From
the personal website of John Frame, Brisbane,
Australia – last updated 12th December 2011
A select few late 50’s vinyl records for
children which I loved as a child:
reading and singing selections from A.A. Milne’s “When We Were Very
Young” (World Record Club Childrens Series)
reading and singing selections from A.A.
Milne’s “Now We Are Six” (World
Record Club Childrens Series)
and
also reading and singing selections from “Hans Christian Andersen” (World Record Club Childrens
Series)
“Capt Burl Ives’ Ark”
(1958 Decca vinyl LP) and the 78rpm single from that album: “Quack, Quack, Paddle-Oh! /
Bongo And His Baboon Drum”.
See below for details of cover art, sleeve notes mp3 track selections
and access to the full mp3’s of my carefully restored transfers from vinyl.
Read the appreciative comments for assurance
that this is a safe page and genuine information.
David Tomlinson reading and singing “When We Were
Very Young”
World
Record Company 45rpm E.P.
This record is one that was a favourite
for my mother, as well as for myself and most of my
siblings.
In December 2002 my mother commented that she really
would love to hear this record again (our copy had been lost to a roadside
cleanup by an overzealous father). This is an exceptional recording that should
remain available to future generations – and enjoyed by everyone with a taste
for romance and whimsy.
I had checked everywhere on the internet and the only
reference I found was where I was fortunate in purchasing a quite good
condition copy (from
I’ve used my best digital skills, and put in about 60
hours of work, to clean up the recording and it sounds marvelous. Click here to listen to “Buckingham
Palace” as a 128kbps mono mp3 (1minute 45 seconds, 2mb).
I’m happy to
give the complete recording to anyone who is keen (email
me and request the URL for downloading the 11mb 128kps mono mp3 ). Further below I’ve included kind comments
from people around the globe who’ve enjoyed hearing this record again (or for
the first time).
Click each image for 200dpi full size images (approx
100k each)
Full
Cover text:
WHEN WE WERE
VERY YOUNG
Poems by A.A. Milne – Music by H. Fraser-Simpson
Featuring DAVID TOMLINSON,
With the
Conducted by Cyril Ornadel
SIDE ONE
Halfway Down
Politeness
Hoppity
The King’s Breakfast
SIDE TWO
Disobedience
Jonothon Jo
Happiness
Vespers
Featuring DAVID TOMLINSON. With the Westminster Concert Orchestra, conducted by Cyril Ornadel.
Musical Arrangements by John Gregory.
Music by H. Fraser-Simpson.
Lyrics by A. A. Milne.
A.A. Milne’s verses occupy a very special place in the
affections of all who are young in heart— and never more so than when matched
with the delightful music of H. Fraser-Simpson. This record of nine of the
best-loved poems and songs is the one that was hailed in the British press as
one of the finest children’s discs ever made. It is one of the World Record
Club’s exclusive series that won the London Evening News’ special award in open
competition in the children’s class.
This is a simple, gentle, bedtime
recording, beautifully spoken and sung by David Tomlinson, well-known
-British film actor and comedian. A father himself, Tomlinson has the rare
ability to talk intimately to small children on their own level without
appearing patronising.
On this disc, H. Fraser-Simpson’s famous music has
been specially re-arranged by John Gregory. The accompaniment is by the
full-sized Westminster Concert Orchestra, conducted by Cyril Ornadel, who is musical director of the famous London Palladium.
ANOTHER WORLD RECORD CHILDREN’S SERIES
With Dick
Bentley and John Gregory and his Orchestra
The
Children’s Record Guild of Australia
E.P. SPEED
45 CG7
In June 2010
I bought a near mint Australian pressing of this vinyl from Vinyl Solutions in
Melbourne and then spent about 40 hours in digital restoration fixing each of
the thousands of extraneous noises. I had never heard this record before, but
it is a truly wonderful performance and production. Hear a sample track, my
immediate favourite, “The Knight Whose
Armour Didn’t Squeak” as a 128kps mono mp3 (3minutes 14seconds, 3mb).
I’m happy to
give the complete recording to anyone who is keen (email
me and request the URL for downloading the 14mb 128kps mono mp3 ).
Total duration: 14m 14s
Click each image for 200dpi full size images (approx
400k each)
Full
Cover text:
“The Best Of A. A. Milne”
With Dick Bentley and John Gregory and his
Orchestra
The
Children’s Record Guild of Australia
E.P. SPEED
45 CG7
Side A:
1. The End
(0:35) (poem)
2. Twice
Times (2:10) (song)
3. A Thought
(0:24) (poem)
4. The
Emperor’s Rhyme (2:33) (song)
5. The Friend
(1:23) (song)
Side B:
6. Sneezles (1:51) (song)
7.
Wind On The Hill
(0:38) (poem)
8. The Knight Whose Armour Didn’t Squeak (3:14)
(poem)
9. Furry Bear
Song (1:23) (song)
The secret of
A. A. Milne seems to be his unerring instinct for reaching the very heart of childhood.
His characters, from Pooh Bear onward, act, talk, think and react just as
children expect them to do… with a devastating logic and candour that only
children seem to possess – and only too rapidly lose!
Even the
characters (not even excepting Christopher Robin) who
seem at times inconsequential; or those who seems much too subtle for children
to appreciate, awaken a ready response - and this above all is a measure of
Milne’s genius.
In this
recording, Dick Bentley sings his favourite songs, and tells his favourite
verses from Milne’s “Now We Are Six” – with original music written by John
Gregory, and with an engaging commentary between the items that makes the
record very much more than a mere recital. Dick Bentley’s voice and personality
are ideally suited to the purpose – warm and confiding – and there will be few
children who do not come to cherish this recording as one of their best-loved.
