1805, 1066 and all that

HMS Victory (Photo: Simon Meeds)

We may have been a small group at last week's Dragon Folk Club session, but we sang up a storm. There was no official theme, but we touched on the Battle of Trafalgar and the Battle of Hastings which were both near their anniversaries, had a variety of songs directly or indirectly from Singing Together, and several also from the singing of The Spinners. Listen to the playlist linked from "a selection" below and I'm sure you will find other themes that emerged.

There will be no theme this week (24th October), but get ready for the Halloween theme the following Friday (31st October).

Colin, MC as usual, started the ball rolling last Friday with Come fair wind or stormy weather (Steve Knightley).

Paul continued the maritime theme and took us straight to Trafalgar with Nelson's death (roud 18837) and Denny brought us onto dry land (just) with Tom Lewis' Marching inland.

Simon completed the first rotation with Boney was a warrior (roud 485) which was our first from Singing Together - he sang it at junior school in the 1970s.

I won't labour the point about the ad hoc themes, but there are a few things that may be worth a mention.

Colin returned to the work of Steve Knightley to sing Breme fell at Hastings (*), marking the recently passed 959th anniversary of the battle.

In the absence of our resident blues-man, Bob, Paul sang Little red rooster (* roud 16807 - Willie Dixon), and Denny followed on with The chickens in the garden (roud 2552 - James Alan Bland).

Simon sang two songs to the same tune: The wark o' the weavers (roud 374 - David Shaw) and The oyster girl (roud 875, laws Q13).

Denny sang Ye Jacobites by name (roud V31021 - traditional, rewritten by Robert Burns) which caused Simon to bring out Les Barker's My name it is Van Goch (*), a parody of the same song. I don't know whether Denny knew who wrote Simon's song, but shortly afterwards she sang Les Barker's Sloop John A (*), of course a parody of Sloop John B, otherwise known as H'ist Up The John B's Sails (roud 15634).

Simon finished the evening off with No Sir No (roud 146).

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

(Number of people present - 4 of whom 4 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 (#).

Harvest 2025

(Photo: Simon Meeds)

Last week's Dragon Folk Club session was themed for harvest and we did pretty well with lots of more or less on topic songs.

Remember that our themes are always optional, so while following the theme is encouraged, don't worry if you can't at all or if you can't keep it up all evening. As usual, any type of performance is welcome as long as you keep it acoustic.

We are heading into one of our theme-laden seasons, so here are some dates for your diary:

• 31 October - Halloween (traditions, ghosts, witches, horror...)
• 7 November - Bonfire Night (Guy Fawkes, bonfires, fireworks...)
• 14 November - Remembrance (Remembrance, war, anti-war...)

With only very rare exceptions, with or without a theme, we are to be found every Friday night from 8:15pm in the barn (just past the toilets) at The Bridge Inn, Bridge Road, Shortwood, Bristol (UK), BS16 9NG. See you there!

And so to last week's session: Colin, MC as usual, started the ball rolling with Out in the green fields (roud 2670).

Helen followed with a version of the Skye boat song (roud 3772). Apparently Robert Louis Stevenson rewrote the song in 1885. He judged the lyrics to be "unworthy", so made a new set of verses "more in harmony with the plaintive tune". The version Helen sang (*) was based on this version, adapted by Bear McCreary for the TV series Outlander.

Denny gave us the first of the evening's three versions of John Barleycorn: Hey John Barleycorn (roud 2141).

Paul introduced us to Shiny-o (*). According to Stan Hugill, "this halyard song was saved from oblivion thanks to the daughter of a certain Professor Hatfield who took town several rare shanties her father heard being sung by a black crew in 1886 aboard the 548 ton, three-masted barque Ahkera on an eighty-four day passage from Pensacola to Nice. He collected nine work songs, the rarest being Way down below (roud 11870), Nancy Rhee and the one we have here.

Excuse me here a quick aside. Until I was researching the previous section I don't think I'd ever seen a shanty being used for it's original purpose, whether that's capstan, windlass, or whatever. That is until I saw this video of Hulton Clint singing Across the western ocean "at the windlass". It makes the point often stressed by our shanty-singing friend Mike Starkey that people often sing shanties too fast.

Roger's first song of the evening was Adge Cutler's Twice daily.

Simon finished the first rotation with John Barleycorn (roud 164) to the tune Wir Pflügen (Johann Abraham Peter Schulz).

