A little bit folky, a little bit country

(Source: library of Congress)

At last Friday's Dragon Folk Club session Geoff got out his cowboy songs, so that became a bit of a theme together with the usual eclectic mix of folk and not-so-folk.

Colin as MC started off with Ewan MacColl's The Manchester Rambler (roud 26771). This prompted Simon to inform the gathered singers that our previous week's blog report had gained "likes" from both Peggy Seeger and Davey Arthur. A quick side-note to Colin: Davey Arthur is younger than you.

Rob gave us the first of two songs from the singing of The Pogues which was The Irish Rover (roud 4379) - are we surprised that one is traditional? The second was the definitely non-traditional Navigator (Phil Gaston). Gaston was manager of Shane McGowan's first band, The Nips.

Next was Simon singing Blues run the game by Jackson C Frank.

After Simon came Sue with the gospel song, This Train (roud 6702), followed by her partner Bob with California Cotton Fields (Dallas Frazier, Earl Montgomery).

And so we got round to Geoff and the first of his cowboy songs, Marty Robbins' Big Iron. Geoff told us how Robbins went into a gun store and found a Colt revolver that had been converted with a rifle barrel and was labelled "Big Iron". This is apparently just one of several origin stories.

Just for the sake of argument I will list the remaining songs that were sung and exist in the Roud Folk Song Index to prove that we do sing folk songs.

• Colin - The Battle of New Orleans (roud 17913, Jimmy Driftwood)
• Rob - Santianna (roud 207)
• Sue - The owl and the pussy cat (roud 30935, Edward Lear)
• Colin - The water is wide (roud 87, child 204)
• Rob - Sally Brown (roud 2628)
• Bob - Fireball mail (roud 28855, Fred Rose, Floyd Jenkins) - note that Floyd Jenkins is a pen name for Fred Rose.
• Colin - The bold fisherman (roud 291, laws O24)
• Rob - Rosemary Lane (roud 269, laws K43)
• Simon - The tailor's breeches (roud 1610)
• Geoff - Only the hangman (roud 2, laws B01, Wayne P Walker)
• Rob - The Winnipeg whore (roud 8348)

Simon finished the evening off with the non-roud song The Plover Catcher (Elizabeth Padgett).

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

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

Valentine's Day 2023

It was a really useful turn-out at last week's Dragon Folk Club session. The official theme was Valentine's Day, Love and Lust. While there was plenty of that in our songs, there were also some interesting groups of songs so that is what this report will focus on.

Colin, taking his usual role of MC, started us off with Liverpool Judies (roud 928).

John B continued with The Rose (Amanda McBroom). This song featured in the film of the same name which was loosely based on the life of Janis Joplin. The film follows a self-destructive rock star in the late 1960s who struggles to cope with the pressures of her career and the demands of her ruthless business manager.

Geoff's first of the evening was The Lakes of Ponchartrain (roud 1836, laws H9). The song is about a man who is given shelter by a Louisiana Creole woman. He falls in love with her and asks her to marry him, but she is already promised to a sailor and declines. It is set on the shores of the major estuarine water-bodies of the Pontchartrain Basin, including lakes Maurepas, Pontchartrain, and Borgne.

Simon's Bonnie Ship the Diamond (roud 2172) tells of whalers leaving the port of Peterhead in Aberdeenshire, Scotland for the whaling grounds near Greenland, later returning to port to be greeted by their sweethearts and wives.

Sue gave us I Will (Paul McCartney). Like numerous other Beatles songs, this was credited to Lennon-McCartney, but we now know that many of them were actually written by one or the other.

Geoff gave us two songs from the singing of Waylon Jennings: Amanda (Bob McDill) and Wrong (Steve Seskin, André Pessis).

John B sang two songs from Bob Dylan: One too many mornings and Marchin' to the city.

We had two songs from the singing of the Carter Family. For the first, John B sang Will the Circle Be Unbroken? (roud 3409) though strictly speaking the linked version is A.P. Carter's reworking of the original Ada R. Habershon and Charles H. Gabriel song into "Can the Circle Be Unbroken (By and By)". The second Carter song was Bob's Bear Creek Blues which was actually written by A. P. Carter.

Colin sang Ruby Tuesday (Keith Richards, Mick Jagger) which was covered by Melanie Safka. This inspired John B to follow on with another Melanie song: What have they done to my song Ma (Melanie Safka, HM Saffer II).

I wondered whether Geoff might follow up with Brand New Key (Melanie Safka), but he didn't; instead singing Cheryl's Goin' Home (Bob Lind), a response to Simon's earlier Elusive Butterfly (Bob Lind), the former being the B-Side of the latter on the 7" original single.

We also had a pair of Joe Brown songs with Sue singing I'll see you in my dreams (Isham Jones, Gus Kahn) and Geoff giving us A Picture of you (John Beveridge, Peter Oakman).

