Bedlam Bards Album Trivia

Information about Furious Fancies

Information about Take Out the Trash

Information about Cedric's Overmode

Information about Vitulari

More Information about Furious Fancies

At every faire they do, the Bedlam Bards enjoy taking a break from their famed bawdiness to sing a "sit-down set." Furious Fancies presents some of the most popular songs from their sit-down sets, along with some of their favorite Maypole tunes. It's designed to give the listener a chance to experience both the subtlety and the fire the Bards are capable of.

•  Bedlam Boys (Beardance): Bedlam (which is short for "St. Mary's of Bethlehem" or "Bethlehem Royal Hospital") is the world's oldest extant insane asylum, having been founded in London during 1247. The male "patients," who were at times put on display for the amusement of paying visitors, were known collectively by the name "Tom o'Bedlam." Shakespeare fans may recall that one character in King Lear disguises himself as a Tom o'Bedlam. Insane women were similarly known as "Mad Maudlins," a corruption of "Mary Magdalene."
  
  The song, which dates from the Renaissance (unlike most music heard at renfaires), centers on the love affair between Mad Maudlin and Tom o'Bedlam. The lyrics are filled with Boschesque images of quaking stars, boiling harlots, and dismemberment.
  
  "Bedlam Boys" is the first song that Hawke and Cedric worked up as a duo. Prior to that all of their material was adapted from one or the other's repertoires. For that reason, it provided both the Bedlam Bards name and the name of the album, Furious Fancies. This recording features Cedric's unique pocket fiddle, which was custom-made specifically for this song, as well as lead vocals from every one of the Bedlam Bards. Listen carefully to spot where the band slips its own name into the song.
  
  The fiddle tune embedded in the Bedlam rendition is called "Beardance." Cedric has been told that it is German in origin, though he learned it from a recording of Irish musicians.
  
  

• Queen of Argyle: The Bedlam Bards take this Andy M. Stewart favorite at a comfortable walking pace, a contrast to their more "rocking" live performances. Besides being a crowd pleaser, "Queen of Argyle" is perfect for playing to impress any fair lady who happens to admit to being from Argyle. The string crossings and trills in Cedric's fiddle obligato were inspired by the style of Gregory McQueen, Clandestine's incredible fiddler.
  
  

• Amarillis' Secret: This tragic ballad of forbidden love and self-sacrifice appears by permission of Ty Billings and Jerry Barry of the legendary renfaire band, the Minstrels of Mayhem. Telling a story similar to that of "Long Black Veil," this song often stops traffic and evokes tears at even the busiest faires. Guest flautist Scott Boswell takes the instrumental lead on this recording, combining with intricate finger-picking, mournful fiddling, and haunting vocal performances.
  
  

• Saint Brendan's Fair Isle (Slockit Light): This lighthearted tale of early Irish explorers was written by Jimmy Driftwood, the history-teacher-turned-songwriter who brought you "The Battle of New Orleans." In between verses, Cedric splices portions of the traditional tune "Slockit Light," which underwent a time-signature change to fit into the song. Hawke recorded this song on Amberhawke's first album, which is now out of print, and he chose to re-record it largely due to the urging of one persistent BedHead (you know who you are).
  
  

• Dark Lady: One of the most requested Bedlam Bards songs, "Dark Lady" relates the story of a ghostly pirate ship and features Lilly's incredible voice. Hawke and Cedric know that the quickest way to find Lilly is to start playing this song; Lilly will come running to keep Hawke from singing lead on it. By the way, Elizabeth Moore from the Tudor Tarts, reprises her onstage harmony performances for this recording.
  
  The album cover credits Bernadette Gillece as the author and composer of  "Dark Lady." After the Bedlam Bards made the album, they were able to contact Bernadette (with the help of Maggie Drennon--thanks, Maggie!) and learn that she has changed her name to Ek Ong Kaar Kaur. Ek was quite pleased to hear about the popularity her song is enjoying, and the Bedlam Bards are glad to give credit where credit is due.
  
  
  

• Wind and Rain: When Cedric was a little tiny boy, his family attended a concert of music from Shakespeare's plays; and this song from Twelfth Night captivated him instantly. More than once, the Bedlam Bards have found that the temperature drops and rain clouds gather while they are playing this song, so much so that they are superstitiously reluctant to perform it on cloudy faire days.
  
