New faces and lots of "new" songs

Connie Francis in 1961

At last week's Dragon Folk Club is was great to see Paul and Denny swelling the numbers by bringing along Helen for her second experience of a session, and Quentin for his first. Helen had prepared some songs, which was great, but lack of preparation didn't stop Quentin from venturing three with the help of others present who provided the word sheets.

I know Helen enjoyed the experience and will be back; I think the same is true of Quentin. We're a friendly crowd; performing is encouraged and very welcome, but encouragement is just that, everyone should feel free to just sit and listen if they want to, maybe joining in with the odd chorus and some banter.

With Colin as MC, Roger was invited to start the session and he marked the recent death of Connie Francis by singing her 1960 hit Everybody's somebody's fool (* Jack Keller, Howard Greenfield) which made her the first woman to reach No. 1 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart.

Paul sang Peggy Gordon (roud 1180) and Denny gave us Idle women of the waterways (Charlotte Oliver).

Helen's first song of the evening was When I'm gone (roud 17255 - AP Carter) though some readers may know it better as Cups (A. P. Carter, Luisa Gerstein, Heloise Tunstall-Behrens), sung by Anna Kendrick in the film Pitch Perfect (2012). As I've said many times, I'm always sceptical when I see AP Carter as the writer of a song because, under the instruction of his publisher, he often took traditional songs, made a very minor change to them, and claimed US copyright. I don't hold that against him personally, but it was certainly a sharp practise by the music industry albeit presumably one seen to have no victim. I am sure he is not alone in being a victim or beneficiary, depending on how you look at it, of this way of working.

As already noted, Quentin had come to the session without any songs, but he seemed keen to contribute. He said he might manage a Beatles' song, so Roger dug out the words to You've got to hide your love away (John Lennon, Paul McCartney) and he sang it with guitar accompaniment from Roger.

Colin's first musical contribution was the Bee Gees' New York mining disaster 1941 (* Barry Gibb, Robin Gibb).

Simon returned us to traditional songs (we don't really mind what you sing) with Claudy Banks (roud 266, laws N40).

By the time it came to his turn, Steve had arrived and he finished the first rotation with Stan Rogers' The Field behind the plow (sic).

Paul's self-penned song Close the dentist's door (# Paul Welcomme) is the first of two songs performed that are not to be found on YouTube and therefore are not in the linked playlist.

It was quite a surprise that Denny's singing of The Bellringing (* roud 1515) was a new entry into the Dragon database because Colin has certainly sung it before, but so it is. The database only goes back to 2018 and isn't complete even that far.

Helen brought us I'll sail this ship alone (* Paul Heaton, Dave Rotheray) from The Beautiful South.

This time round Quentin was presented with words by Paul. He said it wasn't the sort of thing he would usually sing, but he would manage it with help from the assembled masses. With this promise he sang Drunken sailor (roud 322).

From Roger we got a self-penned and autobiographical song called Fifties child (*# Roger Stanleigh).

Helen gave us a another "new" song in Hunter (* Dido Armstrong, Rollo Armstrong).

Quentin again looked to Roger for words and he came up with Raindrops keep fallin' on my head (Burt Bacharach, Hal David). To resolve the discussions that went on on the evening, it was written for the 1969 film Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. The uplifting lyrics describe somebody who overcomes his troubles and worries by realising that "it won't be long till happiness steps up to greet me."

The film is an American Western buddy film directed by George Roy Hill and written by William Goldman. Based loosely on fact, the film tells the story of Wild West outlaws Robert LeRoy Parker, known as Butch Cassidy (Paul Newman), and his partner Harry Longabaugh, the "Sundance Kid" (Robert Redford), who are on the run from a crack US posse after a string of train robberies. The pair and Sundance's lover, Etta Place (Katharine Ross), flee to Bolivia to escape the posse.

This was followed by Colin singing another song more loosely connected to a film and where I can clear up some more conversation points. They shoot horses don't they? (Gareth Mortimer) performed by Racing Cars and which got to no. 14 in the UK charts in 1977 was inspired by the 1969 film of the same name, which was in turn based on Horace McCoy's 1935 novel.

The story centres on Robert Syverten (Michael Sarrazin in the film) who is sentenced for murder. The main timeline of the book though involves a dance marathon competition where he partners with Gloria Beatty (Jane Fonda in the film). It is Gloria who he is accused of killing.

