A great evening of song

Thornbury Carnival 2019 (Photo: Simon Meeds)

Of course I almost always say we had a great evening at the Dragon Folk Club session, but yesterday really was exceptional I think. We were joined by first-time dragon, Gabriel, who not only showed us his skill at singing, guitar playing and song writing, but brought the average age of the sing-around down by a significant margin. We definitely hope to see him again, which of course also applies to second-timers Paul O and Rich. It was great to see Stuart and Carrie again, as it was Rob, and the regulars who were there also seemed in fine voice.

The next session on Friday 26th June will again be without a theme and as usual everyone is welcome to come and sing, play, recite or perform in any way within reason as long as it's acoustic.

Back to yesterday's session (19th June), Colin was MC, but Stuart and Carrie had arrived first and were therefore asked to sing first. They opened with Don't want to know (John Martyn). Since it's one song each per rotation they were asked to sing again and gave us Genesis Hall (Richard Thompson).

Colin's first of the evening was The squaddie's Lullaby (Graeme Miles) and Heather followed that with an unusual version of My favourite things, said, almost certainly apocryphally, to have been sung by Julie Andrews on her 69th or 79th birthday depending on where you read it.

Simon sang Sugar in the hold below and Rob gave us a new song for him: Fair Mabel of Wallington Hall (* roud 59, child 91).

Gabriel's debut song at the Dragon was Keep me from blowing away (* Paul Craft). Gabriel said that during a period of bad weather earlier in the year he learnt a lot of related songs.

Paul, saying that he rarely does so sober, sang unaccompanied The band played waltzing Matilda (Eric Bogle) before Rich finished off the first rotation with Mammas don't let your babies grow up to be cowboys (Ed Bruce, Patsy Bruce).

While there wasn't an official theme, there was a very tight one that emerged. After Heather sang Scarborough Fair (roud 12, child 2), which itself is a version of The elfin knight, Rob sang his own version of the same song which he calls Scarborough so fair (Rob Winder). Gabriel continued the theme by singing the song that Bob Dylan wrote after playing Scarborough fair with Martin Carthy: Girl from the North country (*).

Traditionally, I will mention all of the songs we heard from newcomer Gabriel. Apart from those already mentioned he sang:

• Born in 41 (*# Gabriel Wynne)
• Church Street blues (* Norman Blake)

 Other songs not previously in the Dragon database were:

• Paul O - Gwyn Fawr (*# Paul O'Sullivan) - Paul describes it as a love song to a reservoir 
• Heather - When I fall in love (* Edward Heyman, Victor Young)
• Paul O - The well below the valley (* roud 2335, child 21) - while the song was in the database this was the third distinct version to be added
• Rich - Ernie (the fastest milkman in the West) (* Benny Hill) - most people present knew the words well, which indicates their ages (except for Gabriel). Your scribe for one was very young, but even I remember it on Top of the Pops and was able to sing along to almost every word!

Stuart and Carrie finished off the session with Dimming of the day (Richard Thompson)

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 not 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 (#).

Songs and stories

The bellringers (Photo: Simon Meeds)

It was songs and stories at the Dragon Folk Club session last week thanks to our occasional visiting story-teller Jane. It was great to see, and hear, her. 

I'm not aware of an official theme this Friday, so bring whatever songs, tune, stories or other types of performance you wish, maybe forming your own personal theme, but that's definitely not a requirement.

Colin, our regular MC, starting things off with Steve Knightley's Tall ships. Simon gave a first outing to is version of The lish young buy-a-broom (roud 1865).

Paul found Somewhere to begin (T R Ritchie) and Denny looked for her Young banker (roud 3321).

Steve sung about William Stone (Graeme Miles) before Jane gave us the first of her stories to finish off the initial rotation. Jane's story, called Sammy (* Jane), was a true one about a rook which her mother rescued and which then coexisted for some time, happily it seems, with the family's car and bull terrier dog. I won't let on the direction of the story for fear of spoiling it if Jane tells it to you.

