Striding forth

Paul W striding forth at Clevedon
(Photo: Simon Meeds) 

Last week's Dragon Folk Club session was another great one. Paul M returned for his second visit - let's hope there will be many more. Simon dropped the bombshell that it was VE Day. To the relief of others he wasn't suggesting a theme, but simply admitting that he had forgotten to set the theme. Nevertheless, a few appropriate songs were aired during the evening.

As far as I know there is no theme again this Friday, but don't let that stop you bringing your own theme if you have the urge. Otherwise who knows? Something may emerge.

Colin, MC as usual, started us off with The seven wonders (traditional, collected by Mick Tems of Pontardawe).

Simon followed his wartime non-theme with Plover Catcher (Elizabeth Padgett).

It was great to see Steve C for the second time in a fortnight, and his first song was The field behind the plow (sic) (Stan Rogers).

Paul M gave us the evening's first song new to the Dragon database, one that his father used to sing, The ghost thit' anted Bunty (roud V45218 - Tommy Armstrong) - which translates from Geordie as "The ghost that haunted Bunty".

Paul W and Denny both made their first songs ones that were not previously in the Dragon database, and Denny's was not to be found on YouTube. Paul's was I will always love you (* Les Sullivan) and Denny's was Moon names (*# Charlotte Oliver) - complete with a link to the official recording on bandcamp.

Thinking of Paul's song, I wonder whether there is a thing to be made of writing songs with the names of other, well-known songs. I used to know a great chap called Jim Carroll (not the well-known one, but the one seen at the beginning of this video acting the fool), sadly no longer with us. If we were having a song session in a public bar and someone said, as they often did, something like "Do you know Free bird?", Jim would pick up his guitar and improvise a blues of the same name. At other times his speciality was pseudo-flamenco.

After that digression, this brings us to the end of the first rotation.

There were just two further songs new to the database last week, both from Paul M:

• Grace Darling (* roud 1441)
• The rising of the moon (* roud 9634)

Paul modified the words of Grace Darling slightly in the hope of emphasising that she was a woman rather than that she was English. All nevertheless joined in with the chorus.

As the session came to an end it was Denny's turn to sing and she picked our oft-used finisher-offer, When all men sing (Keith Scowcroft, Derek Gifford). Rather than simply the customary joining in of the chorus, this became a truly communal song as Denny handed over to Paul W, and he in turn to Simon to finish off the last verse. And so was ended a very enjoyable evening.

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

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

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

Mining at the song-face.

Mine cage winding equipment at Beamish Museum
(Photo: Simon Meeds)

It was great to see one new face and one second time (I think) visitor at last week's Dragon Folk Club session. Jackie was the superb newcomer while Dominic was the excellent singer we had heard before.

Colin, as MC, started us off with Flying high, flying free (Leon Rosselson) and Roger followed him with Ed McCurdy's Last night I had the strangest dream.

Dominic's first of the evening was The coast of Malabar (* roud 24566) and Jackie's Dragon debut song was Rap her to bank (roud 1786), learnt during her time living in the North East of England. This was the first of quite a number of mining songs we heard during the evening. “Rap ’er te bank!” is the cry of men at the bottom of the mine shaft, waiting to come up in the cage. The onsetter would rap, and the winding man, hearing the signal would draw the cage to the surface (the ‘bank’).

Paul continued the mining theme with The old miner (roud 1136) and Denny didn't let it drop, singing The collier laddie (roud 3787 - Robert Burns).

Simon completed the first rotation with Elizabeth Padgett's The plover catcher.

It's perhaps surprising that Colin's second song, a shanty not only from the Hugill, but it seems commonly sung in school and at home for at least 90 years, is new to the Dragon database. Of course that doesn't mean it has never been sung at the club before. The song in question is Fire down below (* roud 813). I have it in a 1930s book of popular songs; perhaps I should get that book out and trawl it for some of the less sung, yet still singable, songs.

