So as to not confuse myself, I said [very quietly, so those near me won't know I'm as mad as a 19th century hat eater*] "let's start a new thread called clouds [post-1 2 3] so it won't get mixed up with 1-2-3 (pre-clouds)".



Back in 1969 [good grief - 50 years ago already?] the Island label [Crysalis] released a sampler album for the bargain price of 14 and 6. For any young 'uns here that's not 20. It's 14 shillings and sixpence in UK pre-decimal currency, fondly known as lsd. [I kid ye not. Having dropped out of latin lessons at school I can't guarantee it but I seem to remember being told that's something to do with the ancient Romans' language - or was it a premonition about the 1960's drug scene?]


Look! There's a sticker stuck there near the top right corner of that muddy, wet, peculiarly British cold field with some people in it on the cover, to prove it!

This wasn't an act of kindness to help out cash-strapped music hungry kids at a time when an LP cost about a fifth of an average weekly wage, but a crafty advertising stunt to entice youth to spend their money on Island's artist's LPs rather than those signed to other labels.



Anyway, after taking up 5 minutes of your precious time on my cranial wanderings, track 4 on side 2 of 'You Can All Join In' [if you've got 14 and 6] is the clouds' song 'I'll Go Girl'.



* Don't do this at home, boys and girls. Consumption of 19th century hats is best avoided and if essential, should only be done under medical supervision. That's what Harvey, my invisible rabbit psychiatrist says.

Nice to see you back Steve..even if you are some where else!

I'm intrigued by this 19th century hat eating syndrome. Could I tell the difference between 19th and any other century of hat eaters?

"Mad as a hatter" is a colloquial English phrase used in conversation to suggest (lightheartedly) that a person is suffering from insanity. It is believed to emanate from Denton, Tameside in the North of England where men in the area predominantly worked in the hattery business which used mercury in the hat making process. Mercury poisoning causes symptoms similar to madness and death often occurred with the accumulation of mercury in the body. The earliest known appearance of the phrase in print is in an 1829 issue of Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine.
- excerpt from Wikipedia



Did people actually used to eat their hats? If not, where did the expression come from?

eat-hat“I’ll eat my hat” is an utterance commonly used when a person is absolutely certain that something will not happen. But where did this unusual phrase first originate and have there ever been any recorded instances of people actually eating their hats after being proven wrong?

According to the venerable Oxford English Dictionary, the earliest known example of the phrase comes from the 1762 book Homer Travestie, by Thomas Bridges. The book is a parody of the more famous Iliad.
- excerpt from todayifoundout.com
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In 19th century Britain it became clear that the use of a mercury compound in hatmaking was causing strong behavioral changes in those tradesmen, so its use was phased out. Prior to the 19th century, there was no specific trade in hatmaking, as the fashion of wearing expensive headwear wasn't firmly established among the British upper classes.
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The felt hat industry has been traced to the mid 17th century in France, and it was probably introduced into England some time around 1830. A story passed down in the hat industry gives this account of how mercury came to be used in the process: In Turkey camel hair was used for felt material, and it was discovered that the felting process was speeded up if the fibers were moistened with camel urine. It is said that in France workmen used their own urine, but one particular workman seemed consistently to produce a superior felt. This person was being treated with a mercury compound for syphilis, and an association was made between mercury treatment of the fibers and an improved felt. Eventually the use of solutions of mercuric nitrate was widespread in the felt industry, and mercury poisoning became endemic. Dementia and erethism were indeed a common ailment among 19th Century hatmakers.
- excerpts from corrosion-doctors.org
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It took me a couple of seconds and a thought to come up with a suitable music link, even though it's nothing to do with Clouds it's the best I can do!