All of Jane's performances were new to the Dragon database, probably because we hadn't heard them before, but even if we had I haven't previously recorded many of then, so who knows?

• Being on my own (Jane) - a poem about the fact that she likes her own company
• Jane's school friend Nick (Jane) - about a school friend who was an ornithologist with whom she had some adventures, and who had a tendency to appear at unexpected times.
• A lament for a bath (Jane) - a poem for a friend who is no longer able to enjoy her beloved bath times.
• The last elephant - a story about the last elephant and its keeper, perhaps triggered by Paul's singing of The last of the great whales (Louis/Louisa Killen).
• The flatmate - a joke in the form of a story about a young man, his female flatmate and his mother. 

The only song of the evening new to the Dragon database - but certainly sing at the club before the database was created - was Paul's John Kanaka (roud 8238), the penultimate performance of the evening.

Denny finished off the session with The bellringing (roud 1515).

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 not 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 Battling Assortment Box

Field Gun Competition, Portsmouth c1988 (Photo: Simon Meeds)

Last week's Dragon Folk Club session was theme-less and brought together an eclectic mix of songs. The same should apply this Friday, so please come along and show us your performances of any type as long as they are acoustic. Everyone is most certainly welcome, whether you perform or prefer to listen, maybe joining in a chorus and some banter.

Colin was in the MC's chair and asked Roger to start off. Roger often sings us his own songs and so he did with the brand new Apocalypse (*# Roger Stanleigh). Colin himself followed with The battle of Sowerby Bridge.

Denny gave us  Row on (roud 2084) and Paul W debuted Cold coast of Iceland (* Mike Waterson).

Simon added John Bowlin' (* roud 1760) to the Dragon database, though it has definitely been sung at the club before, by Richard Gillion if no one else, but it probably predated the birth of the database.

Paul M introduced us to The Dreadnoughts' tribute to Stan Rogers in the form of Dear old Stan (*).

Sue sang Blowin' in the wind (Bob Dylan) before Bob completed the first rotation with Bear Creek blues (roud 17345 - AP Carter). 

There were two other songs new to the Dragon database:

• Paul M - A ballad of the ranks (* Sir Arthur Conan Doyle) - the linked video is a reading of the original poem. Paul not only had a tune but had also rewritten some verses to include counties close to his heart.
• Denny - Old fid (* Bill Lowndes)

Other songs not found on YouTube and therefore not included in the "a selection" playlist were: 

• Roger - Can't be doing this no more (Roger Stanleigh)
• Roger - Dry your eyes (this may be a Roger Stanleigh original, but I'm not certain)

one further song that needs mentioning is Colin's The Mermaid (roud 9143) which I misidentified on a previous outing as roud 124, which is another song of the same name. Having mentioned that I feel I should also record that Denny sang The forsaken mermaid (roud 466, laws K17).

Paul W finished off the evening with The rose of Allandale (roud 1218 - Charles Jefferys, Sidney Nelson).

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 not 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 Solid Session

(Photo: Simon Meeds)

With Colin back in the MC's chair it was another excellent Dragon Folk Club session last week. There were six singers and two people made up our audience: Hazel and Jane. There was no theme, and that was reflected in the variety of songs.

With no theme again this Friday you are encouraged to come along and show us any type of performance as long as it's acoustic. If you want to bring your own theme then that's fine too.

Last Friday MC Colin started proceedings with a parody written by friend of the club, Richard Gillion, The last thing on your mind (#), as Richard puts it with "apologies to Tom Paxton".

Simon kept it parody, and referred to the singing of the source song the previous week, with Mary McCloud's House of the rising damp.

Paul M made us chuckle with Tommy Armstrong's apparent recollections of the first few days after his birth in The birth of the lad (* Tommy Armstrong) or more properly "Th' Borth E Th' Lad", and Denny kept it light with Les Barker's Sloop John A.

