A happy band

Matthew II and SS Great Britain
(Photo: Simon Meeds)

We had the best turn-out for a while at the Dragon Folk Club last week, and that included Gordon, a new face for the club, and a very welcome one who we hope to see again.

Colin, MC as usual, started off the session with Stan Rogers' The Mary Ellen Carter.

Gordon's debut song at the club was Old Zeb (Larry Kaplan). Kaplan says that the song is about Zebulon Northrup Tilton who was born in 1867, and died in 1952 at the age of eighty-five. He lived long enough to see the coasting schooner trade all but disappear. This was the first of six songs sung during the evening that were new to the Dragon database (though not necessarily new to the club) - I'll simply mark the rest with an asterisk (*).

Denny kept to the watery theme with Row on (roud 2084 - Tune: Tim Laycock). Also keeping to that theme was Paul with Wee pot stove (Harry Robertson), although taking after Nic Jones, Paul sang "Little pot stove".

With the 80th anniversary of the landings just past, Simon found another theme of his own, singing D-Day dodgers (roud 10499 - Lance-Sergeant Harry Pynn).

Rob sang a song sometimes sung by Steve: Just as the tide was flowing (roud 1105), followed swiftly by Steve singing a song sometimes sung by Rob: Rio Grande (roud 317). We're not territorial here when it comes to songs.

Bob gave us Blues stay away from me (Alton Delmore, Henry B Glover, Rabon Delmore, Wayne Raney), followed by Sue finishing the first rotation with Soon may the wellerman come, which contrary to popular belief is not a shanty (a working song), but a forebitter (a ballad sung by seamen while off duty). Nevertheless, Nathan Evans' recording of the song published on social media during the pandemic triggered a revival in shanty signing, which can't be a bad thing.

There were two songs sung during the evening which are not available on YouTube as far as I can tell, and therefore not in the playlist linked from "a selection" below. The first was Colin's singing of Chris Sugden's The Pharmacist (*), a parody of Farmer's boy (roud 408, laws Q30), sung by Sugden and Dick Nudds as The Kipper Family. The second song not on the playlist was sung by Rob, and written by his late friend Pete MacGregor: Modern banker (*).

As is customary, I will mention all of the songs sung by newcomer Gordon. His second song was Singing in the May (Mike O'Connor *) - a little late, but we will forgive him. Next he put on his one-man-band contraption (yes, really) and sang Kris Kristofferson and Fred Foster's Me an Bobby McGee.

Unstrapped, Gordon gave us Joe Hill (Alfred Hayes, Earl Robinson), one of the songs in a set he is developing about rights that have been gained and could easily be lost.

The songs not so far mentioned which are new to the Dragon database were:

• Rob - Waiting for a train (Rob Winder *), not to be confused with the song of the same title which is roud 699, laws H2 and was written by Jimmie Rodgers
• Denny - Shift and spin (Ewan McVicar *)

It fell to Sue to close the evening with Love of the common people (John Hurley, Ronnie Wilkins).

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

(Number of people present - 9 of whom 9 performed)

May there be more

(Photo: Simon Meeds)

We had a fun Dragon Folk Club session last week. There was no official theme but a few emerged. This Friday again there will no theme, but bring you own if you like. Anything goes as long as it's acoustic.

I'm running out of time to get this report out when I like to do so it will be brief this week.

Colin as MC started us off with the Padstow May song (roud 305). Yes Colin adopted May as his theme for most of the evening.

For the first few rounds Simon had a personal theme of the Eurovision Song contest, singing some entries from the 60s and 70s and starting with Dana's winner for Ireland in 1970 All kinds of everything (Derry Lindsay, Jackie Smith).

Steve came in with Just as the tide was flowing (roud 1105).

There were two songs sung which aren't available on YouTube and therefore aren't in the playlist linked from "a selection" below:

• Colin - The maypole - Apparently a Norwegian song ("Gay is the maypole...")
• Steve - When Adam was first created (roud 728)

Simon finished the evening with The L&N don't stop here anymore (Jean Ritchie).

