The Silkie

This article is about the English folk group. For the science fiction novel by A. E. van Vogt, see The Silkie (novel).

The Silkie were an English folk music group. Their name derived from an Orcadian song The Great Silkie of Sule Skerry, which they sometimes performed. They were briefly considered to be the English equivalent of Peter, Paul and Mary, with their common repertoire of Bob Dylan songs, and the original Australian folk group, The Seekers.^{[citation needed]}

Early days

The original quartet were Hull University students and consisted of Sylvia Tatler (vocals), Mike Ramsden (guitar and vocals), Ivor Aylesbury (guitar and vocals) and Kevin Cunningham (double bass). Their first recording was a flexi disc produced in 1964 for Rag Week at Hull University. This consisted of 3 tracks  — one side featured "John Henry" and "All My Sorrows" with "Blood Red River" on the other side. They were most at home performing folk-style cover versions of songs, especially Bob Dylan compositions. Following graduation that year, they spent the summer working at the Devon Coast Country Club in Paignton, Devon, where they also performed most evenings on stage in the ballroom. Coincidentally, another musician also working there at that time was Liverpudlian Rod Pont (1942–2000), whose last band (Steve Day and the Drifters) had already played at The Cavern alongside The Beatles and had just split up following a stint at the Top Ten Club in Hamburg during the previous autumn.

In early 1965, after appearing at the Cavern Club in Liverpool and performing alongside the The Spinners, they were signed up by Brian Epstein who subsequently appointed Alistair Taylor as their manager. Their first single in June 1965, "Blood Red River", reached # 14 on the Wonderful Radio London Fab 40, but failed to make any impression on the national chart. However, with help from The Beatles, they followed this up with a Lennon–McCartney composition which became their one and only chart hit.

Chart success

The group were directly helped and supported by John Lennon, Paul McCartney and George Harrison to record their cover version of "You've Got to Hide Your Love Away" on 9 August 1965 at the IBC Studios at around the same time as The Beatles' own version was being released on their album Help! The song charted in the UK at # 28 and also reached # 10 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 in the same year. Lennon produced while McCartney played the guitar and Harrison kept time by tapping his guitar and also playing the tambourine. When the recording was completed, Lennon was so pleased with it that he rang Brian Epstein, played it over the phone to him, and told him that they had just recorded a Number 1 hit.^{[citation needed]}

The Silkie had been scheduled to tour the United States in December 1965 and had even been booked to appear on both the Ed Sullivan Show and American Bandstand, but were unable to obtain the necessary visas and work permits so the tour was subsequently cancelled. After two further singles released in 1966 failed to make either the UK or US charts, the original Silkie line up finally split up.

Valediction

Mike Ramsden and Sylvie Tatler had already married in January 1966 and they subsequently continued to perform as a duo version of The Silkie for over 35 years (sometimes with their children) and often appeared at their local pub, The Cott Inn at Dartington, Devon. Ramsden also guested as a vocalist on the album Western Flier, alongside the 20 year old keyboard player Mike Batt, recorded in 1969 by the proto-psychedelic folk band Hapshash And The Coloured Coat. Ramsden received a kidney transplant in 1993, but prematurely died in January 2004 at the age of 60, after a long battle with kidney disease.

A retrospective sixteen track album entitled You've Got To Hide Your Love Away was reissued on CD 30 years after the original group had disbanded in 1966. A track listing, together with brief audio samples, can be found here Midomi.com (click on the individual track song titles).

Singles

• "Blood Red River" - June 1965
• "You've Got to Hide Your Love Away" - October 1965 - UK Singles Chart # 28, Billboard Hot 100 # 10
• "Keys to My Soul" - February 1966
• "Born to Be with You" - June 1966