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'She became very found of ska music': The secrets of the Queen Mother's record collection from a yodelling Canadian cowboy to Paul Simon
By MARC HORNE
Last updated at 3:02 AM on 13th March 2011
It is an eclectic – and sometimes eccentric – record collection, spanning Caribbean steel bands, Rodgers & Hammerstein showtunes, Canadian yodelling and Paul Simon’s pop hit You Can Call Me Al.
But they were all favourites of the Queen Mother, revealed today as the contents of her private music library is made public for the first time.
There are fewer than 100 albums in the collection she kept at her Highland holiday home, the Castle of Mey, but they betray broad, and sometimes surprising, tastes.
Music lover: The Queen Mother dances with her trusted aide 'Backstairs Billy' Tallon at the Balmoral estate
Alongside the expected classical works, and timeless folk music, the collection also includes the wartime speeches of Winston Churchill, an album of lute music and comedy LPs by Tony Hancock and The Goons.
And although former aides say the Queen Mother was no particular fan of pop music, she was an avid listener of Terry Wogan’s Radio 2 breakfast show – making her probably the most famous TOG, or ‘Terry’s Old Gal’, as female listeners were called.
But despite her aversion to modern music, Paul Simon’s acclaimed 1986 album Graceland, which featured a range of African musicians and contained the hit You Can Call Me Al, was apparently a particular favourite.
The list of much-loved albums at Mey includes a number of performances by Noel Coward, comedy sketches by Peter Sellers, episodes of BBC radio comedy Hancock’s Half Hour and the soundtracks to both Oklahoma! and, appropriately enough for the wife of a Monarch, The King And I.
The vinyl countdown: Just some of the mixed bag of LPs in the Queen Mother's private collection, revealed for the first time today
Perhaps more surprising is the inclusion of records by The Desperadoes Steel Orchestra – a calypso band from Trinidad – and Wilf Carter, an obscure Canadian country musician, also known as Montana Slim and notable for his high-pitched yodelling.
One former aide who worked closely with the Queen Mother for several decades said: ‘She had very catholic tastes in music and enjoyed listening to everything from Scottish reels to stage musicals.
‘I don’t think she was an avid listener of pop music, but she loved listening to Terry Wogan on Radio 2. She listened to him every morning before she came downstairs.’
The equerry revealed that the Queen Mother used to relish instigating an after-dinner singalong to a 1967 hit by Liverpool band The Scaffold.
He said: ‘She was particularly fond of the track Thank U Very Much, but was under a slight misapprehension over the line “Thank you very much for our gracious team”.
'She misheard that and believed it was “Our gracious Queen”. The Queen Mother had a terrific sense of humour and she regarded the Castle of Mey as rather an eccentric place.’
Stone me: Comedy LPs from Tony Hancock were among the Queen Mother's favourites
Her collection at the remote castle, about six miles from John O’Groats on the North coast of Scotland, also featured Elgar’s Coronation Ode, written for Edward VII but also played when her husband, George VI, was crowned King, as well as a recording of Greensleeves, which is purported to have been composed by Henry VIII.
A Salvation Army Band LP is also in the collection, while the Queen Mother was also an admirer of French chanteuse Edith Piaf and owned her album La Vie En Rose.
Her love of a sociable tipple was also reflected in her music collection, which features Tak a Dram Afore Ye Go by the local Caithness folk band Mirk and an LP entitled Fiddler’s Dram, by the English folk group of the same name, best known for their 1979 hit Day Trip To Bangor.
Other Scottish work includes an album by the Thurso and Dounreay Strathspey Reel Society.
The Queen Mother’s official biographer, William Shawcross, put her love of a rousing tune down to her upbringing.
He said: ‘At Glamis Castle, where she grew up during the First World War, there was a lot of singing around the piano.
‘When all the wounded soldiers were recovering at the castle she used to join them and spent a lot of merry evenings singing with them. She grew to love music and played old favourites again and again.’
Mr Shawcross revealed that the Queen Mother, who died aged 101 in 2002, picked up an appreciation for West Indian music during visits to Jamaica.