  

• Campbell's Farewell to Red Gap/Newcastle: In some ways, this track epitomizes renfaire music, if not the entire renfaire experience. Pairing a Scottish tune (which Cedric learned from Hawkwood musician Chris Arteburn) with a Renaissance Playford tune (which Cedric learned in SCA music guild), the piece marries the historical to the traditional and then makes it rock with lively hand drums and walking bass provided by special guests Tree and Jim Hancock (of Burly Minstrels fame). Get ready to dance the Maypole!
  
  

• Johnny Jump Up: A drinking song about whiskey-laden hard cider with miraculous powers, this traditional Irish piece is a sure-fire tankard-clanker. The Bedlam Bards eschew the jazzed-up arrangement of the old song, opting instead for the traditional rhythm, which rocks quite enough, thank you. Listen carefully for the snuck-in references to Bedlam and the Clan M'Crack.
  
  

• Kilkelly (Cedric's Farewell): Around the year 1980, Peter Jones discovered a box of letters written by his Irish ancestors to their American relatives, and he crafted the tale the letters told into one of the most poignant songs the Bedlam Bards play. If this song doesn't increase your long-distance bill, your heart is dead.
  
  The Dorian fiddle air that introduces and closes the song is a Cedric the Fiddler original. He first named it after a faire lass, but when she was less than impressed by it, he renamed the tune "Cedric's Farewell."
  
  

• MacPherson's Farewell: When Ed Miller and John Taylor performed this Scottish traditional at the Cactus Café, Cedric leaned over to Hawke and said, "We're doing this song," before the piece was even done. Telling the more-or-less true tale of James MacPherson's, the condemned but defiant outlaw fiddler, the song demonstrates that, while few men live well and even fewer die well, James MacPherson's managed to do both. For more information on Scotland's second most famous outlaw, see http://mysongbook.de/msb/songs/m/macphers.html
  
  Listen carefully to the fiddle line on this number: It ends at a significant spot.
  
  

• Whiskey in the Jar: Yet another tale of desperate optimism in the face of disaster, this Irish traditional was one of the first songs Hawke learned. It nearly slipped out of the Bedlam Bards' repertoire, until a new arrangement sprung itself on Hawke and Cedric as they warmed up for a Boare's Heade Feaste at the Castle of Muskogee. Listen carefully for Hawke's rebel yell during the instrumental break and the rennie twist the Bards slip into the final verse.
  
  

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More Information about Take Out the Trash

More Information about Take Out the Trash

Take Out the Trash is a concept album built around the bawdiest, silliest, and most tasteless parts of the Bard's repertoire. After a great deal of trying to figure out which pieces were least likely to get them sued, they settled on the following songs for the album.

• The Drunken Virgin Jig Set--This is six pieces for the price of one.  It starts off with Hawke singing the Irish folk song Moonshiner, which is the first song Hawke and Cedric played together, incidentally.  While the last chord is still ringing, the Bards launch into a medley of the fiddle tune Irish Washerwoman with An Old Cliche Revisited, a filk song in which Cedric poses the question which has plagued dragonologists for years, "Do virgins taste better than girls who are not?"  The piece finishes off with some Irish session tunes:  Swallowtail Jig, Road to Lisdoonvarna, and Morrison's Jig.

• Maids, When You're Young, Never Wed an Old Man--Over the years, Hawke has developed a unique version of this old traditional, which he sings with any young woman he can find.  [The  boys from Bedlam once lined up a lovely young tavern wench to join them on stage for this song.  For her first performance, she held a copy of the lyrics close to her bosom, leading Cedric and Hawke to check the lyrics frequently during the show (despite the fact that Cedric only sings the chorus).  Afterwards, they found out that her father, who was in the audience, is former Speaker of the House Jim Wright.  Oops.]  Lilly joins the Bards for this recording, which was done live and outdoors for a true renfaire feel.

• Bell Bottom Trousers--A very moral song about the dangers of pretty lasses giving in to the desires of wayward sailors, the Bedlam rendition features whistling, silly voices, and a changed-up version of Sailor's Hornpipe.

• Oh, How the Money Rolls In--This sweet little ditty glorifies the virtues of capitalism and free enterprise to the accompaniment of guitar and mandolin.  One of the verses (thanks, Connie) is so raw that the Bards had to call for their stunt doubles.

