Floreant tirones

Boston, Lincolnshire (Photo by Simon Meeds)

It was great to see three first time visitors at last week's session. Hilary, who made contact via the Dragon Facebook page was visiting Anne so they both came to see us. Both enjoyed the evening and I hope we will see them again when Hilary is next in the area. John came with Dragon regular, Phil and while he was uncertain about singing gave us one song and said he would try to prepare some more before he comes again.

In the absence of Colin, Simon was MC and Derek kicked off the session with Another Man's Wedding (Roud 567, Laws P31).

First timer Hilary started her contribution with On Raglan Road (Patrick Kavanagh) which inspired Derek later to sing Fainne Geal An Lae (The Dawning Of The Day). He sang it mainly in English but broke into Gaelic to reprise the first verse at the end. Hilary's other contributions were Salonika (Roud 10513), The Fair Flower of Northumberland (Roud 25, Child 9), All The Little Chickens In The Garden (Roud 2552), Echo Mocks The Corncrake (Roud 2736) and The Old Man From Over The Sea (Roud 362). Yes we really did have that many rounds.

Hilary's singing of The Fair Flower Of Northumberland caused Derek to want to sing Three Songs To One Burden (Derek Brinkley) which he wrote himself but is not really in his repertoire; so very much out of character, and despite trying to start it twice, he didn't manage to take it completion.

Simon's first song of the evening was Blues Run The Game (Jackson C Frank).

Mike reminded us of the previous week's Harvest session which this year had included only two versions of John Barleycorn, so he added another (Roud 164) which mates the words with the tune Wir Pflügen (We Plough The Fields And Scatter).

Phil sang The Ballad Of Jessie James (possibly by Billy Gashade) and while his companion, John didn't sing on the first round, he came up with the goods the second time round the room with Rake And Rambling Boy. It's always good to hear a new voice and have a different song thrown into the mix.

Gary completed the first round with his own The Loam And The Clay (Gary Hopwood). Gary's second song, I Have No Folk Degree (Ed Pickford), seems to poke fun at the Folk and Traditional Music degree provided by Newcastle University, suggesting that "folk singer" is now an all-degree profession. Derek, our resident folk music-ologist declared that his degree is in Latin and Ancient Greek. This caused Simon to recall his old friend Una Waters, a retired Latin teacher, singing The Hippopotamus Song in that language. Well, Simon had now painted himself into a corner and felt he had to carry out an oft made threat, to sing his school song, Floreat Bostona (George Edwin Pattenden).

This led Mike to sing Boston Harbour (Roud 613) during which Mike's canine companion Indy obviously thought the chorus "with a big bow wow" was an invitation to bark!

Derek asked me to confirm from whom he got One And Twenty (Roud 3367). Well I can't exactly confirm it but I'll have a go at pointing him in the right direction. Derek thought it could have been Fred Whiting. I wonder however whether it could have been Roy Last from whom the song was collected in 1984.

The session was completed when Simon got everyone joining in with When All Men Sing (Keith Scowcroft, Derek Gifford).

Please come along this week when it is another session without a theme. Bring along some songs or tunes; anything goes as long as it's acoustic. In fact it doesn't have to be music: poems, monologues, recitations will all work. Dancing or juggling, why not? And if you can't think of a way of performing yourself then just come along and enjoy the rest of us making fools of ourselves (or maybe even otherwise). Everyone is welcome - it's a bit of fun on a Friday night.

Oh, and if you are wondering what this week's title means, it's "May the recruits flourish" in Latin, or in other words perhaps, let's have some more bums on seats! <smile>

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

(Number of people present - 8, of whom 7 performed)