He said: ‘During one of her trips to the Caribbean in the Sixties she was introduced to ska music, which she became very fond of.
‘Noel Coward, who was a personal friend, had a house called Firefly in Jamaica and she greatly enjoyed her visits there. The Queen Mother adored him and found his songs to be wonderfully witty.
‘She and Prince Charles shared a love of quirky humour and greatly enjoyed The Goons.’
Margie Sinclair from folk band Mirk, who played at the Queen Mother’s 80th birthday party among several performances at Mey, said: ‘The Queen Mother was extremely knowledgeable, well-read and enthusiastic about Scottish music. She was very much a party person and loved music and dancing.
‘She was an excellent hostess. She was warm, with a mischievous sense of humour and made you feel instantly at ease.
‘She always insisted on getting photographs taken and there is one, which I treasure to this day, where she is holding up our album covers. It would have been a fantastic
publicity boost for us, but we kept it private.’
The Queen Mother's collection also includes the wartime speeches of Winston Churchill
George Pain, of the Thurso and Dounreay Strathspey Reel Society, was equally proud to learn that their LP, North Of The Highlands, was in the Royal collection.
He said: ‘The Queen Mother was very supportive and always took an interest in local groups and events. It’s lovely to know that she enjoyed listening to our music at the castle.’
The Queen Mother fell in love with the near-derelict castle when she first saw it in 1952.
It was the only home she owned and, after three years of renovations, it became her regular holiday home in August and October, her last visit coming in 2001.
It is now a tourist attraction, with around 30,000 visitors a year.
Visitors to Mey in the Queen Mother’s day recall a relaxed, slightly shabby atmosphere with threadbare carpets and moth-eaten curtains.
One former aide said: ‘The decorations were put in between 1952 and 1955 and nothing much was changed after that. She did not believe in spending money unnecessarily.’
Such frugality meant she chose to rent, rather than buy, a television and video recorder for the castle.
And the Queen Mother would never have considered swapping her decades-old record player for a CD player. Or, heaven forbid, an iPod.
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Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...#ixzz1g53NAPhA
Last updated at 3:02 AM on 13th March 2011
It is an eclectic – and sometimes eccentric – record collection, spanning Caribbean steel bands, Rodgers & Hammerstein showtunes, Canadian yodelling and Paul Simon’s pop hit You Can Call Me Al.
But they were all favourites of the Queen Mother, revealed today as the contents of her private music library is made public for the first time.
There are fewer than 100 albums in the collection she kept at her Highland holiday home, the Castle of Mey, but they betray broad, and sometimes surprising, tastes.
Music lover: The Queen Mother dances with her trusted aide 'Backstairs Billy' Tallon at the Balmoral estateAlongside the expected classical works, and timeless folk music, the collection also includes the wartime speeches of Winston Churchill, an album of lute music and comedy LPs by Tony Hancock and The Goons.
And although former aides say the Queen Mother was no particular fan of pop music, she was an avid listener of Terry Wogan’s Radio 2 breakfast show – making her probably the most famous TOG, or ‘Terry’s Old Gal’, as female listeners were called.
But despite her aversion to modern music, Paul Simon’s acclaimed 1986 album Graceland, which featured a range of African musicians and contained the hit You Can Call Me Al, was apparently a particular favourite.
The list of much-loved albums at Mey includes a number of performances by Noel Coward, comedy sketches by Peter Sellers, episodes of BBC radio comedy Hancock’s Half Hour and the soundtracks to both Oklahoma! and, appropriately enough for the wife of a Monarch, The King And I.
The vinyl countdown: Just some of the mixed bag of LPs in the Queen Mother's private collection, revealed for the first time todayPerhaps more surprising is the inclusion of records by The Desperadoes Steel Orchestra – a calypso band from Trinidad – and Wilf Carter, an obscure Canadian country musician, also known as Montana Slim and notable for his high-pitched yodelling.
One former aide who worked closely with the Queen Mother for several decades said: ‘She had very catholic tastes in music and enjoyed listening to everything from Scottish reels to stage musicals.
