Sumer is icumen in

Catacombs of Paris
(Photo: Simon Meeds)

Things are getting warmer at The Bridge at last and some of us are "casting clouts". Five slightly less heavily clothed singers turned up to make some noise on a Friday evening.

Colin was MC as usual ans started the session off with Bobby Sands' Back home in Derry.

Paul took us on our first antipodean journey of the evening with The Green Man from the pen of John Thompson who is a member of the Australian band Cloudstreet.

Denny brought us a serving of Good English ale (roud 1512), after which Simon tried to put us to sleep with John o' dreams (Bill Caddick, Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky).

Geoff completed the first round with Dinny the piper (roud 8147).

I'll randomly mention a few more of the songs we sang.

Paul sang Generations of change by Matt Armour, which was new to the Dragon database. It was alsoPaul who sang another song new to the database, though not necessarily new to the Dragon, which was Close the coalhourse door by Alex Glasgow, clearly about the hard life of a miner, but with an extra verse dealing with the Aberfan Disaster.

Denny was suffering from the after-effects of a dental appointment which didn't stop her singing, but we later learned that while Paul was waiting for her session in the chair to finish he had rewritten Close the coalhouse door "Close the dentist's door, there's blood inside... there's bones inside... there's screams inside... there's gold inside." We heard the world premier.

There was some discussion after Geoff had sung the challenging Rocky road to Dublin (roud 1676 - DK Gavan) in slip-jig time (9/8).

Colin sang his own song, John Chiddy about a local (Hanham) man who was killed while averting a rail disaster in 1876, and for whose widow and children a house was built with donations.

Simon closed the evening singing Stan Rogers' Northwest Passage.

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

(Number of people present - 5 of whom 5 performed)

On a roll

Harry Belafonte (1927-2023)

The Dragon Folk Club has really been on a roll recently with a host of "new" singers gracing us with their presence and entertaining us with their songs... and hopefully vice versa. Last week the newcomers were Susan and Steve who played and sang together when their turns came throughout the evening.

It was our MC, Colin, who started off the evening with John O' Dreams (Bill Caddick, Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky). Maybe strange to start off the evening by sending everyone to sleep?

Next came Sue with Island in the sun (Harry Belafonte, Irving Burgie), no doubt marking the recent death of Harry Belafonte, and Bob with Eddie Heywood Sr's Pawn shop blues.

Steve and Susan's first contribution was Me and Bobby McGee (Kris Kristofferson, Fred Foster). Being a duo they were requested to go straight into another song which they did with Gordon Lightfoot's Redwood hill. This was before Lightfoot's recent death.

Denny sang The white cockade, which since I wasn't present I have assumed to be roud 709 rather than roud 191 - sorry if my assumption is incorrect. In retrospect I think I probably was wrong. My excuse is that 709 is The white cockade whereas 191 is effectively The <insert colour of your choice> cockade.

Paul's first song was Tom Waits' Innocent when you dream, and Geoff finished off the first round with As I roved out (roud 277, laws O17).

As is customary, I will list the remaining songs sung by newcomers to The Dragon Folk Club, Susan and Steve:

• Dimming of the day (Richard Thompson)
• If it hadn't been for love (Mike Henderson, Chris Stapleton)
• Tequila sunrise (Don Henley, Glenn Frey)
• The pilgrim: chapter 33 (Kris Kristofferson)
• The ballad of St Anne's Reel (David Mallett)
• The boys in the barroom (Robert Hunter)
• I'll be your baby tonight (Bob Dylan)
• Key to the highway (Charles "Chas" Segar, William "Big Bill" Broonzy)

It fell to Geoff to close the session, which he did with Paul Simon's Slip slidin' away.

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

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

Three into 50 doesn't go

Upton station, Co.Cork (Photo: Ralph Rawlinson)

Oh dear! We're still celebrating the club's 50th anniversary (two more weeks to go) but last week's turn-out was very meagre, not strictly quorate, but we carried on regardless, at least up to a slightly early finish.

Colin, MCing as usual, sang the first of three Woody Guthrie songs of the evening, This Land Is Your Land (Roud 16378). His second Guthrie was Hard Travelin' (Roud 13926). Derek made up the hat-trick with a song that Woody apparently wrote when challenged to sing about the Ladies' Auxiliary. This linked recording appears to be an extended version since printed lyrics usually agree with Derek's rendition that it consists only of a sort of chorus of four lines. Guthrie had in fact earlier sung about the same subject in his song Union Maid (and Pete Seeger finishes this recording off with the original short version).