• The Scotsman / Donald, Where's Your Trousers--Lilly joins Hawke and Cedric again for two songs about that distinctive Scottish garment, the kilt.  Once when the trio was playing this combo at a faire, the entertainment director, who usually wore mundanes, strode into the pub wearing a very grand kilt. In one of those moments that defines the phenomenon that has come to be called a "Hawke and Cedric Psychic Experience," the Bards substituted the e.d.'s two-syllable name for "Donald."

• Zulaika / Romantanask--Cedric takes the lead on this medley of a wild fiddle tune from eastern Europe and a bawdy song about a Persian lecheress.  A few months after the recording, Hawke came across about a dozen more verses to the song.

• Black Leather Band--Roy Wilkinson's filk on Black Velvet Band explores the joys of bondage and sado-masochism.  This is one of the most requested songs in the Bedlam Bard repertoire.

• Beat Me--Often a songwriter gains inspiration from a fair lady;  what does this say about the woman who inspired Ramon Fallenstar's immortal chorus: "O, lassie, come beat me, come beat me / O, lassie come tie me up, too / O, lassie, come beat me, come beat me / We've no' done it right if we're not black and blue"?  The Bedlam Bards recording of Beat Me is the only one commercially available.  Joyce had to tie down Ramon (well, almost) to get him to sing it into a tape recorder so Cedric and Hawke could learn it. Juxtaposing high culture with smut, the Bards throw a lovely mandola/guitar rendition of the Playford dance tune Grimstock in between verses of this song.

• Wild Rover (Bill Palmer's Version)--Bill Palmer is known to TRF audiences as "Merlin the Magician."  What the audiences don't know is that Bill is a very talented musician who often sings and plays around the campfires after all the patrons go home.  Some years ago, he filked the old traditional in honor of Hawke, whom he dubbed "Old Leather Lungs."  This rendition features a break on kazoos.

• The Ball of Ballinor--This classic bawdy song is said to commemorate a wedding feast in Scotland, though it has been much altered by the folk tradition.  It's definitely a favorite at faires and SCA events. The Bedlam Bards version includes a bit of foul language and some original verses, including one that Scott Cooper (Thorland O'Shea) wrote about Cedric.

• Crayfish--A silly little tune that always sounds like it will be dirtier than it is.  The Bedlam Bards once played it during a live radio interview, just to watch the interviewer sweat.

Some other interesting things about Bedlam Bards: Take Out the Trash:

It was recorded at Seven Trees Studio (now SoundWright Studio), which is a one-room structure in the middle of the lost pines of Bastrop County, where Tree Leom works technical miracles without the benefit of air conditioning or flush toilets (much to Hawke's chagrin).

Tree also plays a variety of percussion instruments on the album, and Laura Egg (now Laura Leom--congrats!) sings back-up on several songs.

The liner notes say, "The Bedlam Bards use pawn shop and flea market instruments exclusively."  Well, okay, they bought the kazoos . . . oh, yeah, and the bodhran.   The bones came from a dead cow, not a pawn shop.  But the fiddle, mandola, and mandolin all came out of pawn shops, and Hawke's twelve-string guitar was found at a flea market.

Joyce Fisher snapped the cover photo (while standing on an ant mound) in an alley a few blocks from Cedric's apartment. The owners of the trash can were not home, and they still don't know that their receptacle is featured on an album cover. Sean French, a professional artist who worked with Cedric, used computer manipulation to remove the label from the dumpster and add the title in spray paint.  The Bedlam Bards do not in any way encourage or condone vandalism.

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Information about Cedric's Overmode

More Information about Cedric's Overmode

For years, people had been asking Cedric to make an album, so he finally gave in, creating this blend of hand-tooled fiddle tunes, well-worn medieval pieces, and custom-made originals.  Having performed with both Hawke and Lilly, he invited both of them to play and sing on the album;  the collaboration went so well that Hawke and Cedric decided to form the Bedlam Bards.

• Irish Washerwoman / Swallowtail / Road to Lisdoonvarna / Morrison's Jig--a set of Irish tunes that Cedric is well-known for playing at SCA events; in fact, he learned Swallowtail and Lisdoonvarna from a Floridian fiddler at the SCA's Twenty-fifth Year Celebration.