‘I don’t think she was an avid listener of pop music, but she loved listening to Terry Wogan on Radio 2. She listened to him every morning before she came downstairs.’
The equerry revealed that the Queen Mother used to relish instigating an after-dinner singalong to a 1967 hit by Liverpool band The Scaffold.
He said: ‘She was particularly fond of the track Thank U Very Much, but was under a slight misapprehension over the line “Thank you very much for our gracious team”.
'She misheard that and believed it was “Our gracious Queen”. The Queen Mother had a terrific sense of humour and she regarded the Castle of Mey as rather an eccentric place.’
Stone me: Comedy LPs from Tony Hancock were among the Queen Mother's favouritesHer collection at the remote castle, about six miles from John O’Groats on the North coast of Scotland, also featured Elgar’s Coronation Ode, written for Edward VII but also played when her husband, George VI, was crowned King, as well as a recording of Greensleeves, which is purported to have been composed by Henry VIII.
A Salvation Army Band LP is also in the collection, while the Queen Mother was also an admirer of French chanteuse Edith Piaf and owned her album La Vie En Rose.
Her love of a sociable tipple was also reflected in her music collection, which features Tak a Dram Afore Ye Go by the local Caithness folk band Mirk and an LP entitled Fiddler’s Dram, by the English folk group of the same name, best known for their 1979 hit Day Trip To Bangor.
Other Scottish work includes an album by the Thurso and Dounreay Strathspey Reel Society.
The Queen Mother’s official biographer, William Shawcross, put her love of a rousing tune down to her upbringing.
He said: ‘At Glamis Castle, where she grew up during the First World War, there was a lot of singing around the piano.
‘When all the wounded soldiers were recovering at the castle she used to join them and spent a lot of merry evenings singing with them. She grew to love music and played old favourites again and again.’
Mr Shawcross revealed that the Queen Mother, who died aged 101 in 2002, picked up an appreciation for West Indian music during visits to Jamaica.
He said: ‘During one of her trips to the Caribbean in the Sixties she was introduced to ska music, which she became very fond of.
‘Noel Coward, who was a personal friend, had a house called Firefly in Jamaica and she greatly enjoyed her visits there. The Queen Mother adored him and found his songs to be wonderfully witty.
‘She and Prince Charles shared a love of quirky humour and greatly enjoyed The Goons.’
Margie Sinclair from folk band Mirk, who played at the Queen Mother’s 80th birthday party among several performances at Mey, said: ‘The Queen Mother was extremely knowledgeable, well-read and enthusiastic about Scottish music. She was very much a party person and loved music and dancing.
‘She was an excellent hostess. She was warm, with a mischievous sense of humour and made you feel instantly at ease.
‘She always insisted on getting photographs taken and there is one, which I treasure to this day, where she is holding up our album covers. It would have been a fantastic
publicity boost for us, but we kept it private.’
The Queen Mother's collection also includes the wartime speeches of Winston ChurchillGeorge Pain, of the Thurso and Dounreay Strathspey Reel Society, was equally proud to learn that their LP, North Of The Highlands, was in the Royal collection.
He said: ‘The Queen Mother was very supportive and always took an interest in local groups and events. It’s lovely to know that she enjoyed listening to our music at the castle.’
The Queen Mother fell in love with the near-derelict castle when she first saw it in 1952.
It was the only home she owned and, after three years of renovations, it became her regular holiday home in August and October, her last visit coming in 2001.
It is now a tourist attraction, with around 30,000 visitors a year.
Visitors to Mey in the Queen Mother’s day recall a relaxed, slightly shabby atmosphere with threadbare carpets and moth-eaten curtains.
One former aide said: ‘The decorations were put in between 1952 and 1955 and nothing much was changed after that. She did not believe in spending money unnecessarily.’
Such frugality meant she chose to rent, rather than buy, a television and video recorder for the castle.
And the Queen Mother would never have considered swapping her decades-old record player for a CD player. Or, heaven forbid, an iPod.
Share this article:
Comments (10)
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...#ixzz1g53NAPhA