The text below is a translation by Phil Stone of the contribution made by Geraint Davies (Year of 1964) to ‘Diolch Dewi! Ffrindiau’n Cofio‘, a collection of memories and tributes, published by Gwasg Carreg Gwalch, 2025:
Music and silliness coming together
Geraint Davies
I was in school with Pws. A slightly misleading statement perhaps, as Dewi was five years older than me, but the two of us were fellow pupils in ‘Dynevor Boys’ Grammar School’ for a while. There I came across him for the first time in a way so characteristic of him. It was the most English Eisteddfod imaginable when Dewi decided to lead his house choir using an umbrella rather than a baton, provoking the applause of the boys and displeasure of the staff. Music and silliness meeting, and not for the last time.
Our next meeting was a night in Morriston, when Dewi returned to his former Aelwyd (youth club organised by the Urdd) to perform with Tebot Piws. He had moved on to college before I joined the Aelwyd. If I recall correctly, only he and one other of the band came, and without any instruments; my guitar was borrowed, as well as one other guitar.
Then, Glan-llyn 1971 – Pws was there as a Swog (‘Swyddog’, a senior helper on the Urdd camp) the week that Hergest, my band, was born and a real friendship between us began based on singing. He had already recorded classics such as ‘Blaenau Ffestiniog’ and ‘Lleucu Lloyd’ and had won Cân i Gymru with the song ‘Breuddwyd’ performed with Eleri Llwyd, a song that would be renamed, ‘Nwy yn y Nen’. In no time at all, and for many years after, we shared stages, vans, pubs and more – Pws with Edward H, Mochyn ‘apus, Radwm and more, and I with Hergest and Mynediad am Ddim. For a time, he decided to be a ‘roadie’ for Mynediad, adding to the fun in that band.
For more than a further half century he created one musical gem after another – ‘Dilyn colomen’, ‘Dyn ni ddim yn mynd i Birmingham’, ‘Ti’, ‘Rosi’, ‘Lisa Pant-ddu’, ‘Mae Lleucu wedi marw’, ‘Ysbrydion’ (Chwychwi yw halen y ddaear), not to mention his works with other members of Edward H fel ‘Breuddwyd Roc a Rol’, ‘Smo fi ishe mynd’, ‘Ysbryd y Nos’, ‘VC10’ …
He had a unique voice – an enthusiastic and powerful singer, in his element performing and entertaining. And the entertainer was at work too with his carefree songs such as ‘Mae rhywun wedi dwyn fy nhrwyn’, ‘Ie ie na fe’, ac ‘M.O.M.FF.G.’ –songs for audiences just to enjoy, full of humour and mischief. But there was more to Dewi than that.
He has been described as a child who refused to grow up, and certainly there is an element of truth in that. But one should remember that children are complex and exceptionally sensitive human beings. That side of Dewi (the real Dewi?) was to be heard in his most profound songs, and his ‘other’ quiet voice, often little more than a whisper, was an extremely effective mode of performing. Listen to the first lines of ‘Y Nos a Ni’ or ‘Dewch at eich gilydd’ for striking examples of that voice.
And back to the word, ‘breuddwyd’ [dream]. Dewi had many talents – actor, comedian, singer, poet and composer. But through it all, he was essentially a dreamer and romantic and his songs were full of the words and images of nature and enchantment –nightingales, seagulls, doves, smoke, mist, brine and fire – all belonging to somewhere otherworldly, beyond the real world, place and time.
‘Dreamer’ is a word that can be used negatively – head in the clouds, far from reality and so on. But a dream can also change the world, usually for the better, bringing influence to bear on others to realise that dream. In that respect, the nationalists and language campaigners are dreamers, and it was no surprise at all that Dewi was part of those groups, one who would be prominent in marches and protests, and although not a composer of ‘political’ songs by and large, there was no doubt where he stood. He, after all, composed the anthem of YesCymru. And in that respect, he was a charmer, not a preacher – in his affable way he would poke fun with a song complaining about English incomers, before sharing a pint with those very same people in the bar. And getting away with it!
In 2012, Dewi recorded a collection of hymns, Ma’ Popeth yn Dda, which has raised the question, was Dewi a religious person? He was certainly spiritual and a thinker and often attended meetings in the Unitarians’ chapel of his friend, Cen Llwyd, during his period in Tre-saith. But notice that Dewi chose children’s hymns to record: ‘Rwy’n canu fel cana’r aderyn’, ‘Dring i fyny’, ‘Rwyf inna’n filwr bychan’. This again is a sign of the element of hiraeth and of the inner child that colours his own songs, and that was perhaps more of an incentive to record them than any special Christian belief. But – caveat – we never discussed that.
Another dream was to live in the West. Although he was brought up in Treboeth, and spent a long time in Cardiff, the Welsh-speaking, rural West was an ideal and there in Tre-saith and Nefyn he spent the last decades of his life. From the start, his songs speak of ‘being trapped in the town’ and the children ‘saying goodbye to the nasty city’. These lines say it all:
Tyrd i edrych ar y wawr yn torri, Come, see the break of dawn,
Tyrd i edrych ar y machlud mwyn, Come, gaze upon the gentle sunset,
Tyrd i chwilio am y golau hyfryd yn y Gorllewin Come, seek the golden sunlight in the West
Ever creative, Dewi would regularly turn to something new and throw himself completely into the latest obsession, before moving on, or getting bored! The two of us each bought a small but complicated recording device, and there were several phone calls asking for advice on how to do this or that. But in truth I was as clueless as he was! Instrumentally, the guitar was the starting point for many of us; in the early days of Edward H, he played about with the tin whistle before other members of the group threatened to stuff it in an uncomfortable place. And in the last years, the banjo became a favourite, although it was not to everyone’s taste. As with everything else, he could not stay still.
There are regular themes running through Dewi’s songs – hiraeth, romance, childhood, the otherworldly, dreams, and again there is plenty of humour and optimism. And musically, his best songs are the simple ones – tunes easily remembered, learned and sung, again and again. There are so many of them and some already considered (mistakenly) to be traditional folk songs. It is no small matter to write a simple and memorable song. To compose one is an achievement; to create a catalogue, as Dewi Grey Morris did, shows genius. He has left a treasury.