Helen's second song, Forever Autumn (music by Jeff Wayne, lyrics by Gary Osborne and Paul Vigrass), was already in the Dragon database, but it deserves a bit of an explanation for it's unusual history. Most people know the version sing by Justin Hayward for Wayne's musical version of War of the Worlds, but it was previously recorded by Vigrass and Osborne. That however is not the start of the story, because the tune was written by Jeff Wayne for a Lego commercial in 1969, and here it is.

Roger sang Keep right on to the end of the road (*), written by Harry Lauder in 1924. Lauder wrote the song in honour of his son, Captain John Currie Lauder, killed in the First World War, and it was originally published under the name "The End Of The Road".

Helen was surprised that none of us knew The shelter of your eyes (*), written by Don Williams, which was his first single, released in 1972. It's good to introduce us to things we haven't heard before or don't remember.

It was also Helen who sang I'll never find another you (*), written by Tom Springfield and recorded by The Seekers.

Roger sang his own Ukrainian lament (# Roger Stanleigh).

Crows in the Garden (* roud 4505) was Colin's penultimate offering of the evening for it was he who rounded off the session with Take a whiff on me (roud 10062), which of course isn't as innocent as he claimed. Here's the earliest known recording from 1930.

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 (#).

A bunch of "new" songs

A decorated door in Villefranche-de-Conflent, France
(Photo: Simon Meeds)

Last week's Dragon Folk Club session saw two visitors joining us for a lot of singing and chat. I will consider both Heather and Hazel new to the club although I believe I heard that Heather had been before though I think before any of the others present had first attended. Some of us however knew her a little from other sessions. Hazel did not perform, but it was noticed that she sang along to many of the songs and her presence was very welcome.

Before I go any further there is an important announcement. Our room at The Bridge is double-booked this Friday (3rd October 2025), so it will be a very rare Friday with no Dragon Folk Club session. We will however be back on Friday 10th October for a Harvest themed session. As always the theme is optional, but if you can bring along some appropriate songs that would be great.

Returning to last Friday, Colin as MC started the ball rolling with Tom Lewis' Sailor's prayer.

Heather's first song was Snowbird (* Gene MacLellan), a hit for Anne Murray in 1969.

Stuart and Carrie started off performing together, first with Under the boardwalk (Kenny Young, Arthur Resnick), followed immediately by Cool water (* Bob Nolan).

Sue, this week without partner Bob, sang Beyond the sea (Charles Trenet, Albert Lasry, Jack Lawrence).

Simon gave us Michelle Shocked's Ballad of Patch Eye and Meg. While this brought the first rotation to an end, Denny and Paul, who had just returned from far flung places, arrived at the beginning of the second rotation and their respective first songs of the evening were The water of Tyne (roud 1364) and One more pull (Ian Woods).

i'm going to be busy enough cataloguing, as our blog's tradition requires, the songs Heather sang on her first visit in club memory and the remarkable number which were new to the Dragon database, so I will get straight down to the job.

Heather's other songs were:

• Nobody's child (Cy Coben, Mel Foree)
• Secret love (* Sammy Fain, Paul Francis Webster)
• Bunch of thyme (roud 3)
• Paper roses (* Fred Spielman, Janice Torre)

Other songs new to the Dragon database:

• Stuart and Carrie - A horse with no name (* Dewey Bunnell)
• Carrie - Close to the wind (* Stuart Marson)
• Colin - The next Best Western (* Richard Shindell)
• Stuart - Reuben's train (* roud 3423)
• Carrie - Until morning (* Kate Rusby)
• Colin - William Taylor (* roud 158, laws N11)
• Carrie - All of me (* Gerald Marks, Seymour Simons)

Simon closed the session with Stan Rogers' Northwest passage.

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

(Number of people present - 9 of whom 8 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 (#).

Blue and Gold

(Photo: Simon Meeds)

What last week's Dragon Folk Club session lacked in number of singers it made up for in the eclectic selection of songs. Yes, we knew in advance that we would be a couple of regulars down and this time we didn't have any visitors, but that didn't affect the keenness with which we attacked our respective repertoires.

Colin, MC as usual, started the evening with The man in the moon (roud 21397), which Simon followed with Scarborough fair (roud 12, child 2).

Bob was straight into his genre of the blues, asking Blues stay away from me (Alton Delmore, Henry B Glover, Rabon Delmore, Wayne Raney). Sue cheered us up a bit and completed the first rotation with Sting's Fields of Gold. It was obviously this juxtaposition that gave us this week's report title.