Previous
recordings of A. A. Milne’s works: “The Hums of Pooh” with Norman Shelley;
“When We Were Very Young” with David Tomlinson; are available from World Record
Club on R.4 and R.53. Items on “When We Were Very Young” include: They’re
Changing Guards at Buckingham Palace; The King’s Breakfast; Disobedience; Jonothan Jo; Vespers etc.
The
Children’s Record Guild of Australia sponsored by World Record Club Pty. Ltd.,
330 Flinders Lane, Melbourne, Australia.
Dick
Bentley reading and singing “Hans Christian Andersen”
World
Record Company 45rpm E.P.
My great thanks to Alice Lamy
for bringing this fine record to my attention at a time when a near mint copy
was still available from the same source in
I’m also happy
to give this complete recording to anyone who is keen (email
me and request the URL for downloading the 11mb 128kps mono mp3 ). Further below I’ve included kind comments
from people around the globe who’ve enjoyed hearing this record again (or for
the first time).
Click each image for 200dpi full size images (approx 400k
each)
Full
Cover text:
Hans Christian Andersen
With DICK BENTLEY
The Four-in-a-Chord Vocal group and Orchestra,
Specially arranged and conducted by John Gregory.
Produced by Cyril Ornadel.
Interpreted by Dick Bentley
The World Record
EP Speed 45 CZ51
SIDE ONE
“I’m Hans
Christian Andersen”;
“Thumbelina”;
“The King’s New Clothes”.
SIDE TWO
“The Ugly Duckling”
(hear a 128kps mono mp3 of this song);
“The
Inch Worm”;
“Wonderful Copenhagen”.
Andersen –
Teller of Tales
In the golden days of childhood, when the world was a
place where everything was probable and nothing impossible, the Danish
shoemaker’s son, Hans Christian Andersen, wove his magic web of words end
conjured up the Ugly Duckling, the Snow Queen, Thumbelina, Inch Worm and the
King who wears invisible clothes.
A few years age, Samuel Goldwyn, one of she great names in film production, decided in make a movie
about his
childhood hero — Hans Christian Andersen — with Danny Kaye in the title role.
And one of
Dick Bentley, the Australian entertainer who has
become one of the greatest stars of B.B.C. variety, both in radio and
television, has been chosen as the ideal interpreter for the fascinating songs
on this Club release. On his way from
Later, with the remarkable success of the B.B.C.
comedy show, “Take It From Here”, his name became a
house-hold word throughout the English speaking world.
The Four-in-a-Chord singing group which features in the special vocal
arrangements on this disc is a combination well known in British radio and
television. They are talented, they are versatile, and, as these songs
demonstrate, they have just what it takes for child entertainment.
Children’s records deserve the finest artists. For this reason, the World
Record Club release of “Hans Christian Andersen” presents not only top-tine
vocalists but also uses an orchestral backing from a full scale theatre
orchestra, the Westminster Concert Orchestra, conducted by brilliant young
musician John Gregory. And the whole production is supervised by Cyril Ornadel, the best known musical director in the British
stage world today.
The Club’s
series of children’s recordings, of which “Hans Christian Andersen” is a first
class example, won an award in open competition for recordings of the highest
merit in child entertainment.
“Listen
To The Wind” by Dick Bentley and others
World Record Club Childrens’
Series (Australian pressing) # CH2 (released 1956)
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Click each small image of
the front and back of the ep cover to view a detailed
200dpi 12cm x 12cm jpg file:
Here’s the full text from the back cover:
E.P. Speed 45 CH2
LISTEN TO THE WIND
A musical play
for children, with lyrics and music by Vivian Ellis.
SIDE ONE I’m a Naughty Gale Bird
Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star
Timothy’s Under the Table (hear this song as a 128kps mono 2Mb 2
minute mp3)
SIDE TWO When I Grow Up
The Bread and Butter Song
Listen to the Wind
Featuring Dick
Bentley, Vanessa Lee, Virginia Somers and Joan Hovis. Orchestrations and Vocal Arrangements from the original West End,
London, Production. Conducted by Cyril Ornadel.
“Listen to the Wind” is the
children’s own musical, with lots of simple and gay tunes and lyrics by Vivian
Ellis, who wrote such famous stage shows as “Bless the Bride”.
Recounting the story of its success, Vivian Ellis
recently said: “When my old friend and collaborator Ronald Jeans told me his
daughter had written a children’s play, and could she send it to me with a view
to writing some songs for it, my heart sank. But not for long! The play duly
arrived, and I was enchanted with it. It was first performed at the Oxford
Playhouse and was immediately bespoken by three West
End managers. Eventually it was acquired by the London Arts Theatre, and became
a hit-show overnight.”
The London Star’s famous theatre critic Robert Wraight wrote of it: “Move over, Peter Pan, Cinderella, St.
George and the Dragon! You, too, Noddy! Make room for
your newest rivals, Emma, Harriet and Jeremy—a youthful trio by whose
adventures you can’t fail to be enthralled!”
The three children are among the most delightful
characters you could wish to meet. The story tells how they were kidnapped,
with their grandmother, from their home in East Anglia, rescued by the Gale
Birds, and taken to the Kingdom of the Winds. There, they are captured by
Thunder Cloud, but eventually are rescued again and finally restored happily
back to their family and home.
That’s all you need to know to be able to listen to
the delightful songs on this record. The Gale Birds— messengers of the
winds—are summoned up by the youthful adventurers by a twice-chanted “Listen to
the Wind”. But one of the birds (a squadron-leader, at that!) falls into
disgrace because he contracts cramp. Hence the catchy song “I’m a Naughty Gale
Bird”.
“Timothy’s Under the Table”, “When I Grow Up” and
“Listen to the Wind” itself have very strong melodies—which, of course, is just
right for children, who like a tune that they can begin to sing immediately.
