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Eric Partridge in 1971

Eric Honeywood Partridge (6 February 1894 – 1 June 1979) was a New Zealand/British lexicographer of the English language, particularly of its slang. His writing career was interrupted only by his service in the Army Education Corps and the RAF correspondence department during World War II. Partridge died in Moretonhampstead, Devon, in 1979.

Early life[link]

Partridge was born in Waimata Valley, near Gisborne, on the North Island of New Zealand^[1] to John Thomas Partridge, a grazier, and his wife Ethel Annabella Norris.^[2] In 1907 the family moved to Queensland, Australia,^[3] where he was educated at the Toowoomba Grammar School.^[4] He then studied first classics and then French and English at the University of Queensland.^[5] During this time Partridge also taught for three years as a school teacher before enrolling in the Australian Imperial Force in April 1915 and serving in the Australian infantry during the First World War,^[6] serving in Egypt, Gallipoli and on the Western Front,^[1] before being wounded in the Battle of Pozières.^[6] His interest in slang and the "underside" of language is said to date from his wartime experience.^{[citation needed]} Partridge returned to university between 1919 and 1921, when he received his BA.^[6]

Scholarly career[link]

After receiving his degree, Partridge became Queensland Travelling Fellow at Balliol College, Oxford,^[6] where he worked on both an MA on eighteenth-century English romantic poetry, and a B.Litt in comparative literature.^[7] He subsequently taught in a grammar school in Lancashire for a brief interval, then in the two years beginning September 1925, took lecturing positions at the Universities of Manchester and London.^[1][8] From 1923, he "found a second home", occupying the same desk (K1) in the British Museum Library (as it was then known) for the next fifty years. In 1925 he married Agnes Dora Vye-Parminter, who in 1933 bore a daughter, Rosemary Ethel Honeywood Mann.^[1][9] In 1927 he founded the Scholartis Press, which he managed until it closed in 1931,^[10] publishing over 60 books during this time.^[1] From 1932 he commenced writing in earnest. His first major work on slang, Slang Today and Yesterday, appeared in 1933, and his well-known Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English followed in 1937.^[1]

During the Second World War, Partridge served in the Army Education Corps, later transferring to the RAF's correspondence department, before returning to his British Museum desk in 1945.^[1]

Partridge wrote over forty books on the English language, including well-known works on etymology and slang. He also wrote novels under the pseudonym Corrie Denison, and books on tennis, which he played well. His papers are archived at the University of Birmingham, British Library, King's College, Cambridge, the Royal Institute of British Architects, the University of Exeter, the University of San Francisco, Warwickshire Record Office, and William Salt Library.

Works (selected)[link]

• A Charm of Words. New York, Macmillan Co., 1961 (copyright 1960)
• A New Testament Word Book: a Glossary. London, George Routledge & Sons, 1940. Republished New York, Books for Libraries Press, 1970. The 1987 republication by the Christian publisher Barbour & Company of Uhricksville, Ohio as The Book of New Testament Word Studies, with copyright claimed by the publisher, appears to be a copyright violation.
• The 'Shaggy Dog' Story. New York, Philosophical Library, 1954
• A Dictionary of the Underworld. London, Macmillan Co., 1949; reprinted with new addenda, New York, Bonanza Books, 1961
• From Sanskrit to Brazil: Vignettes and Essays upon Languages. Hamish Hamilton, 1952. Reprinted 1969 by Books for Libraries Press, Freeport, New York. ISBN 0-8369-5055-0
• . (1963), The Gentle Art of Lexicography as pursued and experienced by an addict, New York: The Macmillan Company, http://www.archive.org/stream/gentleartoflexic00part#page/n5/mode/2up, retrieved 31 August 2011 
• Here, There and Everywhere. Hamish Hamilton.
• Name Into Word. Secker & Warburg
• A Dictionary of Catch Phrases. Routledge & Kegan Paul (UK)/Stein and Day (US). First published 1977. 2nd edition 1985. Paperback 1986. e-print 2005 ISBN 0-203-37995-0
• A Dictionary of Clichés. Routledge & Kegan Paul. First published 1940. E-print 2005. ISBN 0-203-37996-9
• A Dictionary of Forces’ Slang.
• A Dictionary of RAF Slang. Michael Joseph, 1945; new edition with an introduction by Russell Ash, Pavilion Books, 1990 ISBN 978-1-85145-526-3
• Routledge Dictionary of Historical Slang.
• Origins: A Short Etymological Dictionary of Modern English (1958). Reprint: Greenwich House, New York, 1983. ISBN 0-517-41425-2. Reprint: Random House Value Publishing(1988)
• A Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English. 1st edition: London, Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1937.

  2nd edition 1938

  3rd edition 1949

  4th edition 1951

  5th edition in two volumes, supplement much enlarged, 1961. Reprinted in 1 vol. 1963. Mary Martin Books. Adelaide, South Australia.