From the start, Gloria tells Robert that she wishes she were dead, a point she repeats in most of their conversations. Her parents are dead. She ran away to Dallas from a farm in West Texas where her uncle always made passes at her. In Dallas, she tried to commit suicide, then ran away to Hollywood with dreams of being in movies, but is finding only rejection.

In the end Gloria presents Robert with a gun and asks him to kill her, which he does. He remembers when he was young, and his grandfather shot the beloved family horse, which had broken its leg. The police ask Robert why he shot Gloria, and he answers, "Because she asked me to." The policeman persists. Robert answers, "They shoot horses, don't they?"

Helen's final song was Good riddence (time of your life) (* Billie Joe Armstrong, Green Day).

The last addition to the database for the evening came from Colin and was The wee cooper o' Fife (* roud 117).

The session was closed by Steve who gave us a good sing-a-long opportunity with Leave her Johnny (roud 354).

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

(Number of people present - 8 of whom 8 performed)

In the above report songs new to the Dragon database (though no always new to the club) are marked with an asterisk (*).

St George's Day 2025

The session less Ian who was taking the photo
(Photo: Ian Garbutt)

With St George's Day officially moved to 28th April this year the Dragon Folk Club's Friday session with that theme was just three days early. We had a good gathering, which included on first time visitor, Ian, who shared with us his self-penned songs and a hint of the style of his band, Blue Badgers (nothing to do with disability by the way).

It seems we are in the midst of a theme season, so I will tell you that this Friday (2nd May) will be a May Day theme, so "I walked out on a May morning..." could be a very good way to start a song. Next week (9th May) will mark VE Day (also just one day late), and that should bring out some war and anti-war songs. Of course all of our themes are optional and whatever I say anything goes as long as it's acoustic.

Back to last week, Paul was asked to start and so he did, right on theme with St George and the dragon (Pauline Willoughby). Denny claimed her song Worcester city (* roud 218), being about an English place, was good enough to be on theme and so it was.

Colin hit the mark with Richard Thompson's The new St George.

Roger S apologised for not bringing along songs that were aimed at the theme, but we promised to find links somewhere. His first song of the evening was If I were a carpenter (Tim Hardin).

Ian's first song was his own as were all that he sang during the session. Matilda (*# Ian Garbutt) is about Empress Matilda. Ian, who played the guitar and sang for us, told us that he played bass guitar and whistle in his band, but he didn't mention that he also plays trombone, saxophone and clarinet. That's a bit impressive!

Simon gave us Marriott Edgar's monologue George and the dragon before Steve C completed the first rotation with Stan Rogers' Field behind the plow (sic).

Roger's second song was the self-penned Global meltdown (*# Roger Stanleigh) and Ian's, called Featherweed (* Ian Garbutt), recalled a cycling trip to the Hebrides. As promised, a tenuous link to the theme was found from Roger's song since it mentioned fire, as breathed by dragons.

Simon sang Puff and bold St George (#), written to the tune of Puff the magic dragon (Leonard Lipton, Peter Yarrow) by friend of the club, Richard Gillion.

Denny was next with something new for the Dragon when she used her voice to "play" the tune Barwick green (*). It is most famously the theme tune for The Archers on BBC Radio 4, but predates even "the world's longest-running present-day drama by number of episodes", having been composed in 1924 by Arthur Wood. The Archers started on 29th May 1950. The oldest existing recording of The Archers is from 11th March 1952.

Ian sang The Volunteer (* Ian Garbutt), inspired by the figurehead of a small wooden ketch (65 tons, built 1861) that supplied the Isles of Scilly with coal: one of thirty such figureheads on display at The Valhalla Museum, on Tresco, Isles of Scilly.

Roger sang a song called Dry your eyes (*#) which I have been unable to trace based on the information I have. Its first line was "I can see the fear showing in your pretty blue eyes". Roger writes songs, so it may be one of his own, or it may not be.

Ian's penultimate song of the evening was The battle (* Ian Garbutt).

Colin's last song was one I have struggled with before. I assume it's called Britannia waives the rules (#), but I know nothing else about it.

Ian finished off the evening with everyone joining in on the chorus of Walking down The Chums (* Ian Garbutt) about a Bristol micropub of that name where his band used to play and hang out.

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

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

In the above report songs new to the Dragon database (though no always new to the club) are marked with an asterisk (*) and songs not to be found in the playlist linked from "a selection" are marked with a hash (#).

