Not as it might seem

Thomas Kyll's pamphlet,
published 10 days after Turpin's execution,
provides an eye-witness account of the trial

We were slightly down on numbers last week but there was a good evening of song in store last Friday at The Dragon Folk Club.

There will be no theme this week (19 January) but next Friday (26 January) will be our Burn's Night session (only one day late). I'm afraid there will be no haggis and probably no pipes unless you bring your own (I know some would say that's a relief) but there will no doubt be some Scottish songs, some of which may have some connection to the man himself.

Back then to last Friday. Colin was MC and there was no theme. Colin started things off with Stanley Accrington's Sicknote: The Reply. I haven't found a recording or even the words but you may want to be reminded of Pat Cooksey's The Sicknote to which it is a reply.

Derek started off his evening with Clyde's Water (Roud 91, Child 216) and Simon followed that with Bruce Springsteen's Factory.

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.