This song was recorded in 2001 by singer-songwriter Clive Gregson, who was born and raised in Manchester, England. He began his professional career in the 1979 as the front-man with the cult new-wave pop band Any Trouble, and when it disbanded he began a long solo career writing and singing an eclectic mix of pop, folk and folk-rock songs. Clive relocated to Nashville in the US in 1993, where he branched out into producing recordings, but as a performer and songwriter he seems to have remained more well-known in the UK than in North America.
In this song Clive accompanies himself on guitar, keyboards and auto-harp. He is now semi-retired – according to his website he is still active at writing and studio work but he ceased touring in 2020 (another Covid19 casualty?)
I got this recording from a box-set compilation of folk-rooted seasonal music called Midwinter, published in 2006 in Britain by Free Reed Records, a label that in my mind matches Smithsonian-Folkways as being an assurance of quality and authenticity. The four CD package includes 115 recordings by an incredible array of performers that perfectly suits my tastes in seasonal music, and also has a fabulous well-illustrated 156 page book about the songs and their social context. It includes the kind of information that I love to know. I see that it is currently on sale for only £20 – a great deal and I highly recommend it. I don’t do music streaming so I don’t know if you can find it there.
In the Midwinter’s booklet, Nigel Schofield notes:
Molly Higgins may be a spiritual relative of Eleanor Rigby, but Clive’s song for her embraces lyrical references to the Big Ballads (Matty Groves) and traditional carols (God rest ye merry, gentlemen and In the Bleak Midwinter).
I must admit that I didn’t catch all that, but I have had this song in my candidates file for a long time waiting for the just the right opportunity to include in one of my annual samplers. I am hooked on how its catchy and soothing chorus complements a story that reminds me of the many long years that my grandmother lived after my grandfather died, and of the few short years that my father lived after my mother passed away.
