The Curate's Egg

In front of the speakers without earplugs
(Photo: Simon Meeds)

[Edit: Just in case it isn't clear, the attached photograph was not taken at The Bridge last week. It is simply intended to suggest the experience we unfortunately had during the session. Read on to see what I mean. The photograph was taken about five years ago at a different event and the girls are not known to us - Simon was an official photographer at that event. We only have acoustic performances at the Dragon Folk Club]

Last week's Dragon Folk Club session wasn't the best, hence the title. The Curate's Egg is known to be good in parts and it was definitely the singers present who were the good part of our evening. Everything else was rather unfortunate, especially since we had our previous MC, Mike, present for the first time since mid-May 2022 (according to the blog records), as well as first time visitor Rob.

There were two issues which conspired to make this possibly our worst ever experience at The Bridge. There was a loud, live band in the main bar, and the gents toilets were out of action. The latter meant that people were constantly filing through our room to the back-up toilets (no pun intended) and while they were all polite, it meant the door was constantly opening and allowing in the full blast of the band's music. We posted a man on the door to keep it closed as much as possible, and we all sang at the top of our voices, but in the end it was just unworkable and we had to give up early.

This Friday should be much better - it certainly couldn't be worse.

Colin, the MC as usual, started off proceedings with The wild goose shanty (roud 328). Mike declared that there are many versions of that song, so he sang The wild goose shanty (roud 328); it's just like old times! If only our friend Derek had been there, we'd probably have got a third.

Rob does his own songs and poems, so naturally they were all new to the Dragon database, and in any case being his first visit they would all be mentioned here. His first was The Napoli (Rob Barratt), about the looting from the ship of that name which was beached at Branscombe in 2007.

Mike marked the recent fiftieth anniversary of the death of Adge Cutler and challenged all present to sign along to the chorus of Adge's Thee's got'n where thee cassn't back'n, hassn't.

Continuing the comedy Rob recited his poem The torpedo turd (Rob Barratt) about an impressive souvenir of the previous user of a toilet. This is one of only two performances of the evening not represented in the YouTube playlist linked from "a selection" below.

Talking of toilets, it was while Simon was singing Mary McCloud's House of the rising damp that we were joined by Sam on his way back from gaining some relief. While he didn't sing to us he did linger for a whole round of the four singers in the room and was very appreciative, listening also to Colin singing Hotel California (Don Felder, Don Henley, Glenn Frey), Mike with The Mary Ellen Carter (Stan Rogers), and Rob with Bloody who? (Rob Barratt).

The second and last performance not represented in the YouTube playlist was Colin's singing of Chris Sugden's Rolling drunk, a parody of Rolling home (John Tams).

Mike gave us Quare bungle rye (roud 2404).

Rob was inspired to write his poem Seventeen in Aberdeen (Rob Barratt) by a television weather forecast. After this things started to disintegrate and while we managed a few more songs we knew we were onto a loser.

I'm not quite sure why our friend Allie came walking though given that it was the gents toilet out of action as far as I was aware, but we introduced her to Rob and explained she was on our side and sometimes could be persuaded to sing. Indeed on her way back to the bar she gave us a couple of verses of Ian Campbell's Here come the navvies.

Colin soldiered on with Neil Young's After the goldrush, Simon gave top volume to Jake Thackray's Isabel makes love upon national monuments, and Mike completed the slightly abridged evening with Whip jamboree (roud 488); I assume it was actually Bristol Channel jamboree and therefore it is that which I linked.

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

(Number of people present - 6 of whom 5 performed - including Sam and Allie who each joined us for a short time and contributed to the evening)

A happy band

Matthew II and SS Great Britain
(Photo: Simon Meeds)

We had the best turn-out for a while at the Dragon Folk Club last week, and that included Gordon, a new face for the club, and a very welcome one who we hope to see again.

Colin, MC as usual, started off the session with Stan Rogers' The Mary Ellen Carter.

Gordon's debut song at the club was Old Zeb (Larry Kaplan). Kaplan says that the song is about Zebulon Northrup Tilton who was born in 1867, and died in 1952 at the age of eighty-five. He lived long enough to see the coasting schooner trade all but disappear. This was the first of six songs sung during the evening that were new to the Dragon database (though not necessarily new to the club) - I'll simply mark the rest with an asterisk (*).

Denny kept to the watery theme with Row on (roud 2084 - Tune: Tim Laycock). Also keeping to that theme was Paul with Wee pot stove (Harry Robertson), although taking after Nic Jones, Paul sang "Little pot stove".

With the 80th anniversary of the landings just past, Simon found another theme of his own, singing D-Day dodgers (roud 10499 - Lance-Sergeant Harry Pynn).