The orchestra on this lovely little disc is conducted
by Cyril Ornadel, which in itself is a guarantee of
quality.
ANOTHER WORLD RECORD – CHILDREN’S SERIES
World Record Club – Finest On Record
World Record Club Pty. Ltd., 330 Flinders Lane,
Melbourne, C.1., Phone MB5114
Burl Ives childrens records from 1958:
As a young child my parents bought us the 1955 Australian pressed
78rpm single "Quack Quack Paddle-Oh! / Bongo And His Baboon Drum",
which was my favourite 78rpm. In January 2005 I bought an average condition,
yet listenable, Australian pressing on the “Columbia”
label (#KO-1017) of the 78rpm 10” double A side
single by Burl Ives with orchestra
conducted by Jimmy Carroll:
“Quack,
Quack, Paddle-Oh!” (Schmertz –
Southern Music) and Bongo And His Baboon Drum” (Mayer & Otto – Columbia
Control)
Hear a 128kps mono
5mb mp3 of these two songs, taken from my carefully restored
transfer from a near-pristine imported USA pressing of the 17 track 33 1/3 RPM
vinyl LP “Capt. Burl Ives’ Ark”
(Decca DL8587) which I imported in January 2007. I've put a lot of work into
make it sound as perfect as possible, and it is a true “High-Fidelity” record.
Capt Burl Ives' Ark has never been released on CD, and is almost impossible to
find on vinyl.
To hear my 128kps mono 40mb mp3 of the complete restored Capt Burl Ives’ Ark record, then please
email
me requesting the URL.
I have included further below the complete text from the back of
the LP, and also scanned images of the album cover art - click each of these
small images to go to a 12cm x 12cm 200dpi jpg file:
Full
text from the back cover of the LP:
Decca Records DL 8587 LONG PLAY 33 1/3 RPM
Capt. Burl Ives’ Ark
FOLK SONGS WTH GUITAR
SELECTIONS INCLUDE:
Side One
1.
THE SQUIRREL Schmertz
1.
THE BESTIARY Arr: Burl
Ives
Burl Ives’ appeal to children is so
well known, that we need not comment. In these 17 songs, Burl has made a selection of a wonderful miscellany
of animal stories and songs. He has picked them from 3 sources — some are of today’s
vintage, written by some of the best writers in the children’s field — merry
and gay, with the sound of
contemporary music. Some are from the pen of Burl Ives himself — Some are
Burl’s versions of the old classics.
The songs to which Burl Ives wrote both words and
music are THE TENOR DOODLE-DOO, OLD MOBY DICK. MY OLD COON DOG and MISSOURI MULE.
Burl wrote the music for, and arranged in poetic form,
the list of animals in THE BESTIARY.
PROPER
CARE OF THIS RECORD will prolong its life and increase your listening
enjoyment: Keep in special protective polyflex
envelope when not in use; avoid handling playing surface; wipe with soft,
slightly damp cloth; set phono for proper needle and
turntable speed; check needle frequently for wear – if defective it can
permanently damage record.
This
DECCA Long Play Microgroove Record can be played only on 33 1/3 RPM instruments.
“Decca”,
“D” symbol, “Gold Label Series”, “Deccalite” and “New
World Of Sound” are the registered trademarks of Decca
Records, Inc. Printed in U.S.A.
Comments from the small band of passionate fans
of these records from around the world:
Susan Edmond,
(Australia) – 29thMarch 2013 - wrote:
Dear John,
Thank you so very much for your prompt response to my email. I am overjoyed and
have sat listening and singing along to this beautiful recording. Such gorgeous memories. I will now be able to play it to my
granddaughter. It is so very kind of you to share your hard work with people
such as myself. Wonderful that you could send a copy to the
Tomlinson family. David did such a warm and endearing recording, I
simply adore it.
Thank you again John, much appreciated,
Cheers,
Susan Edmond
Leslie Evers,
(USA) – 17thJune 2012 - wrote:
Dear John,
It is marvelous.
What a rush of memories this has brought back. Passing it on
to the children of my friends and children of my own age as well.
Thank you so much.
Leslie Evers
Brian Sibley,
(England, UK) – 4th June 2012 - wrote:
Hi, John,
Thank you for
all these! The Tomlinson is total joy!
Just for your
information, the sleeve credit is wrong in that Harold Fraser-Simson spelled his name without a 'p'. I have just taken
part in a programme about HF-S that is to be broadcast later this month.
Also much
enjoyed the Bentley recordings – as a child I used to listen to DB in the BBC
radio comedy show, Take it From Here. The restorations are fantastic.
I was also
very pleased to have the David Davis/Norman Shelley recording… DD ('Uncle
David') had a wonderful storytelling voice that I loved from my childhood listening
to what was then a daily radio show on the BBC called Children's Hour.
My very first radio programme was a 50th birthday celebration of Winnie-the-Pooh (1976) and I had the privilege of working
with Norman Shelley who provided the voices of Pooh, Piglet and Eeyore for me.
Thanks also
for the Bentley HCA, the Juliet Mills Alice (within Addinsell's
charming music) and Burl Ives fab animal songs.
Jo Morrish, (England, UK) – 9th
May 2012 -
wrote:
Hello John
Your images and downloads have brought tears to my
eyes. I have been trying to track a copy of Dick Bentley’s ‘When we were very
Young’ for such a long time to share with my own children as my parents did
with me. I have old vinyl copies of these records and would love to get hold of
a copy of all of your downloads.
The sound coming out of my speakers, sent shivers of
excitement down my spine and seeing the images of the records was quite
haunting as I remember them all with such fondness and love.
The Burl Ives records I would love to listen too as
well if you don’t mind. Again, his voice brings back such beautiful memories of
childhood that I would love to share with my own 3 boys.
