United Kingdom
Written by Debbie Cook
Produced by David Foister
Highest Position: 3
Label: Dingle's
Formats available: 7" in plain sleeve
Folk music has rarely had much chart success, and has often been represented by novelty songs. This effort, by a perfectly authentic traditional folk band from Canterbury, is no exception. It's a breezy little song about a boozy coach trip to the Welsh coast, which has 'one-hit wonder; indelibly stamped on its forehead. I found it rather cheesy at the time, but on watching a Youtube clip I can confirm that it's aged pretty well and sounds perfectly charming. I mean, it's not a great record (and Debbie Cook's vocals can be a little too strong, which is often a problem in English folk) but it's perfectly listenable.
One bit of interesting trivia: the song was allegedly inspired by a trip to Rhyl, but Bangor was used as it scanned better. Councillors from Rhyl (clearly having nothing better to do) were up in arms about this apparent bait-and-switch, although the band have denied that it's about anywhere other than Bangor. Whatever, it is, to my knowledge, the only big hit song ever written about a seaside resort in Wales. I really feel that Barry Island has been unjustly ignored here.
The band did eventually evolve into The Oyster Band, who became a big draw on the British folk circuit during the 80s.
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