News
November
25, 2023
I don't want to hear any complaints about my overburdening people with updates, etc.. (That's my excuse for the extreme intermittence of these pieces of reportage!)
Anyway ... Lyn
and I have just returned from a week of warm weather,
sunshine, and blue blue skies; during a visit to my cousin
(Jill), at her newly purchased residence in Olvera (Cadiz
province, Southern Spain). This could be regarded as a
rehearsal for our upcoming, nine-week sojourn in
Australia; visiting relatives and friends 'Down-Under'. We
shall also be taking advantage of opportunities to drop in
to a few folk-music festivals and clubs; to sing with old
friends and, hopefully, make some new ones. Although these
aren't 'gigs', you might find us at Illawarra and Burke
& Wills festivals, to join a few rousing choruses.
A real 'tour' is
on the itinerary, though, in May and June; when we'll be
in Ontario and Nova Scotia. The itinerary for that can be
seen on my 'Tour Schedule' page. Additionally; we're
hoping to be able to attend the Connecticut Sea Music
Festival, in Essex, CT. (Who knows when we might, ever
again, get an opportunity to enjoy the company of so many
old friends and great singers!)
This impetus to
put pen to paper - in an electronic sense - is the rapidly
depleting number of available copies of my songbook ...
the actual, physical, 'printed paper', twentieth century
sort of thing. At last count, we have fewer than twenty
remaining; and we have no plans to manufacture any further
'hard copy' editions. To that end, we can announce that we
are now making available a 'downloadable' (PFD) version of
Worth The Singin'. It is the most up-to-date edition; with
all the music, lyrics, images, and annotations of the
physical version. With no shipping charge necessary, the
cost will be €12 (twelve Euros). Drop me a line via
e-mail, if you're interested.
Meanwhile ...
stay well and take care of each other. And keep singing
... it's good for you!
April 22 2023
Greetings from a machine intelligence!
Last Saturday we celebrated Tom's
80th birthday with a fabulous party at
our wonderful local pub, Clancy's Bar. A wide assortment of
our many new Irish friends, plus Tom's lovely daughter and
husband, joined us for an evening of song, music and laughter.
His fabulous birthday cake was created and baked by Jude, who
also used her artistic talents for the poster on the pub door.
It's been remarkably touching to receive so many good wishes from people all around the globe, as Tom reaches this milestone.
We received poems and videos,
musical parodies and this rather wonderful piece, sent by our
very dear Polish friends, Magdalena, Luke and
Lucy...........but composed by a Chatbot. My first ever fan
letter from a robot - though I have hopes that this is simply
the start of a trend.
November 2022
Having made the decision to let my songbook Worth the
Singin' go out of print, I have been made aware that
there is still an appetite for the physical book - which is
extremely heartening! Doubtless, this has a lot to with the
age demographic of those for whom this music has an almost
indefinable appeal. Thusly we have ordered a further
(completely up-to-date) small print run, which will be
available within a week or so - certainly in time for the
festive season! Perhaps some of the newer generations will be
attracted to a more technologically up-to-date rendition; so a
digital version is also in preparation.
Likewise, I have decided, as we are now resident in Ireland,
to adjust all of my pricing; for recordings as well as for
songbooks, into euros. Thus I have actually reduced the price
for physical products, and invite you to email me for shipping costs, which
will obviously be dependant upon your location. CDs are now €10
(€12 for Demand
Performance) and Worth the
Singin' is €25.
August 2022
I am both pleased, and somewhat regretful,
that the final copies of my songbook have been sold. We are
currently assembling a digital version, which will include
all of my songs (to date) and be available as a download. I
realise that this is not as satisfying as holding the
physical book, but I have produced one thousand copies and -
at my advanced age - do not feel that a further print run is
viable. I would like to thank those good folks who have
purchased 'Worth the Singin'' and apologise to those who
have expressed an interest with which I am unable to comply.
Once we have the digital version finalized, I will email my
mailing list, and update details on my songbook page.
Thanks, as ever, are due to Ed Wilson for his continued
assistance.
June 2022
The Devil & the Deep
Blue Sea
Written and Directed by Stephen Banham
This wonderfully atmospheric little movie, features my old friends Johnny Collins (RIP) and Jim Mageean, on the opening of the sound track, and my own 'Marching Inland' as the video draws to a close. A salutory tale indeed!
