Peter Bellamy - Recording Kipling's Ballads

Recording Kipling's Ballads

Bellamy started his exploration of Kipling as a source for songs, not with the Barrack Room Ballads but with the songs from Kipling's Children's books, (Puck of Pook's Hill and Rewards and Fairies) from which he produced two albums, Oak Ash and Thorn and Merlyn's Isle of Gramarye.

Kipling's Barrack Room Ballads were published in 1892, and Bellamy started setting them to music in 1973. He was struck by people's misconceptions about Kipling, who many perceived as (in Bellamy's words) "one of the reactionary old guard, and therefore obviously a writer of no merit whatsoever". In reality, Kipling had captured a real insight into the attitudes of the ordinary soldiers, such as their contempt for those who sent them off to fight and die:

"It's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' 'Chuck him out, the brute!'

But it's 'Saviour of 'is country' when the guns begin to shoot.

An' it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' anything you please;

An' Tommy ain't a bloomin' fool - you bet that Tommy sees!" (Tommy)

When composing the musical settings for Kipling's poetry, Bellamy had a theory, shared with many others, that highly metrical poets like Kipling used song tunes to keep their poems flowing properly. Some of Kipling's contemporaries confirm that he was in the habit of humming and whistling as he composed. It has, for example, been claimed that in The Loot, there is a "hidden" tune being worked to, and that nothing else can explain the strange refrains. Bellamy became excited when the line in Dutch in the Medway "our ships in every harbour...." reminded him of the line in the song Cupid's Garden "Twas down in Portsmouth Harbour...". This observation suggested the tune for the Kipling poem and made him wonder whether Kipling had actually composed to that tune, it being a common folk song in the 19th century and certainly part of the repertoire of the remarkable Copper family of Sussex who had lived in Rottingdean when Kipling was also living there. It has also been suggested that Kipling's "My name is O'Kelly, I've heard the reveille.." was written to the common Irish song and Army marching tune Lillibullero. Bellamy found a different tune but agreed that Lillibullero was more likely to have been on Kiplings mind at the time of composition.

Initially, Bellamy's proposal to record the Ballads was vetoed by Kipling's daughter, and he had to wait until her death in 1976 before permission was finally granted by the Kipling Society.

The Barrack Room Ballads album was recorded by Bill Leader, with Chris Birch on fiddle and Tony Hall on melodeon. The Kipling Society went on to appreciate Bellamy's contribution to Kipling's legacy and he was elected a Fellow of the Kipling Society, becoming a vice-president in 1981.