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Donald's Encyclopedia of Popular MusicA B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y ZBOGLE, Eric(b '44, Peebles, Scotland) Folk singer/songwriter. Emigrated to Australia '69 ('the only sensible thing I've ever done'); wrote best-known song 'The Band Played Waltzing Matilda' '72 after watching military parade. June Tabor heard it at UK folk festival, incl. it in '76 LP Airs And Graces; also recorded by the Clancy Brothers, the Furies and others; might have been used in Peter Weir film Gallipoli '81 but for contractual difficulties. Bogle made first UK appearances in '82 (with partner, multi- instrumentalist John Munro); fascination with WWI continued with 'No Man's Land', incl. in Tabor's Ashes And Diamonds '77. Own LPs Now I'm Easy '80, Plain And Simple '81 incl. 'Leaving Nancy', 'Belle Of Broughton'; Scraps Of Paper '82 probably his best, with characteristically wistful 'If Wishes Were Fishes', 'Big Mansion House', wry observations 'Ballad Of Henry Holloway' and 'He's Nobody's Moggie Now'. Best songs are compared with those of Tom Paxton and Phil Ochs; they reached a wider audience in the 'rogue folk' boom '84, when bands such as the Pogues and the Men They Couldn't Hang covered 'Matilda' and 'No Man's Land' (aka 'The Green Fields Of France'). Further albums were When The Wind Blows, Hard, Hard Times and Bringing The Spirit Home; several more CDs on Greentrax incl. live I Wrote This Wee Song, two vols of Eric Bogle Songbook and Small Miracles. |