Farewell to Kris

Kris Kristofferson in 1978

Last week's session of Dragon Folk Club saw a welcome return for slightly more than occasional visitor Rob, and Denny brought us encouraging news of Paul after his very recent operation.

Colin started off the session with a rendition of Me and Bobby McGee, written by Kris Kristofferson and Fred Foster, no doubt in memory of the recently deceased Kristofferson who originally performed this popular song. Rob told us that while in the vicinity of Salinas, CA, which is a location mentioned in the song, he felt compelled to visit. He didn't find much there, but he will always remember a large sign proclaiming it the "Artichoke Capital of the World". According to Wikipedia that title is claimed by Castroville, but given that the two towns are less than ten miles apart, which would be considered as nothing in the USA, we'll let it go.

Simon referred to the county of his birth with John Sykes' The Lincolnshire Song.

Rob followed with The Keeper: not the traditional roud 1519, but a song written by Steve Knightley.

Denny said on her recent visit to see him in hospital, Paul had managed to sing Peggy Gordon (roud 2280), so she followed his example, asking everyone to join in in the style of a ventriloquist.

Sue was the first to add a new title to the Dragon database, perhaps in this case, but not always new to the club, with I wake up every morning with a smile on my face (* Boxcar Willie). As usual, I will mark new entries to the database with an asterisk (*).

Bob completed the first rotation with Bear Creek Blues (A P Carter).

Colin brought some jollity to the proceedings with Miles Whooton's The fishfinger song (*).

Bob has several strings to his bow, and ballads make up one of them. Drawing on that string he gave us The heir of Linne (* roud 111, child 267).

Sue sang some of her own songs, which are not available on YouTube and therefore not included in the playlist linked below from "a selection". These were: Recycled teenager, A chilly song,  and She was 73.

Denny's song, Wayhill Fair is another that eludes YouTube. It is closely related to Weyhill Fair (roud 1086) and the different spelling isn't significant. They share a tune and have similar structure, but the traditional one is purely about horses at the fair while the one sung apparently by The South Bank Grunters goes more off-piste in its descriptions of the fair.

Colin gives us Cheerily man (*). Apparently Rob was also considering singing it, and they discussed what Stan Hugill apparently described as "probably the most primitive, and one of the oldest of all these heaving and hauling songs of the sea. It was obscene to a degree and most versions have had to be camouflaged". Colin had sung a very much cleaned-up version.

Rob sang his own song, The sailor's return (Rob Winder). Denny commented on its passing similarity to Dorset is beautiful (Bob Gale) sung by The Yetties and The Wurzels. Although Rob accepted that some of his writing may be influenced by existing songs, he didn't seem to be aware of that song. Denny and Simon gave a quick rendition of the chorus to illustrate the point.

Denny sang a song not on YouTube, and that is The pickled herring man (*) by Cathy Wallis. The chorus has the man selling silver (herring) to buy gold (whisky).

Rob's next two songs were Bonnie laddie, hieland laddie (* roud 2330) and Farewell, farewell (* Richard Thompson), both of which were new to the database. Farewell, farewell was written by Thompson after Fairport Convention's van crashed on the way home from a gig in Birmingham killing his girlfriend Jeannie Franklyn and the band's drummer, Martin Lamble.

Uke player Sue sang Making love, ukulele style (Paul Weirick, Charles R Hayes), a song recorded by Dean Martin.

Colin asked Rob to finish off the evening, which he did with Hand me down my walking cane (roud 11733).

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

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

When is the blues not blue?

Lake Wakatipu, South Island, New Zealand
(Photo: Simon Meeds)

At last Friday's Dragon Folk Club there were six singers who sang 37 songs with no official theme. Pretty good going as always. Two of those wont be around this week, and another two will be missing next week then we are into holiday season when anything could happen, so we need all the support we can get from regulars, friends we know and friends we have yet to meet. You know who you are... maybe.

Colin, MCing as usual, kicked things off with John Tams' Steelos, about Steel, Peech and Tozer, a steelworks in Rotherham. From steel we moved to the sea with Simon singing Lukey's Boat (roud 1828), a comic song from the east coast of Newfoundland.

Back inland, Denny took us to South Island New Zealand and the Shotover River, which flows into Kawarau River and thence on to Lake Wakatipu. Shotover, once one of the richest gold-bearing rivers in the world, inspired Paul Metsers to write Farewell to the gold.

Paul then brought us back to England albeit a fictional place in the country, with Rose of Allandale (roud 1218 - words by Charles Jefferys and music by Sidney Nelson). So, despite beliefs to the contrary it's neither Irish, Scottish, nor strictly traditional, being written by named English composers and first published in 1833.

Bob promised to really depress us later in the evening, but in the meantime whetted our blues appetite with Blood red river (roud 15807). Following on in a red, rivery vein, Sue finished off the first round with Red river valley (roud 756). The linked recording of Bright Sherman Valley (linked with I'll be all smiles to-night love) by Luther B Clarke is the earliest recording of the song albeit not in the relatively modern popular version. Incomprehensibly this song (Red river valley) is the first of this week's that are new to the Dragon database though it certainly isn't new to the club.

Other songs sung during the evening that are new to the database include two blues parodies by Loudon Wainwright III and both sung by Paul: I'm alright and Haven't got the blues (yet). These apparently followed on from a conversation between Paul and our resident blues-man, Bob. Paul decided to look through his own collection of blues to see what he could sing - these were the only ones he decided would work (allegedly).

