Thursday, December 27, 2007

David Davis - Nonsense Songs


This is an EP I found recently in a charity shop by David Davis who reads three of Edward Lear's "Nonsense Songs". It's on the Delyse label and dated 1964. David davis it seems was a firmiliar voice on children's programmes on the radio during the 50's and 60's but I have no recollection of him myself.

Wikipedia says of Edward Lear -

"He id not keep good health. From the age of six until the time of his death he suffered frequent grand mal epileptic seizures, as well as bronchitis, asthma, and in later life, partial blindness. Lear experienced his first epileptic fit while sitting in a tree. Lear felt lifelong guilt and shame for his epileptic condition. His adult diaries indicate that he always sensed the onset of a fit in time to remove himself from public view. How Lear was able to anticipate his fits is not known, but many people with epilepsy report a ringing in their ears or an "aura" before the onset of a fit.

In 1846 Lear published A Book of Nonsense, a volume of limericks which went through three editions and helped popularise the form. In 1865 The History of the Seven Families of the Lake Pipple-Popple was published, and in 1867 his most famous piece of nonsense, The Owl and the Pussycat, which he wrote for the children of his patron Edward Stanley, 13th Earl of Derby. Many other works followed.

Lear's nonsense books were quite popular during his lifetime, but a rumour circulated that "Edward Lear" was merely a pseudonym, and the books' true author was the man to whom Lear had dedicated the works: his patron the Earl of Derby. Adherents of this rumour offered as evidence the facts that both men were named Edward, and that "Lear" is an anagram of "Earl"."




Discover more about Edward Lear HERE.

David Davis - The Courtship Of The Yonghy-Bonghy-Bo
David Davis - The Daddy Long-Legs & The Fly
David Davis - The Broom,The Shovel, The Poker & The Tongs


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