Simon finished off the session with the rousing When all men sing (Keith Scowcroft, Derek Gifford).

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

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

An eclectic mix

It was really great to have Geoff back in the fold for last Friday's Dragon Folk Club session. I know he's had a hard time and it's good to see and hear him again. There was no particular theme and the evening was really marked by an eclectic selection of songs. As usual you can hear most of them in the playlist linked at the bottom of this report. In the meantime I'll mention just a few.

Colin as MC started us off with Lyle Lovett's If I had a boat. This was followed by Cat Stevens'/ Yusuf's Moonshadow from Geoff.

Simon took us to a sillier place with Proper Cup Of Coffee (roud V53398 - RP Weston, Bert Lee). And Colin kept us there with The Prune Song (roud V35166 - Frank Crumit, Harry De Costa).

The only song of the evening not present in the playlist is Colin's The Bos'n, The Gunner And Me (Francis Barron, Henry Trotere). In a previous blog report I linked a recording by Tom Lewis, but that has now been removed from YouTube.

Simon rounded off the evening with Strike the Bell (roud 4190) which was sufficiently rousing and joining-in to be a decent finisher.

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

(Number of people present - 3 of whom 3 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)

Burns Night 2023

What a great session we had last Friday, and a total contrast to the week before. There were six of us, including two newcomers who both sang. This is definitely a result. The newcomers were Alan and Paula. Alan is a member of the Barnacle Buoys shanty group.

The theme was Robert Burns since we were meeting just a couple of days after Burns Night. Though there were quite a few Scottish songs there weren't many actual Burns songs in evidence. In fact I only counted two, but I may have missed others.

Colin, in his usual role as MC started us off in pseudo-Scottish mode with Haggis Season (Jeremy Lloyd, Jim Parker).

Simon's single Burns offering was Ye Jacobites By Name (roud 31021). Bob and Sue wisely stayed off topic, Bob singing John Prine's You Got Gold (writing credits shared with Keith Sykes), and sue bringing out Homeward Bound (Paul Simon).

Talking of Paul Simon, we probably all know about the historical tension between Simon and Martin Carthy over Scarborough Fair (roud 12, child 2). That's all well known, but just this week we found out that Martin's daughter, Eliza Carthy only heard Paul Simon's version of the song for the first time a few weeks ago.

Alan's first song is perhaps called Why Did They Take Them All. I can't find anything about it, so I suspect it may be his own work. Paula skipped the first round, but she will be mentioned since it is traditional to mention all songs sung by newcomers.

Alan gave us two more songs which were definitely at least partly his own work: When The Shanty Men Come Steaming In and Queen And Country. He also sang some more familiar fare: Johnny Come Down To Hilo (roud 650), Wave Over Wave (Jim Payne), The Mermaid and I Wish They'd Do It Now (roud 1401).

Paula started off a little later than the rest but in fine form with The Fisherman's Lassie going on to sing The Yellow Handkerchief (roud 954), Pleasant And Delightful (roud 660, laws O30) and Rosabella. That last linked video is of the Barncale Buoys singing Rosabella and Alan can be seen bottom centre, so there's a bonus for this blog report.

There were a few points that need to be cleared up on other songs sung during the evening where discussion on the night was inconclusive or misleading:

• For House Of The Rising Sun (roud 6393) which Sue sang, I have linked a video of Dave Van Ronk's version because he seems to have coined the popular tune made famous by The Animals. While the song has its origins in England, the current song crossed the ocean and was known by American miners in 1905. The oldest published version of the lyrics is that printed by Robert Winslow Gordon in 1925 and started "There is a house in New Orleans, it's called the Rising Sum, It's been the ruin of many poor girl" (rather than boy).
• Bob's Empty Bed Blues is a rather raunchy, maybe even bawdy song written by J C Johnson and first recorded by Bessy Smith.
• Colin's Campbeltown Loch wasseems to have been written by Alan Cameron. The tune is The Glendaruel Highlanders.
• Sue's Something was of course written by George Harrison.
• Colin had what I believe was the second and final Burns song of the evening with Parcel Of Rogues (roud V31022).

It was indeed Colin who finished the evening with Air Fa La La Lo, which is a traditional Gaelic song translated into English by Hugh S Roberton.

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

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

The Lone Ranger without Tonto

Clayton Moore as the Lone Ranger

We knew it would probably be thin on the ground at last week's Dragon Folk Club session, but I feel sorry for Colin singing his heart out to himself. Well, I'm sure he treated it as a practice so perhaps that's OK. Let's come out in force this Friday to support him. The theme if you choose to follow it is Robert Burns whose night is tomorrow (Wednesday, 25th January) so we will just have missed it. In any case you will be welcome whether you mostly sing, play, recite or listen. Anything goes as long as it's acoustic and the theme, when there is one, is always optional.