During the evening Roger sang two of his own compositions: Together we fight (*# Roger Stanleigh) and Fifties child (# Roger Stanleigh).

As always, I will mention every song sung by newcomer Jackie:

• Song of myself (* Peggy Seeger)
• West Virginia mine disaster (* Jean Ritchie)
• Loch Tay boat song (* roud 38364)
• Green grows the laurel (roud 279)
• The moon and St Christopher (* Mary Chapin Carpenter)

To quickly wrap up this report, here is a list of songs not mentioned so far that were either new to the database or or do not appear in the YouTube playlist linked from "a selection" below:

• Dominic - Geraldine's thinking of Galway (* Pat McKernan)
• Paul - Dead knight behind the hedge (# Jon Heslop)
• Dominic - Isle of Innisfree (* roud 29758)

It fell to Simon to wrap up the session with other joining in on When all men sing (Keith Scowcroft, Derek Gifford).

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 any songs not included in the "a selection" playlist are marked with a hash (#).

All bets off for one week

(AI image from Stable Diffusion)

Last week's Dragon Folk Club session was a bit in between - in between themes in this season of themes. Its predecessor was Remembrance and this Friday it will be St Andrew's Day. More of that in a moment. Without a theme it gave people absolute freedom. Simon had quite a few war-themed songs left over from Remembrance while Colin thought he would lift the previous week's mainly sombre mood with some more cheerful ditties. Paul and Denny brought us a variety of seasonal, unseasonable and sing-along offerings.

So, to this Friday's theme (29th November). St Andrew, whose saint's day is on 30th November, is of course best known as the patron saint of Scotland, so anything Scottish or about Scotland will do. Also bear in mind Andrews other patronages include: Barbados, Georgia, Ukraine, Russia, Greece, Cyprus, Romania, Amalfi, Manila and Prussia; fishermen, fishmongers, rope-makers, textile workers, singers, miners, pregnant women, butchers, and farm workers.

If that doesn't give you scope enough, on Denny's request there will be a secondary theme of Lancashire Day (27th November). Remember that the county of Lancashire traditionally includes Manchester, Salford and Liverpool, none of which are in the current county, but all are fair game for the session.

Then, of course, our themes are always optional, so anything goes as long as it's acoustic, though with all that themery to go on we can probably find a tenuous connection for almost any song.

Back to last week, Colin, MC as usual, started us off with The Seven Wonders (*), credited as Welsh traditional, arranged by Maddy Prior and June Tabor who acquired it from Mick Tems of Pontardawe. Tems wrote on mudcat.org:

"The Seven Wonders is a 19th century translation of the song Y Saith Rhyfeddod, which comes from the Bala region of North Wales, collected by the Welsh Folk Song Society early in the 20th century. It falls into the same class of song as Martin Said To His Man and The Derby Ram... wild boasts, impossible achievements etc.

"I heard it sung as The Seven Wonders by an old farmer at the Gwyn Arms in Glyntawe, at the upper end of the Swansea Valley in South Wales, around 1971. We used to go to the pub for sessions and some of the locals would join in. I wish I had been more interested in collecting at that time...

"The words I heard sung were very close to a printed version, translated by Ieuan Ddu (the bardic name of the 19th century writer John Thomas). June heard me sing it c. 1976 and asked if she could have it. Other singers who took it up included Roy Harris and Pete and Chris Coe. June and Maddy changed the words considerably for the Silly Sisters album (perhaps there was an outstanding copyright on the John Thomas translation)."

Paul's first song was Adieu Sweet lovely Nancy (roud 165) and Denny's was Icy Acres (Colin Wilkie). Simon gave us Elizabeth Padgett's The Plover Catcher which brought the first rotation to its end.

