North East and North West

F. Parker Glass Plate
King George V Bridge, Newcastle-on-Tyne

Last week's session had no theme but as often some emerged as the evening went on. In fact at the beginning we thought we weren't going to be quorate and were resigned to singing a couple of songs each and calling it a night when who should turn up but Mike and his canine companion and occasional singer (OK, howler and winer) Indy.

Colin kicked off the evening with I Wish They'd Do It Now (Roud 1401). Derek picked up on the first line of the song, "I was born of Geordie parents" and decided to make Geordies his chosen theme, for a while at least. He warmed up with Jowl Jowl And Listen (Roud 3191).

Simon wasn't yet ready to join in that theme, so he gave us Sally Gardens (Roud V28639) which as has been noted here before, WB Yeats wrote based on half-remembered snatches of The Rambling Boys Of Pleasure (Roud 386).

Nowt so queer as folk

Benny Havens

Though it was good to see Geoff back in the fold last week, the flock was somewhat depleted from recent weeks. We hope we can build up a few more attendees, even if they aren't able to be there every week.

There was no official theme and Colin started us off with Benny Havens Oh! (Roud 15581). Benny Havens served as a first lieutenant in the British-American War of 1812. By 1832 he was living in a cottage at West Point, the United States Military Academy. Initially he sold ale, cider, and buckwheat cakes, later diversifying into stronger drinks which saw him expelled from the military reservation in 1832.

Shortly after his expulsion, Benny Havens opened a tavern about a mile and a half from cadet barracks. Cadets would illicitly visit the establishment. Havens died in 1877 and his tavern still exists but has been moved.

During the American Civil War the song was widely sung in the army, and many army verses were improvised. During the summer of 1865 when boatloads of returning soldiers passed Benny's daily, the bands would strike up 'Benny Havens, Oh!' while hundreds of voices joined in the song.

New Year 2019

Whittenham Clumps, Oxfordshire, New Year's Day 2000
(Photo: Simon Meeds)

Happy New Year to everyone, and indeed that was our theme for last Friday's Dragon Folk Club session. This week there will be no pre-planned theme, nor next week, but that will then bring us to 25 January and Burns' Night!

Last week Colin was MC and started the evening off with Rothesay-o (Roud 2142) which starts "One Hogmanay at Glesca Fair".

Steve C made on of his semi-regular appearances and started his contribution with the seasonal The Snow It Melts The Soonest (Roud 3154). Simon was nervous about pulling the rug from under Mike by singing The January Man (Dave Goulder) but Mike encouraged him to sing it.

Christmas II 2018

We have missed a week at Dragon Folk Club and I've had a rest, so this report is looking back to our second, less official Christmas session of 2018 on 21 December and forward to our first session of 2019 on 4 January. All will welcome as usual and the New Year theme is definitely optional.

Back to Christmas II 2018 and the session was started off by MC, Colin with John Prine's Christmas In Prison.

It was very nice to see a return visit by our friends from Yorkshire, Janet and Malcolm. Malcolm read a poem in the first part of the evening about cooking the Christmas goose but he wasn't able to perform the second piece he had prepared because it was something along the lines of pass-the-parcel and needed more people than we had by the time his second spot came round.

Christmas 2018

A very satisfactory number of singers were present at our Christmas session last week and not only did they enjoy the singing but also the nibbles at the break - more than just the expected mince pies though there were plenty of those too. Officially this Friday's session (21 December) has no theme but if you want to continue with Christmas, Yule, Bah Humbug or anything else seasonal then no one will stop you.

MC Colin made an earlier-than-usual start with Gather Round The Family (Bonny Sartin), so it was only during Tom's first song, You've Got A Friend (Carole King), that Mike and his canine companion, Indy arrived.

Terry H was trying some of the songs he plays less frequently and some entirely new material. The first of these was Lady Franklin's Lament (Roud 487, Laws K09).

Contemptible or unaccomplished?

We look forward to seeing hoards of you this Friday for our slightly early Christmas themed session. Come ready to perform songs, tunes, poems, monologues, stories or jokes on the subject of Christmas, Yule or Bah-Humbug, or anything really that takes your fancy. There should be mince pies for the interval.

Last week's session had no theme and the contributions were quite varied as you will see from the usual "selection" link at the bottom of this post. MC, Colin started us off on a theme of leather on willow with The Cricketers Of Hambledon (Bruce Blunt, Peter Warlock).

Geoff followed on with Nowhere Man (Lennon-McCartney) making life very easy for this scribe to find a video. Slightly more difficult to find is Derek's Three Wee Glasgow Molls (Roud 6960). Colin was the only one this time to sing a song I couldn't trace at all which should probably be an embarrassment since Mike clearly knew it and I think Derek may have known it too.

St Andrew's Day 2018

Saint Andrew the Apostle by Artus Wolffort

After last week's excellent St Andrew's Day session we return to a themeless evening this Friday where anything goes as long as it's acoustic and legal (although we have had songs in the past the singing of which might have got you locked up only a few years ago).

MC Colin kicked us off in appropriately Scottish mood with the poem St. Andrew's Day-A Toast by Jean Blewett which he put to a familiar tune which escapes me at the moment.

We were joined for the first time in several years by Chris S who didn't sing on previous occasions. This time he started off with his own part-finished work, Be The One To Turn To, and continued with borrowed words, singing Michael Row The Boat Ashore (Roud 11975), Drink Up Thy Zider (Adge Cutler) and Kumbaya.

It would be very easy for me to go through a variety of Scottish songs we heard through the evening, and there were plenty as you will see, but as I pointed out in the report two weeks ago, St Andrew is patron of a lot of places, professions and other things apart from Scotland, so let's go on a partial tour of those.