January 2022
Here I am again – remember me – Tom Lewis? Of a surety: no one can accuse me of inundating you with bothersome amounts of internet communications. I could make the claim that such reticence is an example of my wish to avoid being a pest: but – in reality – I have to admit that my lack of interaction is proof only of my innate indolence.
I am such an unreliable communicator, that I cannot be confident of when we were last in contact, at what stage of the never-ending saga we last parted company; nor yet your degree of interest … if any! I note, from my last posting to Watery Peregrinations, that – ‘way back in September - Lyn and I had lately returned to Ireland and brought Vent-du-Nord to her new home in Tara Marina. Since then, over a two-month period: we have made some fairly major refurbishments to VDN’s interior (with the invaluable assistance of Paul Croley, of www.boatfiteurope.com): making our latest home a more reasonably comfortable habitat. With the onset of winter, we shall see exactly how comfortable. We do miss the heartening radiance of Moonstone’s solid-fuel stove, but the large, fully-equipped, modern kitchen: complete with dish-washer; is a definite ‘plus’. The next stage will involve some dry-land renovations to the exterior paintwork, and a few minor, underwater, items: such as renewal of the sacrificial anodes. Our target for completion of all of this work is (nebulously) Spring/early Summer. We make no predictions as to what might be the state of the world, by the Summer of 2022: but we are hoping it will be such that we can continue our ‘peregrinations’.
As for getting back ‘on the road’ – in the folk music sense – a short (very short) burst of activity on the U.K. folk club scene, will transpire around the end of March/early April and a jaunt to Vlissingen - in the Netherlands - for a concert with the Scheldt River Pilot's Choir, is on the calendar for August. Understandably: any glimpse of a more detailed future is clouded by the vagaries of Covid. However: I shall do my best to keep my Touring Schedule page updated.
Meanwhile: keep well and stay cheerful ...
and sing whenever you can!
April 2021
As stated on my Welcome page, to celebrate my latest birthday I’m pleased to announce a new ‘shanty’, specifically designed to encourage and proliferate communal singing … so do, please, sing along! This is A SHANTY FOR SINGING. Downloads of this song may be purchased from Bandcamp for $3.00 US. All monies raised by purchases of this song will be donated to the charity: GAVI, the Vaccine Alliance; which helps vaccinate almost half the world’s children against serious diseases. If you purchase this (or any other recordings) from Bandcamp on the first Friday of the month, Bandcamp waives all artist fees.
You can watch a you-tube
video of me singing it, accompanied by the amazing
Seadogs, HERE.
September 2020
All of us are displaying - to a greater or lesser
degree - symptoms of Covid-19; though very few, in
real terms have caught the actual disease. Nearly all
of us are, in some wise, bereft of the physical
company of our friends. Many are limited in the
freedom to move around. Of course; attending any
sort of actual ‘live gig’ is just an impossibility.
The simple offer of an outstretched hand to a person
with whom one wishes to make a connection is, in these
days, regarded as somewhere on the spectrum between a
death-defying act and a grave social faux-pas.
For myself; the coronavirus symptom most hard to bear,
is the prohibition from performing for an audience.
Many other entertainers, in a myriad of disciplines,
are doing sterling work in various internet formats …
for which I salute their dedication and ingenuity. I;
however; feel quite crippled in this regard. One
technical excuse is that I have no recourse to a
land-line, nor any sort of high-speed internet
connection. Inevitably, this engenders multiple
buffering hiatuses/freezes/skips/drop-outs and the
like; on my attempts to ‘play for the camera’. Of much
heavier impact - on a personal and professional level
- is my seeming inability to ‘turn on’ in the absence
of an audience. Sad but true: without the two-way flow
… the inimitable audience feedback … I have difficulty
locating both the essential spark and the sparkle!
(That's not to say that I won't be doing anything at
all. Good friends, with the technical expertise I
lack, have offered assistance. There could be a couple
of video-experiments in my future!!!)
