Silent Recordings
Unpredictable Music for
Unreliable Times

Artists:

CODA
Prop
Telemetry Orchestra
Tracky Dax

Compilations:

Around The Block
Nocturnal Emissions
Silent Soundtracks
Sounds of Silent
This Show Is About People

Rouseabout Records
Keeping it Real

Artists:

Bondi Cigars
Cathie O'Sullivan
Colin Dryden
Creedence Clearwater Revisited
The Celebrated Knackers & Knockers Band
Donna Fisk and Michael Cristian
Eric Bogle
Fiddlers Feast
Gary Shearston
Gordon Lightfoot
Herb Superb
Johnny Wade
Jim Low
John Munro
Julie Wilson
Koori Classic
Kym Pitman
Marcus Holden
Mic Conway's National Junk Band
Ngarukuruwala
Nyalgodi Scotty Martin
Robyn Archer
Roger Knox
Russell Morris
The Newtown Rugby League Football Club Song
Warren Fahey & Luke Webb
Warren Fahey & Max Cullen (DEAD MEN TALKING)

Compilations:

Before the Boomerang Came Back
Down By The Billabong
The World Turned Upside-Down
Forte – Golden Fiddlers
Stand Up & Shout

Yesterday's Australia:

Barbara James
Bob Dyer
Bobby Limb
Buddy Williams
Dame Nellie Melba
Florence Austral
Frank Coughlan
John Brownlee
Johnny Ashcroft
Keith Branch & His South Sea Islanders

Percy Grainger
Reg Lindsay
Shirley Thoms
Smoky Dawson
Strella Wilson
Tex Morton
Tex Morton and Sister Dorrie
Warren Fahey's Diggers

Yesterday's Australia Compilations:

Australian Radio Serials
Australian Hillbilly Radio Hits
Australian Stars of the International Music Hall Voume 1
Australian Stars of the International Music Hall Voume 2
Band in a Waistcoat Pocket
Mastertouch Pianola
Strike up the Band
Stars of Australian Stage & Radio Vol 1
Stars of Australian Stage & Radio Vol 2

Yep! Records
Music Without Compromise

Artists:

Antenna
Jenny Morris
Michal Nicholas
The Lovetones
Saints of India
Screw the Pooch
sounditout
Southend
Spaceniks

The Celebrated Knackers & Knockers Band
Two Albums of Disgustingly Funny Australian Bawdy Song and Verse

FIRSTLY, A message from Major Bumsore! As a music historian I make absolutely no excuses for the songs in this disgusting collection. They are part of a very long tradition of bawdy song, some dating back hundreds of years. Like most music they have come in and out of fashion however, despite aggressive political correctness, often to the point of being ridiculous, these songs refuse to completely disappear. I feel as if I am doing my part in having them stick around a little longer.

Bawdy song scholars have suggested that Australia is one of the last bastions of the genre. I tend to agree and would suggest the songs vigorously entered the tradition here at a time when we were a different country, a country born of a massively disproportionate male to female ratio. The 19th century saw these songs sung, and the poems recited, in shearing sheds, teamster and droving camps,outback pubs and then passed to the factory workers and sporting clubs of the early twentieth century. Their important role in male bonding during wartime also played a significant role in their survival. Television, that vile enemy of homemade entertainment, killed off most community singing however  ‘filthy songs’ are resilient little buggers and they still manage to survive and I am never surprised to hear politicians, judges, stockbrokers and even a few women, enthusiastically singing ‘their’ version of such songs.

All of the songs and recitations in this collection were collected in Australia. Like all traditional songs, part of their survival mechanism is the circulation through what we refer to as the ‘oral tradition’ – songs learnt though repeated singing at sporting clubs, on coach trips and drunken sessions at the local rubbity-dub. The fact that many of the songs possess loose rhythms and the verses often more doggerel than artful lyric is no coincidence. Simplicity and sing ability are part of their success story. That said, the songs are of a noble tradition and what appears simplistic is often far more subtle and, of course, often hilarious.

Parody is one of the most popular vehicles for bawdy song. A well-known song is changed to suit the story. These songs are not plagiarism other than the fact they have been ‘claimed’ by the ‘folk’ and their originator, understandably, usually anonymous.

It is important to document the bawdy song tradition because it is a threatened expression. Entertainment is changing dramatically and these songs are rapidly disappearing despite being racist, homophobic, sexist and just about every other taboo in the book. If we erase our oral history we have no check on our own history.

Finally, my chicken-hearted musical friends refused point-blank to have their real names associated with this project. They didn’t mind the songs, in fact they relished in singing and playing them, but thought going public was going a stretch too far. You can probably work out who they are.

The recordings were made in 2009 at Bloody Dog Studios with the enthusiasm of Marcus Holden, George Washingmachine, Clare O’Meara, Mark Oats and Garry Steel. The former had absolutely nothing to do with the musical arrangements, singing or playing of the music.

Mastering was done by Andy Busuttil of Blue Mountain Sound. Andy, a sensitive soul, would prefer not to have his name or his studio mentioned in the notes.

The cover artwork is by James P. Gilmour. James couldn’t give a stuff.           

The Celebrated Knockers & Knackers Band...

Major Bumsore. The Major saw action in WW2 where he was officer in charge of latrines and ablutions. A strict disciplinarian, he had a well-earned reputation as a man on a mission. He learnt many of his songs in seedy bars, shower blocks, and quartermaster’s stores and on route marches.

Andre Rude. Born of immigrant parents, probably from the Netherlands, Andre learnt the violin at an early age. Although his favourite composer is Strauss he also claims to be fond of heavy metal and some operatic arias. He also plays mandolin, guitar and gin rummy.