Rob sang a song sometimes sung by Steve: Just as the tide was flowing (roud 1105), followed swiftly by Steve singing a song sometimes sung by Rob: Rio Grande (roud 317). We're not territorial here when it comes to songs.

Bob gave us Blues stay away from me (Alton Delmore, Henry B Glover, Rabon Delmore, Wayne Raney), followed by Sue finishing the first rotation with Soon may the wellerman come, which contrary to popular belief is not a shanty (a working song), but a forebitter (a ballad sung by seamen while off duty). Nevertheless, Nathan Evans' recording of the song published on social media during the pandemic triggered a revival in shanty signing, which can't be a bad thing.

There were two songs sung during the evening which are not available on YouTube as far as I can tell, and therefore not in the playlist linked from "a selection" below. The first was Colin's singing of Chris Sugden's The Pharmacist (*), a parody of Farmer's boy (roud 408, laws Q30), sung by Sugden and Dick Nudds as The Kipper Family. The second song not on the playlist was sung by Rob, and written by his late friend Pete MacGregor: Modern banker (*).

As is customary, I will mention all of the songs sung by newcomer Gordon. His second song was Singing in the May (Mike O'Connor *) - a little late, but we will forgive him. Next he put on his one-man-band contraption (yes, really) and sang Kris Kristofferson and Fred Foster's Me an Bobby McGee.

Unstrapped, Gordon gave us Joe Hill (Alfred Hayes, Earl Robinson), one of the songs in a set he is developing about rights that have been gained and could easily be lost.

The songs not so far mentioned which are new to the Dragon database were:

• Rob - Waiting for a train (Rob Winder *), not to be confused with the song of the same title which is roud 699, laws H2 and was written by Jimmie Rodgers
• Denny - Shift and spin (Ewan McVicar *)

It fell to Sue to close the evening with Love of the common people (John Hurley, Ronnie Wilkins).

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

(Number of people present - 9 of whom 9 performed)

Easter 2024

Last week's session at The Dragon Folk Club was back to form with an adequate set of four singers meeting. Most had prepared some songs with relevance to the Easter season.

Colin started us off with Stan Rogers' The Mary Ellen Carter.

The first rotation continued with Denny singing I do like to be beside the seaside (roud 32459), a well known music hall song written by John H. Glover-Kind.

Paul gave us Waking Dreams (roud 22620) and Simon sang Elizabeth Cotten's Freight Train.

The only song of the evening not included in the YouTube playlist linked from "a selection" below is Paul's Tracks in the snow (Steve Thomason).

Simon finished off the session with his only offering the evening to mention Easter: When all men sing (Keith Scowcroft, Derek Gifford).

I'm not aware of any theme this Friday so anything goes as long as it's acoustic. Come and sing, play, recite a poem, tell a story or perform in any other way you wish. Failing that come and be our audience, join in the banter and maybe help out with a chorus or two. See you there!

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

(Number of people present - 4 of whom 4 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)

Back at it

Last Friday was the first Dragon Folk Club sing-around for seventeen months, so it was quite a big day even if we could only muster six singers to mark it. The reason for the hiatus was of course the COVID-19 pandemic and while none of us know what the future will hold, for the time being we are able to meet and sing in our usual room at The Bridge Inn. The changes are that we are requested not to park in Bridge Road, and closing time is a little earlier than before. That didn't however stop us having a good first night back.

Colin, as MC, started the proceedings with a local theme and Smith of Bristol which is traditional and is included in Dominic Behan's "Ireland sings: An anthology of modern and ancient Irish songs and ballads".

Mike considered this evening the resurrection of the club and so sang a resurrection song in Stan Rogers' The Mary Ellen Carter.

Geoff saw the end (for now at least) of lock-downs and restrictions as the end of a sentence and gave us Tie a Yellow Ribbon, a song which was recorded by Tony Orlando and Dawn. Irwin Levine and L Russell Brown may have been inspired to write the song by the 19th-century practice that some women allegedly had of wearing a yellow ribbon in their hair to signify their devotion to a husband or sweetheart serving in the US Cavalry.

Derek commented that he hadn't brought with him his bones (vegetarian version) when Simon sang Graham Moore's Tom Paine's Bones. Simon compounded the frustration with his second song, Poverty Knock (Tommy Daniel). Maybe Derek also hankered after his bones when Colin later sang Dance Ti Thy Daddy (Roud 2439).

Derek himself next sang Sweet Swansea (Roud 1612). He had noted a suggestion on the radio that the term "lock-down" had only come into use during the pandemic. I am not convinced that this is the case since there seem to be a number of earlier uses of the term; indeed former Royal Navy man Tom referred to its nautical use.

