Ne'er cast a clout

(Photo: Simon Meeds)

We weren't too sure last week whether we would get a good session at the Dragon Folk Club with our usual MC, Colin, being away, but Simon stepped in and we had a pretty good time.

Simon started the ball rolling with The moonshine can (roud 9949). This was followed with the Swinton May song from Denny. Paul thought he might have a new song for the database with Blackbird (John Lennon, Paul McCartney) but that one was just pipped to the post by Colin a few short weeks ago. Steve first song was the Jolly waggoner (roud 1088).

My usual criteria for making special mention of songs doesn't really get me anywhere this time. All thirty six songs we sung were available on YouTube and are therefore included in the playlist linked from "a selection" below, and there was only one sing that was new to the Dragon database (though not necessarily to the club) and that was Lisbon (roud 551, laws N8) which was sung by Denny.

Although we didn't have any more new songs, we did have a few first performances by specific singers to be recorded in the database:

• Paul - The aforementioned Blackbird
• Simon - The keeper (roud 1519)
• Simon - Hotel California (Don Felder, Don Henley, Glenn Frey)
• Simon - Hal an tow (roud 1520)

In pre-database times Simon had definitely sung The keeper and Hotel California, and probably also Hal an tow.

And so we kept on with the singing and the banter until Steve closed the evening with Cyril Tawney's The ballad of Sammy's Bar.

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

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

First times and name checks

Boston Dock, Boston, Lincolnshire

Last week's session of the Dragon Folk Club had no theme and a wide variety of songs was sung, forty in all. It was good to see Steve C join us for the first time in a while.

This Friday's session (15th March) being just two days before Paddy's Day will have a theme of St Patrick and all things Irish. You may be interested to know St Patrick's full list of patronages in case you run out of Irish songs. They are:

Ireland, Nigeria, Montserrat, the Archdiocese of New York, the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Newark (New Jersey), the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles, Boston (Massachusetts), Rolla, Missouri, Loíza, Puerto Rico, Murcia (Spain), Clann Giolla Phádraig, engineers, paralegals, and the Archdiocese of Melbourne. He is also invoked against snakes and sins.

Back to last week, Colin as MC started off the session with Boston Harbour (roud 613). We briefly discussed which Boston this referred to before deciding it was Boston, Massachusetts rather than Boston, Lincolnshire which has a man-made dock, opened in 1884, rather than a harbour. Nevertheless it is this dock which has inspired the featured image.

The only song of the night that doesn't feature in the YouTube playlist linked from "a selection" below is Paul's self-penned parody of Close the coalhouse door (Alex Glasgow) which he wrote while waiting in the car for Denny to have some dental treatment, and which he calls "Close the dentist's door". Of course "...there's blood inside".

There was only one song during the evening that was new to the Dragon database and that was from Colin, The pensioner's complaint (roud 1663).

Simon started a theme of firsts. The first song he sang at a folk club was Suzanne Vega's Tom's diner. The first song Denny sang in a similar situation was Oh! Oh! Antonio (roud V36813 - C W Murphy, Dan Lipton) and Paul's was Fathom the bowl (roud 880).

Steve arrived during the second rotation of the evening, and his first song of the evening was Jolly Waggoner (roud 1088).

Another ad hoc theme, first spotted by Colin, was songs with someone's name in the first line. I'll leave it to you to listen to the playlist and work out how many there were.

We had eight complete rotations of the room and while Steve missed the first Colin made up for it by starting a ninth just before the end, so his singing of New York girls (roud 486) brought us to a round tally of forty songs in the evening.

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

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

Old friends

Tom, just a few years ago

The usual scribe was absent for last week's Dragon Folk Club session and will also be away this Friday. The report will take a slightly different format for now: not all facts will be checked and there will be no YouTube playlist of songs at least for the moment.

It was great to see that our old friend Tom turned up
for the first time in quite a while and complete with his banjo! Occasional visitors Steve and Jane also made a welcome appearance.

• Colin - Bring it on home (Sam Cooke)
• Denny - Collier Laddie (roud 3787)
• Paul - God speed the plough (roud 1475)
• Geoff - The Cape (Guy Clark)
• Tom - Raining in my heart (Felice Bryant, Boudleaux Bryant)
• Steve - Jolly Waggoner (roud 1088)
• Jane - A new story "Belief", on the subject of war and refugees
• Colin - Day-o (Jerry Silverman)
• Denny - The wizard of Alderley Edge (Pete Coe)
• Paul - The Farmer's Boy (roud 408)
• Geoff - The Manchester Rambler (Ewan MacColl)
• Tom - Everyone (Bryan Cookman)
• Steve - Adieu, sweet lovely Nancy (roud 165)
• Jane - The beggar the priest and the cobbler (given to Jane by Sheila Stewart)
• Colin - Between the wars (Billy Bragg)
• Denny - Miner's Lifeguard (roud 3510)
• Paul - Rolling down to old Maui (roud 2005)
• Geoff - Universal soldier (Buffy Sainte-Marie)
• Tom - Eyes of a painter (Kate Wolfe)
• Steve - The lock keeper (Stan Rogers)
• Colin - The rigs of the times (William James Emberley - roud 876)
• Denny - Young Banker (roud 3321)
• Paul - Rose of Allandale (Charles Jefferys and Sidney Nelson - roud 1218)
• Geoff - Copper kettle (Albert Frank Beddoe)
• Steve - Bonnie ship the Diamond (roud 2172)
• Jane - Old Nick's cow café

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

Harvest 2014

Pete Shutler of The Yetties

This week was our harvest session with sandwiches provided by Maggie and most present having brought produce for the raffle whose proceeds will go to St Peter's Hospice.

Speaking of the hospice, I will get an early plug in for next week's session (3 October) which will be in memory of Pat (Eades) Hyett who died there recently. Pat, together with her husband Keith, was familiar on the local folk scene and a regular visitor to the Dragon Folk Club. Please come along and bring your friends and family so that we can celebrate the life of our friend Pat in the best way possible. Any money collected will once again be donated to St Peter's Hospice.