There were only two songs this week that were new to the Dragon database:

• Colin - Everything glows (Les Barker)
• Sue - You've got a friend in me (Randy Newman)

And the only song not available for the playlist linked from "a selection" below was Sue's own Recycled teenager.

Other blue and gold songs (in some cases loosely) included:

• Colin - Midnight special (roud 6364)
• Bob - You got gold (John Prine, Keith Sykes)
• Simon - Blues run the game (Jackson C Frank)
• Bob - Matchbox (Carl Perkins)

Colin finished off the evening with George Papavgeris' Friends like these.

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

(Number of people present - 4 of whom 4 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 (#).

A poor report of a promising evening

(Photo: Simon Meeds)

Sorry that the report of last week’s Dragon Folk Club session is rather late appearing, Blame it on the usual scribe being out of the country.

It wasn’t technically the greatest session since an Oasis tribute act was playing in the bar. This sort of thing happens from time to time, but isn’t a frequent occurrence. No doubt it was made worse by the ladies’ toilets still being out of action and therefore a steady stream of women making their way through our room. Nevertheless, every cloud has a silver lining and at least two of them contributes a song to the session.

I can assure you that we will be there again this Friday as we are almost every Friday from 8:15pm in the barn (just past the toilets) at The Bridge Inn, Bridge Road, Shortwood, Bristol (UK), BS16 9NG.

You will always find FREE ENTRY, a warm welcome, excellent acoustics, and a reasonably priced bar. Anything goes as long as it’s acoustic: a song, a story, a tune, a poem, a joke, a monologue, whatever you can come up with, and if you don’t feel up to performing eve in front of a small, friendly, crowd, then you are welcome to just listen, and maybe join in the odd chorus and some friendly banter.

Come and try us, we don’t bite.

(Number of people present - 9 of whom 8 performed)

---

...and now for the addendum...

As usual, mentioning all songs sung by Dragon newcomer Amy:

• Wild mountain thyme (roud 541 - Francis McPeake)
• Who knows where the time goes (Sandy Denny)
• Follow the heron (Karine Polwart)
• Don't wanna fall in love (* Jane Child)
• Detectorists (Johnny Flynn)
• Who will sing me lullabies (* Kate Rusby)
• Dancing on my own (* Robyn, Patrik Berger)

Finally for now, here are the songs sung by others which were new to the dragon database:

• Colin - Goodbye to the sea (* Dave Boulton)
• Colin - Robert Whitworth (* Roz Kimber, Neil Kimber)
• Roger - Thinking of letting go (*# Roger Stanleigh)
• Helen - America (* Johnny Borrell, Andy Burrows)
• Helen - Bring me sunshine (* Arthur Kent, Sylvia Dee)
• Paul - The Galway drawl (*# Liz Draper)
• Unknown singer - Grace (* Frank O'Meara, Seán O.Meara)
• Unknown singer - I see the light (* Alan Menken, Glenn Slater)

Now listen to a selection of songs sung during this session (this week not in the order in which they were sung).

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 (#).

Roger Wilco

Fishing boat with attendant gulls on Loch Hourn
(Photo: Simon Meeds)

We initially thought we would be four singers at the Dragon Folk Club last Friday, but then Roger turned up to make a perfectly quorate fivesome. It was Roger who added the most "new" songs to the Dragon database as you will see in this report.

Colin, our regular MC, started us off with The fox and the hare (roud 1140) followed by Denny who gave us Wings (Brian Bedford).

Paul proposed The Farmer's Toast (roud 1603) and Simon reprised his signature King of Rome (Dave Sudbury) after being disappointed with his own showing the previous week. And so ended the first rotation.

Second time around Colin sang the Song of the digger (* Neil Colquhoun with chorus words from a poem by William Satchell). Before it came round to Colin again Roger arrived and his first song of the evening was Flora (roud 957, laws P29).

It was Roger who sang Blueberry Hill (* Vincent Rose, Larry Stock, Al Lewis) followed by Colin with Sailing on the briny sea (# Miles Wootton).

Roger gave us two of his own songs: Goodbye I'll Try (*# Roger Stanleigh) and Dry your eyes (# Roger Stanleigh).

Colin added to the database a comedy song: The Dundee cat (* Matt McGinn) and the last "new" song of the evening came from Roger with The air that I breathe (* Albert Hammond, Michael Hazlewood).

The final song of the evening, The Mingulay boat song (Sir Hugh S Roberton) came from Paul.

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

(Number of people present - 5 of whom 5 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 (#).