Absent friends

Geoff Gammon (Photo: Simon Meeds)

As you may have seen in the previous week's blog report, we heard last week of the recent death of our friend Geoff Gammon who had been coming along to the Dragon Folk Club since September 2016. Last week's Dragon Folk Club session included quite a number of songs from Geoff's repertoire.

Remember that this week's session on Friday 20th October 2023 has the optional theme of Harvest. So if you have any songs of farming, the countryside, plenty, even about fishing, now is the time to bring them out. All following of the theme, however tenuous, will be considered, and if you can't follow the theme then come along and sing, play or otherwise perform anyway.

As usual, I've tried to mention songs new to the Dragon database (*), though not necessarily to the club as well as those songs from Geoff's repertoire (@). So in order to avoid repetition, those are the symbols I will use to indicate them.

With Colin as MC we set off with the first song coming from Chris: She's like the swallow (roud 2306).

Roger sang Ramona (* roud 25739 - L Wolfe Gilbert, Mabel Wayne) in the style of the Bristol accent (complete with the Bristol "L").

John's first song was Lou Reed's Oh! Sweet nuthin'.

Colin, unwittingly, was the first to contribute to the selection of songs from Geoff's repertoire with Being a pirate (@ Don Freed).

Denny sang The bunch of thyme (roud 3) and Paul followed with Love farewell (roud 1301).

Simon sang only songs from Geoff's repertoire throughout the evening, starting with All around my hat (@ roud 22518).

Starting the second rotation, Chris gave us The banks o' Doon (roud 13889 - Robert Burns).

Former guardsman Roger took out his harmonica and spelt out his day with Reveille (*) and Sunset (*).

Colin referred to Geoff's performances of Pat Cooksey's The sick note by giving us Stanley Accrington's Sicknote: the reply (*). Sorry, there's no recording of it either here or in the playlist linked from "a selection" below.

Denny didn't claim that Geoff had sung Fiddlers' Green (John Conolly) and I can't find any record that he had, but she said it reminded her of him somehow. Paul however sang Lament for the fishing (@), written by former Dragon Derek Brinkley, which Geoff certainly sang. Sorry this is another with out a recording, and indeed one without a definite agreed tune (see Derek's 'Young Buchan' comments at the linked Mudcat thread).

Simon's next song was Battle of New Orleans (@ roud 17913 - Jimmy Driftwood).

Roger acknowledged that he risked a forfeit for singing Wild Rover (@ roud 1173). Don't worry, we don't do forfeits here.

Simon sang Robert Coltart's jingle for his confectionery business, Coulter's candy (@ roud 19019).

Chris surprised and amazed us all by reciting Lewis Carroll's Jabberwocky (*). It seemed Roger was following in a similar line of thought with an excerpt from John Donne's Meditation XVII (*), but he followed that short piece with Ralph McTell's Streets of London (@).

Colin sang Peter Sarstedt's Where do you go to my lovely (@) and Simon gave us Bob Dylan's Blowin' in the wind (@).

Colin's next song, new to the Dragon database, was Soon may the Wellerman come (*). This song from New Zealand was popularised in 2021 when Scottish postman, Nathan Evans, published a video of him singing it on TikTok. The video went viral, and despite the song not being a shanty, a new wave of popularity for shanties was born. The Wellerman of the song is an employee of the Weller brothers, Englishmen of Sydney, Australia, and Otago, New Zealand, who were the founders of a whaling station on Otago Harbour and were New Zealand's most substantial merchant traders in the 1830s. New Zealand–based music teacher and folk music compiler Neil Colquhoun claimed to have collected the song around 1966 from one F. R. Woods. Woods, who was in his 80s at the time, had allegedly heard the song, as well as the song John Smith A.B., from his uncle.

Simon's last contribution of the evening was Black velvet band (@ roud 2146).

Colin finished off the evening with Stan Rogers' Mary Ellen Carter.

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

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

New faces

Medieval drawing of John Ball
giving hope to Wat Tyler's rebels

There was no theme at last week's Dragon Folk Club session. We were very pleased to be able to welcome two first-time visitors: Paul and Denny who offered us some fine songs and singing. They seemed to enjoy the evening and promised to come again, which is always good to hear.

In Colin's absence, Simon was MC for a change and started things off with Tom Paine's Bones (Graham Moore).

Thomas Paine (1736-1809) was one of the most significant figures of the 18th century. Took part in the American Revolution, writing a series of pamphlets, Crisis in America and Common Sense, which played a large part in that Revolution. He went on to write a forceful defence of the French Revolution, The Rights of Man, and was elected to the National Assembly. His Age of Reason caused outrage and he was widely ostracised.

Ten years after Paine's death, William Cobbett, a journalist, loyal Englishman and at one time Paine’s bitterest enemy, found his neglected grave and dug up the skeleton. Cobbett shipped the bones to England and they remained in his possession until his death. The bones were passed to a day labourer, then to Cobbett’s secretary, then to a furniture dealer, and no more is known of their fate.

Rob followed on with his own song, Ballad of Reynardine, which may or may not be related to the traditional ballad (roud 397, laws P15) of similar name; even Rob doesn't seem sure. In the traditional song Reynardine is a werefox who attracts beautiful women so that he can take them away to his castle. What fate meets them there is usually left ambiguous.

Paul wanted to warm himself (and maybe us) up with some chorus singing and therefore gave us Fathom the Bowl (roud 880).

Denny followed with a song with its roots in American minstrelsy, being written in 1879 by James Alan Bland - The Chickens in the Garden (roud 2552). Published in 1883, it quickly became popular and found its way into the tradition, mostly in the USA and Canada, and found its way across the Atlantic, eventually becoming a favourite of Norfolk singer Walter Pardon.

And so ended the first circuit of the room. As is traditional, I will go on to mention all the songs sung by our newcomers, Paul and Denny:

• Paul - Tracks in the Snow (Steve Thomason) - the only song from the evening not in the YouTube playlist linked from "a selection" below.
• Denny - When Yellow's on the Broom (Adam McNaughton)
• Paul - Waking Dreams (roud 22620)
• Denny - Down in Your Mine (Colin Wilkie) - inspired by a mining accident in Lengede, Germany, in 1963.
• Paul and Denny - John Ball (Sydney Carter)
• Paul - Love Farewell (roud 1301)
• Denny - The Lion and Albert (Marriott Edgar)
• Paul - Thousands or More (roud 1220)
• Denny - Willy 'Ole Lad (Keith Marsden)

Simon finished the evening with everyone singing along to When All Men Sing (Keith Scowcroft, Derek Gifford).

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

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