If I am being too cheeky in asking for all downloads,
I will not mind at all. However, listening to Twice Times again would be quite
special.
I thank you with all of my heart in anticipation.
Jo Morrish
Emile Pandolfi, (USA) – 27th June 2011 -
wrote:
Thank you,
John,
Yes i got the files and was able to save them. How kind of you
to share hem. The sound quality is gorgeous - I know that took a good deal of
careful work, and the result is lovely.
Thanks again.
I shall enjoy these with my grand children.
emile
Emile Pandolfi, (USA) – 27th June 2011 -
wrote:
Thank you,
John,
Yes i got the files and was able to save them. How kind of you
to share hem. The sound quality is gorgeous - I know that took a good deal of
careful work, and the result is lovely.
Thanks again.
I shall enjoy these with my grand children.
emile
Sue Mathews, (UK) – 31st May
2011 - wrote:
Dear John,
Thank you so
much for taking time to do this. I am so grateful. Saving using Internet
Explorer was absolutely no problem.
Its about 60 years since I heard these
songs. As a child I used to have them on 78 rpm and i
would play them endlessly. I don't think it was Dick Bentley or David Tomlinson
on my original, but the sounds/songs and tunes sound very very
similar.
Now children
and grandchildren can benefit.
Many many thanks,
Sue
Christina Hall – 8th May
2011 - wrote:
I loved this as a kid and just seeing
the cover art made my heart skip a couple of times after all these years. If
you have a chance please send the url
so that I can download the whole EP and share it with my kids. The David
Tomlinson rendition is by far the best and I especially liked 'Disobedience'.
Thank
you!
Sandra
Fairbanks, (USA) –
6th May 2011 - wrote:
Thank
you so much! I am very happy to hear the songs again!
Sandy
Eric Julien, (USA) – 1st May 2011 -
wrote:
Dear John,
Thank you so
much for these files! My mother, who passed away three years ago, dearly loved
A. A. Milne poetry and read it to me as a child. She gave me the record by David
Tomlinson, which I accidentally melted under a hot desk lamp. I romanced my
wife by taking her out for a picnic in Golden Gate Park in San Francisco and
recited poems from When We Were Very Young and Now We Are Six. Both of my
children grew up with the poetry, because I recited it to them at bed time.
Your careful restoration of the David Tomlinson recordings are truly
wonderful. They are extremely clean with no hint that they were once on vinyl.
I must confess that the Royal Wedding on BBC got me singing "They're
Changing the Guard at Buckingham Palace" to my wife. I went online and
looked, very hopefully, tried to find a way to recover the lost music when I
found your site. The music is playing as I write this to you. A control-click
on my Macbook Pro gave me the option to send the file
directly to iTunes. Clean, simple and very easy.
Again, thank
you, thank you, thank you!
Eric Julien
Blanchard
Weber, (USA) –
27th/30th April 2011
- wrote:
Greetings, and many thanks for maintaining this valuable
site.
I grew up listening to (and singing) Milne's poetry and Fraser-Simpson's
musical settings and would love to accept your kind offer of the URL(s) for
downloading "The Best of A. A. Milne" and "When We Were Very
Young".
….
Many
thanks, John!
The recordings are just what I was looking for and technically above reproach
as well.
They will be duly burned to CD and saved for posterity.
(Let's hope that CD technology doesn't soon go the way of 78s and LPs.)
May you and all the others who preserve important bits of culture be eternally
rewarded!
Best regards,
Blanchard
Carole Michie, (NZ) – 3rd/4th April 2011 - wrote:
Hi,
these bought back memories for me and my 8 year old has just fallen for
AA Milne in a big way, so I’d love to share them with her. If you could link me
to the URL, I’d be very grateful.
…
Hi
John,
completely fabulous. Thank you very much for bringing me back such treasured
memories and allowing me to share them. You are a hero.
Carole
Roland Verhoven, (UK) – 14th March 2011 -
wrote:
Dear John
I have just come from singing Vespers
to my 7 year old daughter and she asked me about how I learnt it; I have a copy of the original record on your site,
but alas it was accidentally stepped upon by my father many years ago and
though I have kept it, I cannot access the wonderful music therein.
I would be grateful if you would let
me have the url to download
the tracks from 'when we were very young' as I am sure even the older kids will
enjoy hearing these songs in the format that originally enchanted me.
Many thanks.
Kind regards
Roland
“Nahantjen”, (USA?) –
15th/16th February 2011 - wrote:
Hi,
I found online that you had converted these songs to MP3 format. I
wanted to know if you could send them to me. My father used to have this album
when he was young and I wanted to have it for my children to listen to.
Thank You Again,
…
Thank you. It will be priceless to see my Dad's face when the kids
know the same songs he listened to when he was young.
Steven Eiler, (USA) – 3rd February 2011 -
wrote:
Might
I have a copy of this recording, please? Milne's Pooh books are my favorite children's literature, and I'm just now discovering
that there is music to go with them, too! I am a composer (and specifically a
songwriter) myself, and would very much like to hear how such songs have been
arranged and performed. Thank you for putting in all the time to make these
recordings available!
-Steven Eiler
Claire Clorie, (Minnesota, USA) – 1st and
2nd February 2011 -
wrote:
Hello John,
I’ve just
come across this website and am absolutely thrilled! My younger brothers
and I listened to these records back in the wonderful 50’s.
They bring back very fond and happy memories, especially of rainy days and
of the long snowy winters of Minnesota when we always had the records
going while working puzzles or playing with paperdolls.
I’ve been looking for these for over 7 years, when the grandchildren
started coming. Halfway Down the Stairs, The
Christopher Robin lullaby, and of course, “I only want a little bit of butter
for my bread”, which always confounds the people around the table when I
ask to pass the butter. This is an amazing, wonderful gift and I thank
you deeply.
