAGINED VILLAGE (2009)                               

A proper English village (that would have Dickens purring in his grave!), with a proper English pub - overlooking a

gently-flowing river, licked by weeping willows, and glided upon by mute swans…a pot of Hedera helix on the

windowsill, a glass of cider and a plate of chips on the table, and the homely timbre of an English flute in my ear...

POSTED HERE – NEW-YEAR’S CELEBRATIONS/RESOLUTIONS (2010)

Flicking through our channels on New Year’s Eve, I noticed (& enjoyed) plenty of traditional Scottish culture

but hardly any traditional English culture..?  HOME

SOME ENGLISH DANCES

English Country Dance, Clog Dance (Lancashire/Cheshire, Durham/Northumberland), Step Dance, Morris Dance

(Cotsworld, Molly, Border, N.W. Clog Morris), Bacup Coconut Dancing (Lancashire), Yorkshire Longsword,

N.E. Rapper, Maypole Dancing, Helston Furry Dance (Cornwall), Great Wishford Grovely-Day Dance (Wiltshire),

Whalton Baal-Fire (Circle) Dancing (Northumberland), Abbots Bromley Horn-Dancing (Staffordshire), &, among others,

‘Obby ‘Osses (Cornwall and Somerset)

INSTRUMENTS OF (OR CLOSELY ASSOCIATED WITH) ENGLAND

Northumbrian Bagpipes (bellows blown), Leicestershire Bagpipes (mouth blown); English Concertina,

Anglo Concertina, Duet Concertina (and important developments to – if not inventions of – other key-

boards, such as piano and organ, have also occurred in England); Dital Harp/Harp-Lute, English Cittern;

English Flageolet, Penny Whistle, Recorder/English Flute, Pipe and Tabor (old Morris accompaniment),

the Stylophone (a recent one), Brass, Bells (to some, England’s national instrument), as well as Spoons.

(Footnote:  having seen the Chinese and the Greeks, pleasingly, present theirs, I wonder how-many of

the above instruments - and dances - will be shown at the London Olympics..?)  HOME

PHOTOS (MORE ON MYSPACE - LINKED ABOVE)

Hi-ho! – near start (1970)...& end of WALKABOUTS (2002)…”G” on the tenor-recorder…& in my recording-den (2007)  HOME

PERFORMANCES

Although tempted to turn pro., everything I've done so far has been as an amateur, including

mini-gigs (since 2006) at venues in N.E. England, such as:  The Sage Gateshead; Morpeth's

Chantry Bagpipe Museum; Lanchester Community Centre; Newcastle's Lit. and Phil., Dance

City, Urban Cafe, and Leazes Park during the Green Festival (June 2010).  Furthermore, I've

participatied in the weekend singarounds and competitions (below) of folk festivals in Durham

and Northumberland, as well as in the folk- and poetry-club scene, mainly, around Newcastle.

Plus some WalkaboutsVerse has also been published in The North East Poetry Journal,

The Northern Lines poetry journal, Newcastle’s Evening Chronicle newspaper, Gateshead

Library’s talking newspaper, Kent Folk News, etc., and has been recited on radio broadcasts. 

FESTIVAL/GATHERING PLACINGS FROM 2004 TO 2008

Morpeth:     1^st place in Open Traditional Ballad, 3^rd place in Open Accompanied Solo Song

Durham:      1^st place in Open Unac. Song, thrice 3^rd in Misc. Inst., once 3^rd for Tune Writing

Rothbury:    3^rd place in Open Original Composition Song

Alnwick:      2^nd place in Unaccompanied Singing, 2^nd & 3^rd place in Miscellaneous Instruments

GIGS / PURCHASES

For a gig of WalkaboutsVerse, & E. trads with some tenor-recorder introductions

plus, perhaps, keyboard accompaniment, please e-mail david1franks@yahoo.com

or write to D. Franks, P.O. Box 999, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE99 4UL, England.

I go through my whole repertoire once a fortnight, so can, thus, take requests from it.

For a homemade C.D. &/or A4 paperback book, again use either address, above.

(P.S:  in case you are wondering, I didn’t ask Royal Mail for England’s emergency

number – P.O. Box 999 – but can assure that it is genuine & checked quite often.)

(For all my gigs, other links, etc., see my alternative site:  davidfranks.blogspot.com)  (C) David Franks 2003  HOME