Paul W reprised his new song from three weeks before, I will always love you (Les Sullivan).

Heather brought the first rotation to a close with Save the last dance for me (* Doc Pomus, Mort Shuman).

There was a good number of other songs new to the Dragon database:

• Heather - Que sera sera (* Jay Livingston, Ray Evans)
• Paul M - The Batavia shanty (* John Warner)
• Paul M - Joli Rouge (* The Dreadnoughts) - about the Canadian cider of the same name
• Colin - The Dorset Juggernaut (* Bonny Sartin)
• Paul M - Lowlands low (* roud 8286) - yes, this appears to be a different song from Lowlands (roud 681) which shares a roud entry with Lowlands (roud 681).

This week it fell to Denny to finish off the session and she had us all chorusing along to Dave Dodds' I can hew boys.

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

(Number of people present - 8 of whom 6 performed)

In the above report songs new to the Dragon database (though not 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 (#).

New friends

(Photo: Simon Meeds)

Last week's Dragon Folk Club session was a real surprise. Simon, the stand-in MC, knew that new regular Paul M was likely to be there, but was quite prepared for that to be it. While he was at the bar he first saw another newish regular, Heather, which implied that her non-singing friend Hazel would also be there. Then, returning to the "barn" he passed Kay, who had made her single previous appearance "in the before-times" as one friend of the club says. Was she singing tonight? Apparently so, and interestingly, she was surrounded by others.

So when we were all settled there were nine of us. Kay's friends at that stage were Adele, Rich, Sue and Harry. The last two would be our audience though we are told that Harry plays the saxophone, which he didn't have with him. That's six singers out of nine present... so far.

We were later joined by another of Kay's friends, Paul O, who was definitely a singer, and for a significant part of the evening by one of the pub's customers, impressed by the music, so we will count him too. A further pub regular joined us for just one song, so I could have added her, but I won't be so rash.

Simon kicked off the session with In the good old colony times (roud 130).

Paul M sang The Manchester rambler (roud 26771 - Ewan MacColl). He said he had heard a different tune to this one since moving to Bristol and thought people may be tempted to sing that, but it seemed everyone was familiar only with the one he used.

Heather, presumably acknowledging the previous week's Eurovision Song Contest, sang the winning song from 1970: All kinds of everything (Derry Lindsay, Jackie Smith) sung for Ireland in the competition by Dana.

Rich unnecessarily excused himself for singing Country and Western songs (anything goes at the Dragon as long as it's acoustic) before giving us Mammas don't let your babies grow up to be cowboys (Ed Bruce, Patsy Bruce).

 Kay and Adele, performing together were asked to do two songs and they obliged: See see Rider (Ma Rainey, Lena Arant) and Bang bang (my baby shot me down) (* Sonny Bono), which brought the first rotation to an end.

I always mention all songs sung by newcomers to the Dragon, and so I will do, but I will add Kay despite her one previous visit both to welcome her back and to make things a little simpler:

• Rich - I hung my head (* Sting)
• Kay and Adele - Light my fire (* Jim Morrison, Robby Krieger, John Densmore, Ray Manzarek)
• Kay and Adele - Make you feel my love (Bob Dylan) - yes, noting the well-known cover by another Adele
• Paul O - Back home in Derry (Bobby Sands)
• Rich - Keep the wolves away (* Kevin Galloway) 
• Kay -  Here for a good time (* George Strait, Bubba Strait, Dean Dillon)
• Paul O - House of the rising sun (roud 6393) 
• Rich and Sue - Jackson (Billy Edd Wheeler, Jerry Leiber) - and so Sue, who Rich said sings barely once a year, joined the ranks of the evening's singers!
• Kay - I started a joke (*  Barry Gibb, Robin Gibb, Maurice Gibb)
• Paul O - A pair of brown eyes (*  Shane MacGowan)
• Rich - Don't take your guns to town (* Johnny Cash)
• Kay - Till there was you (* Meredith Wilson)
• Paul O - Love in the desert (*# Paul O'Sullivan) - his own song
• Rich - Smalltown boy (* Steve Bronski, Jimmy Somerville, Larry Steinbachek). Instead of Jimmy's falsetto we heard this in Rich's deep, dark tones reminiscent of Johnny Cash, and so I had to find an appropriately different recording.
• Kay -  Raining in my heart (* Felice Bryant, Boudleaux Bryant)
• Paul O and Rich - Fisherman's blues (Mike Scott, Steve Wickham)

