Little links

Part of Welsh Back Quay
(photo: Simon Meeds)

It was certainly a skeleton staff at the Dragon Folk Club last Friday, but we got through 25 songs which isn't a bad effort. With a bit of luck we will be at least two up this week, so why not surprise me and come along yourself to make it even more. The more the merrier, the louder, the more satisfying.

In Colin's absence Simon was MC, but having arrived moments earlier Geoff was the first to sing with Tom Paxton's The last thing on my mind.

There were no major themes that emerged but links can sometimes be found.

Simon sang Ian "Nobby" Dye's Welsh Back Quay and Mike followed it with Paris here I come, which he learnt from Nobby. The latter is a translation of the French song En passant par Paris.

The only song we had which doesn't find it's way into the YouTube playlist linked below is Mary McCloud's parody House of the rising damp.

Geoff's singing of the Ballad of the Alamo (Dimitri Tiomkin, Paul Francis Webster) prompted Mike to bring out Santianna (roud 207). The Mexican General Antonio López de Santa Anna's forces killed 189 Texan insurgents on 6 March 1836 at the Battle of the Alamo and executed more than 342 Texan prisoners at the Goliad Massacre on 27 March 1836.

When Simon sang Suzanne Vega's Tom's Diner and Geoff gave us Paul Simon's Slip-slidin' away, they were of course both using the works of people who grew up in New York. Tenuous link? I'll get my coat.

Simon closed the evening with Stan Rogers' Northwest passage.

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

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

Is this the folk club?

Cyril Poacher

Talk at the beginning of the evening included a number of subjects. Maggie had received a letter from BUST thanking her for the club's recent donation, the raffle money from her birthday party. The donation was of £35.00 which seems worthwhile and will go a small way to the charity's "shopping list".

In another topic we made it absolutely clear that non-performers as well as performers are welcome to the club's sessions. The atmosphere at the club can be quite jokey, and everyone needs a fairly thick skin but no one should feel unwelcome, even if they are on the receiving end of some mild digs. Don't worry, newbies, we are usually very gentle with newcomers.

Finally, there was mention of Richard and Lesley's recent trip to Paris. Apparently it was very enjoyable, and it prompted some of the songs sung during the evening.

Maritime and mining disasters

Just before we started the Drunken Friesian made her first appearance for a few weeks. We thought she was going to leave us alone without a word but at the last minute turned back, apparently threatening death to anyone who found her lost lighter. That seemed a rather upside down take on the idea of thanks or reward. This sent Maggie S into singing a single chorus of Hev you got a loight boy?

Mike started off the session proper with The twenty-third of February, another version of Bold Princess Royal, sung by Derek last week. Apparently there were several different ships under similar names at the time. Derek's was a merchant ship but Mike's is a man o' war.

We were relatively small in number this week, though not as thin on the ground as sometimes in the last couple of months. What we lacked in numbers we seem to have gained in speed, since the number of songs sung in the evening must have been a recent record. Whether the chat was minimised or the songs short we may never know.