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| Mike Starkey (Photo: Simon Meeds) |
The Dragon Folk Club is sad to inform of the passing of Mike Starkey on Sunday, 12th April 2026.
Mike had been coming along to the Dragon Folk Club for "many, many years", since it was held at The Lamb in Iron Acton. He was a fine unaccompanied singer.
Mike had a long history with music, not just folk music. He sang with Dave Marshall and Amanda as the "Terrible Two and Amanda", and also with the "Westerleigh Wailers" who performed many times at folk clubs and festivals.
He was with the Bristol Shantymen and appeared with them at folk clubs and festivals all over the country. Mike sang with the shantymen on many sea-going vessels and at shanty festivals in Poland, Liverpool, Whitby, Bristol, and Cardiff, among others.
Mike was for a long time our MC and his wife Maggie the proprietor of the Dragon Folk Club. He also successfully MCed at other folk clubs and at festivals.
This week we have also heard of the passing of Dragon stalwart, Tom Mossman, so I suggest that tonight's session (17th April 2026) and maybe the next few sessions might have an additional (always optional) theme of songs they sang. Here is the very incomplete list of Mike's songs from the Dragon database.
Addams Family Theme, The - Vic Mizzy
Admiral Benbow - roud 227
After The Gold Rush - Neil Young
Albertina - translation by J Glyn Davies of the Norwegian shanty Skonnert Albertina
All Among The Barley - roud 1283, Elizabeth Stirling
All The Good Times - Bob Pegg
All Things Dull And Ugly - William Henry Monk, Eric Idle
Amazing Grace - roud 5430, John Newton
And Now I'm Easy - Eric Bogle
Apple Tree Wassail - roud 209
As We Were A-Sailing - roud 492
Away to the Western Front - Mike Starkey
Bald Eagle, The - Vera Johnson
Band Played Waltzing Matilda, The - Eric Bogle
Bang away Lulu - roud 4835
Banks Of Marble - Les Rice
Barrett's Privateers - Stan Rogers
Battle Of Sowerby Bridge, The -
Black Sloven - roud 6475
Black Velvet Band - roud 2146
Black White Yellow And Green - roud 9212
Blackleg miners - roud 3193
Blood Red Roses - roud 931, Possibly A L Lloyd
Bloody Great Fishes Are Whales -
Boar's Head Carol, The - roud 22229
Bold Fusilier - Pete Coe based on traditional
Bonny Black Hare - roud 1656
Boston Harbour - roud 613
Bring Us A Barrel - Keith Marsden
Bully in the alley - roud 8287
Byker Hill - roud 3488
Card Playing Song - roud 884
Children Of The Train - Mike Starkey
Chinese Bum-boat Man, The - roud 10465
Christmas Day in the Cookhouse -
Christmas Goose, The - roud 3204
Cindy Oh Cindy - roud 21449, Robert Nemiroff, Burt D'Lugoff as Robert Barron, Burt Long
Claudy Banks - roud 266
Cockerham Devil, The - Pru and Roger Edwards
Collier Brig, The - roud 1855
Come Landord Fill The Flowing Bowl - roud 1234
Come Write Me Down - roud 381
Crack Your Whip (Bristol Mail) - Keith Marsden
Cutty Wren, The - roud 236
D-Day Dodgers - roud 10499, Lance-Sergeant Harry Pynn
Dancing At Witsun - Austin John Marshall
Dead Dog Cider - Trevor Crozier
Devil In York, The - Tim Brooks
Dido Bendigo - roud 584
Doctor Mack - roud 1861
Don't You Let Nobody Turn You 'Round - Tom Paxton
Donkey Riding - roud 4540
Doodle Let Me Go (Yaller Girls) - roud 3221
Down The Road - Bill Staines
Drovers, The - Keith Marsden
Drunken Sailor - roud 322
Duw It's Hard - Max Boyce
English Country Garden - roud 29760, Fred Wedlock
Enniskillen Dragoons - roud 2185, Tommy Makem
Farewell Shanty -
Farmer's Boy - roud 408
Fathom The Bowl - roud 880
Fed Up With The Fields Of Athenry -
Female Drummer, The - roud 226
Fireship, The - roud 4841
Firing the Mauretania -
Five Constipated Men -
Flower Of Scotland - Roy Williamson
Free And Easy - roud 1084
Gloucestershire Wassail, The - roud 209
Good English Ale - roud 1512
Grey Goose -
H'ist Up The John B's Sails - roud 15634
Hal An Tow - roud 1520
Hanging Johnny - roud 2625
Happy Man, The - roud 1230
Hard Times Of Old England - roud 1206
Harry Brown - Pete McNab, Mike Starkey
Haul Away Joe - roud 809
He Back, She Back - roud 930
He Jumped Without A Parachute From 40,000 Feet -
Heights Of Alma - roud 830
Here's To Good Old Whisky - roud 10523
Herring Song, The - roud 128
High Germany - roud 904