Shiela Blige. As recognisable from her name Shiela claims Aussie/Celtic ancestry. A gifted fiddler she has been advised to keep her hands to herself and her music to the world.

Dick Longhorn. Despite his name Dick is quite short and does not play horns. He is a fine fiddler and has been known to break out in song and rashes.

Oliver Guinness. Oliver has a drinking problem but, when sober, can play several instruments including mandolin, violin, Vera Lynne and a glass of gin.

Rodney McMinge. Highly talented at the keyboard and cheeseboard this keyboard player has made quite a name for himself in bawdy song circles. He proudly wears the McMinge tartan of shaggy crossed black and red pubic hairs interwoven with the McMinge family motto: ‘One In All In’

Thanks also to Ben Dover and his brother Skip Dover, Buster Cherry, Dick Burns and Ophelia Titz for their loving support for the project.

The Celebrated Knackers & Knockers Band
'Sing Us Anothery, Dirty As Buggery'
Catalogue Number RRR50

Buy     Buy

An album of disgustingly funny Australian bawdy song and verse.

The companion CD’Rooted In The Country’ (RRR51) is also available on Rouseabout Records.

Play Video
 

Track Listing:

  1. Do Your Balls Hang Low?
  2. The Hairs On Her Dicki Di Do Hung Down To Her Knees
  3. Pubic Hairs
  4. John Brown’s Penis
  5. On Top Of Old Sophie
  6. No Balls At All
  7. Arse Holes Are Cheap Today
  8. Charlotte The Harlot The Cowpuncher’s Whore
  9. The Scratching Of The Agates
  10. Davy, Davy/Balls Up
  11. The Wombat
  12. Barnacle Bill The Sailor
  13. Passengers Please Refrain While At The Station
  14. Vibrator’s Prayer
  15. Pull Back My Foreskin For Me
  16. The Shearer’s Lament
  17. The Wonky Road To Gundagai
  18. The Man From Kao Magma
  19. The Wattle Flat Ram
  20. Goodbye Blackbirds
  21. Stuffed!
  22. The Virgin of Nineteen
  23. Condoms Are A Girl’s Best Friend
  24. Green Leaves Upon The Green
  25. Five Old Ladies Locked In The Lavatory
  26. The Four Harlots
  27. Navvy On The Line
  28. The Barmaid With Gonorrhoea
  29. Last Night I Pulled My Pud

Get the Flash Player to see this player.

Do Your Balls Hang Low?


Get the Flash Player to see this player.

Last Night I Pulled My Pud

The Celebrated Knackers & Knockers Band
'Rooted In The Country'
Catalogue Number RRR51

Buy     Buy

Another album of disgustingly funny Australian bawdy song and verse.

The companion CD’Sing Us Anothery, Dirty As Buggery’ (RRR50) is also available on Rouseabout Records.

Track Listing:

  1. Maggie’s On The Shit-Chute
  2. The Lobster In The Pot
  3. Thrashing Machine
    The Boy Stood On The Burning Deck
  4. My Beautiful Muff
  5. My Grandfather’s Cock Was Too Big For His Pants
  6. Footprints On The Dashboard Upside-Down
  7. Whollop It Home
  8. Never Root With A Prostitute
  9. Bung Your Eye
  10. South Of The Tramstop
  11. What’s The Gentlest Tissue?
  12. There Once Was An Indian Maid
  13. Holman’s Bar
  14. The Black Cat Piddled In The White Cat’s Eye
  15. The Bastard From The Bush
  16. Here’s Your Youngest Child!
  17. The Old Gray Mare
  18. The Hole In The Elephant’s Bottom
  19. Bullocky Bill
  20. Maids Of Australia
  21. A Is For Arse Holes
  22. Shickered
  23. The Kings Cross Harlot’s Ball

Get the Flash Player to see this player.

My Grandfather’s Cock Was Too Big For His Pants


Get the Flash Player to see this player.

The Kings Cross Harlot's Ball

Press
What the Media have to Say...

Sing Us Anothery, Dirty As Buggery

Wooo, you can tell by the sleeve that this record is gunna hurt. For those of you who crave a bawdy ballad nite with your mates, maybe a few beers and a sizzling BBQ, this album is a must. There are 29 bawdy ballads covering all kinds of subject best left to your imagination. There is something for everyone. The Players are a talented bunch. The production is slick. This CD is a must for your collection. Hide it from the kids and get into it on that special occasion that requires some Aussie BAWD played and presented for your listening pleasure.”
(P.J.Whyte, Trad & Now, January 2011)

The Celebrated Knackers & Knockers Band

“As a legacy of the lewder side of Australia’s artistic heritage, award-winning folklorist Warren Fahey’s risqué companion CDs are of genuine historical value and certainly several cuts above Kevin Bloody Wilson’s albums. Not that there’s any scarcity of depravity or profanity contained in the 50-plus combined tracks, as the R-rated stickers on each sleeve denote. Most reflect an inordinately high level of political incorrectness, and many have racist, homophobic and sexist overtones that will offend. Saliently, the songs and recitations have been collected from an array of bona-fide sources. Musically, the songs are rarely less than interesting and all are delivered with requisite swagger and no small measure of vocal and instrumental expertise by Fahey (Major Bumsore) and his musical associates, the Celebrated Knackers and Knockers Band (the Larrikins). Mature men (and some women) are unlikely to be corrupted or subverted by Rooted in the Country or Sing Us Anothery, Dirty as Buggery. There is, however, a danger that exposure will evoke raucous laughter and have listeners singing along with these hoary old chestnuts. Certainly, Fahey’s latest and bravest offering is in danger of receiving a rap on the knuckles from the PC police.”

Full Review

(Tony Hillier, The Weekend Australian, May 2010)