Other songs that I need to mention this week are:

• Paul - Tracks in the snow (Steve Thomason) - not in the YouTube playlist but click on the title here to listen
• Denny - Follow me 'ome (* Rudyard Kipling, Peter Bellamy)
• Colin - Sicknote: the reply (Stanley Accrington) - not in the YouTube playlist
• Colin - Green peace, really green (* Geoff Pearson)
• Colin - Five o'clock in the morning (* roud V652) - not in the YouTube playlist

Colin rounded off the evening with The blackbird (Pete Budd, Tommy Banner, Tony Baylis).

(An asterisk "*" by a song indicates that it is new to the Dragon database, and may or may not be new to the club)

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

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

New face, new songs

A plover catcher on Cowbit Wash in the 1890s

It was great to have a new singer join us at last week's Dragon Folk Club session. Perhaps you could be the new face this week if you join us on Friday at The Bridge. Even if you've been before you will be very welcome.

Colin, back in the MC's chair, started us off with The times they are a changin'... not Bob Dylan's famous song, but a parody written by Garrison Keillor in honour of Dylan's 60th birthday in 2001. Colin sang it on the occasion of Dylan's 83rd birthday.

Simon, caught slightly on the hop, resorted to the unseasonable Down our street. Bob followed with Matchbox which is listed as written by Carl Perkins, but I suspect Bob was influenced more by the earlier Match Box Blues which I've linked.

We were soon joined by the newcomer of the evening, Roger, and as is customary, I will mention all of the songs which he sang, four of which are new to the Dragon database (though not necessarily new to the club) as indicated with an asterisk:

• If I were a carpenter (Tim Hardin)
• Flora, lily of the west (roud 957 *)
• Morning train (Elaina Mezzetti *)
• 500 miles (Hedy West *)
• Stagger Lee (roud 4183 *)
• What have they done to the rain (Malvina Reynolds)

I'll just briefly mention three other songs we sang and call that it for this week's report.

First I'll mention Simon's singing of Elizabeth Padgett's The Plover Catcher for no reason other than that I have acquired a new photograph appropriate to be used in the feature spot (see above).

Next, the only song of the evening not to appear in the YouTube playlist linked from "a selection" below is Colin's singing of Fred Wedlock's Bums and boobs. This was another song new to the Dragon database.

Finally, the last song of the evening came from Simon and was Stan Rogers' Northwest Passage.

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

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

St David's Day 2022

(Photo: Simon Meeds)

We're cooking on gas now. Five people two weeks in a row. This is what I'm talking about! Keep them coming and we'll be back to a sustainable, post-COVID sing-around club before you know it.

The optional theme last Friday was Wales and St David. Some stuck to it, others found tenuous links: very tenuous in some cases. It was great to see Gary pay us a visit after a long absence.

Colin, playing MC, started us off with Welsh History 101B (Heather Rose Jones). This was followed by Gary with his self-penned The Cobblestones of Carter Street. It was a sad tale of his childhood in Salford, where his mother tried to persuade him that it was the taunting by Gary and his friends which led to the suicide of the local rag and bone man.

Simon went topical rather than Welsh with The Marsh Family's version of the John Tams / traditional Over the Hills and Far Away (roud 3098). The family's version addresses the current crisis in Ukraine.

Mike went back to Wales with Max Boyce's Duw it's Hard. Geoff came through the door just as it was his turn to sing, and he brought out Roger Miller's King of the Road, to which we were all able to sing along.

I'll leave you to listen to most of the songs that were sung on the "a selection" link, and skip straight to the last round of four, Mike having left earlier in the evening. It started with Colin, still soldiering on with the Welsh theme and singing Men of Harlech (roud 24790, English words by Thomas Oliphant). Gary sang his own song The Loam and the Clay. Simon gave us Elizabeth Padgett's song The Plover Catcher about Lincolnshire in wartime.

Finally, it fell to Geoff to close the evening, which he did with The Kerry Recruit (roud 520, laws J8).

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

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

Remembrance

(Photo: Simon Meeds)

As I keep saying, we are currently refraining from announcing official themes, but last Friday falling on 12 November meant that we were still thinking of remembrance, which therefore coloured many of the songs. Our usual room was in the middle of being decorated so we spent the evening in the small bar which was pleasant and we even got appreciation from some of the customers passing through to the toilets.