Tiny fish in a small pond

MV Rt. Hon. Paul J. Martin passing through Lock 7
of the Welland Canal between Lakes Ontario and Erie
(Photo: Simon Meeds)

The numbers at the end of this report are a bit misleading. On the one hand there were two singers who met for the Dragon Folk Club session last week. On the other, due to the gents toilets being out of action, there was a constant stream of people passing through. Most, but not all, were respectful. Some were complimentary. One performed. A drunken Irishman (apparently) was effusive in his praise. We were even joined briefly by our friend Allie who was very appreciative and gave a few brief snippets from her folk repertoire.

Things started off early as John, having visited the facilities borrowed Simon's guitar and played a few riffs including Wonderwall (Noel Gallagher) for which his unnamed friend joined in with vocals.

Once we got underway properly, Simon, the stand-in MC, started things off with Windmills (Alan Bell).

Remarkably, the two singers, that is disregarding John, who appeared again later with some more riffs, and Allie with her brief medley of songs, sang a total of 39 during the evening. It was almost 11pm by the time it all finished, but the main reason for stopping at 39 was that Steve said he'd run out of songs, and almost out of voice.

You can follow the link from "a selection" below to a playlist of all the songs we sang except one. That one came from Steve and was When Adam was first created (roud 728).

No new songs were added to the Dragon database this week, although it was the first recorded singing of Steve's version of roud 369, laws L5, that being Sam Hall rather than Jack Hall which was already there.

Steve sang a couple of other songs which hadn't previously been recorded in the database for him: Adieu sweet lovely Nancy (roud 165) and The leaving of Liverpool (roud 9435).

Of course we had a few Stan Rogers songs from Steve: White squall, Tiny fish for Japan, and The field behind the plow. I also see that Rogers recorded Cyril Tawney's Sammy's bar.

The evening was completed by Simon singing Jackson C Frank's Blues run the game.

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

(Number of people present - 4 of whom 3 performed)

St Patrick's Day 2023

Florrie Forde (1875-1940)

We had a great little session for St Patrick last Friday at The Bridge. The usual suspects were joined again by Paul W and Denny, the previous week's newcomers. The full complement was made up by Steve C.

I'll keep it short this week, but I can get away with that because, unusually, the YouTube playlist from the "a selection" link at the bottom includes every one of the 40 songs sung. And yes, while forty isn't a record for Dragon session it's really up there.

Colin as MC started us off with Whiskey in the Jar (roud 533, laws L13A). Many, although not all of the songs we sang were Irish or had some connection with Ireland. Next it was Simon singing Down Our Street.

Paul gave us All For Me Grog (roud 475) and Denny added Percy French's Mountains of Mourne. Steve C completed the first round with Galway Shawl (roud 2737)

I'll briefly mention a few of the other songs.

Steve asked whether he had sung Stan Rogers' Field Behind the Plow at the club before. I can confirm he has. One occasion, not necessarily the only one, was 13 September 2019.

Colin sang The City of Chicago which was made famous by Christy Moore, but was written in 1984 by his brother, Barry Moore, who is the singer Luka Bloom.

Paul sang a version of Fathom the Bowl (Roud 880) which he had adapted to refer to Ireland and Guinness. I've taken the liberty of linking a more conventional version.

Denny sang Oh! Oh! Antonio, which was written by CW Murphy and Dan Lipton in 1908. It's nice to be able to link to a recording of Florrie Forde who was the original artist to sing the song. I really wanted to use a photograph of Forde to head this article, but realised there was probably no Irish connection. Despite CW's surname, he was William Murphy, born in Manchester in 1870. It turns out however the songs he wrote include Irish As She's Spoken (1893), How Can They Tell That Oi'm Oirish? (1898), The Little Irish Postman (1904), The Singer Was Irish (1910). That's good enough for me.

Steve finished off the evening with The Ballad of Sammy's Bar (Cyril Tawney).

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

(Number of people present - 5 of whom 5 performed)

All things wise and wonderful?

(Photo: Simon Meeds)

It was great to see more new faces at last Friday's session, the third week in a row that we have had newcomers or visitors who seem to have gone away happy. This time it was singer, Barry from North Wales with his non-performing entourage, Kath and Charlotte. Thank you very much for coming to The Bridge and we hope to see you again soon or at least the next time you are down this way on a Friday.

Given that Colin was a bit late as expected this time, Simon took over the mantel of MC and started the evening off with Dave Sudbury's King Of Rome. I am a bit fussy about the versions of this song that I link from these blog posts. I don't absolutely love Lucy Ward's version but I like it and coming from Derby she has as much right to sing it as most people.