An Interview with WWII Prisoners of War from Stoke-on-Trent | Staffordshire Memories скачать в хорошем качестве

An Interview with WWII Prisoners of War from Stoke-on-Trent | Staffordshire Memories

This is an interview of a group of gentlemen from Stoke-on-Trent in Staffordshire who served in World War 2 and were taken as prisoners of war, serving time in various German and Italian prison camps. They provide insight into their daily life through reminiscences as well as providing examples of the songs they learned or composed during that time period. The recordings were made in about 1971 in Stoke-on-Trent, the recordist was Peter Cheeseman, these recordings were made for his musical documentary 'Hands up - For You the War is Ended'. These tapes were donated to the British Museum by folklorist Roy Palmer in 2003, who himself had received them from Mr Cheeseman. This interview is currently the copyright of the British Library, and has been published here for educational purposes. I have reconstructed the tape from 38 separate segments. I have transcribed the entire thing myself as well as I can manage. Nothing is censored, there is frequent use of language some will find vulgar or offensive. If you can improve or correct my transcription please add your contributions in the comment section down below. The quality of the recording varies at points, this seems to be due to both degradation of the tape quality over time in the 30 or so years since it was recorded, as well as due to over-recording, as such aspects of the old recordings bleed through at times making the interview difficult to listen to. This is particularly egregious in the final 15 minutes where much of the audio becomes indecipherable. The names of the men being interviewed are: Bill Arnitt Jock Attrill Reg Baker Frank Bayley Bob Burt Jack Ford John Hamilton Eric Wilson Arthur Winkle *These names are taken from 'What a lovely war!' By Roy Palmer ISBN: 0-7181-3357-9 Pictures of the Stoke PoW's and larger biography: https://web.archive.org/web/202203171... Song List: 00:00:00 - Banter 00:01:53 - My Brother Sylvest 00:04:03 - Conversation about singing 00:05:26 - Salome 00:06:22 - Conversation about Salome 00:07:39 - Ring-arang-aroo 00:09:35 - Conversation about The Wanderers Warning 00:10:27 - The Wanderers Warning 00:12:03 - Conversation about prison life (Rumours, Routine, Disinfestation etc.) 00:22:53 - Sulva Bay/ Suda Bay 00:24:58 - It was in an Austrian Lager 00:26:32 - The Prisoners Lament 00:30:53 - Conversation about prison life (Hiding Radios, Escape Attempts, Pranking guards.) 00:38:30 - Sempre Lavorare 00:39:26 - Conversation about Sempre Lavorare 00:40:37 - Watch and chain song 00:41:27 - Conversation about singing (Maori's, Zulu's, McCaffery etc.) 00:46:45 - This bleeding life is no bloody good 00:47:24 - Fram-er-ree 00:47:48 - Sudden end of first tape 00:47:55 - New Tape 00:48:30 - They say there's a boat on the river 00:50:40 - Conversation 00:52:50 - The Gay Caballero 00:54:26 - Conversation about 'Silver Threads among the Gold' 00:58:31 - There's a rose that grows in no-mans land 00:59:29 - Conversation 01:01:18 - The Village Virgin 01:04:20 - Conversation (Bella Ciao, Land of hope and glory etc.) 01:10:48 - Gegen England 01:13:01 - It's a long way no longer 01:14:55 - McCaffery (Fragment) 01:15:59 - Conversation (Illness, king coronation, *Heavy distortion*) 01:27:44 - A Maiden's Prayer/Dig my grave and dig it deep 01:30:39 - Abdul Abulbul Amir 01:33:30 - When this bloody war is over Notes: My Brother Slyvest is thought to have originated at some point after 1915 due to the references to both the Jeffries-Johnson fight in 1910 (Here confused with Dempsey) and the sinking of the RMS Lusitania in 1915. Originally very popular with Canadians it's now a favourite of the Irish, due to the reference that he 'lives in a caravan'. Sulva bay/ Suda Bay was a popular song written by the Australians in World War One about the ANZAC landing, by coincidence action also took place at Suda bay in Crete in 1941 so the song was quickly adapted. It was in a Austrian Larger is a parody song to the tune of Suda bay, perhaps composed by the Stoke Prisoners themselves. The Prisoners Lament was written by Dick Pavelin, a Norfolk man the Stoke prisoners met in the camps, it gives an insight into the experience of the ordinary soldier who was a prisoner. This final verse uses the word 'Bauer' meaning farmer, this may be because the intent is to mean 'peon' as in the lowest rank of guard, or there is also suggestion that the German people developed a distrust for farmers around this time as they commonly would be the ones to inform to the SS about dissidents. Sempre Lavorare has been written in Italian but without any Italian grammar, likely by English speakers who possessed a simple English to Italian Dictionary. This bleeding life is no bloody good is an evolution of the Hymn 'Blessed Assurance', it may also be known as 'Tiddly ships', of which various similar fragments exist. Gegen England:    • "Wir fahren gegen Engelland" - Old German ...