MC Colin started the ball rolling with Jez Lowe's Old Bones, which Maggie L noted was often sung by our late friend Ray Croll.

Derek hadn't been at our sessions for the previous two weeks, so he first took us back to Halloween with Sweet William's Ghost (roud 50, child 77) and The Unquiet Grave (roud 51, child 78), then to Guy Fawkes with Bonfire Night before bringing us back to the present with There's A Simple Little Cross Out At Mons.

Simon started with Elizabeth Padgett's tale of second world war wild-fowling in the fens, The Plover Catcher.

Colin took us to the First World War Balkans with Salonika (roud 10513), a song often sung by our late friend Pat Hyett.

Simon's singing of Where have all the flowers gone (Pete Seeger, Joe Hickerson) prompted Derek to burst into the German version, Sag mir, wo die Blumen sind (words by Max Colpet).

Colin contributed two songs from the singing of Roy Bailey: Ghost Story (Jim Woodland) and Maria Diaz (Lenny Galant). Simon gave us two from Mike Harding's pen: Bombers' Moon and Jimmy Spoons.

In the end it fell to Simon to finish off the night which he did, as the song says (metaphorically) "shaking plaster from the wall" with When all men sing (Keith Scowcroft, Derek Gifford).

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

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

The joy of chorus singing

Henry Joy McCracken

Five of us met last Friday to sing. While there was a charity event on in the bar and, shock horror, there was no hand-pumped ale, we proceeded with little disruption except when the barbecue was retrieved from the forecourt through the carriage doors in our room. Colin even received a complement for his performance at that stage!

Indeed Colin was back this week and returned to his customary role of MC, starting off the evening with Keith Scowcroft and Derek Gifford's When All Men Sing: a good way to get everyone singing.

Mike is trying to prepare us for being his chorus on 25 September at Tormarton (see the previous week's blog report), so he sang Outward And Homeward Bound (Roud 18905) which has a chorus made to fool the careless joiner-inner, changing several times through the song. Simon incorrectly thought he remembered Mike saying the song was not a shanty, though he had the right idea in that a shanty "should be" either an outward bounder or a homeward bounder and this song can't make its mind up. Nevertheless, it is apparently not the only only shanty to introduce such confusion. Note that the linked version is based in Liverpool whereas naturally, Mike's is based in Bristol.

Geoff's first song was The Limerick Rake (Roud 3018).

There had earlier been a comment that Colin, who had not found his usual table (we later worked out it had been taken outside), was sitting on a bar stool to better reach the pool table. Simon joked that he was "young and still growing", which Derek took as a request to sing The Trees They Do Grow High (Roud 31, Laws O35).

Simon's first song was Elizabeth Padgett's The Plover Catcher. It didn't go quite to plan because he found himself singing it closer to the way Elizabeth sings her own song than the way he usually does it. Having restarted in something approaching the usual vein it was only much later he worked out what had gone wrong... he doesn't usually use a capo on the third fret as she does.

Mike continued our chorus practice with Spanish Ladies (Roud 687). He asked us why this isn't a shanty. The answer is that the version he sings is from the Royal Navy. The Royal Navy did not allow the singing of shanties, and apart from the national anthem this was the only song allowed on board.

Derek wasn't put off by the fact that it was 3 September and in any case sang The Donibristle Mine Disaster (Roud 3509) which starts "On the twenty sixth of August the fatal moss gave way".

Mike's continuing chorus tutorial brought us Drunken Sailor (Roud 322). He seemed disappointed that most of us chose to attempt to sing harmonies.

It was Colin's singing of Linstead Market (Roud 16397) that impressed the lady who came to bring in the barbecue.