• Greensleeves / Julia Delaney--The first of these is a lovely Renaissance air attributed to King Henry VIII.  Cedric plays his own variations of the old song before launching into the Irish tune.

• The Fox--When Cedric and his siblings were children, their parents would sing folk songs to put them to bed.  Just when the kids would be nearly lulled to sleep, Cedric's oldest brother, Steve, would request this lively song to wake them up again.  Hawke accompanies Cedric's voice and viola playing with bones.

• Estampie--This medieval stomping dance uses parallel organum, a primitive form of harmony that involves playing in perfect fifths.

• Romantanask--Cedric learned this east European tune off of a Celtic Stone album, where it was played by Malcolm Smith, one of the greatest fiddlers of the renfaire circuit.  Malcolm Smith played on a vast number of recordings with Celtic Stone, Cantiga, and the Gypsy Guerilla Band.  Sadly, he passed away after a full day of playing during TRF '96.  Cedric never got to meet him.

• La Bastringue--At a fiddle contest in Laredo, Texas, Cedric met a Quebecois fiddler who might have known this tune. However, Cedric learned it off a recording of French-Canadian fiddle when he was in high school.

• Rose & Hawthorne--Cedric and his mother used to play Rose, Rose as a round.   In college, Cedric came across two Middle English quatrains that fit both stylistically and metrically into Rose, Rose.  A few years later, Cedric learned the Ah, Poor Bird round from Sean Tabor at a Crown Tourney.  A few years after that, he noticed that another Middle English lyric, which discusses Hawthorne blooms and young love, fit that tune. With the help of Joyce Fisher, he pulled it all together into a unique, hypnotic setting that tells a universal tale and features Lilly's lovely voice, many layers of fiddling, and lyrics in both Middle and Modern English. And they say an English degree is useless . . .

• Sibeag Simor / Banish Misfortune--These tunes pertain to the Good People.  Sibeag Simor is by the Irish composer Turlough O'Carolan;  the title is Gaelic for "Big Hill, Little Hill."  It is said to address a battle between two rival bands of Faeri-ahem, Elven-Americans.  Since it tends to stir up bad memories for the Good People, it's a good idea to go straight into Banish Misfortune.  Cedric learned that jig at the urging of Catt Kingsgrave-Ernstein, who has a proclivity for dressing up as Titania.  Good thing he learned it, too--it saved his skin one midsummer's eve.  Rumors that he put a saucer of cream outside the studio while recording these tunes are probably inaccurate . . .

• Bring on the Faire--Cedric wrote this song a few days before the opening of the Four Winds Renaissance Faire, and it quickly became the opening gate song.  The recording of this tankard-clanker sounds like a live recording in a pub, but it's not.  If it were a live recording, Cedric would have to be singing, fiddling, and playing mandolin at the same time.

• Soldier's Joy--This old-time country fiddle tune goes back to the days when Cedric played in an old-time country band called the Cherokee Shufflers.

• Douce Dame Jolie--This love song was composed by Guillaume de Machaut, a contemporary of Chaucer. Cedric's instrumental arrangement combines modern and medieval harmonies.

• Nonesuch / Brian Boru / Drowsy Maggie--This number combines a Playford dance with some Irish favorites. Brian Boru is a special arrangement by Hawke that takes advantage of the fact that every strain of the tune harmonizes with every other strain, a neat little detail Cedric discovered while jamming with Linda Stevens.  Hawke and Lilly help with this lovely trick on the pennywhistle.

• Rights of Man--Cedric learned this popular hornpipe from a mandolin player in Nacogdoches.

• Como Podens--This is #166 of the Cantigas de Santa Maria, a collection of hymns to the Virgin Mary collected by King Alphonso the Wise of Spain.  The title comes from the first line, "Como podens persas culpas." By strange coincidence, this tune appears in the first Conan movie, supposedly as the chanting of deranged snake cultists. Cedric's recording strips this tune down to the basics, fiddle and drum.

• Star of Munster--An exciting and dramatic fiddle tune.

• Star of the County Down--Hawke and Cedric do at least three arrangements of this lovely song.  Overmode includes the fiery version that knocks the socks off of old traditionalists and tends to break picks and bowstrings.

