The lonely singer

(Photo: Simon Meeds)

"If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?"

Last week's session was unfortunate in two ways. First and most importantly Jan N, an excellent performer, singer and guitarist, turned up slightly early to The Bridge Inn and because of a misunderstanding was turned away by the landlady. We have been trying to get Jan to come down to the Dragon Folk Club for several years and for this to happen is awful. There is a lesson to be learnt. We must tell newcomers, if it isn't obvious how to find us in the pool room, or if we aren't there yet, please tell the staff you are there for the Dragon Folk Club.

That unfortunate incident led to the second... Simon, who was due to be MC for the evening, was on his own. He sang some songs to himself before calling it a night at about 10pm. This leads to the philosophical quote above. Did he really sing? Trust me, he did, and he sang some songs he hadn't previous sung in public... errr, well he still hasn't really, so you'll have to take my word for that as well. Let's call it a practise session.

All of the songs he sang are in the linked playlist (see "a selection" below) except one. It was written about Simon by our friend Richard Gillion - The dodgy Doombar.

Let's hope for more people next week. In theory there should be at least three of us. We'll be able to raise the roof anyway, so why not come along to sing, play, recite or even just to listen (I'm sure we'll get you singing along to choruses) and we can absolutely smash those roof tiles.

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

(Number of people present - 1 of whom 1 performed)

Only slightly dodgy

We can just about cog along with three singers present and that's what we had last week. Really we need some more of you to come and swell our numbers. At least one of last week's singers won't be there this Friday so it's all the more important for you make an effort. Three just about works, five is OK, more is much better.

Colin kicked us off with Murray Lewis' Forgotten the words. Simon continued with Geordie (roud 90, child 209) and Geoff completed the first rotation with The little beggarman (roud 900).

I won't go through the whole of the evening, you can almost do that by using the "a selection" link below. There were just two songs, both sung by Simon, for which there isn't a video linkable there. The first deserves a bit of a preamble.

Geoff noted that the Doom Bar (beer from Cornwall) wasn't at its best this week. Simon recalled a recent occasion when it had been worse. Conversation continued for a while along the lines of how well beer is kept by different pubs, where you can get a cheap, well kept pint, and how some pubs don't have enough turnover of beer for particular ales which don't keep well. This conversation led Colin to sing A pub with no beer. Note that on this blog Colin's song has previously been credited to Slim Dusty who did indeed record it, but in fact it was Gordon Parsons who wrote it, adapted from a poem by Dan Sheahan (A pub without beer).

Simon immediately referred to a song written by our old friend Richard Gillion about him and the fact that he drinks Doom Bar at the club. Simon had never sung the song and didn't think he could. Later however he looked up the words which refer not only to Simon, but also to a number of songs he sings and the fact that he used to bring a bodhrán to sessions. The song in question is The dodgy Doombar and he managed to squeeze out a rendition. Don't worry, the beer is usually better than this at The Bridge Inn.

The other song with no easily link-able video, again sung by Simon, is The Lincolnshire song written by John Sykes and sung here by his daughter Miranda. The video is there on YouTube alright, but is part of a much longer performance. By the wonders of YouTube we can link an index into the video here, but not in the playlist.

It also fell to Simon to finish off the evening, which he did in his customary way with When all men sing (Keith Scowcroft, Derek Gifford). It's always guaranteed to get people singing, even when there's only three, and even when, as this time, Simon's throat demands that he turn down the volume from 11 to maybe 7 or 8. Perhaps the plaster wasn't quite shaken from the wall this time - our hosts Helen and Mark might be grateful for that.

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

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