Not that I am suffering a complete lack of performing
opportunities. Having become, over the decades,
happily familiar - though not, I assure you, blasé -
with a position in the spotlight, I am finding that
role usurped by our boat: Moonstone. The fairly recent
gorgeous paint-job (thank you BBC Films and Elan
Eshkeri) is evidently greatly appreciated by
multifarious Irish observers. At practically every
lock and dock, we field glowing comments along the
lines of: “That’s a luvly berge, y’ve got there!” (For
the Irish, evidently, a ‘boat’ is made of white
fiber-glass; whilst anything visually unalike and
constructed of steel, is a barge … ‘berge’!) Often
these encounters lead to conversations, not rarely
encompassing some singing and story-telling. The
youngsters amongst the admiring throngs (small
throngs!), are particularly impressionable.
Performances such as these hardly compensate for the
lack of an evening in a folk club, but they do serve
to ‘keep the aspidistra flying’. (George Orwell. ©
1936).
When I will next be entertaining in a folk setting, I
do not know … I’ve recently had the last confirmation
of the cancellation/postponement of the whole of my
Autumn tour. Hard-working and under-appreciated folk
club organizers are being gracious and cooperative; so
nearly every date is ‘postponed until one year hence’.
I thank all of them, most sincerely.
Hope springs eternal; so Lyn and I have our fingers
firmly crossed for Ontario, next May. We can only
maintain an optimism that; in one form or another;
festivals and clubs will resurrect themselves, in
2021.
Of recent time, signing off with a wish for the
recipient’s health and safety, has fallen into
disfavour; so I shall close with … Wassail! (Wha’s
hale?) Tom.
April 2020
Update re. "DEMAND PERFORMANCE", Tom's new
double CD.
We now have a stock of physical CDs in both the
UK and the USA. Downloads are available from Bandcamp
March 2020
February 2020
CYRIL SAID IT
ALL BEFORE (a new workshop)
Anyway; as with nearly all writings … and particularly with folk songs … things become dated, and terminology subject to becoming arcane. Even more so in matters of technology and closed social societies. Like submarines and submariners!!! Much of the wording, in Cyril’s wonderful songs, suffers from the ravages of time. Likewise; renditions of those songs are easily prey to mis-hearing and mis-interpretation.
As a youngster, not long after WW11, there were very few civilians who did not have a service-person as a relative or neighbour. Their ‘lingo’ and life-style (as we would now put it) was fairly familiar to the majority of the population. Prior to the 1960’s, almost anyone would have no problem understanding that a ‘matelot’ was a sailor. Service personnel in uniform were an unremarkable commonplace on our streets; and their jargon loosely understood. As a young lad I, myself, needed no explanation for ‘No names, no pack-drill’; nor for ‘Batten down the hatches’. Yet ours was not a service family. With the passing of time, much of the terminology of Cyril’s songs is sorely in need of clarification and explanation. Thusly; I have devised a workshop, or show; featuring some of Cyril’s - now - anachronistic language.
It is entitled: CYRIL SAID IT ALL BEFORE. Sub-titled: (but what did he mean?) I'm offering it to festival organizers and other presenters. It is musical, interactive, audience responsive, informative and - I hope - entertaining. If you see it advertised (not that likely, I’ll admit) come and be part of it.
It is always a pleasure – though a pleasure all too rare - to perform with my Polish friends: QFTRY; so four days in Brittany, at Paimpol's Festival du Chant du Marin, was pleasurable indeed. On the Saturday evening /night we were allotted the midnight slot … and it swiftly became obvious to us that somewhere in the audience on the quayside, was a person (perhaps even two or three?) who was not intoxicated.
Of course, we would like to think that the crowd was intoxicated by the music; but that’s just wishful thinking. However; as you can see; the folks on the stage were, likewise, having a great time!
Photo: François
Bensignor (Used with permission)
May 2019
THE WORTH THE SINGIN’ SONGBOOK.......
May 2018
I
normally update this page on a very
unreliable and indecently intermittent
schedule, and at unconscionable long
intervals. But now I must have too much
time on my hands; or perhaps I'm a little
overwhelmed, because I've just been sent a
review of my gig at Tigerfolk,
at The Stumble Inn, Long Eaton,
Derbyshire. All the best 'folk-music
Degree Courses' include seminars on how to
choose the best Promotions/Public
Relations company, to blow your trumpet
for you. Even were I able to afford such,
I am philosophically opposed to such
'show-biz' shenanigans (dictionary
definition: ‘secret or dishonest activity
or manoeuvring’); so here goes me:
blowing my own trumpet,
with some snippets from this review. The
article can be read in full on my reviews page.
