The first vinyl single in 1969 – under EMI’s Columbia subsidiary – ‘Running Free’ didn’t make waves, neither did the second ‘Hang The Flag Out Mrs. Jones’. However it did mark the songwriting duo of John Meeks (music) and Colin Radcliffe (lyrics) as composers of promising ability. The pair fitted together like gloves, John’s instantly humable melodies juxtaposing nicely with Colin’s sometimes whimsical, sometimes funny, sometimes poignant lyrics. Over the next ten years familiar themes would recur throughout the songs. Nostalgic essays on places and people from the near past, suspicion of modern living and comic monologues which inevitably employed stereotypical working class characters. It wasn’t hard to figure out why the Fivepenny connected with their audience so readily, these were not stars from ‘that there London’ whose lives were a million miles away from the ones their audiences would enjoy. Fivepenny were one of us, they embodied good old fashioned values and a down to earth outlook on life, blended with a large helping of northern humour. The group were further blessed with the angelic voice of Lynda Meeks, whose vocal talent on either lead or backing vocals gave Fivepenny a unique sound. With the weight of Noel Gay pushing them, Fivepenny made regular inroads into television giving them a showcase for the burgeoning live act of ballads and comic songs which were by now filling clubs and concert venues. An unofficial sixth member Phil Barlow on drums completed the ensemble as the path towards greater fame beckoned.
1972 proved a landmark year with the release of Fivepenny’s first album, simply entitled The Fivepenny Piece. Produced by the highly respected Bob Barratt (who would mastermind the next four albums) the groups sound further augmented by strings and horns. It is an impressive debut containing the core of the Fivepenny repertoire with all self penned material, most by the Meeks / Radcliffe combo with guitarist and vocalist Eddie Crotty adding to the songwriting rosta. The album opener “Mountain Climber” is a perfect example of Fivepenny’s strengths, a snapshot of a life in the Pennines beautifully played and sung by the five, wistful with a tinge of melancholy became the bedrock of their ballad sound. The album is two distinct personalities, side one features some great ballads whereas side two concentrates on the Lanky, comedic songs in the Lancashire dialect with titles like ‘Ee By Gum’ and ‘They Tell Us Owt’ mostly performed by Eddie Crotty, a master raconteur. It also features a song that would become a signature recording and firm favourite with their fans: ‘Big Jim’. The story of a giant worm who is used in an angling competition, was attached to an infectious sing-a-long chorus:
Big Jim were a worm, were a great big worm, were a great big / bright red / bloody red worm / Large and fat, and just like a picture / Crossed with an eel and a boa constrictor / Fed him on whiskey, which made him frisky / On pies and a pint or two / Big Jim were a worm, were a great big worm, were a great big, beautiful, bloody red worm.
Perhaps inevitably, with a group sporting such a strong live following, in 1974 the group released their first live album, The Fivepenny Piece...On Stage. Recorded at the Broadoak Hotel (where else?), it proved to be a triumph and perhaps provided a definitive account of their talent. Outrageous comic songs ‘1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10’ and ‘Dieting’ were juxtaposed with the haunting Meeks / Radcliffe compositions ‘Brown Photographs’ and ‘Sing No More For You My Friends’ among others. In addition a cover of ‘If I Were A Carpenter’ showcased that they were a match for any folk group on the circuit. The album sold like hot cakes.
Wish You Were Here became
the fifth album
release in 1975.
The last incidentally to
carry the groups
name as The Fivepenny Piece,
they were simply
Fivepenny Piece from
here on in.
Primarily an album
group there were
a few single
releases on the
way, and in
1975 ‘Big Jim’
and ‘Ee By
Gum’ were re-recorded as
a single in
order to replace
the word ‘bloody’ with
‘ruddy’ making it
a much more
BBC friendly, and
therefore suitable for
airplay. As 1976 dawned the group were
honoured with an episode of the BBC2 retrospective The
Camera & The Song devoted to their
music. They even wrote a new song for the
programme, 'King Cotton', a haunting melody
telling the tale of the raise and fall of the
Lancashire cotton mills. It would become the
title track of their most successful commercial
album. The album would take its lead from
the BBC2 show by interspersing tracks with refrains
from 'Brown Photographs', the song that had debuted on
the 1974 live album. It gave the LP the feeling
of a larger work, almost a concept album.
Another song featured on the album was the ever
popular 'Watercolour Morning', perhaps the most
radio friendly song they ever recorded.
The group also landed themselves a residency on the
hugely popular BBC1 consumer show That's Life
fronted by Esther Rantzen, alternating
each week with Victoria Wood by providing a 'song of
the week'. With millions watching, is it
any wonder the King Cotton album climed to #9
in the UK album charts.
1979 saw the band's tenth and final album for EMI (or it’s subsidiaries Columbia and One-Up) with Peddlers Of Songs. It represented a new approach for the Fivepenny’s. There were no Crotty–led comic songs at all, and the songwriting credits show that only half of the material was self-penned by band members. But all the familiar harmonies were there, as a more sophisticated easy listening pop sound was attempted with pleasing results.
The loss of founder member and songwriter John Meeks was going to be a major one for the group as he left for pastures new. But the Fivepenny’s are a resilient bunch and they recruited Trevor Chance (who had been a winner on ATV’s New Faces in the 1970s). The new look group issued a couple of singles on Mike Records (a label about which little information can be found) in 1982. The first a patriotic medley of First World War songs ‘Tiperary / Pack Up Your Troubles / Keep The Home Fires Burning’ (presumably in response to the Falklands War raging at the time) and then ‘The Christmas Story’, a new composition by Chance and Colin Radcliffe.
The answer was of course, not on your Nellie! Sometime in the 1990s Eddie, George and Andrea joined up with Pete Brew and local legend Bernard Wrigley whose songs had been recorded on many a Fivepenny album to create a new version of the group. Although this line up didn’t last long, they did manage to release an album entitled 57 Fivepenny Favourites. Something of an anomaly in the Fivepenny canon, this recording didn’t feature any original material or celebrate the Lancashire culture that had been at the forefront of their LPs. It was instead a series of medleys of popular folk and pop songs which had been created in the studio by Wrigley and Brew, and the Fivepenny members were then brought in to add their vocal contributions.
The story doesn’t quite end there though. In the late noughties, John and Lynda Meeks produced a series of CDs with new material written by John coupled with some Fivepenny Piece classics. Among these releases was Where It All Began recorded before a live audience at the Ashton Under Lyne golf club reuniting with Eddie Crotty to bring a flavour of the original group back to the venue where it had all started. It proved to be a last glorious hurrah for the original group.
In
celebration of the 50th anniversary since the very
first Fivepenny Piece album was released, in
2022 a new CD The Lost Sessions was released
through this website containing session recordings by
the original group re-discovered and unheard for five
decades.
Sadly we have lost most of the original Fivepenny Piece now. George left us in 2002, Eddie in 2009 and Lynda in 2013. However they leave a fitting legacy of northern culture and a catalogue of songs detailing many aspects of life of an often by-gone age coupled with superb melodies, lyrics and harmonies. Their music has a timeless quality, as all the best folk music does, and will continue to be appreciated by generations to come. Let’s raise a glass to the fab five of Ashton-Under-Lyne, long may their tales of brown photographs and giant worms continue to be enjoyed.