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

(Number of people present - 3 of whom 3 performed)

May the force be with you

Stokes Croft, Bristol
Not too far from Gloucester Road
(Photo: Simon Meeds)

We had another cracking session at the Dragon Folk Club last week. Despite five of the previous week's eight singers being absent we still met as six and managed to sing a whopping forty two songs. It's not quite a record, but it was a very good effort.

We were a little late getting round to our annual "May" theme this year because of some little royal event or other. We sang a reasonable number of songs about the month of May before we started to move to songs about people called May and songs including the word "may". I won't try to work out which were which because I would no doubt fail somewhere.

In the absence of Colin, Simon was MC and started the evening with Claudy Banks (roud 266, laws N40).

In his absence Denny took as her own one of the songs Paul usually sings with Rosabella (roud 21134). Geoff borrowed Galway Shawl (roud 2737) from Simon. No, we don't really own songs, but he did make an unnecessary apology. Steve C gave us Just as the tide was a-flowing (roud 1105).

Steve and Sue opened their account with Maggie May (roud 1757), closely followed by Nobody knows you when you're down and out (roud 18521 - Jimmy Cox). And so ended the first of seven tours of the room during the evening.

I'll mention the songs new to the Dragon database although that doesn't necessarily mean they haven't been sung here before. Unsurprisingly, most of them come from relative newcomers to the club, Steve and Sue whose repertoire is not yet a matter of record.

• Steve and Sue - Run for home (Alan Hull)
• Steve and Sue - Roll me up and smoke me when I die (Willie Nelson, Buddy Cannon, Rich Alves, John Colgin, Mike McQuerry)
• Steve and Sue - Gloucester Road (Andrew McGillan - "inspired by John Denver")
• Steve and Sue - Walking back to Blueberry Hill (Billy Mitchell - about Fats Domino)
• Steve and Sue - Killing the Blues (Rowland Salley)
• Steve and Sue - My walking shoes (don't fit me anymore) (Paul Williams, Jimmy Martin)
• Steve and Sue - You ain't goin' nowhere (Bob Dylan)
• Steve and Sue - Corinne, Corrina (roud 10030 - first recorded by Bo Carter)
• Geoff - I did what I did for Maria (Mitch Murray, Peter Callander - recorded by Tony Christie)
• Steve and Sue - Further on up the road (Bruce Springsteen)

The only song of the evening not on the YouTube playlist linked from "a selection" below was Steve C's When Adam was first created (roud 728).

The session was completed by Steve and Sue performing Bob Dylan's I'll be your baby tonight.

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

(Number of people present - 6 of whom 6 performed)

May I have some more?

Hawthorn 1 (Photo: Chris Phillips)

Last week's session had no official theme but there were clearly a lot of songs left over from the previous week's May Day celebration. It was good to see Geoff after a short break and also to welcome Steve C and Jane, whose story telling lends a texture to the evening.

There will be no theme again this Friday (17 May) so anything goes. Perhaps there could even still be some unsung May songs lurking in the dusty corners of someone's repertoire?

Last week, Colin was MC as usual and started off the unofficial May left-overs theme with We'll Have A May Day (Matt McGinn). This was followed by Derek's traditional singing of The Constantine, a version of Hal An Tow (Roud 1520) sung in the village of Constantine, just down the road and one week later than its more famous neighbour, Helston.

Serendipity

Walking sticks

It was an evening for bringing along friends, which is definitely to be encouraged.

Steve brought along Jane, who told us some of her fine stories. Simon's friend Chris came along for the first time in years and even made his singing debut. And Henry, who himself hadn't been to the club for a year or two, brought his "entourage" of young ladies. Yes, this sort of behaviour is absolutely to be encouraged.

Colin took his now customary position as MC and while Mike was present at the start, he didn't stay long enough to sing. After a short debate about the order in which people arrived, Colin asked Steve to start off the proceedings. His first song was Just As The Tide Was A-Flowing (Roud 1105). This is a May song ("One morning in the month of May"), which he hoped to excuse by saying he hadn't visited us in the previous month. Simon had no such excuse when he later sang The Galway Shawl ("...one pleasant evening in the month of May").