May-be, may-be not

(Photo: Simon Meeds)

We had a fine session last week at the Dragon Folk Club. There was no official theme so we had plenty of scope for variety. This Friday too there will be no theme so as always anything goes as long as it's acoustic.

In the absence of regular MC Colin, Simon took up the reins, but he was narrowly beaten in his arrival, so the opening song went to Paul who gave us Too old to go back to sea (Rod Smith).

For her first song Denny decided to try some thing new. I think she might have called it Old May song. She had "collected" it the previous week from Jenn Reid who was the support act for Eliza Carthy at Bristol Folk House. Denny spoke to Jenn who told her that the song had been sung by The Oldham Tinkers, a group with which Denny is familiar.

Digging a little further into the song I quickly found that Roud gives it the number 305 in which it is grouped with a number of other May songs. It seems that the song is indeed very old so I think it's worth pointing out a few versions of it and some more information.

In his book "Lancashire Sketches" (1869), Edwin Waugh wrote:

By the way, that phrase, "the drawing near of spring," reminds me of the burden of an ancient May song, peculiar to the people of this district [between Stretford and Flixton, now in Greater Manchester]. In the villages hereabouts, they have an old custom of singing in the month of May; and companies of musicians and "May-singers" go from house to house among their neighbours, on April nights, to sing under their chamber windows this old song about "the drawing near unto the merry month of May." An old man, known in Stretford as a "May-singer," an "her-gatherer," and a "Yule-singer," who gets a scanty living out of the customs of each season of the year as it comes, furnished me with a rough copy of the words and music of this old "May Song." In one verse of the song, each member of the sleeping family is addressed by name in succession,-

Then rise up, Sarah Brundrit, all in your gown of green;

 and as each appears at the window, they are saluted with a "Merry May." Since the time of my visit I have been enabled, through the kindness of John Harland, Esq., F.S.A., to give this old May song, in complete shape, as it appears in his first volume of "Lancashire Ballads," recently published by Mr. Edwin Slater of Manchester.

Waugh goes on to give the full words of the song, which are also available on mudcat.org.

Here are some versions of the song:

• Old May song (The Oldham Tinkers) - included in the "a selection" YouTube playlist linked below because it was Denny's reference
• Swinton May Song (The Watersons)
• Drawing nearer to the merry month of May (The Copper Family)

...and here are two other songs under the roud 305 umbrella from the Dragon database (both sung at the club by Colin):

• May day carol
• Padstow May song

After singing a few verses of the above song Denny stopped because she wasn't happy with her grasp of the tune. Bearing in mind we aren't too fussy about how people stick to tunes and that it sounded OK, there really was nothing to worry about, but she didn't want to continue. Simon suggested that the tune she was singing was reminiscent of "The <fill in colour> cockade", so Denny proceeded to sing The white cockade (roud 709).

The only song of the evening not available for the YouTube playlist linked from "a selection" below was also sung by Denny, and was Wayhill fair. This song comes from a tape she has of The South Bank Grunters. It seems to be related to Weyhill Fair (roud 1086), but isn't so much about horses at the fair.

Having spent a lot of words on one song I will skip straight to the end of the evening. The last three songs were:

• Simon - No sir no (roud 146)
• Paul - Country life (roud 1752)
• Denny - Pleasant and delightful (roud 660, laws O30)

So that's it for another blog report. Remember to keep music live and we'll hope to see you at The Bridge on Friday!

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

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

This Train

Kingston Flyer, New Zealand
(Photo: Simon Meeds)

Another fun session at the Dragon Folk Club last week. It was good to have a new face join us albeit a visitor from Penzance. His name was Bob, so given our regular Bob J was also there we will call him Bob G.

I'm going to have to keep this week's report quite short, so bear with me for a whistle-stop tour of some of what happened.

The first rotation comprised:

• Colin - The Apprentice Song (Ian Campbell)
• John - Rising Sun Blues (roud 6393)
• Bob G - The Smuggler (Ian Woods noted, "In 1970 a child gave me an old spectacle case to display in an Education Act centenary exhibition. Underneath the velvet inlay was a broadside containing four songs, of which this was one. The tune was given as Lowlands of Holland. I learnt it and have been singing it ever since. Masefield includes it in his A Sailor’s Garland [New York: Macmillan, 1906, p.209] but omits the last verse.")
• Stan - Wedding Bells (Claude Boone)
• Simon - No Sir No (roud 146)
• Sue - Ride On (Jimmy McCarthy)
• Bob J - Lake Charles (Lucinda Williams)

Newcomer Bob G went on to sing:

• He Tried his Best (Bob Glanville)
• The Mayfly (Sid Meets [?] with extra verses by Bob Glanville)
• Star of the County Down (Cathal MacGarvey)

There were some other songs worth a mention as being new to the Dragon database, if not necessarily to the club:

• Stan - Forty shades of green (Johnny Cash)
• Sue - Low Bridge, Everybody Down (roud 6598, Thomas S Allen)
• Bob J - Rats in my Kitchen (Sleepy John Estes)
• Sue and Bob J - Under the Boardwalk (Kenny Young, Arthur Resnick)
• John - Freedom Town (Delila Paz, Edgey Pires)
• Sue - The Runaway Train (roud 9859)
• Stan - So Sad [to watch good love go bad] (Don Everly)

The evening came to a close with Sue singing This Train (roud 6702)

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

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

Seek and ye shall find

Judith Durham in 1970

OK, so that went well didn't it. With Colin away last week I did a bit of extra publicity and... Geoff and Simon ended up serenading each other for the evening. Seriously, we had a pretty good do, with plenty of singing and a bit of chat thrown in.

