New faces

Sheep shearing at the North Somerset Show
(Photo: Simon Meeds)

We're doing really well for new faces at the Dragon Folk Club recently and last week was no exception. I don't believe either Kevin or Sarah had been to a folk club before. Sarah decided not to sing, but after observing the first rotation Kevin offered us a song on the second and on each subsequent one. Well done Kevin! Your efforts were appreciated.

Colin, our regular MC, started off with a song previously sung at the club by our friend Terry Cock, but not previously recorded in the Dragon database: John Willie's ferret (* Larry Kearns, Gerry Kearns). Larry conceived the idea for the song after John, a deer-stalker friend of the Oldham Tinkers, told how he used to take his ferrets to parties and of the havoc they caused. It is a fun song, a bit of aural slapstick. Larry wrote the words and Gerry wrote half the tune but adapted the chorus from Sur le Pont d’ Avignon (the linked version is an interesting mix of French and German).

Paul gave us Thousands or more (roud 1220) and Denny contributed Byker Hill (roud 3488).

Simon followed Colin's example by singing My grandfather's ferret (Derek Jolly) about another mischievous mustelid.

Bob's first of the evening came from his blues repertoire and was Brownie McGhee's So much trouble. Sue thought she would cheer us up with Swinging on a star (Jimmy Van Heusen, Johnny Burke), and so finished the first rotation.

Denny sang a version of the Sheep shearing song (roud 812) collected quite locally, in the Mendips which I assume to be the version collected by Cecil Sharp from William ‘Farmer’ King.

As usual I will mention all the songs of a newcomer to the Dragon, and Kevin's debut was Drill ye tarriers drill (roud 4401 - Thomas Casey, Charles Connolly).

Sue sang Low bridge, everybody down (roud 6598 - Thomas S Allen) "I've got an old mule and her name is Sal, Fifteen miles on the Eerie canal". Colin assures us that he had already planned his next song, which was therefore coincidentally The Ee-rye-ee Canal (roud 6599).

Kevin's second song transported us to Botany Bay (roud 3267).

Denny, like Colin earlier, sang a song from the repertoire of Terry Cock without knowing it; I believe she has come across Terry only once. The song was Ted Edwards' Weepin' and wailin' (*).

Kevin's third song introduced us to Henry Russell's last words (* Diana Jones), a mining disaster song made famous by Joan Baez. His final song of the evening was Carrickfergus (roud 17556 - Dominic Behan).

The final song of the session, coming from Denny, was Good English ale (roud 1512).

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

(Number of people present - 8 of whom 7 performed)

In the above report songs new to the Dragon database (though no always new to the club) are marked with an asterisk (*) and any songs not included in the "a selection" playlist are marked with a hash (#).

With or without bangs

Enola Gay on display at the National Air and Space Museum,
Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center
(Photo: Simon Meeds)

Another great evening at the Dragon Folk Club. Having got through the recent part of the festival season unscathed our numbers were indeed swelled. We even had another possible "catch" for the future among the ladies who walked through our room given that their principle toilet is still out of action - I am sure manager Mike is on the case, but these things take time.

Since the session fell on VJ-Day and the previous week's session should have marked the 80th anniversary of the dropping of atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Colin announced an impromptu, naturally optional, war and anti-war theme, which he kicked off with The sun is burning (Ian Campbell).

Stuart and Carrie gave us two songs in duet: I'll tell me Ma (roud 2649) and Bonnie light horseman (roud 1185).

Simon returned to the anti-war theme with There but for fortune (Phil Ochs) and Rob sang his topical update of Jordan Is A Hard Road To Travel (roud 12153 - Dan Emmett) which he calls The other side of Jordan (Rob Winder).

Denny gave us The shores of old Blighty (Graeme Miles). Her friend and recent dragon recruit, Helen, contributed The rose (Amanda McBroom).

Bob brought along Call me the breeze (J J Cale) while Sue finished the first rotation with Lead Belly's Cotton fields (* roud 11662) - hands up who thought it was a Beach Boys original.

In researching this report I found that Lead Belly travelled with Blind Lemon Jefferson before his (Huddie's) first spell in prison. He was influenced by Jefferson's departures from the blues style which was being established, leading no doubt to his own near-rock'n'roll style of folk before the term was even invented.

I mention this because later in the session Bob sang Jefferson's See that my grave is kept clean (roud 7382). Bob hinted that Jefferson's later years were a mystery. It seems that's not quite true, but that is some uncertainty around his death. According to Wikipedia: "Jefferson died in Chicago at 10:00 a.m. on December 19, 1929, of what his death certificate said was 'probably acute myocarditis'. For many years, rumors circulated that a jealous lover had poisoned his coffee, but a more likely explanation is that he died of a heart attack after becoming disoriented during a snowstorm. Some have said that he died of a heart attack after being attacked by a dog in the middle of the night. In his 1983 book Tolbert's Texas, Frank X. Tolbert claims that he was killed while being robbed of a large royalty payment by a guide escorting him to Chicago Union Station to catch a train home to Texas. Paramount Records paid for the return of his body to Texas by train, accompanied by the pianist William Ezell.