  6th edition 1967

  7th edition 1970

  8th edition London and New York, Routledge, 1984. Paperback reprint 2002

• Shakespeare's Bawdy. London, Routledge & Kegan Paul (1947)/New York, E. P. Dutton & Co. (1948), Reprint: Routledge (1991) ISBN 0-415-05076-6. Routledge Classics 2001 Hardback ISBN 0-415-25553-8; Paperback ISBN 0-415-25400-0
• Slang Today and Yesterday. Routledge & Kegan Paul.
• A Smaller Slang Dictionary.
• You Have A Point There: A Guide to Punctuation and its Allies. First published 1953 by Hamish Hamilton Ltd. Taylor & Francis e-print 2005. ISBN 0-203-37992-6
• Usage and Abusage: A Guide to Good English. Hamish Hamilton/Penguin Books. Reprint: W. W. Norton & Company (1997) ISBN 0-393-31709-9
• Name This Child. Hamish Hamilton.
• Name Your Child. Evans Bros.
• Eric Partridge In His Own Words. Edited by David Crystal. 1980. Macmillan Publishing Co., New York. ISBN 0-02-528960-8.

See also[link]

• Slang dictionary

References[link]

This article relies on references to primary sources or sources affiliated with the subject, rather than references from independent authors and third-party publications. Please add citations from reliable sources. (January 2008)

Eric Schwartz is an American folk singer/songwriter known for his often humorous, sexually explicit lyrics, as in the songs "Clinton Got A Blowjob" and "Who Da Bitch Now". His video, "Keep Your Jesus Off My Penis" has been downloaded over a million times. He cites Dr. Demento as an inspiration. He graduated from Tufts University with a degree in biology and worked as an actor and guitarist, before moving to Greenwich Village to begin his songwriting career. He has played several times at the Kerrville Folk Festival and was a finalist in the songwriting contest in 2001. He was at winner of the Falcon Ridge Folk Festival Emerging Artist Showcase. He now lives in Los Angeles, California.

Discography[link]

• That's How It's Gonna Be (1999)
• Pleading The First: Songs My Mother Hates (2000)
• Sunday Blue (2002)
• Self-Bootleg (2003)
• Redder than Ever (2006)

External links[link]

• Official web site

This article on a singer-songwriter is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. v t e

Donald Eric Partridge (27 October 1941 – 21 September 2010)^[2][3] was an English singer and songwriter, known as the "king of the buskers".^[4] He performed from the early 1960s as a busker and one-man band, and achieved unexpected commercial success in the UK in the late 1960s with the songs "Rosie" and "Blue Eyes".

Life and musical career[link]

Don Partridge was born in Bournemouth, England. By his own account, he left home at age 15 and became a burglar, before working at some 45 different jobs.^[5] By the early 1960s, inspired by American singer Jesse Fuller,^[6] he travelled around Europe as a solo entertainer on street corners, initially simply singing songs with a guitar. However, he found that he gained more attention by performing as a one-man band, playing guitar, kazoo or harmonica, bass drum and cymbal at the same time.^[5][6]

Playing by that time mainly in London, Partridge performed traditional English and American folk songs as well as his own compositions. In 1964, he and his friend, guitarist Alan Young, were described in the Evening Standard as the first young street musicians to be seen in London since the second world war.^[6] He was frequently arrested and fined, but gained a local following and made a TV appearance on the Eamonn Andrews Show.^[6]

Record company executive Don Paul, previously of rock and roll group The Viscounts, then won him a recording contract with Columbia Records.^[5] His debut recording of his own song, "Rosie", reached #4 in the UK Singles Chart in March 1968.^[7] Following its success, Partridge quit busking for a more orthodox professional singing career.^[5] On 5 April 1968, Partridge appeared alongside Amen Corner, Gene Pitney, Status Quo and Simon Dupree and the Big Sound at The Odeon Theatre, Lewisham, London, on the first night as part of a twice nightly UK tour.^[8] His second hit quickly followed when "Blue Eyes" reached #3 in June 1968,^[7] and he was featured on the front cover of the pop weekly Disc.^[9] He also released a self-titled LP, which included folk and blues songs by Leadbelly, Bill Broonzy and Oscar Brand along with versions of Otis Redding's "(Sittin' On) the Dock of the Bay" and Robin Williamson's "First Girl I Loved", and several of his own compositions. However, his third single, "Top Man", failed to make the charts.

