Bob Dylan's Prize

Bob Dylan, pictured just down
the road from us at Aust ferry in 1966

For last week's session we ended up in the public bar again, displaced by a private party but our numbers, at 11 were pretty reasonable and swelled by a newcomer, who I believe said his name was Steve. He didn't sing but indicated that he could be prepared to perform on another visit. We look forward to it.

Colin was MC and there was no set theme though some people chose to mark Bob Dylan being honoured by the Nobel Committee as its literary laureate. I note that the latest reports as I write this indicate that Bob hasn't responded to repeated attempts to contact him and that they have now given up. We shall see whether he turns up to receive his award.

Derek started off with a Bob Dylan song, Playboys And Playgirls though he added his own first verse: "You Swedish academies haven't got a bloody clue...".

The main follower of Dylan this time was Geoff who gave us The Times They Are A Changin', It Ain't Me Babe and Like A Rolling Stone.

Mike marked the day by mentioning 14th October in his rendition of Pretty Nancy Of Yarmouth (Roud 407).

Phil started a trail of songs with John Henry (Roud 790) about the legendary "steel driving man". This caused Derek to borrow a guitar (unheard of) though only as percussion backing to a chain gang song which I haven't been able to track down [Colorado Blues]. It includes mention of John Henry. Derek said his song was collected from James "Iron Head" Baker by John Lomax and whether by coincidence or design, Phil followed on with Pick A Bale O' Cotton (Roud 10061), which was also recorded from Iron Head.

As usual, Roger was a provider of classic songs including Bless 'Em All (Fred Godfrey, Robert Kewley, Roud 8402) and If You're Irish Come Into The Parlour (Shaun Glenville, Fred Godfrey).

Chris and Simon both gave us traditional songs sung by Joan Baez: Chris with The Great Silkie Of Sule Skerry (Roud 197, Child 113) and Simon with Geordie (Roud 90, Child 209) - notice how I deftly slipped in another YouTube reference to Bob Dylan there?!

Tom spent part of the evening goading Gary to sing from the Australian part of his repertoire by getting out Cootamundra Wattle (John Williamson) and Diamantina Drover (Hugh McDonald), but it was Colin who rose to the challenge with The Drover's Dream (Roud 5473).

In fact Gary stayed resolutely on British soil with No More Beer From Kendal (Dave Goulder), Come By The Hills (W Gordon Smith) and Guy, Guy, Guy, Stick Him Up On High (a Guy Fawkes Night rhyme from Yorkshire and/or Kent), thus preempting our theme of Bonfire Night and Campfires which will be our session on 4 November, just a day early.

Colin put himself on to finish us off for the night with Cousin Jack (Steve Knightley).

There's no theme again this week (21 October), so get down to Westerleigh for a really good sing on any subject that pleases us, and you.

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

(Number of people present - 11, of whom 10 performed)