Roll, roll, row and blow

Kaskelot (Photo: Simon Meeds)

It was another fun session for the Dragon Folk Club last Friday. There was nothing spectacular to report, but certainly a good range of songs was sung.

Colin, the regular MC, started things off with Mary Ann (roud 4438), which Denny followed up with Down where the drunkards roll (Richard Thompson). Simon started a bit of a personal Mike Harding theme with his Accrington Pals. Paul completed the first rotation with Hard times of old England (roud 1206).

There were just two songs from the evening which are not available on YouTube and therefore not included in the playlist linked from "a selection" below. They were Colin's singing of The Kipper Family's Wraggle-taggle travellers-o (Chris Sugden), and also from Colin, As long as someone sings a song (George Papavgeris).

The following songs (or versions) were new to the Dragon database, though not necessarily new to the club:

• Colin - Row bullies row (a version of Liverpool Judies using instead the line "Liverpool girls" - roud 928)
• Simon - Roll Down (Peter Bellamy)
• Colin - Darby Kelly (roud 21859)
• Denny - Watford Gap (Roy Harper)

I also managed to find a recording very similar to the extra-bawdy version of Blow the man down (roud 2624) that Colin sang. We're not afraid of a bit of bawd or controversy at the Dragon Folk Club as long as it does no one any harm.

With a total of forty-one songs, it was Colin who presented the last of those: Rescue me (Dougie McLean). For the record, since it was mentioned, Dougie is 69 years of age at the time of writing.

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

(Number of people present - 4 of whom 4 performed)

St Patrick's Day 2024

The Shandon Arms, Cork, Republic of Ireland
(Photo: Simon Meeds)

We had a great St Patrick's Day session (two days early) last week with a pleasing total of eight singers giving us 36 performances, mostly with some connection to Ireland.

This Friday's session will have no theme so anything goes as long as it's acoustic. Well, that's always the case theme or not. Your presence will be very gratefully received since we will be well down on the usual crowd with several people away. This is your chance to try out something new or to try singing or playing in public if you are unaccustomed. Colin, our MC, will be waiting to welcome you. With the weather starting to warm up and having found a heater the welcome indeed be warm.

Last week it was Denny who started off the session with Mountains of Mourne (Percy French).

The only song of the evening not to appear in the YouTube playlist linked from "a selection" below is Tom Lewis's the St Patrick's Day song which Colin gave us. It's not that the song isn't available on YouTube, but the recording of it alone has been removed and it only remains on a full recording of Lewis's album 360 Degrees (All Points of the Compass).

Another one that just scraped through t the playlist was Paul's "Old times of old Ireland", a lightly reworked version of Hard times of old England (roud 1206).

Some songs less often sung at the club and deserving a mention, whether Irish or not, include:

• Colin - Ancient and old Irish condom
• Stuart - The cuckoo (roud 413)
• Stuart - KC moan (roud 4958)

Simon brought the session to a close with the classic joiner-inner, Wild Rover (roud 1173).

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

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

St George's Day 2023

Now that's what I'm talking about! Last week's Dragon Folk Club session really was a triumph. There were twelve people present, ten of whom performed including four newcomers to the club (plus the two audience members were also newcomers). We can only hope that they will all return soon and that even more of you will join them. Everyone seemed to enjoy the evening and there was quite an eclectic mix of music and song.

The optional theme for the evening was St George's Day - we were just two days early to be celebrating it.

I assume that Paul and Denny arrived first since it was Paul who Colin asked to sing first. He stared a trend by singing Hard times of old England (roud 1206). This led later to two parodies of the same song. Paul himself sang Les Barker's Hard cheese of old England and Colin sang Grumpy old men of old England (John Conolly, Bill Meek).

Second to sing was Denny with Rolling home (to dear old England) (roud 4766). She was followed by MC Colin singing The new St George (Richard Thompson).

Malcolm was next. He sang his own song, The wild rose (Malcolm Perrett) thinking it had no connection with St George, but he was assured that St George is the patron saint of soldiers.

Bill sang in public for the first time in about thirty years. He only gave us one song, but it was a fine rendition of The water is wide (roud 87).

Rob and Sian, being a duo, were required to sing two songs in each round and the first time they gave us I am going to the west (Connie Dover) and Jordan am a hard road to travel (roud 12153).

Simon's oblique reference to St George involved a metaphorical dragon in The Lambton worm (roud 2337).

Bob gave us New train (John Prine) and Sue followed that with Jeff Lynne's Hold on tight. And so the first, rather satisfying, tour of the room was complete.

