Golden Ages with Max Boyce
November 25, 2006
Thirty three years ago this week Max Boyce travelled from his home town of Glynneath over the Rhigos Treherbert Mountain for the gig that would bring him fame as a folk singer, comedian and entertainer.
‘Live at Treorchy’ was recorded at Treorchy Rugby Club. It includes many of Max Boyce’s greatest songs including ‘Duw it’s hard’, ‘Ten thousand instant Christians’, ‘Hymns and Arias’ and the surreal comedy of ‘The Outside Half Factory’ where Max Boyce sings :
I’ll tell you a story,
’tis a strange and weird tale:
Of a factory in my valley,
not fed by road or rail.
It’s built beneath the mountain,
beneath the coal and clay.
It’s where we make the outside-halves,
that’ll play for Wales one day.
On the album back-cover Ieuan Lewis writes :
“Common experience unite people and the miner, the trawlermen in icy seas and the city commuter rocked in a crowded train can all, with equal honesty, say “Duw it’s hard”. Nature never works in straight lines, and life being natural has for all tears and laughter, sorrow and joy in varying degrees. This record underlines that truth.
As with any entertainer Max Boyce has his fans and critics. Some people claim his humour was parochial and didn’t travel far. A recent lively discussion on the USENET group rec.sport.rugby.union saw some interesting views on Max Boyce and his contribution to popular Welsh culture which centred itself around sport. One contributor of that group, Jimmy, wrote :
When I was a boy many family members of mine had Max Boyce LP’s and back then I liked him. It was the 2nd golden age of Welsh rugby and the game and especially the supporters were much better back then.
By better I mean the supporters were more knowledgeable and also the atmosphere was better. Boyce like many of his countrymen would have attended chapel and throughout the valley communities everyone knew the same hymns, although the language differed the hymn was the same. These hymns were then sung at the matches and all would join in.
Max Boyce has seen a renewed interest in his career recently. Geraint Williams and friend certainly enjoyed his show at the Sydney Opera House in Australia a few years ago.
In his song ‘Duw it’s hard’ Max Boyce sings
In our little valley
They closed the colliery down,
And the pithead baths is a supermarket now.
Empty gurneys red with rust
Roll to rest among the rust
And the pithead baths is a supermarket now.CHORUS
‘Cos it’s hard, Duw, it’s hard
Harder than they will ever know.
And it’s they must take the blame,
The price of coal’s the same.
And the pithead baths is a supermarket now.
Boyce seemed like a preface in song to the post-industrialisation of Wales, a process which has been underway for decades now. Heavy industries like coal and steel making are going or gone and much manufacturing industry has moved abroad.
On the journey from Glynneath to Treorchy, Max Boyce would have passed the Rhigos Industrial Estate in the northern reaches of the Cynon Valley. In the mid seventies, this industrial estate employed many thousands of workers, there are today only a few hundred workers there.
The last deep mine in South Wales Tower Colliery near Hirwaun is due to close in 2007. This marks the end of an area. It is a welcome end for many who know the true harshness of mining as a way of life.
In the future historians may unearth ancient Max Boyce recordings and use them as a means to learn about older traditions in the Valleys, and discover past golden ages of industry, sport and song. Many more such ages will doubtless come with a confident and creative people.
Add to favourites