Hitler Has Only Got One Ball - roud 10493, Attributed to Toby O'Brien; tune Lieutenant F. J. Ricketts as "Colonel Bogey March"
Hob Y Deri Dando -
Hog-eye man - roud 331
Holmfirth Anthem, The - roud 1046
Homeward - Cicely Fox Smith, Sarah Morgan
Hounds Are Out, The - roud 1869
Hounds are out, the - roud 24901
I Can Hew Boys - Dave Dodds
I Couldn't Take My Eyes Off Her - Dave Plaskett
I Don't Want To Join The Army - roud 10263
I Once Loved A lass - roud 154
I Will Go - traditional, Roddy MacMillan
I Wish I Was Single Again - roud 437
I'll Tell Me Ma - roud 2649
I've got sixpence - roud 1116
Idlers And Skivers - Keith Marsden
Jack Of All Trades - roud 3017
January Man, The - Dave Goulder
JCB Song, The - Seamus Moore
Joe Hill - Alfred Hayes, Earl Robinson
John Barleycorn - roud 164
John Cherokee - roud 4693
Johnnie Lad - roud 2587
Johnny Come Down to Hilo - roud 650
Jolly Ploughboy, The - roud 163, Possibly John J. Blockley
Jolly Waggoner - roud 1088
Land Rover -
Last Shanty, The - Tom Lewis
Last Valentine's Day - roud 6475
Lish Young Buy-a-broom, The - roud 1865
Little Fishes - roud 5477
Liverpool Judies - roud 928
London River - Rod Shearman
Lumbered - Leslie Bricusse and Anthony Newley
Marching Inland - Tom Lewis
Martin Said To His Man - roud 473
Mary Ellen Carter - Stan Rogers
Miner's Lifeguard, The - roud 3510
Mingulay Boat Song - Sir Hugh S Roberton
Mobile Bay - roud 4696
Mop Her Down - roud 17004
Morley Main - Keith Marsden
Mrs McGrath - roud 678
Nancy Myles - Kevin Sheerin
Napoleon Bonaparte - roud 1626
New York Girls - roud 486
No Use For Him - Eric Bogle
Noah's Ark Shanty - roud 318
Normandy Orchards - Keith Marsden
Oak and the ash, The - roud 1367
Old Man's Song, The - Ian Campbell
One More Day - roud 704
Outward And Homeward Bound - roud 18905
Pace-Egging Song, The - roud 614
Padstow Drinking Song, The - roud 1252
Paris here I come -
Parting Glass, The - roud 3004
Pay Me My Money Down - roud 21449
Peter's Private Army - Martin Graebe
Pogles Wood - John the Fish
Pretty Nancy Of Yarmouth - roud 407
Quare Bungle Rye - roud 2404
Red Haired Mary - Sean McCarthy
Rochester Recruiting Sergeant, The - Pete Coe, based on a The Bold Fusilier
Roll Alabama Roll - roud 4710
Roll the cotton down - roud 2627
Roll The Old Chariot - roud 3632
Roll the Woodpile Down - roud 4443
Rolling Down To Rio - Rudyard Kipling, Edward German
Rolling Home - John Tams “Round goes the wheel of fortune”
Rolling Home - roud 4766 “Call all hands to man the capstan”
Roman Gladiator, The - Bruce Campbell
Ryebuck Shearer, The - roud 24820
Sailboat Malarkey -
Sally Free And Easy - Cyril Tawney
Sam's gone way (aboard a man o' war) -
Santianna - roud 207
Scarborough Fair - roud 12
Sebastapol - roud 8293
Sebastopol - roud 5007
Seven Drunken Nights - roud 114
Shantyman - Bob Watson
Shoals Of Herring, The - Ewan MacColl
Side By Side (parody) - original by Harry M Woods
Skipper Jan Rebeck -
Smuggler's Song, The - Rudyard Kipling, Peter Bellamy, Christopher Le Fleming
South Australia - roud 325
Spanish Ladies - roud 687
Spencer The Rover - roud 1115
Sweet ladies of Plymouth - Peter Bellamy
Sweet Nightingale - roud 371
Take Your Time - Peter Mundey
Thee's Got'n Where Thee Cassn't Back'n, Hassn't - Adge Cutler
Three Day Millionaire - Mike Waterson
Tom's gone to Hilo - roud 481
Twanky-dillo - roud 2409
Twenty Fourth Of February, The - roud 951
Vicar And The Frog, The - Stan Crowther
Wassail Song - roud 209
Watch And Chain - Dave Webber
We Sing Hallelujah - Richard Thompson
We Wish You A Merry Christmas - roud 230
We're All Surrounded - roud 9164
What Is The Life Of A Man - roud 848
When Johnny Comes Marching Home - roud 6673
When Jones's Ale Was New - roud 139
When This Lousy War Is Over - Tune: Charles Crozat Converse
When Yellow's On The Broom - Adam McNaughton
Whip Jamboree - roud 488
Whisky Johnny - roud 651
Wild Colonial Boy, The - roud 667
Wild Goose Shanty, The - roud 328
William Brown - Arthur Hagg
Working Man - Rita MacNeil
World Cup Willie - Lonnie Donegan
World Turned Upside Down, The - Leon Rosselson
Ying Tong Song - Spike Milligan
Young Banker - roud 3321
Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah - Allie Wrubel, Ray Gilbert
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