This week’s episode of The People’s Songs may well qualify as another in a run of luck (or is it a sinister masterplan by Mr Maconie?), for the last three shows have seen an amazing amount of synchronicity in the subject matter that we’ve chosen. Recession, protest, political strife and victory – all have been mirrored in 2013’s headlines. And in this week that sees Her Majesty celebrate her 87th birthday we hit the jackpot again with a look at the year that the celebration of her coronation finally took place: 1953.
Of course we had the Golden Jubilee last year, marking the official date of Queen Elizabeth II’s ascendance to the throne following the death of her father, George VI (6th February 1952). But once the mourning was over (and let’s remember how the King had led the country through its darkest years) it was time for the country to celebrate.
As you’ll hear from this week’s contributors, those celebrations for anyone who couldn’t join the crowds in London took the form of street parties (as they still do). Slowly the grip of post-war austerity and rationing was lessening. In fact, the rationing of eggs and sugar stopped in the coronation year, making the baking of cakes even easier!
June talks about the amazing 'crown' cake her mum made in 1953 for the coronation
And along with the end of rationing came the invention of something else to bind the country together: The singles chart. Suddenly young people could afford recordings as well as the means to play them at home. Here’s Maureen’s fantastic story of her ‘liberation’ of her sister’s Al Martino record:
Maureen remembers 'liberating' an Al Martino disc from her sister's radiogram in 1953
Originally hosted by The New Musical Express, the chart had actually only begun the year before. And reflecting the mood of the country in the summer of 1953 - reaching number five - was Winifred Atwell’s jolly piano romp, ‘The Coronation Rag.’
Often lumped in with Mrs Mills and Russ Conway, Atwell’s talent went way beyond just banging out street party boogie-woogie anthems. Coming to this country via the USA from Trinidad in 1946, she won a place at the Royal Academy and was the first female pianist to be awarded the Academy's highest grading for musicianship. Her ragtime ‘tack’ piano playing in clubs and pubs was used as a side project to pay the bills. Oh, and you may remember her ‘Black and White Rag’ as the theme tune to BBC2’sPot Black, the first popular snooker show on British TV!
But Winifred and her hits are a perfect representation of Britain of the ‘50s. Later to become not only the first female instrumentalist to have a UK number one, she was also the first black person to have a British number one. Remember our episode on ‘My Boy Lollipop’?
Here was an actual example of how the post-war Empire was experiencing cultural breakthroughs which, coupled with such things as The Festival of Britain in 1951 made it a world-leader in everything from science to the arts while also setting the stage for the seismic events of the ‘60s.
And if you think that such a quaint record as ‘Coronation Rag’ doesn’t bear much musical importance compared to, say, the introduction of rock ‘n’ roll via skiffle, you’d be wrong.
Just look at this quote from Keith Emerson, the king of progressive rock keyboardists: "I've always been into ragtime. In England - and I'm sure Rick Wakeman would concur - we loved Winifred Atwell, a fantastic honky-tonk and ragtime player."
We’ll have to wait until episode 46 later in the year to explore the worlds of Emerson and his ilk, but as ever, these shows demonstrate the universality of music and its power to unite people. And as ever, whether you remember ragtime or prog rock, we want to hear from you. These are, after all, The People’s Songs…