Maggie had sent Mike to the club with the message for all of us that Mike's canine companion Indy relaxes when Rock and Roll is played. Derek immediately suggested that Mike should sing "Rock and Roll me over", so indeed at the next opportunity he gave us One More Day (Roud 704).

Geoff is always ready to oblige when Rock 'n' Roll is required. Let's Think About Living, written by Boudleaux Bryant, was recorded by Bob Luman in 1960, but neither Geoff nor anyone else recognised his name in connection with any other song.

Geoff told us that in 1959 he heard Along Came Jones on the radio and liked it enough to buy it. The record was by The Coasters and he was initially disappointed with his purchase; it seemed that the version he had heard was not by The Coasters and he didn't like their version as much. Nevertheless his purchase was justified by the flip side, That is Rock 'n' Roll which was also written by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, and it was this song that he sang to us.

Derek told us that sometime during lock-down his sister had been ill. She seemed to be OK now but he wanted to sing something for her. There are plenty of "sister" songs in his repertoire but they all seem to involve murder or rape, and therefore aren't really appropriate. He then remembered the first folk song he sang at home when he was about 15 was Lord Randall (Roud 10, Child 12). His mother heard him singing and said it seemed to describe how he and his sister behaved when they were younger. The way he sings it now is not the same as he would have done then - one difference I suspect is that he now usually sings the first verse in Welsh.

Before singing the song, Tom regaled us with the meaning of the Cockney rhyming slang terms in Pop Goes the Weasel (Roud 5249).

When Colin started to sing Sydney Carter's Crown on the Cradle, Derek apparently thought he was about to start Bonny at Morn (Roud 3064), so he gave us that at the first opportunity. This song in turn inspired Tom to sing his own song, Lasso the Moon.

Because of uncertainty about when we would be required to stop singing, there was no proper interval although a brief break was taken for early last orders. Eventually the evening was brought to a close by Tom singing Allan Taylor's Standing at the Door.

With the principle proved, there will be a sing-around next week as long as someone takes up the mantle of MC in Colin's absence.

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

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

Easter 2015

Charmian Bernays, aged 8,
Toowoomba, Queensland in 1922

We were a bit thin on the ground this week. Not least because, as we heard last week, Maggie has been in the wars, and I heard that Lesley may also be suffering (unconfirmed report). Get well soon ladies and come back to us. Friday was Good Friday, so there were Easter-themed songs about though we didn't all step up to the plate in that respect.

Colin was MC and he asked Derek to start us off. Derek started as he meant to go on, taking us almost on a stations of the cross tour of Easter, his first being A Week Before Easter (Roud 154). He followed that up with Maundy Thursday in the shape of Judas (Child 23), then on to Good Friday with Tomorrow Shall Be My Dancing Day.

Finally on this strand Easter Day, or rather the Easter Rising, was represented by The Women of Cumann na mBan, (The Soldiers of Cumann na mBan). Derek picked this as being the most difficult to spell in the log book for MC, Colin, who had headed him off at the pass earlier by singing his original choice, The Foggy Dew (Canon Charles O’Neill).

Good Friday to Easter

This week's session was held on Good Friday. In the Christian tradition this commemorates the crucifixion of Jesus Christ and is therefore a sombre day, preceding his glorious resurrection on Easter Sunday. We only have one session a week though, so this one has to cover the whole week-end. We had songs representing, more or less literally, the events of the whole weekend, and some with no particular relevance at all.

Mike started off the evening with the Pace Egging song. The Pace Egg Plays are traditional village plays, with a rebirth theme, in which St George smites all challengers and the fool, Toss Pot, rejoices. The drama takes the form of a combat between the hero and villain, in which the hero is killed and brought to life, often by a quack doctor. The plays take place in England during Easter, indeed the word 'Pace' comes from the old English word 'pasch' literally meaning 'Easter'. They are a tradition that was once widespread throughout England, but is now only practiced in a few areas, particularly Lancashire and West Yorkshire.

New songs and old

St Nicholas' church,
King's Norton

I'll get the big news out of the way first. Last week's fund raiser for BUST raised a total of £52.65, including donations and the raffle.

I was also pleased this week to see Helen, who contacted me back in March about coming to the club. She is a singer/songwriter guitarist and was concerned that the club might be too traditional and not accepting of her style. I assured her that despite the jokes levelled at guitarists, she would be very welcome, and I hope she felt she was - she seemed to have had fun at least.

So, we were treated to three of Helen's own songs: Lost, Time is Ticking and I would stand. Derek joined in that strand in his own style with his song, Lament for the Fishing.