"Jefferson was buried at Wortham Negro Cemetery (later Wortham Black Cemetery) in Wortham, Freestone County, Texas. His grave was unmarked until 1967, when a Texas historical marker was erected in the general area of his plot; however, the precise location of the grave is still unknown. By 1996, the cemetery and marker were in poor condition, and a new granite headstone was erected in 1997. The inscription reads: 'Lord, it's one kind favor I'll ask of you, see that my grave is kept clean.' In 2007, the cemetery's name was changed to Blind Lemon Memorial Cemetery, and his grave-site is kept clean by a cemetery committee in Wortham."

Bob said that See that my grave is kept clean was his second most miserable song. We didn't find out what this blues-man's most miserable song was called, but Colin gave him a good run for his money with a theme-appropriate song which gave me a bit of a run-around. No doubt the song is quite well known, but my search for the words came up with the song's origins as a poem written by Turkish poet Nâzım Hikmet and called Kız Çocuğu (The girl child). In English translation the poem is called Hiroshima child. Joan Baez sings it in the original Turkish here, but Colin sang it as I come and stand at every door (*).

With all that story I will quickly run through the other songs which are new to the Dragon database:

• Stuart - Katie Cruel (* roud 1645), a version of The lightbob's lassie.
• Carrie - Drafted (* Andrew Latimer, Susan Hoover)
• Stuart - Running from home (* Bert Jansch)
• Rob - The gallant frigate Amphitrite (* roud 301)
• Rob - The maid and the palmer (* roud 2335, child 21)
• Helen - Have you ever seen the rain? (* John Fogerty)

Stuart and Carrie finished the session with a pair of songs: The hills of Shiloh (Shel Silverstein, Jim Friedman) and Fresh as a sweet Sunday morning (Bert Jansch).

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

(Number of people present - 9 of whom 9 performed)

In the above report songs new to the Dragon database (though no always new to the club) are marked with an asterisk (*) and any songs not included in the "a selection" playlist are marked with a hash (#).

Spanish Ladies?

Photo: Simon Meeds

After the previous week's rather good effort, last week's Dragon Folk Club session was more what we might expect for Sidmouth Folk Festival time. With some core dragons off enjoying the Devon sounds we were down to a skeleton crew, but nevertheless we had a good time and were able to welcome two visitors briefly in our midst.

The fact that the ladies' toilet wasn't working again was a mixed blessing. On the one hand there was a constant trickle of women walking though our room - all respectful, which was nice - but on the other we got to enjoy a song from our pub-local friend Allie, and we met another young lady who was very complimentary about our singing and who it seems may drop in on us again for a proper visit, perhaps even bringing along her mother who is a morris dancer. We were able to send both of our valued visitors away with our branded beer-mats to remind them to come back.

Colin, MC as usual, started us off with Smith of Bristol, which is included in Dominic Behan's "Ireland sings: An anthology of modern and ancient Irish songs and ballads" (Dominic Behan)

One source claims that the origins of 'Smith of Bristol' can be traced back to the 17th century in Bristol, England. It was a popular sea shanty often sung by sailors and workers in the ports of Bristol. The song was originally known as 'Spanish Ladies' and was believed to be a traditional English folk song. However, in the 19th century, it was given the name 'Smith of Bristol' by the famous British song collector, William Chappell. The song gained popularity during the 19th and 20th centuries as it was sung by sailors on their long voyages. It was also a favorite among naval officers, and it is said that it was sung by the crew of the HMS Beagle during Charles Darwin's voyage.

Simon's first song of the evening was Dolly Parton's Love is like a butterfly.

Given the small number of people present I will keep this fairly brief.

Colin's second song, was the first of two sung on the evening that is new to the Dragon database: The Chastity Belt (*). It was included in a musical revue called "Wait a Minim!" (1962-68) with original songs by Jeremy Taylor and listed as "Opening Knight". On the album of the show it is credited to Andrew Tracey, Paul Tracey, Jeremy Taylor. They may have written it or, it seems, may have obtained it as a joint effort between the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge, the tune coming from Oxford.

On one of Allie's visits to the reserve ladies toilet she gave us her party piece of Here come the navvies (Ian Campbell). We already knew that Allie plays the saxophone (soprano I think), but we learnt that she also keeps bees.

The second new entry to the Dragon database came from Colin, and is a version of The mermaid (roud 124, child 289) sometimes called 'Twas in the broad Atlantic (* James Thomson, David Mallet) or Married to a mermaid.

