Although the final version was written on Teesside in 1981, the song began in Coventry through a number of re-writes
as described below. I included a number of audio versions here mainly for Ann Waiwright who played flute on one of the versions. It includes a solo version - myself on vocals and clawpicked guitar, one with Colin Walker on Violin, another with Colin on violin and Ann Wainwright on flute and a later keyboard version in which I played all the instruments myself for better or worse!
A TEAR DROP IN THE TEES
Little Cleveland Kathy grew up in the slums (Solo version 1981)
The rain leaked through the roof
and the paint flaked off the walls.
At night, in bed, in winter
her feet grew cold and numb
In a house that wasn't weather-proof
she'd shiver till morning come.
Kathy's parents quarreled, all the time they could, (version with Colin Walker on Violin)
Always short on money
Always flush for tears.
Her mother claimed her father was a lazy ne're do good
cos he could never find employment
and drank his dole down in the pub.
Chorus.
And Kathy's voice was lost
like a teardrop in the Tees
Like wood that can't be seen for trees (Version with Ann Wainwright on Flute / Colin on Violin)
A teardrop in the Tees.
Kathy she resided, in a home divided
Like muck that clogs the kitchen sink
she was always in the way.
Never knowing where to turn
to clear confusion from her head.
In the land of ‘do-without’, with tears she wet her bed.
Kathy took a walk down by
where the Tees flows deep and wide.
Feeling quite at home amongst
the rust and the bitter waves.
She saw the beaten path between the dole and the factory
yard.
She felt just like the can she kicked
crushed and beaten on all sides.
By Trev Teasdel 1981
In 1981 I was an undergraduate on Teesside and my singer songwriter friend Dave Wood alerted me to a Folk songwriting competition being fielded by Radio Tees (at that stage Dave Cousins of the Strawbs was programme controller). I had upcoming exams and so reformulated an early song I'd written in Coventry called Mary Annabella and orientated it towards Teesside. The inspiration had come from working on Adventure Playground in Wood End Coventry as summer playleader while on vacation from a Social Studies course c1975. Coventry had long been a boom town but the bubble had burst and the car factories were shedding labour, moving plants abroad and the effects of unemployment and poverty grew dramtically through the late 70's.
In 1968 I'd written song called
Mr Opulent V Mary Annabella (lyric below). I was about 17 then and influenced by the current Mr Businessman song by Ray Stevens (although mine pales before that great lyric). An influence non the less. I later re-wrote in the mid 70's but a new lyric developed called Mary Annabella which begat the Teardrop in the Tees. The earlier song was in a bunch that drummer Steve Harrison took with him to the a practice session for Nack Ed En - c 1970 - a blues / rock trio with Loz Netto (later with Sniff and the Tears), Neil Richardson (later Drops of Broandy). Soon Steve was replaced on drums by Brad (later of the Specials). The group focused more blues based material so I didn't think my material would fit particularly but this was among one of the lyrics they read through. Later in the Dive bar guitarist Chris Jones asked me to write some material for his band. Neither project came off. It was a difficult time for bands anyway - they seemed to form and break up very quickly back then. The lyric below doesn't have much relationship to the top lyric but there were a number of transformation re-writes to the extent that a completely new lyric was formed with a different musical feel - if you are interested in the process that is!
Mr
Opulent V Mary Annabella Nov 68
Mary
Annabelle wears a face she does not own
And her
teeth are in a jar on the table in her home
She walks
the dog around the street
Hoping she
might meet – Mr Perfect and his family called ‘Elite’
All mod
cons are incorporated in the kitchen that she admires
And in the
living room are several two-bar fires
An oriental
tapestry conceals some tattered walls
And
photographs of Fred Astair and Englebert are suspended in the halls.
She
contemplates her Mr Opulent, a car manufacturer’s Director
Who used to
be married to Mary Annabella
A Betterware
salesman knocks upon the wooden door
And
nervously departed when she phoned for the law.
Mr O’s in
the boozer playing his life away at poker
Everybody
knows that he’s a proverbial loser
Mary she
invites all her would-be-courting-knights
To a round
table meeting full of feasting and eating.
(Drink up
your merry wine, if you drive you’ll get a fine)
Bridge
It makes
one wonder who are the primates of the earth
Money, cars
or humans, funny but there you are!
Gazing in
the window of a cosmetic shop
What will
she do if she becomes a flop
Mr O’s
unprolific life, is supported by an unwanted skeleton of strife.
His
adulterous misdoings led to legal suings
Now he’s
looking for the promised land with a vapid compass in his hand.
Just like a
bacterised loaf of bread
A sour milk
container for his so called head.
Three
pining children he left behind
Their
distress is underlined
With an
alcoholic father
And a
prostituted mother
Look out
kids - you better take cover.
Recent Comments