As hot as...

Photo: Simon Meeds

As expected at the end of another scorching day we were slightly low on numbers at last week's Dragon Folk Club session but we carried on singing. Paul selected from his repertoire songs he hadn't sung recently, Simon appropriately sang mostly songs relating to hot or warm weather, and Denny just sang some excellent songs.

Simon as stand-in MC and first comer started off the session with Three songs to one burden (*), a song written by our old friend Derek Brinkley. Denny followed on with I live not where I love (roud 593) and Paul finished the first rotation with Waking dreams (roud 22620).

Simon's second was The hippopotamus song (Michael Flanders, Donald Swann) where instead of singing a chorus in Russian as Flanders sometimes did, he switched to Latin:

Lutum! lutum! Pulcherrimum  lutum

veni, o veni huc mecum ablutum

sequimini cuncti, laeti coniuncti

et volvamur uncti in luto pulchro.

Looking over Paul's shoulder, Denny managed to follow from the front, singing Sweet thyme (John Conolly, Pete Mundy) in correct expectation of Paul's Wild mountain thyme (roud 541 - Francis McPeake).

When Simon followed that with Brian Bedford's This is the way the world ends Denny asked how she knew the writer's name. Brian Bedford was a member and the main songwriter of Artisan, the harmony group that also included his wife Jacey and Hilary Spencer. Simon thought that Denny may know Brian's song What's the use of wings (*) and so she did, from the singing of Vin Garbutt (his version which he called "Wings"), and so proceeded to sing it. Below the YouTube video of Vin's version I see Jacey Bedford has made this comment:

"We (Artisan) played Trowbridge Folk Festival many years ago, and Vin was on the same bill. We were put up in the same pub and late one night we were sitting in the bar with Vin, sharing songs. We sang What's the Use of Wings - that's its full title - and Vin immediately asked Brian if he could sing it, Brian was delighted, of course. Some years after that Artisan was invited to play the Port Fairy Festival in Australia and on the way we did a stop-over in Hong Kong where we were accommodated by the Hong Kong Folk Club (which was in Doyle's Irish bar in Kowloon - how surreal!). We sang Wings and the whole audience sang it with us... courtesy of Vin taking it there long before we did. Thanks, Vin, you took Brian Bedford's song around the world. Lovely job."

Paul returned us to our old friend Derek Brinkley by singing his song Lament for the fishing (#).

Simon spent some of the evening well off the folk piste, including sharing The bare necessities (Terry Gilkyson).

Denny charmed us with Linden Lea (William Barnes, Ralph Vaughan Williams), which became this week's photo feature thanks to a chance find only yesterday.

Simon took a leaf out of Denny's book by singing a popular song from the early 20th century - 1932 in this case. So he sang The sun has got his hat on (* Noel Gay, Ralph Butler) - and yes, he made a small word replacement from this original version found on YouTube. Ensuing talk of songs evolving to fit changing fashions and mores caused Simon to make his last song of the session Ol' man river (Jerome Kern, Oscar Hammerstein II). Simon remembers watching a whole television documentary programme about adjustments made to that song over time.

Denny's final song was a good sing-along: Byker Hill (roud 3488) and Paul finished the session appropriately with the Farewell shanty. Having no reference for this other than that it is one sometimes used by our friend Mike Starkey when asked to sing at a funeral, I decided to do some digging. I didn't have far to look because MainlyNorfolk provides a quote from the notes for Brenda Wootton and Robert Bartlett's 1975 album Starry-Gazey Pie:

"Mervyn Vincent from St. Issy and Alan Molyneux from Plymouth are largely responsible for the revival of this lovely West Country shanty. Mervyn found it in an old book on boat-building and it later served as the closing song at Alan’s Breakwater Club in Plymouth."

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

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

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

Rare finds

Mike Starkey (Photo: Simon Meeds)

At last week's Dragon Folk Club session it seems that we made a theme of singing less frequently sung songs from our repertoire, with a possible sub-theme of singing Mike's songs after his appearance at the previous week's session.