In 1740, Thomson collaborated with Mallet on the masque Alfred which was first performed at Cliveden, the country home of Frederick, Prince of Wales. Thomson's words for "Rule, Britannia!", written as part of that masque and set to music by Thomas Arne, became one of the best-known British patriotic songs – quite distinct from the masque which is now virtually forgotten. The Prince gave him a pension of £100 per annum. In 1751 Mallet re-used the text of "Rule, Britannia!", omitting three of the original six stanzas and adding three new ones by Lord Bolingbroke, to form the repeated chorus of the comic song "Married to a Mermaid". This became extremely popular when Mallet produced his masque "Britannia" at Drury Lane Theatre in 1755.

We finished the session with a traditional closing song, led by Simon, Wild mountain thyme (Francis McPeake).

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

(Number of people present - 3 of whom 3 performed)

In the above report songs new to the Dragon database (though no always new to the club) are marked with an asterisk (*) and any songs not included in the "a selection" playlist are marked with a hash (#).

A trip across the border

Herring Gull on rubbish (Photo: Simon Meeds)

We didn't have high hopes of last week's Dragon Folk Club session, coinciding as it did with Sidmouth Folk Festival and therefore automatically ruling out some of our regular singers.  However, things were looking up when Mark appeared. It was Mark's first visit to the club, not surprisingly since he is a regular at Belper Folk Club, which is based in Derbyshire.

We were settling down to a good evening of four singers with one visitor when who should come through the door but our old friends Richard and Lesley who have long lived in far flung corners of Wales. We owed the visit to their wedding anniversary celebrations which would take place in Bristol over the weekend. Their profiles on this blog which are linked above are unsurprisingly a little out of date.

Colin, MC as usual, started things off with Butter and cheese and all (roud 510).

For his first song of the evening Roger had been inspired by a song he heard Colin sing some time ago. Tom Paxton's Ramblin' boy has therefore entered his repertoire.

Simon stayed on safe ground with Graham Moore's Tom Paine's bones.

Mark's first song was in fact a medley: Rag Fair / Down Where the Drunkards Roll from the singing of Damien  Barber and Mike Wilson. The component songs are of course Rag Fair (* roud 17180) and Down where the drunkards roll (Richard Thompson).

Richard marked his return to the Dragon with Lemady (* roud 193) and Lesley completed the first rotation with Pleasant and delightful (roud 660, laws O30).

Mark's second song was another medley, though of his own manufacture with both component songs being from the 2006 version of the BBC Radio Ballads. They were The Price (* John Tams) and Steelos (John Tams).

Yorkshire native Richard contributed his first Welsh of the evening with Fflat Huw Puw (* J Glynne Davies). Hugh Pugh's family came from the Dolgellau area, but he was born in the Princess Basin Liverpool, and at one time in his career, became master of the small flat ‘Ann’. The ‘Ann’ was built in Frodsham in 1799, registered in Liverpool till 1848, then sold to Caernarfon on August  4th 1848. Flats were shallow boats that were used to sail up rivers and the Ann sailed the Mersey, Dee, and the river Conway as far as Trefriw. She was 60 tons, had one mast and three of a crew. Her exact measurements were 61.8 ft long. 15ft 1in wide, and a draft of 6ft. 6in. She was described thus ‘Rigged with lifting Bowsprit, square sterned, Carvel built, has neither Galleries or figurehead’. Here's more of the story.

Although Lesley sang one of her old favourites, it seems it had never previously made it to the Dragon database, it being A blacksmith courted me (* roud 816).

Roger gave us one of this own songs: Expectations (*# Roger Stanleigh).

Mark sang what he suggested was Roger Watson's best song: Watercress-o (*). The song, written in 1965, was inspired by Roger's grandmother’s recollections of a watercress seller who had visited the back-to-back houses of the mining village where she had lived as a young woman. His grandfather had been a typical son of a mining family; he left school at the age of twelve and worked at the colliery until he retired.

Mark's next song was Cousin Jack (Steve Knightley) - I always try to mention every song sung by a brand new dragon.

Richard gave us his own song Full of superstitions (*# Richard Gillion) and Lesley sang Kathy's song (* Paul Simon).

Mark introduced us to a comedy song from the pen of Jez Lowe: Talk to me dirty in geordie. This started a mini-theme of songs inspired by the singing of that song. First Richard sang The bonny Gateshead lass (* Joe Wilson) then Simon sang The Lambton worm (roud 2337 - Clarence M. Leumane).

Leslie told us of a common hazard for tourists with Max Boyce's The seagulls of Llandudno (*). Staying in Wales and noting that the title applied to Lesley, Richard sang Merch Megan (*). The English translation of the title is "Megan's daughter", and Richard sang it partly in Welsh and partly in his own translation.

Roger finished off the session with Tom Springfield's Island of dreams (*).

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

(Number of people present - 6 of whom 6 performed)

In the above report songs new to the Dragon database (though no always new to the club) are marked with an asterisk (*) and any songs not included in the "a selection" playlist are marked with a hash (#).