I pray you
and yours are surviving the devastating flooding and cyclone threats and that
the sun will shine soon.
….
Oh John -
they're perfect!! Thank you, thank you, thank
you! I just sent them along to my little brothers in Minnesota. The yougest one used to sing 1/2 Way to his kids when they were
little. I know they never expected in a million years to ever hear these
wonderful gems again. I can't wait to hear back from my brothers
-Â Â they're not going to believe it.
…
You have
absolutely made my year!
Gratefully
Yours,
Claire
Megan Crowhurst, (Texas, USA) – 22nd and
23rd January 2011 -
wrote:
Greetings,
I grew up on David Tomlinson’s recording of “When We Were Very Young”. It
was such a family favourite that it was the only recording that survived our
emigration from Oz to Canada in 1968. I enjoyed hearing
Buckingham Palace again, and would very much like to
have access to your recording, if possible.
…
It DOES sound great! Loved to death indeed.
In the mid 60’s when I was about 4, my mother often put me in what seemed
then to be an enormous stuffed chair in the lounge room and played this record.
I’d sit enraptured, listening to it, looking at the cover. Thank
you so much for this tremendous gift. I also enjoyed looking at the queer
radio site; nice to see how the younger set are
carrying the torch.
All best,
Megan
Shari
Steinberg, (Philadelphia, PA, USA) – 20th January 2011 -
wrote:
Hi
John!
How perfectly amazing that we are on opposite sides of the world, and we both
love AA Milne and want to share what we can. It is past 2 am, Thursday, Jan
20th, and I can barely go to bed, wanting to stay at my computer to listen and
sing along with the gift you just sent so generously.
I will share it onward to a friend for his 60th birthday tomorrow.
He is a wonderful baritone and might like to sing along too.
I hope that your countrymen can recover from the horrible floods. How can there
be such delight in one place, and such devastation
elsewhere at the same time too?
Again, thank you for your splendid work and the joy in bringing the world the
wonders of a 'hoppity hop' for our reminiscing and
amusement.
"Little boy kneels," and maybe I'll go off now too.
Thank you so much!
Shari
Ted Martin – 10th
January 2011 - wrote:
Hi
I came across your site and nearly
fell out of my seat. This was one of my favorite albums when I was a kid. I still know all of the songs by heart and
sing them to my daughter,
I would love to be able to download the album and let her hear
those songs as I did.
Thank you very much
Ted
Martin
Gerard Wong, (Singapore) –
10th January 2011 -
wrote:
Dear John
Hi, I'm Gerard from Singapore.
I chanced upon your website and was delighted to read that you have just the
recordings that my mother-in-law has been hunting for.
I would like to ask if you can send me the link to the two records ie
1. David Tomlinson's "When We Were Very Young" and
2. Dick Bentley singing 'Hans Christian Andersen"
I can't wait to put the recordings on a CD and then watch my mother-in-law's
face when I play it as a surprise for her.
Thank you so much in advance.
Yours sincerely
Gerard Wong
Isobel Clowes, (New Jersey, USA) – 3rd
January 2011 – wrote (nearly a year
after my first reply):
Dear John
Your email has been sitting in the in box since you were so kind to answer my
inquiry Re the songs. So this morning at the crack of
dawn. I opened it again! The recording is wonderful!
I would absolutely love having a copy. I
thank you for your kind offer and hope it still stands after all this
time!
My now 6 year old Granddaughter, Madison, and I used to descend the stairs
each day, when she was learning to come down sitting,
singing the Stair Song--she was "very young" too. She knew all
the words and started singing as well. She is the last and fourth of my
two children and 2 grandchildren to have enjoyed these songs. But I am
forgetting the early days of my teaching when I first discovered Christopher Robin Saying his Prayers in sheet music
which I taught to my classes in Quebec just after the War. I still have
that!
When I thought that we had lost the music book, I went online a found early editions to replace it. Priceless
to me. As the years went on, she had her favourites for me to
sing--my old voice barely able to do justice to them.
Isobel Clowes
Adam Wilson, (Australia) –
2nd January 2011 - wrote:
This was my favourite record
for bed-time as a child. I have spent weeks searching for it – and have now
found it. Thank you for posting The Knight Who’s Armour
Didn’t Squeak – I would appreciate the link to the full publication. My memory
tells me that he (or an actor with a similar voice – perhaps Ian Carmichael),
also recorded the Winnie-the-Pooh stories – do you have those too?
Best regards
Adam
Anne Marie
Whittaker, (USA) –
1st December 2010 -
wrote:
G'Day!
I'm writing from
Alexandria, VA USA (I'm just a few miles from Washington, DC).
I would very
much like to have the URL's for the records and God bless you for offering
this; it shall be my Christmas present for myself!
Hope you are
enjoying your spring and have a very happy holiday!
Anne
Marie Whittaker
Dan Hamill, (USA) – 27th/28th November 2010 - wrote:
Hi,
I listened to David Tomlinson's
"When We Were Very Young" and Dick Bentley's "Hans Christian
Anderson" when I was young. I have been looking to find these to play for
my grandchildren.
Would you please forward a link to
download these recordings.
…
Thank you very much. I listen to these
and I'm 6 again.
Dan
Reg Gillard, (Australia) – 22nd October 2010 -
wrote:
John,
Thanks for
the feed.
We have a
meeting of oldies tomorrow and we are reliving some of their earlier Years.
Regards,
Reg
Barbara
Schultz, (USA?) –
23rd July 2010 - wrote:
My sisters and I listened to this album again and again as children. I recently
remembered singing Halfway Down while sitting on my grandma's curved stairway
and began to look for the music. I would so appreciate sharing it with my
grandchildren. Thanks for your willingness to share!
