Groundhog Day?

Photo by Gary Yankech

I was pleased to see some people at The New Inn last week who seemed to have turned up intentionally for the session even though they had no intention of performing. Don't get me wrong, it would have been great if they had been prepared to perform but the fact they were there and said they had enjoyed themselves was excellent.

Colin was MC and Derek, who was first to sing, immediately set a challenge for me, the scribe. He started what because a theme - singing songs which were sung the previous week but in different versions.

Derek's first song was a version of Geordie (Roud 90, Child 209), sung by Simon last week. Mike took up the challenge, surely risking a fine, of covering Derek's singing of Wild Rover (Roud 1173) (Mike's words being "And it's now or never, never no more").

Derek came back with a version of Sally Gardens, sung last week by Rose: You Rambling Boys Of Pleasure (Roud 386). It was also Derek who returned to returned to his own song from last week, The Dawning Of The Day, with the Irish nationalist version, written by Brian O'Higgins.

Other unusual versions of songs sung included Colin with Upidee Upidah, sometimes sung by Roger, but in this case with a valiant attempt at the German with Der Allebeste Koch. Also, Richard sang a version of The Female Highwayman (Roud 7, Laws N21), often called Sovay, and sometimes sung by Steve G. Richard's version had the protagonist called Sylvie and a different tune.

It was great to have a visit after a very long absence by Keith G whose songs were Seven Days (Bob Dylan), If I Were A Carpenter (Tim Hardin) and Sitting On The Dock Of The Bay (Otis Redding, Steve Cropper).

The session was closed by Colin, singing Song Of The Western Men (Robert Stephen Hawker).

It would be great to see you at the session this Friday or any Friday. Bring songs, instruments, dancing shoes, whatever you like but mainly, bring yourselves for a fun evening.

Here's a selection of songs sung during this session.

(Number of people present - 13, of whom 8 performed)