He told WalesOnline in an earlier interview: “Don’t get me wrong, I’ve probably written better songs, but for some reason that one found a special place in the hearts of those that heard it. Your moving poem ‘When Just the Tide Went Out’ has been uploaded millions of times, tell us a little about how you came about writing it …

Choosing what to include wasn’t easy but I sincerely hope it is a collection that is representative of my writing over the years. Boyce continues to make headlines in the British press. On 29 May 2006, Max Boyce headlined at a concert in Pontypridd to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the Welsh national anthem, " Hen Wlad fy Nhadau". [16] In August 2006, he hit out against the stereotypical use of the word " boyo" in the media, following its resurgence in reference to Welsh Big Brother contestant Glyn Wise. [17] New version of Hymns and Arias for Swans home game". Wales Online. 19 August 2011 . Retrieved 12 July 2017. Rhondda Grey’ and ‘Duw! It’s Hard’ in particular mean so much to me, for they are songs of personal experience, having worked underground from the age of sixteen for ten years and experienced the love/hate relationship the miners had with their workplace… ‘where they emptied all the hills to warm the world’. Rousing renditions of Hymns and Arias were heard ringing around Wembley during the play-off final against Reading in 2011 when Swansea City won promotion to the Premier League and it is now a firm favourite with Swans supporters.Following the programme, which Laurie Lee had listened to, we met up in Cardiff, and I was overwhelmed to share a glass of red wine with him and listen to him tell of his reminiscences of the Aberfan disaster, ‘When a Village Lost Its Children’, and hear him read the first few lines of his beautifully crafted essay ‘The Firstborn’, which every new parent should read. I received a letter from a nurse who asked me to write something to lift the spirits of the frontline workers of the NHS in the most trying of times. Competing in elephant polo in Nepal for what became the 1986 film To The North Of Kathmandu, his team, featuring Billy Connolly, Ringo Starr and Bond girl Barbara Bach, scored only one goal in the entire tournament.

It means a great deal because it is poignant and it's one of the best things I've written and I've not written anything as good as that in a long time. Max Boyce My earliest influences in songwriting were Ewan MacColl and Pete Seeger, who wrote and/or performed ‘songs of the working man’, such as ‘Close the Coalhouse Door’, ‘The Shoals of Herring’ and ‘The Big Hewer’. These songs were a great influence on me and still are. Boyce, Max – Hymns And Arias (Uk,1974,Emi 2291,PROMO 7)". discoogle.com. n.d. Archived from the original on 10 July 2011 . Retrieved 6 March 2011.Of course it's a bit mischievous, with the bottle used in lieu of a loo given away: "We sympathised with an Englishman whose team was doomed to fail/So we gave his that old bottle, that once held bitter ale."

In 2014, Boyce was diagnosed with heart problems and underwent a quadruple heart bypass. [24] Discography [ edit ] Albums [ edit ] Live at Treorchy is a live album by Welsh comedian and singer Max Boyce, first issued in 1974. It was his third album and his first for a major label, EMI Records. The album contains a mixture of comedic songs and poems along with Boyce's interactions with the crowd at Treorchy Rugby Club. The album was an unexpected success going gold and was Boyce's break through recording, helping make him a household name in Wales and beyond. After releasing two records on a small Welsh label, in 1973 he recorded his iconic breakthrough album, Live at Treorchy, which went on to sell over half a million copies. Several gold and silver records followed, including We All Had Doctors’ Papers, which went to number one in the UK Albums Chart and is still the only comedy album to attain this feat. He has since toured the world, playing sell-out concerts in some of the world’s great venues, including the London Palladium, Sydney Opera House and the Royal Albert Hall.

Many congratulations on Max: Hymns & Arias– tell us a little about the new book & what do you hope readers will take away from it … Max Boyce, Max Boyce in the Mad Pursuit of Applause (Pavilion Books Limited: London, 1987), ISBN 1-85145-136-6 It was difficult to introduce an element of humour at such a sensitive time and I was acutely aware of people’s feelings when ‘just the tide went out’. Some of my songs and stories are designed for ‘performance’ and need an audience to give them their ‘life force’. Comedy is always in need of an echo and is constantly being judged by the barometer of applause, which the written word can’t afford. Laughter can never be forced or cheated. Boyce was inducted into the Gorsedd of Bards at the 1971 National Eisteddfod of Wales in the Lliw Valley. [ dubious – discuss] [23] [ dead link]