Barbara Schultz
Karen,
(USA?) – 22nd March 2010 - wrote:
I saw your
website and am deeply appreciative for your hard work restoring the
record. I would love to have this recording for my grandchildren. I
loved it as a child and played it for my children until the record was broken,
sadly. It was the most beautiful of all works written for
children and I am hopeful to continue the tradition!
Thanks,
Karen.
And
on 16th June 2010 she wrote:
Many thanks
John...I so enjoyed hearing them all again. I did notice some changes to
Disobedience from the original recording we had, but it just seemed like a
slightly faster version. It is incredible that I remember all the words
from my childhood...this is amazing work and God bless for sending this
out! I plan to share this with others so that it can be remembered
always. Karen
NB: I had told Karen
that the only embellishment I added was to enhance one “s” sound in the last
poem Vespers – in the line “and nobody
knows that I’m there at all”. My Luxman
turntable has a stroboscope pitch control and I made sure the pitch was perfect
while I recorded both sides of the record.
Oh you are so wonderful and generous to make these
recordings available and for free!! I would gladly pay for them. Would
you please send me a link for both When
We Were Very Young and Hans
Christian Andersen?
I too listened to them as a child in Vermont in the
1960's and don't think I have heard them for 35 or 40 years and still they
are fresh and funny and still make me want to listen. What a shame that they
are not in production. Your sound is amazing - probably much clearer than
I ever heard on our little phonograph in the upstairs hall playing our old
scratched records. Thank you for your truly monumental labor of
love. I shall pass them on to my sisters and their children to listen
to and hopefully help create another generation of children who loves
something other than the Disney versions of stories and fairy tales.
Yours Gratefully,
Thea in
Peter
Wilkes – 1st February 2010 - wrote:
I was
delighted when searching the web to find this superb record on your site. This
was a firm favourite in our home when I was young.
Myself and my two older brothers elder brothers used to march around the house
to
Now that we are all grown up (58, 55 and 46) I thought it would be nice to have
a copy of the recording for my own son. I would like to let him enjoy it to.
Please can you email me the link so I can download it, and share this superb
experience with him.
…
What can I say? Superb! Excellent quality on both recordings, I'm sure we will have
many hours of listening to these, me reminiscing, my boy laughing and gurgling
along, can't wait!
Many many thanks again,
All the best
Pete Wilkes
Valerie
Clowes,
Hi there,
Oh my goodness, I can’t believe I tripped over your
web info about “When we were very young” –someone put a link to it at
Mudcat.org. Our family had this record when I was a child. My mother also
played piano and sang several songs from (her mother’s) book by the same title,
and also from Now We Are Six. I have the books now, but don’t play piano.
If the old recordings are available for download I
would truly love to hear these again!
Still shaking head in amazement,
And with a goofy grin on my face,
Valerie Clowes.
Paul
Freeman,
I'd be very grateful if you could send me
the link for this. I work at a Montessori school & the theme this term is
Celebrations & we'd like to mark A. A. Milne's birthday on Monday.
Paul Freeman.
…
You're very kind. We had them singing
along to '
Thanks again,
Paul.
I replied :
Hi
Paul,
Glad
to hear you all had a good time. After growing up with these AA
Milne recordings I can't read them and imagine them working in
any other arrangement. On the technical side, here's how I processed my
recordings of these vinyl records:
I
used a Luxman P284 direct drive turntable with Shure M92E cartridge, connected to a Luxman
L30 integrated circuit amplifier. All "vintage"
1970/80's HiFi gear. The audio was transferred
to PC via Line In and edited using the CoolEdit2000 software program.
"CoolEdit2000"
was designed by Syntrillium as a very good quality
and low cost (~ US$100) version of their professional program "CoolEditPro". Adobe acquired Syntrillium
in 2003 and did away with the lower cost product, renaming the
professional product as "Audition" (now US$350).
CoolEdit2000 was
sold as a basic single stereo file editor, but with the option to buy
add-on packs for multi-track editing (up to four simultaneous stereo tracks)
and for noise reduction. For both of these records I used the noise-reduction
features extensively - especially the option in the "Click/pop/crackle
eliminator" to carefully fix each individual noise (pop, click etc -
and there were several hundred on each), without damaging the integrity of the
original recording.
These
are mono records which were played using a stereo cartridge and sometimes a
noise is only in the left or right channel, and to fix it you copy the audio
from the clean channel to both. At other times you can copy the split
second before the unwanted noise and paste it over the damaged area. It's a
small victory to fix a glaringly obvious noise to the point where no-one could
ever tell it existed in the first place.
Most
(if not all) of the automatic audio cleaning programs are quite
indiscriminate - they cannot accurately distinguish between the range of
unwanted noises and the audio which was meant to be there, and if you
do adjust the program to automatically eliminate all of the
audible noises, the end result is often unpleasant at best.
Martin
Griffith – 1st October 2010 - wrote:
Hi John,
Thank you so much
for the files. You have done an excellent job with cleaning up the files. My
parents were members of the world record club and we had the 7" disks.
When I sing these songs or recite the poems I always remember the extra bits
from the records. When my children were little I used to sing the songs to
them myself. I did have one of the disks which had survived but it was not in
great condition. I am very pleased that someone has taken the time to restore
them. Using a book is not the same because half the fun is singing the song
version.
To download
the files on the Mac it is exactly the same. ie. right click (They may
look like a single button mouse but the current ones are not. People with older
single button mice should simply hold down control while the click) The files can be imported to iTunes or Quicktime.
I thought
there was also a red disk which had some Winnie the
Pooh songs. I was wondering aloud "What did happen on Friday?" to my
daughter and her 4 week old son today. Oh bother, I remember it well and I
think David Tomlinson say it too.
