Mostly remembering

Mike Starkey and Tom Mossman
(Photos: Simon Meeds)

After last week's sad news of the recent deaths of two Dragon Folk Club singers the session was suggested as the first of several where songs sung or written by Tom Mossman and Mike Starkey might be featured, and the originally suggested title of "Songs about singing" understandably faded into the background.

It was great to welcome Paul M and his friend Jane for the first time. Out of the five performers, only Colin and Simon really knew Tom and Mike, but it didn't stop others from selecting songs from their repertoires. Overall it was a great evening and definitely not at all morbid.

We were joined briefly by Mike's cribbage-playing friend, asking whether we knew of  Mike's death, and he stayed to listen to one song, so he is included in the count of attendees.

This Friday the official theme will be St George's Day, but songs from Tom and Mike's repertoires are definitely still on the cards - there may even be some that hit both targets on the bullseye!

Colin, resuming his seat as MC after a spell away from it, started proceedings with Deportee (Plane Crash At Los Gatos) (roud 26302 - Woody Guthrie).

Newcomer Paul M's debut song was Fare thee well Cisco (*  Tom Paxton), written about Cisco Houston.

Denny gave us Linden Lea (T roud X4683 - William Barnes, Ralph Vaughan Williams) and Paul W sang The song goes on (Mick Ryan), which having been written as a posthumous tribute to singer Cyril Tawney was very appropriate on all fronts.

Simon finished the first rotation with Standing at the door (T Allan Taylor).

Unusually, because of the themes, I will mention every song (and poem) performed during the evening:

• Colin - Following the southern star (M Mike Starkey, Dave Marshall)
• Paul M -  The twenty fourth of February (M roud 951)
• Denny - Marching inland (M Tom Lewis)
• Paul W - Jones's ale (M roud 139)
• Simon - After the gold rush (M Neil Young)
• Colin - Autumn leaves (T  Joseph Kosma, Johnny Mercer)
• Paul M - D-Day dodgers (M  Lance-Sergeant Harry Pynn, Norbert Schultze)
• Denny - Holmfirth anthem (M roud 1046)
• Paul W - Blackbird (T John Lennon, Paul McCartney)
• Simon - Lasso the moon (T Tom Mossman in discussion with Ray Croll)
• Colin - Mary Ellen Carter (M Stan Rogers)
• Paul M - Song for the Bowdoin (* Larry Kaplan)
• Denny - Rolling home (M  roud 4766)
• Paul W - Bring us a barrel (M Keith Marsden)
• Simon - John Barleycorn (M  roud 164 - Tune "Wir Pflügen" by Johann Abraham Peter Schulz)
• Colin - Dirty old town (M? Ewan MacColl)
• Paul M - Pastures of plenty (* roud 16377 - Woody Guthrie)
• Denny - When yellow's on the broom (M Adam McNaughton)
• Paul W - Country gardens (roud 29760 - Thomas Walker, Robert M Jordan) - Paul wasn't to know that Mike Starkey actually used to sing Fred Wedlock's parody English Country Garden.
• Simon - Grand Dad's cracket (*T Tom Mossman)
• Colin - British bobby (M Fred Wedlock) - Fred was Mike's English teacher when he was at school. Mike said that Fred taught him Brizzle and claimed that he taught Fred Glott'r.
• Paul M - The Marla Hill ducks (* roud V39873 - Tommy Armstrong)
• Denny - I can hew boys (M Davey Dodds)
• Paul W - John Dead (M). I've given Paul the hit on Mike's repertoire because there are many versions of this song and he was very close, but the one Mike sang is more like this Grey goose.
• Simon - Claudy banks (M roud 266, laws N40)
• Colin -  The band played waltzing matilda (M Eric Bogle)
• Paul M - Nantucket (* Jonathan Michael Peter Darely, David Robinson, Robert James Alexander Sattin, Andrew Robert Yates)
• Denny - Row on (roud 2084)
• Paul W - Hanging Johnny (M roud 2625)
• Simon - Home lass home (T Tom Mossman,  Sarah Morgan)
• Colin - Parting glass (M roud 3004)
• Paul M - Bones in the ocean (* Dave Robinson)
• Denny - Rolling Home (M John Tams)
• Paul W - Farewell shanty (M) This was the song Mike would sing at the funeral of a another singer.
• Simon - The January man (M Dave Goulder) Mike would have had Simon's guts for garters for singing this outside January.
• Colin - I'm bound away (M?)
• Paul M - A great northern river (* Graeme Miles)
• Denny - Teeside bridges (Erik Gooding)
• Paul W - Roll Alabama roll (M roud 4710)

Simon finished the evening with When all men sing (Keith Scowcroft, Derek Gifford) - although I don't think I heard Mike perform this song he would certainly sing along to the chorus with gusto, and this recording is particularly appropriate since I believe he knew and respected Johnny Collins.

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

(Number of people present - 7 of whom 5 performed)

In the above report songs new to the Dragon database (though no always new to the club) are marked with an asterisk (*) and any songs not included in the "a selection" playlist are marked with a hash (#).

Additionally this week "T" and "M" indicate songs from Tom Mossman's or Mike Starkey's repertoires and a question mark (?) indicates a song only possibly identified as such.

Follow my leader or be miserable

The Jacobite about to leave Mallaig station
(Photo: Simon Meeds)

At last week's Dragon Folk Club session we were back to being quorate, and there was no official theme in sight. Two things emerged though. Simon tried to follow Colin thematically on each of his turns, and Paul tried to out-miserable our resident blues-man, Bob, while others joined in that pursuit from time to time.

