New faces and lots of "new" songs

Connie Francis in 1961

At last week's Dragon Folk Club is was great to see Paul and Denny swelling the numbers by bringing along Helen for her second experience of a session, and Quentin for his first. Helen had prepared some songs, which was great, but lack of preparation didn't stop Quentin from venturing three with the help of others present who provided the word sheets.

I know Helen enjoyed the experience and will be back; I think the same is true of Quentin. We're a friendly crowd; performing is encouraged and very welcome, but encouragement is just that, everyone should feel free to just sit and listen if they want to, maybe joining in with the odd chorus and some banter.

With Colin as MC, Roger was invited to start the session and he marked the recent death of Connie Francis by singing her 1960 hit Everybody's somebody's fool (* Jack Keller, Howard Greenfield) which made her the first woman to reach No. 1 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart.

Paul sang Peggy Gordon (roud 1180) and Denny gave us Idle women of the waterways (Charlotte Oliver).

Helen's first song of the evening was When I'm gone (roud 17255 - AP Carter) though some readers may know it better as Cups (A. P. Carter, Luisa Gerstein, Heloise Tunstall-Behrens), sung by Anna Kendrick in the film Pitch Perfect (2012). As I've said many times, I'm always sceptical when I see AP Carter as the writer of a song because, under the instruction of his publisher, he often took traditional songs, made a very minor change to them, and claimed US copyright. I don't hold that against him personally, but it was certainly a sharp practise by the music industry albeit presumably one seen to have no victim. I am sure he is not alone in being a victim or beneficiary, depending on how you look at it, of this way of working.

As already noted, Quentin had come to the session without any songs, but he seemed keen to contribute. He said he might manage a Beatles' song, so Roger dug out the words to You've got to hide your love away (John Lennon, Paul McCartney) and he sang it with guitar accompaniment from Roger.

Colin's first musical contribution was the Bee Gees' New York mining disaster 1941 (* Barry Gibb, Robin Gibb).

Simon returned us to traditional songs (we don't really mind what you sing) with Claudy Banks (roud 266, laws N40).

By the time it came to his turn, Steve had arrived and he finished the first rotation with Stan Rogers' The Field behind the plow (sic).

Paul's self-penned song Close the dentist's door (# Paul Welcomme) is the first of two songs performed that are not to be found on YouTube and therefore are not in the linked playlist.

It was quite a surprise that Denny's singing of The Bellringing (* roud 1515) was a new entry into the Dragon database because Colin has certainly sung it before, but so it is. The database only goes back to 2018 and isn't complete even that far.

Helen brought us I'll sail this ship alone (* Paul Heaton, Dave Rotheray) from The Beautiful South.

This time round Quentin was presented with words by Paul. He said it wasn't the sort of thing he would usually sing, but he would manage it with help from the assembled masses. With this promise he sang Drunken sailor (roud 322).

From Roger we got a self-penned and autobiographical song called Fifties child (*# Roger Stanleigh).

Helen gave us a another "new" song in Hunter (* Dido Armstrong, Rollo Armstrong).

Quentin again looked to Roger for words and he came up with Raindrops keep fallin' on my head (Burt Bacharach, Hal David). To resolve the discussions that went on on the evening, it was written for the 1969 film Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. The uplifting lyrics describe somebody who overcomes his troubles and worries by realising that "it won't be long till happiness steps up to greet me."

The film is an American Western buddy film directed by George Roy Hill and written by William Goldman. Based loosely on fact, the film tells the story of Wild West outlaws Robert LeRoy Parker, known as Butch Cassidy (Paul Newman), and his partner Harry Longabaugh, the "Sundance Kid" (Robert Redford), who are on the run from a crack US posse after a string of train robberies. The pair and Sundance's lover, Etta Place (Katharine Ross), flee to Bolivia to escape the posse.

This was followed by Colin singing another song more loosely connected to a film and where I can clear up some more conversation points. They shoot horses don't they? (Gareth Mortimer) performed by Racing Cars and which got to no. 14 in the UK charts in 1977 was inspired by the 1969 film of the same name, which was in turn based on Horace McCoy's 1935 novel.

The story centres on Robert Syverten (Michael Sarrazin in the film) who is sentenced for murder. The main timeline of the book though involves a dance marathon competition where he partners with Gloria Beatty (Jane Fonda in the film). It is Gloria who he is accused of killing.

From the start, Gloria tells Robert that she wishes she were dead, a point she repeats in most of their conversations. Her parents are dead. She ran away to Dallas from a farm in West Texas where her uncle always made passes at her. In Dallas, she tried to commit suicide, then ran away to Hollywood with dreams of being in movies, but is finding only rejection.

In the end Gloria presents Robert with a gun and asks him to kill her, which he does. He remembers when he was young, and his grandfather shot the beloved family horse, which had broken its leg. The police ask Robert why he shot Gloria, and he answers, "Because she asked me to." The policeman persists. Robert answers, "They shoot horses, don't they?"

Helen's final song was Good riddence (time of your life) (* Billie Joe Armstrong, Green Day).

The last addition to the database for the evening came from Colin and was The wee cooper o' Fife (* roud 117).

The session was closed by Steve who gave us a good sing-a-long opportunity with Leave her Johnny (roud 354).

Now listen to a selection of songs sung during this session.

(Number of people present - 8 of whom 8 performed)

In the above report songs new to the Dragon database (though no always new to the club) are marked with an asterisk (*).