 As if the already-mentioned new entries in the Dragon database (indicated above by "*") weren't enough, there were also these:

•  Paul M - Highland Paddy (* Sean McCarthy)
•  Paul M - Farewell Johnny miner (* Ed Pickford)

One other song that needs a mention is the particularly unseasonable A winter's tale (Mike Batt, Tim Rice). One of the pub's regulars happened to be walking through our room as Heather finished singing and said it was her mother's favourite song. Heather was duly asked to sing it again and she obliged by reprising a single verse and chorus.

Heather even finished off the session with another song new to the Dragon database: Stand by your man (* Billy Sherrill, Tammy Wynette).

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

(Number of people present - 11 of whom 8 performed)

In the above report songs new to the Dragon database (though not 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 (#).

We get up to all sorts

(Photo: Simon Meeds)

There was no theme at last week's Dragon Folk Club session and there will be none again this Friday. There were however some great songs and providing a huge variety which was lots of fun.

This Friday we will be without several of our regulars, so if you are an occasional Dragon, a lapsed Dragon or a potential new visitor to the dragon's lair, you would be even more welcome than usual if that's possible. There is no theme this week, but even when there is it is totally optional with any sort of performance encouraged as long as it's acoustic, and if you don't want to perform, just listen, join in the banter, and maybe sing along to the odd chorus then that's fine too.

Back to last week, Colin was MC as usual, and he started us off bawdy with The red light saloon (roud 9424). Simon followed with a partial match in the form of The tailor's breeches (roud 1610).

Sue gave us Big Rock Candy Mountain (roud 6696) and Bob followed that with Call me the breeze (J J Cale).

Paul called us to order with Waking dreams (roud 22620) and Denny completed the first rotation with The pickled herring man (# Cathy Wallis).

Other songs not found on YouTube and therefore not included in this week's playlist were:

• Paul -  Lament for the fishing (# Derek Brinkley)
• Colin - The labourers' union ( # roud V48257)

 There were four songs new to the Dragon database:

• Bob - Crystal Chandelier (*  Ted Harris)
• Denny - You'll never walk alone (*  Richard Rodgers, Oscar Hammerstein II)
•  Sue - Ob-la-di, ob-la-da (* Lennon-McCartney)
• Colin - The weight (*  Robbie Robertson)

When it came to the time to close the session it was Sue's turn to sing and she sent us home with Things (Bobby Darin).

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 (#).

Denny - Profile

Denny (Photo: Simon Meeds)

This article is one of a series on regulars at the club.

Denny first came along to a Dragon Folk Club session in 1983 as an audience member when it was at Iron Acton. Returning to the Bristol area after many years away, she found her way back to the club after a forty-year gap on 10th March 2023 and has been regular singer ever since.

She sings unaccompanied with a preference for songs with gusto and a good chorus.

Denny first came to the Dragon Folk Club to listen in around 1983 when it was still at The Lamb in Iron Acton. She moved away from the area with work and her first participation at a folk club was in the North East, at the Cutty Wren Folk Club in Redcar, North Yorkshire around 1984-86. It was more usual there to sing than not, so she was persuaded to learn something. Denny says that "the folk scene up there was brilliant and you could go to a different club most nights of the week".

She moved again and due to her shift work was able to attend festivals but not a regular club for many years. She now finds herself free to do so which she says is "fabulous".

She has been delighted to be a Middle Bar Singer for the last few years at Sidmouth Folk Festival.