Regards
Martin
Griffith
Carol
Hardiment,
Hi
I am living with my Granddaughter, her husband & 2
Great Grandchildren and I would love to have the complete record of "Dick Bentley - Hans Christian Andersen". I
really would appreciate the link and if possible, also the link for the
record "David Tomlinson - When We Were Very Young".
Thank you so much for your help and co-operation
Kind Regards
Carol
Esther
Howe,
Hi there,
I would love to download this album. I listened to it as a child and would like
to share it with my kids. :)
…
It's a lovely
recording. Thank you very much for all your work cleaning it up and getting it
into digital format.
Best,
Esther
Esther Howe
Kay
Russell – 5th January 2010 - wrote:
Dear John,
I have been
searching for ages for the records from the World Record Club that we listened
to as children. Tonight I stumbled upon your work and am delighted, no,
thrilled to find it. Please send me the URLs for When We Were Very Young and
also for Hans Christian Anderson. Do you have any others? In particular I
remember records on the lives of Mozart, Beethoven and Chopin.
Waiting in excited anticipation, Kay.
PS. I have never downloaded or listened to MP3s so if there are any
instructions I need to follow please let me know. Thanks.
Pat
Griffin,
Hello,
Wow, I’m so lucky to have found you!
I am 52 years old and *still* have these songs in my head. I had the 33 album
in the
US as a child, with the Hans Christian Andersen songs
on one side and the Milne songs on the other… I would so appreciate
you
forwarding me the links to both of these!
....
Wonderful - thanks so much! These
are the exact recordings of my childhood, with even better sound quality!
Your hard work in restoring these
recordings is much appreciated!
Happy Holidays,
Pat
Maggie
Kent – 16th November 2009 - wrote:
Dear John
Thank you so much for your incredibly
prompt response and fantastic recording. I can barely believe that I now have a
copy of a cherished childhood memory and can share the wonderful recording, not
only with my own children, who are now teenagers, but with my new pupils at
primary school. Know that through your careful work and generous gift a whole
new generation will be able to enjoy these poems and stories afresh.
Very many thanks and best wishes
Maggie
John,
Thanks for the reply! So here is the
deal, I was using IE, not firefox but for some reason
the Save Target As was not available from the email. Quick time player
set itself as the default player for those files and I
think that may have had something to do with it. I opened Windows Media
Player and selected File… Open URL and pasted the link in there. It
started playing and as it was playing I could choose file Save As in Media
player and got it to save locally! Wanted you to know in case someone
else runs into eh same problem.
This IS the record I had as a child and I
LOVED it. Not sure if you are gay, but I am guessing so from the Queer
Radio website (great stuff), but I am, and grew up to be a performer in Musical
Theatre. I listened to and sang along with these albums constantly as a
child. When our family home was sold, this is one of the records that got
given or sold away. At the time it was no big deal but now that my
husband and I have a daughter (3 ½) I have been hunting for a copy of this
album since the day she was born. You have NO idea how many thrift stores
I hunted through!
WHAT A JOY to be able to share this with
her and tell her daddy used to listen this when he was young.
Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!!
All my best!
Christina
and Denis Daly,
Dear
Mr Frame,
Thank
you for the links. Your generosity in putting in all the hours of work and then
passing it on freely to others is much appreciated and will no doubt produce
a ‘ripple effect’ that will delight many children in years to come.
I
loved hearing ‘The King’s Breakfast’ again with David Tomlinson’s wonderful
character voices, and my other personal favourites are ‘Disobedience’ and
‘Halfway Down’.
The
Hans Christian Anderson songs are great fun and very uplifting.
My
husband has just gone off to post a CD of the songs to our little granddaughter
Tilly (Matilda), and we have included a note saying how special these are, with
an outline of all the work you have done to make these available.
Hopefully
she will love listening to them as well.
Thank
you once again,
Christina
Carolyn Schlemmer, Ohio, USA – 20th September 2009
- wrote:
Dear John,
When my sister and I were very young, we listened to this exact recording (in
vinyl of course) and it turned both of us into lifelong raging
anglophiles. I have hunted and hunted for it for my grandchildren.
Listening to "Changing Guard at
Carolyn Schlemmer
Sheila
Wilner, NY, USA – 31st
August 2009 - wrote:
Dear John,
Thank you for such a speedy reply and
accompanying treasure! My mother read me these poems when I was little
and 65 years later, I love them just as much. The music is absolutely
charming and the artists are perfect. If only there were more such
offerings for children of all ages.
Congratulations on your magnificent
endeavors.
(…)
I'll never get to sleep........I've been
singing Hans Christian Anderson all evening!
Thank you, thank you, thank
you!
Most sincerely,
Sheila
Laura P. Fernández,
Dear Mr. Frame,
You have made a dream come true. My sister and I have
been looking for this album since forever. She is an avid Mudcatter
and just sent me your link.
Those songs go so very far back in our lives (I'm 61)
and they float in and out of my mind. Thank you for making this
"whimsy" available. I would be grateful if you could send me the
attachment of the file.
(…)
Thank you so much for this very speedy reply. I have
saved the files and am enjoying them already.
I also remember the Danny Kaye record very clearly.
Sadly, all these treasures had been lost along the way, until now.
Thanks again and best of luck in your endeavors.
Laura
Matt Hamlin
(UK) – 21st July 2009 - wrote:
That's so
kind of you John, And it IS a very good piece of
restoration! I don't do any restore work myself ( my
wife does photos) but I am a network engineer so appreciate what you're up
against. I don't think the original record was as clear when it was brand
new!!
My wife has a
childhood book of AA Milne poems so I couldn't wait to play her this! I used to
tell her about it but I don't think it sunk in until now.
