No pattern that I can see

Hilaire Belloc

It was another good showing this week although I must admit that I was one of several who left after the interval. I am grateful to someone, Richard I believe, for noting down the songs and tunes from the second half; so, many of them can be found on the "a selection" link at the bottom of this report.

With Colin in charge, Derek started off the evening by announcing the death of Brian Colley and proceeded to sing one from his repertoire: The Old Pubs (Johnny Handle). Sorry if I misheard but I believe Mike said that Brian had picked up one of his (Mike's) songs when he visited a folk club in the North East. On Mike's next visit to the club the organiser begged him to sing the song again because they had heard it too many times sung badly in the intervening months. The song, which Mike sang, was Following The Southern Star.

Richard pointed out that we rarely see John Shaw at the club, so he would sing one of his songs. No, he wasn't going to sing The Christmas Tree in the middle of the year but Hilaire Belloc's The Winged Horse. Lesley followed up with The Saucy Sailor (Roud 531, Laws K38).

Pot pourri

The title page of an edition of The Sacred Harp

Mike wasn't feeling too well at last week's session, so Richard was put in charge, and he ably MCed the evening.

Chico made an appearance at the club for the first time in 10 or 15 years according to his memory. We were certainly entertained by his songs: Roll along, Seaman's shuffle (a ragtime tune) and 21st century troubadour (download sample). Let's hope we see him at The Bridge before the next decade starts.

Terry isn't anywhere near as rare a visitor to the club as Chico, but this time he was missing his usual companion: his classical guitar. It was therefore from a slightly different repertoire that we hear him sing on this occasion. Terry sang The Dutchman by Michael P Smith, John Willie's ferret by the Oldham Tinkers, and Lamorna. The last song, appearing to be about a place in Cornwall, seems to be derived from a 19th century broadside providing words to a song called Down to Pomona, which is set in Manchester.