You know the usual drill, you will find us from 8:15pm in the pool room at The Bridge Inn, Shortwood, Bristol (UK), BS16 9NG. If you don't know where we are be sure to mention the Dragon Folk Club at the bar and you should be directed to us. You will find FREE ENTRY, a warm welcome, great acoustics and a reasonably priced bar. While the welcome is warm I can't promise the same of the atmosphere. I hope it will be bearable, but just in case please do bring some warm clothing. We don't want a case of hypothermia on our hands.

Back to last week, I have to give Colin credit for singing (yes I trust him) a total of eighteen songs. To mark that achievement I will list all of them - I hope I have found the right songs:

• Misty - Erroll Garner, Johnny Burke
• The Illiterate's Alphabet - Chris Sugden
• The Souling Song - roud 304
• Two Good Arms - Charlie King
• Colón man a-come
• The Limerick Shanty
• Ballad of Richard III - Gwydion Pendderwen
• Take This Hammer - roud 4299
• If - David Gates
• Leave Them a Flower - Wally Whyton
• Back Home in Derry - Bobby Sands
• Cadgwith Anthem - roud 3314
• Oh What a World - Rufus Wainwright
• Tell Me There's a Heaven - Chris Rea
• Thunder Child - Jeff Wayne, Paul Vigrass, Gary Osborne
• Both Sides Now - Joni Mitchell
• What Have They Done to the Rain - Malvina Reynolds
• Tether's End - Jez Lowe

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

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

A bit of everything

Elizabeth "Libba" Cotten

Well, last Friday's Dragon session was a breath of fresh air. Not only was it the second time in two weeks that we had a roll call of seven at The Bridge Inn, but this time they were all in the room at the same time and they all performed.

Unfortunately we are going to be down on numbers this week unless you come along, and it would be absolutely splendid if you could, whether you mainly sing, play, recite or listen. As usual anything goes as long as it's acoustic.

Back to last week, Colin as MC started things off with his own song, Hergest Ridge, to a tune borrowed from Mike Oldfield's album of the same name. Hergest Ridge is a large elongated hill which traverses the border between England and Wales in the United Kingdom, between the town of Kington in Herefordshire and the village of Gladestry in Powys. Its highest point, which is in England, is 426 metres high.

All of the songs sung during the session with the exception of the aforementioned Hergest Ridge are to be found on the "a selection" playlist linked below as is T S Eliot's poem Journey of the Magi, which was read by Jane.

What are missing are Jane's stories, which are worth a mention. They concerned:

• the stress of being Father Christmas
• The Brighton Story about a ghost ship seen near Shoreham
• a bird-friendly thatcher and his encounters with Death
• why does some idiot have to write a book about where I live?

I'll pick a handful of songs to mention because they may not be entirely obvious.

Freight Train, sung by Sue, was written by Elzabeth Cotten in her early teens. For a large part of her life she didn't play the guitar. When she was working for the Seeger family as a maid, they were out one day and on their return they heard music. The found it was the maid having picked up someone's guitar and playing it upside down as she continued to do. And so Libba Cotten was discovered and in her later years became a recording and performing artist.

Colin sang Sonny's Dream which was written by Ron Hynes, a folk singer-songwriter from Newfoundland and Labrador. The song was heard by Scottish artist Hamish Imlach while on a trip to Canada. He modified it somewhat and played it in folk-clubs in Britain. There it was heard by Christy Moore who recorded it and passed it on to other artists in Ireland. A version titled "Sonny" was recorded by Mary Black.

Bob gave us Lost Highway, made famous by Hank Williams, but written and first recorded by Leon Payne.

Simon's Lady Franklin's Lament (roud 487, laws K09) first appeared as a Broadside ballad around 1850 and has since been recorded with the melody of the Irish traditional air "Cailín Óg a Stór" by numerous artists. It has been found in Ireland, in Scotland, and in some regions of Canada.

Rob sometimes takes a traditional ballad, particularly one of those indexed by Francis James Child, and writes a new ballad to look at the story from a different perspective or to explain missing pieces of the tale. Young Horn and Lady Jean is just such a song, inspired by Hind Horn (roud 28, child 17).

Bob and Sue sang Jackson, which is usually associated with Johnny and June Carter Cash, but was written by Billy Edd Wheeler and Jerry Leiber.

We had some discussion about Sue's song Busy doing nothing. Written by Jimmy Van Heusen and Johnny Burke it came from the film of Mark Twain's novel A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court where it was sung by Bing Crosby, William Bendix and Cedric Hardwicke.

It was Rob who finished off the evening which cut a little short by landlady Helen informing us that we were the last customers and she would be shutting up. Rob sang The Dowie Dens O'Yarrow (roud 13, child 214).

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

(Number of people present - 7 of whom 7 performed)