…
My family
also had a World Record Club Hans Christian Anderson record - it had the
"I'm Hans Christian Anderson" song on it. You know I can't remember the
others! I think this record became unplayable when I was old enough to hear it ( I'm the last of 5 children so I think my siblings wore it
out ).
There was
also a 45RPM ( World Record Club? I don't know?) called Songs Of The Sea.
Don't know if
you know it.
Don't know if
you're interested but a family friend used to buy me the Thunderbird and
Stingray records. It is to my regret that they are no more. Nevermind
I guess. You may remember how expensive records used to be. Phew! They were
some presents!
Good luck
with this restoration but I don't think you need any luck given the quality of
this.
many thanks again - you really have
resurrected this work for another generation and probably more..
Matt
Heather Doyon
(Australia) – 16th July 2009 - wrote:
Dear John,
Please oh
please send me the file for When we were very young.
It has been so many years since I have heard this. It was a prized possession
of mine that vanished from home. Mum must have had a clean up! Listening to
I can’t wait
to get it. I am so excited tonight.
…
Thank you so much
it’s a wonderfully clear recording. It takes me right back to growing up
in our house of 7 kids where we didn’t have much but you could play a record
over and over again for free. I have sent it to my mother and sisters already.
Many thanks
Heather Doyon
David Mellonie (Australia) – 12th
July 2009 -
wrote:
Hi
John.
What a
surprise!
I've recently
moved house, and am unable to find my record of When we were very young – I
assume it's in storage (I hope), but I can't find it.
I would really
like to be able to play the recording to my grand-daughter, who loves music,
and I think she would get as much enjoyment from it as I always have since my
father bought it for me, and as my daughter has.
If you could
send me a digital copy, that would be fantastic, and I'll hopefully be able to
burn it to a cd sometime.
Wonderful
that you managed to spend the time recording it for posterity!
Kind
regards
David Mellonie
Cristie Hutchison (Australia) – 22nd
June 2009 - wrote:
Hi John,
Thank you so much for your speedy reply. I
must apologise for my lack of niceties in my email
yesterday. My mother and I were so excited to find your file that I just
quickly shot off that email before I served up dinner. Later I realised that it was very abrupt, I'm sorry.
I grew up listening to my mother sing
these poems (my favourite is "Halfway up the
stairs" and "James James Morrison Morrison")
and it was only recently that I asked how did she learn the tunes? And
she told me it was a very fond memory from her childhood of her
grandmother getting out the record. So in this amazing day of everything at
your fingertips I hopped onto google. Unfortunately I
was not getting any joy. I saw a record in
I agree, it does
seem remiss that no record company has released a digitally remastered
cd, when you walk past the bargain bins I can't
believe some of the stuff they waste their time on!
Thanks again.
Kind regards Cristie
Hutchison
John - thank you so much!! Listening to this brought
so many memories back. I'm sure my daughter will love it too. The Kings
Breakfast is one which I quote often. It still gives me a hunger for a thick
slice of toast with butter and marmalade :)
Thanks for making this available - I'm sure it would otherwise have disappeared
altogether.
Tim
Alice Lamy, France – 16th June and 23rd
July 2009 - wrote:
Hello!
I found your
page via a lyrics site forum. When We Were Young is a
record that I have been searching for about 2 years! I didn't get very
far, as I didn't know the name of the man who narrated and sang, or the record
company, much less!
I perfectly remember each song and the
fact that the singer had an English accent and that there were choruses on
certain songs and an orchestral type of arrangement.
So...........all to ask - would you send
me the URL for the entire recording?
That would be very generous of you, as my sister has kept equally fond memories
of this record.
We are American, and both our parents were
very musically inclined.
We must have listened to this record around
the age of 8 or 9, say, in '64 or '65, and much longer.
I'd really appreciate it !
I would love to find an old copy of the record, as you did, but I'm not really
counting on it.
Thank you very much!!!!
…I love the Tomlinson record - it's just just so - neither maudlin nor
ridiculously child-pandering, as so often children's records can be. It
is charming poetry sung to charming melody. My children are 25 and 23
and were brought up in
Once again, thank you for offering your recording - it
IS a good copy. Good job!
And on 23rd July 2009 Alice wrote regarding
the Dick Bentley “Hans Christian Andersen” record, which I only found because
of her passionate prompting:
Hey, John,
Thank you for
sending me a version you've pampered so lovingly! and
with obvious technical skill. It's good to have such a passion.
Fabulous!
regards,
Rae and Mike
Huston,
Dear
John,
Thankyou so much for your kindness in sending this to us. Our daughter and her
husband were with us for lunch today and she and her Dad started reminiscing
over childhood rhymes and they both started reciting all of When We Were Very
Young. It was lovely. Our daughter is thirty three and pregnant with her first
and they are twins (much excitement). The record that we have was my husbands
as a child and he knew it backwards and forwards, and when our daughter was
born he played it to her and the two of them recited it from it seems day one.
She will be thrilled that there is now a copy of this loved piece that she can
play when her little ones are born. This is the “stuff” that makes for
traditions and creates the magic of childhood.
Thankyou again so much for your kindness.
Very
best regards,
Rae and Mike
Joanne
MacLaughlan,
My dear Mr. Frame,
I am listening to the album as I write to you to say thank you.It
is fantastic! Exactly how I remember it but your copy is far better
than the one I listened to as a child in
My mom exposed my sisters and I to poetry and music as
children and was surprised I was still looking for this album. When my
children were young I read A.A.Milne to them but they
missed out on this great audio which I couldn't find.
For years I thought Danny Kaye was the artist who read and sang
these poems. David Tomlinsons' voice was
and still is enchanting to listen to.
I can't thank you enough for sharing not just the music but the memories
this album brings back!
Peace Love and Laughter
Joanne MacLaughlan