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The Man You Don't Meet Everyday

from Outsiders by Chris Foster

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  • Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album

    Chris' 6th solo album contains a mix of old traditional songs and ballads along with a few from the last 60 years. Comes in a beautifully designed 3 fold digipak with a booklet containing all song lyrics and featuring cover art by Chris. The album was a runner up in the 2008 fROOTS magazine, best folk / world music album of 2008.

    Includes unlimited streaming of Outsiders via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    ships out within 7 days

      £8 GBP or more 

     

  • Streaming + Download

    Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    Purchasable with gift card

      £1 GBP  or more

     

about

In the mid 1970’s Bob Patten gave me a cassette recording he had made of Mrs Amy Ford from Low Ham, Somerset singing this song.
Bob had been collecting songs and folklore from older people around South Somerset, where both he and I originally come from. This song immediately appealed to me and I have been singing it on and off ever since. Amy learnt the song from her grandfather, Frederick Cauliflower” Crossman, who was one of Cecil Sharp’s singers. It is interesting to note that of the songs that Sharp noted from him and the songs his family remembered him singing, the only overlap is As I Walked Through
the Meadow, which was included in Folksongs from Somerset. Frederick is known to have learned songs from ballets or ballad sheets. An undated broadside text of this song in the Bodleian Library, Oxford, is almost identical to Amy Ford’s version.

lyrics

I’ve a neat little cottage that’s built out of mud
Not far from the county of Kildare
I’ve got acres of land and I grow my own spuds
I’ve enough and a little to spare
Don’t think I’ve come over to look for a job
It’s only a visit to pay
Be easy and free when you’re drinking with me
I’m the man you don’t meet every day

Chorus
So fill up your glasses and drink what you please
Whatever’s the damage I’ll pay
Be easy and free when you’re drinking with me
I’m the man you don’t meet every day

When I landed in Liverpool a few days ago
I thought I would go to the star
And the first man I saw there was young Paddy White
With a glass of best ale at the bar
I spoke to him kindly, took him to one side
To him these words I did say
You can be easy and free when you’re drinking with me
I’m the man you don’t meet every day

When I landed in Liverpool O what a sight
Met my eyes as I walked on the shore
There was Paddy Bolin and Paddy McGhee,
Michael Laney and one or two more
They all burst out laughing to see me walk
They treated me in a fine way
I says “Look here you young scarecrows, don’t you think I’m a ghost
’cos I’m the man you don’t meet every day.”

There’s a neat little maiden that lives around here
And it’s her I’ve come over to see
We’re going to be married next Sunday and then
She’ll come back to old Ireland with me
And if you come over twelve months from today
This I would venture to say
We will have a smart lad, who will say to his Dad
“I’m the man you don’t meet every day.”

credits

from Outsiders, track released April 23, 2008
Chris Foster vocal & guitar
Val Regan - fiddle
Trevor Lines - double bass

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about

Chris Foster Reykjavik, Iceland

Chris Foster grew up in the south west of England. A master of his trade, he was recently described as “one of the finest singers and most inventive guitar accompanists of English folk songs, meriting legend status.” Over the past 40 years, he has toured throughout the UK, Europe, Canada and the USA. He has recorded six solo albums as well as working on many collaborative projects. ... more

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