• Cedric's Farewell--Cedric wrote this slow Dorian air for a lovely lady and named it after her.  When she was underwhelmed, he changed the name to reflect his sentiments.

Other information about Cedric's Overmode:

Joyce Fisher drew the cover art, and Hawke used his background as a professional technical artist to ink it.  Joyce also plays the hunting horn on one of the tracks.

"Overmode" is a modern version of the Old English word ofermod, which means arrogance, moxy, pride, chutzpa, or grand high courage.  Cedric felt that the modern sound of the word suggested "overdrive," which fits the furious pace of some of the tunes.  He also felt that it took a lot of ofermod to cut an album.

A rare central Texas blizzard blew into Waco during one of the recording sessions, and the recording studio's power supply went out.  Cedric regretted telling people that he would make an album when Hell froze over.

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Information about Vitulari

More Information about Vitulari

The word vitulari is a Vulgar Latin verb meaning "to cry out or rejoice"; it may be the root of the words violin, viola, and fiddle. The duo Vitulari is radical fiddler Sam Moses with James Hazlerig (Cedric). The album Vitulari is Sam and Cedric's first improvisational sojourn into the studio.

• Deventure--When Cedric was a young boy in Missouri, his older brother Glen would take him on expeditions around the neighborhood and narrate the "adventures" they were having. Cedric always looked forward to these "deventures." This mandola/viola work honors that memory.

• Manduetto:  Forest Rain--This is one of Sam and Cedric's favorites. They put down their fiddles for this mandolin/mandola duet. Some parts of this track are reminiscent of Vivaldi's works.

• Arcadiana--Cedric insisted that Vitulari record at least one piece in a major key. The fiddlers thought about that kind of luscious morning when the sun shines on the dewy grass, and Arcadiana (named for Arcadia, the realm of the Good People) was the result.

• Into the Sunset--You know that scene at the end of a western when the hero rides off alone, becoming a speck in the expansive desert as the camera zooms farther and farther out? That's the feel of this piece, which features Sam on the mandola and Cedric on the violin.

• Sailing to Bubastis--The ancient city of Bubastis, located in the Nile Delta, was the center of the worship of Bast, the Egyptian cat goddess. The guitarron (Mexican acoustic bass) adds depth to this journey up the Nile.

• Fantasia iRagliaTaglia--Cedric's mandola rendition of the folk song "Raggle-Taggle Gypsies" is the point of departure for this goosebump-raising fantasy.

• Pochette--A Renaissance dancemaster might often play a small, high-pitched fiddle called a kit, violino piccolo, or pochette (the French word for "pocket"). Cedric's little kit, which he calls a pocket fiddle, is tuned to play in C, a great key for Sam's impressive viola and mandola work. 

• Karwansarai--For years, Sam has been a frequent member of Caravanserie, the band that provides music for Zerehade's Middle-Eastern Dance Revue. He draws on those roots during this short improvisation.

• Mysterion--The ancient religious rites were described with this word, which suggests an experience that cannot be captured in words.

• Riparia--Named with the Latin word for "river," Riparia brings together the violin, viola, mandolin, and mandola in a flowing, powerful conclusion to the album.

Cedric never knows quite how to explain Vitulari, so he's going to paraphrase what a few other people have said about it.

"When the two of them play, it's like the violin and the viola are making love."

–Joyce Hazlerig (who is admittedly biased)

"Don't try to explain it." 

--Rhavyn Redfeather, Wiccan priestess and stage manager for DreamTryBe

"I keep it in my 'play-every-day' stack, right next to Dead Can Dance."

            --Dan the Painter, rennie and artist

"Completely mystical."

            --Willow, beautiful rennie and hippie

"It is awesome--even the cable guy liked it."

            --Mara Lee, gypsy violinist

Here is an actual email quote from Dana Davis, professional recording artist: 

"it is wonderful! I am listening to something that is making me walk thru

the woods...let's see what its called...oh, ok, forest rain!

I am thrilled and will be listening to it for grounding, thank you for

making this."

Other information about Vitulari:

The album cover was created by Sean French, whose resume includes blacksmith, instrument repairman, mural painter (he did the sign at the Red-Headed Lady Tavern), computer graphic designer, professional SKA guitarist, squire, 6th-Street club owner, Cedric's groomsman, and all-around great guy.

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