Listen to the YouTube playlist linked from "a selection" at the bottom of this report to hear everything we sang - I even recorded a couple specially to give us a full house this week. Here is a run down of a few highlights.

After Mike Starkey's first visit to the club in a long time last week, Colin started off proceedings this week with Southern Star, written by Mike Starkey and Dave Marshall. Sorry for my dodgy rendition - Colin's was much better. This was a first for Colin according to the database, though we had of course heard Mike sing it many times before.

Simon followed along with Tracy Chapman's more solemn Behind the wall.

Colin added to the Dragon database Steve Knightley's Widecombe fair, a mysterious whodunnit rather than the traditional song of that name.

Simon sang The oyster girl (roud 875, laws Q13) for possibly the second time; a song he acquired from the singing of Rosie Upton.

Colin had acquired a song from the singing of Rose Little who used to be an occasional visitor to the Dragon Folk Club. That was A maid in Bedlam (roud 578). His next song, which he remembered Ray Croll singing, was London Danny (Jez Lowe). Colin has sung this at least twice before: once just a few weeks ago, and also on 20th July 2018, which may have been his first time.

Simon tried a debut with The hog-eye man (roud 331) and that was followed by Colin singing the American version of The miner's lifeguard (roud 3510) - we often hear the British (Welsh?) version, but rarely this one.

Simon has sung The Hippopotamus song (Michael Flanders and Donald Swann) in Latin before, but only now is there a YouTube video to go with it (imperfect I'm afraid). We don't know the author of this version, but we do know that they don't claim it to be perfect Latin, but at least is rhymes and is able to be sung. Ian Wallace sang it at his inauguration as Rector of St Andrews University.

The final song new to the Dragon database was Sail away ladies (roud 17635). Here Colin didn't sing the hit version credited to Bill Varley, Wally Whyton and first recorded by The Vipers Skiffle Group, but the remarkably similar, earlier version, sung and probably collected by Uncle Dave Macon.

Simon finished the evening in time-honoured fashion with When all men sing (Keith Scowcroft, Derek Gifford)

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

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

With love

Coulter's Candy (Photo: alistair fitchett)

Sadly we were back down to two singers last week though there are even more promises of newcomers and visitors, so let's hope that comes to fruition soon. The sooner the better since this week one of the pair won't be around.

One plan to talk of is that we'll have a theme of Wales for a slightly belated St David's Day session on 4 March. As always the theme is optional but your efforts will be appreciated, and if a few songs about whales, daffodils, leeks and whatever creep in then that will be par for the course. As always, check Wikipedia for what St David is patron of apart from the obvious.

In the meantime, the session on 25 February will be theme-less so pretty much anything goes as long as it's acoustic.

Back to last Friday, we still seemed to have a few songs of love and lust left over from the previous week's Valentine's Day session, but some other things popped up as well. Colin was MC and started us off with Sing me a song Mr Bloom (Ian Walker). Mr Bloom is a character in the film 'Twilight Zone - The Movie'. In the film he visits homes for old people and, magically, turns them into children again.

Simon continued with another story, this time the Ballad of Patch Eye and Meg (Michelle Shocked). Sadly, but understandably, Michelle has expunged almost all of her songs from YouTube, so you'll have to search out her first album, The Texas Campfire Tapes if you want to hear it. Famously the album was recorded by a campfire at the Kerrville Folk Festival in Texas by Pete Lawrence using a Sony Walkman. Some people know that Michelle later disowned the album at one stage. What fewer people perhaps realise is that the battery of the Walkman that Lawrence used was running down, so the tape was transported more slowly than usual. This resulted in the published songs being faster and at a higher pitch than when Michelle originally sang them. It still sounds great though with the cicadas and trucks in the background.

A few of the videos I have included in the playlist at the usual "a selection" link below probably bear a little explanation, so I will use those as my theme for the week.

