Eric Bogle of anti-war ('And the band played Waltzing Matilda') songs fame eminent in Adelaide folk music
Eric Bogle (left) with John Munro, both Scots folk musicians who moved to Adelaide, South Australia, in concert togather at Watford during a tour of the United Kingdom.
Image courtesy Music Underground
Eric Bogle, whose songs included “And the band played Waltzing Matilda”, named in the top 30 Australian songs of all time, became a leading figure in Adelaide folk music from the 1980s.
Bogle was born in 1944 in Peebles Scotland. His father was a railway signalman who played bagpipes. Bogle started writing poetry at eight and, leaving school at 16, Bogle worked as: labourer, clerk and barman.
Bogle had taught himself to play guitar and led skiffle and rock band Eric and the Informers in Scotland. His early influences were Lonnie Donnegan, Elvis Prelsey and Ewan MColl. He turned to folk music before emigrating to Australia – one of his first written songs was "Leaving Nancy", about his mother. The song was often covered, most notably by The Dubliners and The Fureys.
In 1969, Bogle emigrated to Australia and, via Canberra and Queensland, settled in Adelaide. Several of Bogle's most famous songs were about war’s futility. “And the band played Waltzing Matilda”, written in 1971 (and named in the Australia's top 30 by the Australian Performing Right Association), was covered, among many, by Redgum and John Schumann in Adelaide.
Bogle discovered the popularity of the song in Scotland during a return visit in 1975. Bogle only decided to devote himself wholly to music when he gave up his work as an accountant in Brisbane in 1980 and move south to Adelaide.
Another Bogle anti-war song, “No Man’s Land” or “The green fields of France” also had multiple covers. Another notable song on a similar theme was "My Youngest Son Came Home Today", with its tale of a young man killed during fighting in Northern Ireland.
Bogle's songs covered the comedic ("The Aussie Bar-B-Q"), satire ("I Hate Wogs"), protest and the human condition such as "Now I'm Easy". In 2000, a five-CD collection, Singing The Spirit Home, was released and his only live performance DVD in 2009. Bogle starting making extensive concert tour of the United Kingdom, and sometimes Europe, every three years from 1985.
These tours usually included a supporting cast of Australian-based singers including Adelaide’s John Munro. Folk singer Munro, born in Glasgow, Scotland, in 1947, emigrated to Adelaide in 1965. He was a leading figure in Australiam folk music for 40 years, most notable with his “Eureka Suite”, and also worked with Australian folk groups Tracey-Munro-Tracey (with Denis and Lynne Tracey) and Colcannon.
Bogle was appointed a member of the Order of Australia in 1987. His tours in Australia also included Adelaide-based musicians Emma Luker (fiddle) and Pete Titchener (guitar/bass).