Intending a farewell to his street musician friends, he hired the Royal Albert Hall in February 1969 and put on a "Buskers Happening" show before an audience of 3,700, featuring buskers (including Dave Brock, later of Hawkwind),^[10][11] who would all share the profits equally.^[5] A concert album, The Buskers, was released in 1969,^[10] and Partridge's single "Breakfast On Pluto" reached #26 on the UK charts.^[7] He also travelled to the US to promote the Tom Courtenay movie Otley, which featured his song "Homeless Bones".^[5]

Later in 1969, with fellow guitarist Gordon Giltrap, he helped form the group Accolade. This was an acoustic band, who developed a style of folk/jazz fusion. They recorded two albums (the second after Giltrap had left), and one single, before splitting up in 1971.^[12][13] Partridge returned to busking, and moved to Sweden in the early 1970s where he recorded at least one album, Don Partridge and Friends in 1974.^[14] In 1976 he travelled as a busker through Canada, and played at the Montreal Olympic Games. He then returned to England, settling in Seaford, Sussex, in 1990.^[6]

In 2001 he recorded the album The Highwayman, with accompaniment by Herbie Flowers, Nick Pynn and Richard Durrant.^[6][15] The album contained tracks inspired by Partridge's experiences of life on the road, including the autobiographical song "The Night I Met Elton John" and a treatment of Alfred Noyes' verse "The Highwayman".^[16] In 2005, Partridge returned to public attention when his song "Breakfast on Pluto" was included in the soundtrack to the film Breakfast on Pluto. Partridge joined indie pop/trip hop duo Lemon Jelly on tour in the UK the same year.^[4][17] He also made two appearances on the BBC Television comedy music quiz show, Never Mind The Buzzcocks.^[18]

Partridge died of a heart attack on 21 September 2010 in the town of Peacehaven in the south-east of England, where he spent most of his later life.^[3]

Discography[link]

Singles[link]

• "Rosie" (Don Partridge) b/w "Going Back to London" (Don Partridge) - (1968) - UK No. 4
• "Blue Eyes" (Richard Kerr^[19] and Joan Maitland) b/w "I’ve Got Something For You" (Don Partridge) - (1968) - UK No. 3
• "Top Man" (Richard Kerr and Joan Maitland) b/w "We Have Ways of Making You Laugh" (Don Partridge) - (1968)
• "Breakfast on Pluto" - (Don Partridge/Alan Young) b/w "Stealin’" (Trad. Arr. Don Partridge) - (1969) - UK No. 26
• "Going To Germany" (Trad. Arr. Don Partridge) b/w "Ask Me Why" (Don Partridge) - (1969)
• "Colour My World" (Peel-Kerr) b/w "Homeless Bones" (Myers-Partridge) - (1969)
• "We’re All Happy Together" (Don Partridge) b/w "Following Your Fancy" (Don Partridge) - (1970)
• "Grand Slam Boogie" (Don Partridge) b/w "Barb Wire" (Don Partridge) - (1982)

Albums[link]

Solo studio[link]

• Don Partridge - (1968) - (Columbia Records)
  • "Following Your Fancy" (Don Partridge)
  • "Keep Your Hands Off Her" (Leadbelly)
  • "7 Days Chokey" (R. Kerr and J. Maitland)
  • "The Wayward Boy" (Oscar Brand)
  • "St. James Infirmary" (Joe Primrose)
  • "I’m A Goin’ Away" (Don Partridge)
  • "Blue Eyes" (R. Kerr and J. Maitland)
  • "(Sittin' On) the Dock of the Bay" (S. Cropper and O. Redding)
  • "Old Joe Clark" (Trad. arr. Don Partridge)
  • "First Girl I Loved" (Robin Williamson)
  • "Candy Man" (Arr. and adapt. Donovan)
  • "Black, Brown & White Blues" (Bill Broonzy)
  • "Mona’s Song" (Don Partridge)
  • "Rosie" (Don Partridge)

• Don Partridge and Friends - (1974) - (Sonogram Records, Sweden)
• The Highwayman - (2004) - (LongMan Records)
• Uncreased - (2007) - A privately pressed album produced by Bob Evans who also named it. Uncreased contained some of his old hits and also new material. It was recorded over a six month period and featured some local talent from the Seaford area. It was Partridge's last recording.

Soundtracks and compilations[link]

• Popdown - (1967) - (film soundtrack - Partridge actually appeared as himself in the movie, alongside Julie Driscoll, Zoot Money, Andy Summers, Brenton Wood and Tony Hicks)^[20]
• Otley - (1968) - (film soundtrack includes the song "Homeless Bones" - co-composed and sung by Partridge)
• The Buskers - (1969) - live recording of Royal Albert Hall "Buskers Happening" - (Columbia Records)
• Rosie and Other Hits - (1995) - (compilation of first solo album and single releases) - (Oxford Records)
• Breakfast on Pluto - (2005) - (film soundtrack - includes the song "Breakfast on Pluto")

Accolade[link]

• Accolade - (1970) - Capitol Records
• Accolade 2 - (1971) - Regal Zonophone Records

References[link]

External links[link]

• "Chance encounter with a legend": fansite
• "Breakfast on Pluto" lyrics
• "Blue Eyes" lyrics
• Mini Don Partridge biography
• Don's funeral - Buskers play in the arrival of his unique hearse and casket