Derek started a trend with Henry Joy (Roud 10612) which Colin followed with Tom Paxton's Ramblin' Boy ("So here's to you my Rambling Boy, May all your rambling bring you joy."), and Simon concluded with Bob Dylan's The Mighty Quinn (But when Quinn the Eskimo gets here, Everybody's gonna jump for joy"). Geoff broke the pattern with Copper Kettle (Albert Frank Beddoe).

It was Geoff also who gave us the penultimate song of the evening. From the second single he ever bought, presumably sung by The Everly Brothers, it was Bird Dog, written by Boudleaux Bryant.

Our final song of the evening was the second part of a pair sung by Derek. The earlier component was The Volunteer Organist (William B Gray, George Spaulding) and the second part was a parody of it from Jack Elliott of Birtley, called The Volunteer Putter. In Northumberland, "putter" was the local term for the person who brought empty coal tubs up to the coal face and took loaded tubs to the pit bottom.

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

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

Remembrance 2019

Shrouds of the Somme by Rob Heard, Bristol 2016
(Photo: Simon Meeds)

We were once again thin on the ground last week for our Remembrance session. This Friday's will have no theme, so there is no excuse for not joining us. The next theme will be on 29th and will be for Saint Andrew's day the next day. Saint Andrew is of course patron saint of Scotland, which should give some scope for inspiration but you may also be interested in his other patronages. If you are really stuck you may be interested to know that his is the patron saint of singers!

Back to last Friday, Colin started us off in his customary manner with Fighting For Strangers, a version of Roud 3137 (Johnny I Hardly New Ye) having undergone adaptation by Steeleye Span.

D-Day 75 - Dragon 50

Commando Memorial, Spean Bridge
(Photo by Simon Meeds)

We're continuing the Dragon Folk Club 50th anniversary celebrations through to the end of June, so please come along and celebrate with us. Everyone is welcome but if you've been at the club any time during its long life you may like to perform something you performed on previous visits. We'd certainly love to hear it.

Last week's session was the second in the series of 50th anniversary events and was time also to mark the 75th anniversary of D-Day with a variety of war and anti-war songs, some of which had specific relevance as did MC Colin's first, Shores Of Normandy by folk singer Jim Radford, the youngest known D-Day veteran (aged 15 years and 8 months at the time). The song, sung by Jim not Colin, went onto top the Amazon and iTunes download charts.

Geoff took a random dip in his repertoire and came up with Marty Robbins' Big Iron.

Simon went for a song about the war rather than D-Day with Liz Padgett's Plover Catcher which left the goal open wide for Mike to score with Lance-Sergeant Harry Pynn's D-Day Dodgers (Roud 10499), remarking that his father was one of them.

Just Harping On

Photo: Bart Hanlon

Yes, you read correctly at the bottom of this post, we were only five at last week's session, in fact we were really "four twice" as my grandmother used to say about a family that lost a child and gained a new one soon after. We really need to see some new faces, and for some of you old hands to come and join us. Yes, I know we have a reasonable number of regulars but it only takes a few to have something else on and we are down to a skeleton crew. We didn't even hold our "famous" raffle, so you can tell that things were bad.

Nevertheless we had a pretty good evening with some of us singing unusual songs around the edge of our repertoires which made for some excitement.

Colin was MC and Derek started us off by taking up his own self-imposed theme of harps. His first song on this theme was The Minstrel Boy (Thomas Moore - Roud 13867). Derek continued his theme with another from Thomas Moore, The Harp That Once Through Tara's Halls (Roud 13392), impressively remembered from childhood and apparently not sung since. Next came The Twa Sisters (Roud 8, Child 10). The Ballad Of James Larkin (Donagh McDonagh) was next and generated some interest for it's phrase "The harp was buried beneath the crown", which reminded Mike of a shanty called The Harp Without A Crown, which he said was a puzzle because, while it seems to be a true shanty, it cannot be traced to any period earlier than the very last days of sail in the early 20th century. Derek's final harp contribution was a funny story of a man who died and went to heaven and became "chocker with harpin'".