Other "new" songs were:

• Sue - Recycled teenager - her own song about people of a certain age meeting at ukulele jams (not on the "a selection" playlist linked below)
• Colin - It's not easy (Alan Foster) -  (not in the playlist) a parody of Eric Bogle's Now I'm easy
• Bob - Death don't have no mercy (Reverend Gary Davis) - the depressing song Bob promised us earlier
• Colin - What's the use of anything (Richard Digance) - (not in the playlist)
• Paul - Bird on the wire (Leonard Cohen)

Colin finished the evening with the eminently sing-along Air Fa La La Lo (Traditional gaelic translated by Hugh S. Roberton).

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

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

Forward planning

(Photo: Simon Meeds)

Thanks to everyone who came along to our Dragon Folk Club session last Friday. I believe a good time was had by all. We just need to keep up the flow of new or visiting performers and audience members. Don't be afraid. We meet every Friday in the pool room of The Bridge Inn, Shortwood, Bristol (UK), BS16 9NG. Anything goes as long as it's acoustic, but we have some optionally themed sessions coming up:

• 17 February - Valentine's Day (Love, Affianced couples, against fainting, beekeepers, happy marriages, mentally ill, plague, epilepsy - even a massacre)
• 3 March - St David's Day (Wales, Pembrokeshire, Naas, vegetarians, poets)
• 17 March - St Patrick's Day (Ireland, Nigeria, Montserrat, Archdiocese of New York, Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Newark, Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles, Boston, Rolla, Missouri, Loíza, Puerto Rico, Murcia (Spain), Clann Giolla Phádraig, engineers, paralegals, Archdiocese of Melbourne)
• 21 April - St George's Day (England, agricultural workers, farmers, field workers, soldiers, archers, armourers, equestrians, cavalry, saddle makers, chivalry, peacekeeping missions, skin diseases, lepers and leprosy, syphilis; sheep, shepherds, scouting)

Don't forget we are still there on other Fridays, just without a theme... unless one crops up by accident.

Back to last week, Colin was as usual the MC and he started things off with Billy Edd Wheeler's Coal Town Road. Simon followed with Elusive Butterfly (Bob Lind).

Bob's first offering was Sing Me Back Home which was written and first recorded by Merle Haggard, and Sue gave us Take Me Home, Country Roads (Bill Danoff, Taffy Nivert, John Denver).

Colin went off on a maritime theme of his own, starting with Stan Rogers' Mary Ellen Carter, one from the repertoire of our friend Mike Starkey, and a fine one to get everyone singing. Meanwhile Simon tried to out-miserable Bob with Tracy Chapman's Behind the Wall and Bob and Sue, performing together, went off in their own direction entirely with Spanish Harlem (Jerry Leiber, Phil Spector).

One of only two songs from the evening not represented in the linked YouTube playlist (see "a selection" link below) is Sue's own song Recycled Teenager, which tells of the goings-on at a ukulele jam.

The other unrecorded song is Simon's Story of John Twigg which tells of an eccentric chap who lived in Alford, Lincolnshire. The singing of this song was brought about because Colin mentioned our fried Derek's assertion that any folk song could be sung to one of two tunes: Blow the Man Down or Villikins and his Dinah. John Twigg is put to the latter, but a conversation ensued that few people seem to sing Villikins and his Dinah (roud 271, laws M31), so Simon gave it a go.

Colin followed this with Dick Darby The Cobbler (roud 872) and so Simon finished off the evening with Michelle Shocked's Memories of East Texas.

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

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

Children in Need 2022

The very first Pudsey bear and logo, used in 1985

It was good to have four singers at last week's Dragon Folk Club Session. Bob J and Sue once again joined us. It's good to see them becoming regulars and we hope you will join us. They are regulars at "Folk at Frampton Cotterell", which clashes with us on a Friday night, but is a monthly event, so they are still able to join us most weeks.

That makes us realise that there are three monthly folk-type events on Friday nights within a short distance of our venue at The Bridge Inn, Shortwood. We're not looking to poach their people, but if you attend any of them, please consider coming along on one of your free Fridays to see what we do. We don't bite and you might even enjoy yourself and become a regular while still attending your current venue just like Bob and Sue. The three monthly events in question are:

• Folk at Frampton Cotterell
• Downend Folk & Roots
• Pucklechurch Open Mic

It was Bob who started the ball rolling with John D Loudermilk's Angela Jones. Sue opened her account with a self-penned song called Recycled Teenager.

Simon pointed out that it was the evening of Children in Need, which Maggie S used to mark with a "children" themed session. He therefore made his first few songs somewhat child connected with: Morningtown ride (Malvina Reynolds), Bare necessities (Terry Gilkyson), Lily the Pink (John Gorman, Mike McGear, Roger McGough), amd When I'm five (David Bowie).

Colin's first song of the evening was Cyril Tawney's Grey Funnel Line.

Understandably not in the "a selection" playlist is Sue's own song, Ukulele, a version of Leonard Cohen's song Hallelujah.

Colin asked me to check the origin of a song he sang: 2 day's Monday. It was indeed written by John Gorman, Mike McGear and Roger McGough and recorded by them as the band The Scaffold. You will note this was their second outing of the evening.

By now we were down to two in the session, but we sang on steadfastly.

Colin sang Ring of Fire, which we know from the singing of Johnny Cash. It was in fact written by his wife June Carter Cash together with Merle Kilgore and was first recorded by his sister-in-law Anita Carter. If you listen to the version linked here you will see there is quite a difference between their performances.

It also fell to Colin to close the evening which he did by singing No John No (roud 146).

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

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