Colin, back as MC after a short break, started us off with Pete Budd's Somerset born and proud (*). It was the only new song for the Dragon database this week - though definitely previously sung at the club in May 2014 if at no other time. Simon took us in a southerly direction to Dorset for The Yetties' version of Buttercup Joe (roud 1635).

Denny's first song of the evening was Linden Lea (William Barnes, Ralph Vaughan Williams) and Paul gave us Somewhere to begin (T R Ritchie).

Bob said he had wondered how Gram Parsons' Luxury liner could be made of just 40 tons of steel until he realised it referred to a railway (railroad) locomotive rather than to a great ship.

Sue completed the first rotation with The whistling gypsy (roud 1, child 200 - Leo Maguire).

When Colin sang If (David Gates) Simon responded with another love song albeit unrequited and slightly creepy: Elusive butterfly (Bob Lind). Simon pointed out that in the early 1980s Paul Gambaccini declared on BBC Radio that Telly Savalas' version of If was the UK number one hit with the shortest title and Simon thought the record probably stood. Wikipedia says that "In the U.S., Bread's tune was the shortest song title to become a top ten hit until 1993, when Prince hit No. 7 with 7, later matched by Britney Spears' No. 1 hit 3 in 2009." Given that 7 only reached #27 in the UK and 3 only reached #7 I would suggest that Gambaccini's statement probably still holds. In the same broadcast the song San Francisco (Be Sure to Wear Flowers in Your Hair) written by John Phillips and recorded by Scott McKenzie was said to be the longest UK #1 title. It would be much more difficult to prove whether or not that still holds. I know, this story is the antithesis of folk, but I think it's interesting if trivial and very nerdy.

Paul's first attempt at out-miserabling Bob was with The last of the great whales (Louis/Louisa Killen) to which Bob's riposte was Leon Payne's Lost highway.

Colin lightened the mood with Just kidding (# Miles Wootton, Fred Wedlock) which unfortunately cannot be linked so you can't experience the joys of clingfilm over the loo. Simon's answer to that was bed bugs eating paper off the wall in Down our street.

When Bob sang Orange Blossom Special (roud 17742 - Ervin T Rouse) he suggested there were no songs about British trains. The list, like a head of steam, started building: Last train (Stanley Accrington), Children of the train by our own Mike Starkey (not his tune in the linked video), Railway station song by Steve Andisaw (definitely worth a listen), ... To prove the point Sue sang Blackpool Belle (Howard Broadbent, Jimmy Smith).

Colin took an eco and sligtly miserable turn with Leave them a flower (Wally Whyton) and Simon followed him down the path of (anti) environmental destruction with Brian Bedford's This is the way the world ends.

Denny's contribution to the miserable theme was Ron Angel's The chemical worker's song about life inside ICI's Billingham factory and Paul continued with the negative side of industry, remembering the Aberfan disaster with Close the coalhouse door (Alex Glasgow). Maybe Bob had had enough of the misery since he added Blues stay away from me (Alton Delmore, Rabon Delmore, Henry B Glover, Wayne Raney).

Colin sang of the trials of Wreck of the Ragamuffin (roud 10466 - John J. Stamford) so Simon followed that with the tragic end of The Bergen (Jez Lowe) which our own Derek Brinkley once claimed to be the only song written about Seaton Carew where the crewmen were buried.

Paul dredged the depths of misery with Hanging Johnny (roud 2625) and Bob made his last offering another railroad ditty: Golden Rocket (Hank Snow).

Sue finished off the session in good spirits and with High hopes (Jimmy Van Heusen, Sammy Cahn).

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

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

In the above report songs new to the Dragon database (though no always new to the club) are marked with an asterisk (*) and songs not to be found in the playlist linked from "a selection" are marked with a hash (#).

Up north comes down south

Durham Miners' Gala (Photo: Darrell J Rohl)

A great session this week, thanks in part to the presence of our occasional visitor, Rose, who no doubt influenced the presence of both Kath and Tom. Malcolm and Janet were also welcome visitors from Yorkshire on one of their periodic visits to the area.

Colin as MC started the evening with Needle Cases (Roud 1300).

Mike went back to our suggested theme throughout June of songs sung in the earlier days of the club, singing from the repertoire of Johnny Collins, Free And Easy (Roud 1084).

Six Nations of song - 2016

George Kruis goes over for England's
first try against Scotland (Inpho)

Shock horror, it seems that the previous week's session wasn't the record breaker we claimed. According to Mike, the record for the number of songs sung in an evening at The Dragon Folk Club is 48, and last week we only managed 46. Oh well, we'll just have to try harder next time - where are all those single line songs that Mike and Derek seem so readily to bring out when you least expect it?

Colin, being MC, proposed a rugby theme since the following day would bring the first games of the Six Nations. This was followed by some with songs from all those nations being represented together with various song of more or less spurious connection with rugby.

Six Nations Rugby and the discovery of penicillin

Sir Alexander Fleming

I arrived just a touch late to this week's session to find people discussing a variety of subjects, some of which were reflected in the later choice of songs. This is a great thing about the Dragon Folk Club; we certainly sing a lot of songs through the evening but we're not afraid to take some time out for some great social interaction. Subjects discussed ranged from the rugby Six Nations Championship to the discovery of penicillin by Sir Alexander Fleming.

Unusually Maggie S, who rarely sings at the club, kicked off on the former subject with a chorus of Flower of Scotland.

The Six Nations provided the inspiration for quite a few songs throughout the evening. Lesley's first contribution was Max Boyce's The Scottish trip. Simon took up the French cause with Chevaliers de la table ronde. Lesley retorted in support of her Welsh homeland with Guide me o thou great Jehovah, accompanied by husband Richard singing bass. Mike showed his contempt as usual for the Irish song Fields of Athenry by singing the parody (Fed up with) the fields of Athenry.