Simon experimentally brought out a song he has been threatening to sing for a long time. It is a pity that classical scholar Derek wasn't with us to hear it, but I'm sure it can be sung again sometime when he returns. The song was Flanders and Swann's The Hippopotamus Song, but this time sung in Latin. The version in question was sung by Ian Wallace at his inauguration as Rector of St Andrews University. His version is not on YouTube, but here is a recording of Ian singing The Hippopotamus Song in English on the BBC programme, The Good Old Days recorded at the Leeds City Varieties. There is a version in Latin on YouTube, but it's not the one.

Colin sang Chris Sugden's (Sid Kipper) By the cobblers which is set to the tune of Clementine (roud 9611). I have found a recording, but it is part of a much longer recording of a folk session on Zoom and I have no easy way of including the required part in the playlist - I wouldn't want you to have to listen to an hour of no doubt perfectly reasonable but off-topic singing just to listen to the Dragon playlist this week. So here, off-playlist, is a link to the appropriate part of the video.

Colin also sang Malvina Reynolds' version of Billy Boy (roud 326). It doesn't appear in the playlist because, like Colin, I can't find it on line, but here is are the words. Colin was concerned whether he had the right tune because Reynolds' words don't appear to fit the traditional one he knows, but he says they do seem to fit the one sung by Martin Carthy.

Simon sang Sovay (roud 7, laws N21), the tale of a young woman who dressed herself as a highwayman to test the commitment of her lover on his return. Simon mentioned that, like Colin's last song, he was influenced by Martin Carthy. However, he wanted to trace a recording of Isla St  Clair singing it on her 1980s children's television programme The Song and The Story. I didn't find that precise clip, but for the benefit of the playlist I found a recording of St Clair singing the song.

Colin can be assured that the song Elsie which he sang was indeed written by our friend Gary Hopwood.

It should be said that we don't tend to shy away from controversial words and topics when they are authentic; this is a folk club and we like to maintain the traditions. If anyone is squeamish then look away now. While Simon sang Oh Susanna (roud 9614), it wasn't quite as ... err ... historically accurate, as this recording.

I was particularly pleased to be able to roll out this recording when Colin sang Coulter's Candy (roud 19019) which was written by a former Galashiels weaver, Robert Coltart (1832–1880). The song was an advertising jingle for the aniseed-flavoured sweeties that he manufactured in Melrose and sold around the markets of the Border towns. The reason this video is special to us is because the singer is Helen Barr who used to occasionally visit the club from her home in Swindon.

I Fear IKEA, sung by Colin, is another song from the repertoire of Gary Hopwood, but under the slightly different title of I Hate IKEA. This one was however written by The Lancashire Hotpots.

Simon closed the session with Ian "Nobby" Dye's Bristol-based song Welsh Back Quay.

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

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

St David's Day and Mothering Sunday 2016

Yes we had a dual theme last week with St David's Day on 1st March and Mothering Sunday on the 6th (Don't get me started on why it isn't Mothers' Day). There was plenty for us all to go at, and Colin was MC.

Derek started us off with a song I failed to trace. The lines I noted down were: "On the 23rd day of September", "the Liverpool waters will ring" and "they destroyed the electric transformer". From something he said later, I assume, like two of his other songs this evening, it was written by Meic Stephens.

Happy Birthday Mike H

Mike Harding

(any plug for Mike's folk show is purely incidental)

A slightly better-attended session last week heard the big news that had been rumbling all week. Maggie has decided to retire from running the club and after the next session (30 October 2015) and will be handing to baton to Colin. Mike reminds Colin that you are only ever lent the reins of the Dragon Folk Club.

In preparation for taking over, Colin suggested to Mike that the next session would have a theme of Halloween. Mike accepted the suggestion, adding that it might also involve Australia and New Zealand (a rugby reference), so that gives a bit of scope to everyone.