Since Geoff arrived just before Simon he was called to sing first. He sang Good Hearted Woman (Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson) which he said was written during a card game, inspired by Tina Turner and the abuse she suffered while married to Ike.

Both Geoff and Simon sang songs which had been recorded by The Seekers to mark the death of original lead singer Judith Durham. Geoff sang Bush girl (words by Henry Lawson) and Simon sang Morningtown ride (Malvina Reynolds).

Simon marked Colin's absence by singing a song from his repertoire: Cousin Jack (Steve Knightley).

There was a brief conversation about songs which while good aren't very nice, usually it seems in terms of misogyny. Note that we don't avoid songs which may cause offence, particularly when those songs are historical artefacts telling of past attitudes. There followed a few of these, possibly including:

• Geoff - Step it out Mary (Sean McCarthy)
• Simon - Laird of the dainty Dounby (roud 864)
• Geoff - As I roved out (roud 277, laws O17)
• Simon - No Sir no (roud 146)

Simon closed the evening with Jean Ritchie's The L&N don't stop here anymore.

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

(Number of people present - 2 of whom 2 performed)

School’s out! Oh no – it’s back in again!

Imitation, as my old granny and Charles Caleb Colton used to say, is the sincerest form of flattery, and the Regular Scribe had barely packed his little bag and set off on his hols, when the rest of the scavenging pack were picking through his repertoire. Derek began with the Belfast version of Johnny Todd (Roud 1102), and at various times of the evening came Kipling’s Smugglers’ Song (Geoff), Oh no sir no (Roud 146) and When All Men Sing (Keith Scowcroft/Derek Gifford) (both Colin).

Short but I hope sweet

Frontispiece depicting Juvenal and Persius,
from a volume translated
by John Dryden in 1711

It's a really short report of last week's session I'm afraid due to lack of time but first of all, please remember that this Friday's session will be our theme for St David's Day, so it's mainly Welsh but remember that he is also patron of poets and vegetarians, Pembrokshire and Naas in County Kildare, Ireland.

Colin started us off with The Bos'n The Gunner And Me (Francis Barron, Henry Trotere).

Simon spent the evening singing songs he had left over from Valentine's Day the week before, starting with No Sir No (Roud 146). Inspired by the line "If my hand should slip a little further" from the previous song, classicist Derek told the story of a young lady who had studied Juvenal's Satires  and had always wanted to know the meaning of an obscure Latin word used when one character's hand was slipped up the clothing of another character. She found the biggest and best Latin dictionary in the University library, and found that the word was translated... into its Greek equivalent. Now keen to get to the bottom of the mystery, she found the biggest and best Greek dictionary, where the Greek word was translated... back into the Latin! Derek sang Sullivan's John (Pecker Dunne).

Centenary of Passchendaele

Australian gunners on a duckboard track in
Château Wood near Hooge, 29 October 1917
(Photo: Frank Hurley)

We were about to start with only three of us at last week's session when Mike came through the door with his canine companion, Indy. As he left for the bar I think it was Colin who suggested we start and Derek who insisted we wait for Mike to return. And so we started with four, plus dog. But before we were through a song or two Chris and Roger arrived to make us properly quorate.

Colin was MC and started the singing with Lamorna (Roud 16636), a song from Cornwall; a version of a song from Manchester called Pomona.

Simon was next to sing with No Sir No (Roud 146). Derek noted this week's centenary of Passchendaele, the Third Battle of Ypres and sang what he claimed was the Copper Family's version of Two Young Brethren (Roud 202). Well the linked version by Folly Bridge appears to be faithful to the Copper's but isn't particularly close to what Derek sang. In any case, Mike commented in relation to Derek's version that his friend Dave Marshall sang very similar words but had two further verses, I believe making more of the brewing of the harvest to make beer.

Valentine's Day - 2016

Newly weds take a trip on a traditional Maltese dgħajsa

Being the closest session to Valentine's Day, love and not a little lust was in the air, or at least in some of our songs. Derek introduced a second theme though of songs sung by Roy Harris, who had died the previous Tuesday. One or two seemed even to include both themes in a single song!

Colin as MC asked Derek to kick off the session. Derek said it was 40 years this year since he first met Roy Harris, and from his repertoire sang Poverty Knock (Roud 3491, probably written by Tom Daniel), accompanying himself on the bones. He apologised to Simon, who sometimes sings that song (Simon says that was unnecessary) but suggested that he might like to sing No Sir No (Roud 146), which he did when it came to his turn - thus hitting both themes.

Mikesongs

Aurora Borealis

Since Mike and Maggie, and particularly Mike, were off Rockin' and Rollin' this week, it is customary to take the opportunity to sing some of Mike's songs. Richard, MCing again, got the ball rolling in that sense with Trevor Crozier's Dead Dog Cider.

Steve G was very topical with Neil Young's Pocahontas which starts "Aurora borealis. The icy sky at night". Only a few nights ago this phenomenon was visible in many parts of the country though not I think as far South as Bristol. Richard seemed to think that Colin would have something appropriate to the solar eclipse that had happened this very day, but he didn't have one.