..... it is indeed a delight to have
experienced, and now to write about, a
tour of matters maritime with
submariner-singer Tom
Lewis....................
This was a
distinctive and very enjoyable evening,
and I’ll finish by just adding that
Tom’s performance included a good
infusion of singable choruses alongside
the body of more reflective material.
All told, damned good stuff.
Paul
Mansfield
Thank
you, Paul. As an old-time sailor might
expostulate: "Well; blow me down!"
All
for now, Tom.
February
2018
If
‘no news is good news’, then ‘good news’ MUST be
‘no news’ … so that’s good news!
I’m dreadful at this modern ‘media’ stuff …
that’s why I’m not on Tweetter, Wha’s’at?,
Blinder, Snappychat, Intelegram, and other like
platforms. I do have a b-log going (that’s the
one after ‘a-log’, I suppose) but I’m hardly the
world’s most assiduous ‘blogger’. I sometimes
leave so long between one post and the next,
that I need a refresher-course before I can
bring pen to paper … so to speak! If you’re
interested – or terminally bored – you can click
onto: WATERY
PEREGRINATIONS and find out
where Lyn and I have been on our 3-year
exploration of the English and Welsh waterways.
We’re now ashore (‘on the bank’ as the old-time
canal people would say), in the People’s
republic of West Yorkshire; with Moonstone
moored behind the house, on the Leeds and
Liverpool canal.
Touring is carrying on apace; with a show
especially for folk clubs, entitled:
‘SEVENTY-FIVE YEARS IN SEVENTY-FIVE MINUTES
(that’s just about two sets!)’
It has to be seen to be appreciated … or
believed.
This year has shaped up to be one with plenty of
foreign travel. I’ll be gigging in Poland,
Belgium, Germany, Ireland and Spain; and mayhap
a couple more of them ‘abroad’ places! That’s in
addition to quite a few bookings at folk clubs
and festivals, in the U.K. That’s not a
complaint … more bookings are always welcome.
‘Use it, or lose it!’
So that’s it for now … no news is good news.
Tom.
September
2016
I t
has been a year (and a bit) since last I updated
this page. Where does the time go? However; there
is stuff which can definitely be
classified as 'NEWS'!
COMPOSER ILAN ESHKERI BORROWS FOLK MUSICIAN'S MELODY AS THEME IN EXCITING FILM SCORE FOR SWALLOWS AND AMAZONS
When award winning
composer Ilan Eshkeri created the music for
the latest film adaptation for Arthur Ransom’s
SWALLOWS AND AMAZONS, he incorporated the
melody SAILOR’S PRAYER as one of the signature
themes (All
Aboard - click here). Although
originally convinced that this beautiful
melody was traditional, he was very upset to
discover subsequently that it is the
in-copyright work of the established musician
and songwriter TOM LEWIS. Although Tom is
hugely complimented that his music has been
melded into a beautifully evocative
orchestration, the revelation came 2 months
after the film’s release and therefore too
late for Tom’s work to receive an on-screen
credit or official acknowledgement. Hopefully
this notice will go some way to putting the
record straight.
Ilan Eshkeri wishes to express his apology to
Tom for what has happened and is very grateful
to Tom for his gracious handling of the
situation.
Whilst hoping for great audience response to
the film, and for blockbuster sales of the
DVD, Tom says that Tinseltown fame will not
impede him from his normal gigging, far and
wide. Tom, and his wife Lyn, have now decided
that their return from a 30 year sojourn in
the Rocky Mountains of British Columbia will
be permanent, and he’s looking forward to
bringing his songs and stories back to the
British folk club and festival scene.
(This was first drawn to my
attention by Hilary Waitt; for which I am
eternally grateful. Thanks Hilary.)
As a nice little ego-boost (for
me), part of the promotion for the movie
involved a conversation between Ilan Eshkeri
and the film's director: Philippa Lowthorpe;
whilst the London
Symphony Orchestra were actually
recording the sound-track ... in Abbey
Road Studios!!!
Personally ... I'm thrilled to hear my music -
so beautifully rendered - in such a context.
Cheers folks. Tom.