The rest of this report, as is customary, is a list of the remaining songs sung by our newcomers, Malcolm, Sian and Rob:

• Malcolm - It's a difficult question (Malcolm Perrett)
• Rob and Sian - Billy Gray (Norman Blake)
• Rob and Sian - I don't want to get married (collected from the Poplin Family of Sumter, South Carolina)
• Malcolm - Here in America (song for Sam Cooke) - (Dion DiMucci)
• Rob and Sian - Hard times come again no more (roud 2659 - Stephen Foster)
• Rob and Sian - Hush (The Manx lullaby - Arrane Ny Niee)
• Malcolm - Poles apart (Malcolm Perrett)
• Rob and Sian - Columbus stockade blues (roud 4546)
• Rob and Sian - Loch Lomond (roud 9598)

And so it fell to Paul to finish proceedings with When all men sing (Keith Scowcroft, Derek Gifford).

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

(Number of people present - 12 of whom 10 performed)

Not quite the end of war

Bristol Remembrance Sunday parade 2019
(Photo: Simon Meeds)

Last week's session had no theme and in fact it was a bit short, not just because we were thin on the ground but because everyone present seemed to have a reason for wanting to leave early, so our normal interval time of 10pm was unusually our end time. Nevertheless, we got through 16 songs, which wasn't bad going.

Colin kicked us off with Hard Times Of Old England (Roud 1206). There was a debate between Colin and Mike as to whether it was made famous by Steeleye Span (1975) or by The Young Tradition, who would certainly have been earlier since they split up in 1969, but I haven't been able to find confirmation that they recorded the song. I've stayed above that discussion by going with the Copper Family (who originally recorded it in 1955). Here's another recording that just predates 1975: The Etchingham Steam Band with the unmistakable voice of Shirley Collins.

Derek's version of The Blantyre Explosion (Roud 1014) puts it at a timely 11 November but he indicated it had always puzzled him because the actual disaster was on 22 October 1877. He assumed that November helped the rhyme.

When Simon sang Graham Moore's Tom Paine's Bones. Derek, a recently retired maths teacher, wondered whether he should have asked for it to be rewritten as John Napier's Bones.

Mike, for reasons known only to himself decided to continue the previous week's war (remembrance) theme through most of the evening, starting with a medley of I Don't Want To Join The Army (Roud 10263) and When This Lousy War Is Over (tune by Charles Crozat Converse).

Derek harked back even further to our Bonfire Night theme of two weeks ago singing what I discovered back in 2016 was the Nottinghamshire / Derbyshire version of a Guy Fawkes night rhyme: "All the little angels are dressed in white".

Simon finally gave in to the war theme with The Gentleman Soldier (Roud 178).

Unusually these days, Mike got to finish off the evening and in doing so set me a challenge to find a recording the exact version of All The Good Times (word by Bob Pegg) that he sang. I wonder whether I managed it? The clues he gave were that it was someone who sang regularly at The Lamb in Iron Acton (the second venue in this club's long history and the first which Mike attended) but he was not a member, which presumably made him a well-known performer. He also said it was the same person from whom he learned the song he sang on the previous rotation: Peter's Private Army (Martin Graebe). So, my guess is Johnny Collins (linked above).Am I right?

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

(Number of people present - 4, of whom 4 performed)

St George's Day 2018

We had an excellent turn-out for last week's St George's Day themed session. This Friday's theme (4 May) will be appropriately themed for May songs.

Last week we were pleased to see semi-regulars, Steve C and Jane and it was great to welcome again Malcolm and his lady, whose name I'm afraid to say I still haven't captured, on one of their occasional visits to Bristol from their home in Yorkshire.

Colin was, as usual, MC and he started the evening off with Richard Thompson's The New Saint George. This wasn't the only Thompson song of the evening for John P gave us Albion Sunrise.

England, St George and dragons

St George and the Dragon, Bryn Mawr, c1910-1915

This week was our St George's Day session (one day late), so there were songs of England, knights and dragons. We were all pleased to see Maggie back with us, albeit with her right arm in plaster. She still managed to sell the raffle tickets at the interval with some help from the customers with tearing tickets. In expectation of Mike and Maggie leaving early, Colin took up the mantle of MC for the evening. We were joined by two audience members, more of which later.

Mike mistakenly suggested that his only song to mention St George was one which he will sing next week for May Day, so he started off the session by commemorating the hundredth anniversary of the start of the Gallipoli Campaign with The Band Played Waltzing Matilda (Eric Bogle).