''Old School Songs'' is a studio

album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...

by singer-songwriter

Dave Cousins Dave Cousins (born David Joseph Hindson; 7 January 1945) is an English musician who has been the leader, singer and most-active songwriter of Strawbs since 1967. Career Cousins is a founder member of the Strawbs, which started out as the S ...

of the band

Strawbs Strawbs (or The Strawbs) are an English rock band founded in 1964 as the Strawberry Hill Boys. The band started out as a bluegrass group, but eventually moved on to other styles such as folk rock and progressive rock. They are best known fo ...

and

guitarist A guitarist (or a guitar player) is a person who plays the guitar. Guitarists may play a variety of guitar family instruments such as classical guitars, acoustic guitars, electric guitars, and bass guitars. Some guitarists accompany themselv ...

Brian Willoughby Brian Willoughby (born 20 September 1949) is a British guitarist. He has worked with many musicians, notably Dave Cousins and The Strawbs, Mary Hopkin, as well as releasing solo work. Discography (UK releases unless stated otherwise) Albums ...

. It was released in 1979 on Old School Records.

Track listing

All tracks written by Dave Cousins. #"

Grace Darling Grace Horsley Darling (24 November 1815 – 20 October 1842) was an English lighthouse keeper's daughter. Her participation in the rescue of survivors from the shipwrecked ''Forfarshire'' in 1838 brought her national fame. The paddlesteamer ...

" #"I've Been My Own Worst Friend" #"Ways and Means" #"You Keep Going Your Way" #"The Battle" #"The Hangman and the Papist" #"Hanging in the Gallery" #"Beside the Rio Grande" #"Josephine, For Better or for Worse" #"

Lay Down "Lay Down" is a single by the Strawbs which reached No. 12 in the UK Singles Chart in October 1972 - their first hit. It was included on their 1973 album '' Bursting at the Seams''. The lyrics are loosely based on the 23rd Psalm in the Old Test ...

" #"A Song for Me" On the original vinyl recording, side 1 comprised tracks 1–5, side 2 tracks 6–11

Bonus tracks

The Japanese re-issue contained two bonus tracks: #"You Never Needed Water" (Cousins) #"Song for Alex" (Cousins,

Tony Hooper Anthony Hooper (14 September 1939 – 18 November 2020) was an English folk singer-songwriter and musician. He was best known as a founder-member of Strawbs together with Dave Cousins and double bassist Ron Chesterman. He left The Strawbs ...

)

Personnel

*Dave Cousins –

lead vocals The lead vocalist in popular music is typically the member of a group or band whose voice is the most prominent melody in a performance where multiple voices may be heard. The lead singer sets their voice against the accompaniment parts of t ...

backing vocals A backing vocalist is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists. A backing vocalist may also sing alone as a lead-in to the main vocalist's entry or to sing a counter-melody. Backing vocalists are use ...

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

*Brian Willoughby – guitar

Recording

Studio tracks recorded at Music Works Live tracks recorded at the

Exmouth Exmouth is a harbor, port town, civil parishes in England, civil parish and seaside resort, sited on the east bank of the mouth of the River Exe and southeast of Exeter. In 2011 it had a population of 34,432, making Exmouth the List of town ...

Summer Festival on by Bob Pridden *Al Williams – engineer

Versions

vinyl Vinyl may refer to: Chemistry * Polyvinyl chloride (PVC), a particular vinyl polymer * Vinyl cation, a type of carbocation * Vinyl group, a broad class of organic molecules in chemistry * Vinyl polymer, a group of polymers derived from vinyl m ...

album SLURP1 (Old School Records, UK, 1979) *vinyl album PB2013 (Passport Records, US, 1980) *vinyl album PVC8901 (PVC Records, US, 1980) *CD RGF CD 004 (Road Goes On Forever, 1991) *CD RATCD 4218 (Muskrat, Japan, 2003) *CD WMCD 2051 (Witchwood Media, UK, 2011)

References

''Old School Songs'' on Strawbsweb
1979 albums Dave Cousins albums {{1970s-album-stub