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The Wurzels
The Wurzels are an English Scrumpy and Western band from Somerset, best known for their number one hit "The Combine Harvester" and number three hit "I Am a Cider Drinker" in 1976.
The name of the band was dreamt up by founder Adge Cutler. It is short for mangelwurzel, a crop grown to feed livestock.
The Wurzels' particular "genre" of music was named Scrumpy and Western after the group's first EP of the same name, issued early in 1967. Scrumpy is a name given to traditionally-made rough cider in southwest England.
The Wurzels were formed in 1966 as a backing group for, and by, singer/songwriter Adge Cutler. The first recordings were made live in the Royal Oak Inn, Nailsea, Somerset, in December 1966. With a strong Somerset accent, Cutler played on his West Country roots, singing many folk songs with local themes such as cider-making (and -drinking), farming, dung-spreading, local villages and industrial work songs, often with a comic slant.
During the latter half of the 1960s, the band became popular regionally, and the release of the single "Drink Up Thy Zider" in 1966 led to national fame and it reaching number 45 in the UK Singles Chart. The B-side, "Twice Daily" was banned by the BBC for being too raunchy.
A number of live albums were recorded at local pubs and clubs, filled with Cutler-penned favourites such as "Easton in Gordano", "The Champion Dung Spreader", and "Thee's Got'n Where Thee Cassn't Back'n, Hassn't?", together with songs written by others and some re-workings of popular folk songs of the time.
Adge Cutler died after falling asleep at the wheel of his MGB sports car which then overturned on a roundabout approaching the Severn Bridge. He was returning alone from a Wurzels show in Hereford in May 1974. He was buried in Nailsea.
Cutler's death marked a turning point in the history of the Wurzels. Deprived of the main song-writing talent, the remaining Wurzels recorded The Wurzels Are Scrumptious! in 1975, an album containing many favourites from the back catalogue, including a number of previously unrecorded Cutler-written songs. In order to continue the surviving band needed its own songs, and these mostly took the formula of re-written popular pop songs of the time with the lyrics changed to include the usual Wurzel themes (cider, farming, local villages, Cheddar cheese, etc.)
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The Wurzels
The Wurzels are an English Scrumpy and Western band from Somerset, best known for their number one hit "The Combine Harvester" and number three hit "I Am a Cider Drinker" in 1976.
The name of the band was dreamt up by founder Adge Cutler. It is short for mangelwurzel, a crop grown to feed livestock.
The Wurzels' particular "genre" of music was named Scrumpy and Western after the group's first EP of the same name, issued early in 1967. Scrumpy is a name given to traditionally-made rough cider in southwest England.
The Wurzels were formed in 1966 as a backing group for, and by, singer/songwriter Adge Cutler. The first recordings were made live in the Royal Oak Inn, Nailsea, Somerset, in December 1966. With a strong Somerset accent, Cutler played on his West Country roots, singing many folk songs with local themes such as cider-making (and -drinking), farming, dung-spreading, local villages and industrial work songs, often with a comic slant.
During the latter half of the 1960s, the band became popular regionally, and the release of the single "Drink Up Thy Zider" in 1966 led to national fame and it reaching number 45 in the UK Singles Chart. The B-side, "Twice Daily" was banned by the BBC for being too raunchy.
A number of live albums were recorded at local pubs and clubs, filled with Cutler-penned favourites such as "Easton in Gordano", "The Champion Dung Spreader", and "Thee's Got'n Where Thee Cassn't Back'n, Hassn't?", together with songs written by others and some re-workings of popular folk songs of the time.
Adge Cutler died after falling asleep at the wheel of his MGB sports car which then overturned on a roundabout approaching the Severn Bridge. He was returning alone from a Wurzels show in Hereford in May 1974. He was buried in Nailsea.
Cutler's death marked a turning point in the history of the Wurzels. Deprived of the main song-writing talent, the remaining Wurzels recorded The Wurzels Are Scrumptious! in 1975, an album containing many favourites from the back catalogue, including a number of previously unrecorded Cutler-written songs. In order to continue the surviving band needed its own songs, and these mostly took the formula of re-written popular pop songs of the time with the lyrics changed to include the usual Wurzel themes (cider, farming, local villages, Cheddar cheese, etc.)