Below is "Dave Alexander's Tape Collection" by Sam Hilt which was originally issued in the Australian Folklore Society Journal. Number 40 (June 1998) pages 901-902. If you wish to verify the text below, please download the PDF of the scanned pages.
This is article is ©1998 by Sam Hilt and is used by permission.
Australian Folklore Society Journal No.40 June 1998 901
Dave Alexander's Tape Collection
by Sam Hilt
I have been 'collecting' songs now, pretty much full time, for 4 years now, and it is a rich and fulfilling task, though not appreciated or recognised by the Society as a whole. Talking with other collectors over the last 6 months, in particular Brad Tate, I came to realise that the, current, Folk music revival has been going on for over 30 years now, and, for whatever reason probably organisational as well as financial - always financial, that the wide range of music, singers, and their songs, have not been recorded during this period, and that the amount of material that has been lost is phenomenal. While going through some of Alan Lomax' song books printed in the 40's I came across several songs I started singing, one of which was Marianne, which I had never heard sung until about a month ago when I saw the Canadian Movie called Margarets? Museum -- anyhow, I phoned up Len Neary, excitred about my 'find'. Len said, "Yes, I've heard that song -- I forget who sang it-it was in 1975 at the Castle -October I think, -a good song." Len has a phenomenal memory for songs that way, and though I was disappointed that it had been heard before, I was also glad that it hadn't been 'lost', and even if it had been 30 years, there was someone, somewhere, who sang it.
On the night of 1/2 August last year our fiend and singer Dave Alexander died. With Margaret Walters, Len Neary, and Rick Wright, I helped clear Daves flat for return to the Housing Commission, and personal items for returned to his family. Amongst many of his possessions, his family returned, via Margaret, to the Folk Community, approximately 100 tapes that Dave had recorded over the last 28 years. The next job that needed to be done, both for the production of a CD of Dave singing, and for the singers and songs on the tapes to be accessible to future listeners, whether at the National Library in Canberra, or archives held by the NSW Folk Federation, was for the tapes to be listened to and indexed -all 150 hours of them! Simon Campell, Tom Crosbie, and I volunteered for the job.
Tom and I live 20km outside the village of Wollar, near Mudgee in the Central West of NSW; to facilitate the indexing, Simon brought the tapes here. After an exhausting week, the job is finished and Simon has returned to Sydney with the indexed tapes. Time constraints demanded that we index the tapes as fast as possible, and get them returned to Margaret we didn't have the chance to record for ourselves the pick of the collection -- although Tom and I asked Simon if he could do some taping for us before he returned the tapes to Margaret, so we could listen to Dave and our other favourites at leisure I hope he has the opportunity!
What struck me, while listening to the tapes they were divided up amongst us, so none of us got to hear all the tapes, was Dave's foresight and dedication to the music and performers over this 28 year period: Dave didn't just record the 'stars' of Folk Music, he recorded almost everyone at Folk Clubs, Folk Festival Concerts, and campfire sessions. Yes, some of the 'performances' were painful to listen to, but many of the songs I had never heard before, and are rarely, if ever, sung. If the quality of the performance wasn't always a '10', Dave's recordings were surprisingly high. We all know that Dave was a very 'personal' singer, he would talk to people, individuals, in the audience or sessions -his songs were an extension of his personality, his humour, and his interest in history. The high point of the week, for me, was listening to a recording made at the Edinburgh Castle Folk Club in maybe Nov, Dec '76, it was a very hot day here, and I was mechanically recording the songs, the singers, and a point score for the song and sound quality, and probably dozing off, when on tape Len Neary called Dave to the stage for a few Songs. I
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Australian Folklore Society Journal No.40 June 1998
forget now what song Dave was going to sing-he was telling us a bit about the song, when Dave yelled out "Sam, Wake up! You'll like this song!." -- Let me tell you! I jumped out of the chair and started looking for the Fat Bast-Person -he scared the Whatzit out of me! Typical Dave.' -- Always keeping you on your mental toes! -And worse, both he and the audience laughed!
Two of the singers that he recorded, that I know of, Declan Affley and Colin Dryden, are no longer with us, and they sang many songs that aren't usually heard or associated with them. Many of the other singers, some superb, for one reason or another, are no longer singing at Folk Clubs, sessions, or Festivals.
Though Dave recorded the songs, I suppose, mainly for his own use, he did a surprisingly good job of recording - singers, dates and venues -from my Collectors point of view, the only thing lacking was photographs and biographical information on the singers, which is a Base Essential when recording singers, to confirm the authenticity of the material recorded. We all know that there are too many people willing to falsify material, politicians as well as 'Collectors', for their own profit!
Listening to Daves collection made me realize that there must be lots of other tapes 'Out There' that people have recorded over the years. I think it would be great if you people would go through your tapes, index them to singer song, Footage, venue, and date, and that copies either personally funded, or funded by the Federation, your tapes could be placed in the Archives. Perhaps too, Dance callers the dances, with instructions, that they used at dances, the dates, and venues -Lionel O'Keefe of Stanthorpe/Liston has collected lists of Dances and tunes that were danced/played in the late 50's, early 60's!if we are to preserve our heritage, we must all take part in the preservation! Keep singing songs, and learning new ones no one else will!
I just remembered the song that Dave sang just after he woke
me up back in '76, it was "Silver in the Stubble" as usual, Dave
was ahead of his time when he sang that song to 'me' back in
'76' it wasn't appropriate-it is now! Dave, thanks for this gift
you've given us,I'll just finish these last couple of lines then
I'll have a beer and a song with
you before getting back to song transcription for the War
Memorial!
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This is article is ©1998 by Sam Hilt and is used by permission.