Jack Elliot, morris and other matters

Jack Elliot of Birtley

We seem to be notching up an extra person each week at the moment, which is a good thing but it was from a very low base three weeks ago, so let's hope there is a jump in numbers soon. If you can't make it any other time in the near future, perhaps you will come along on 2 December, when we are not at our usual venue of The New Inn; we will be at our previous home of The Bridge, Shortwood (BS16 9NG).

Colin was MC and I was a little late, having been caught up in the closure of the ring road, so I am indebted to him for filling me in on the first two songs.

Derek started off the evening with The Oakley Strike Evictions (Tommy Armstrong). I think this may have been the start of Derek's self-imposed theme for the evening: songs connected with Jack Elliot of Birtley.

Mike sang Shantyman by Bob Watson. This was followed by John, still with a maritime feel, singing Sloop John B.

Colin was chancing his safety Down At The Suicide Arms (Charles Menteith) and Geoff's hazard was being at the mercy of the Black Velvet Band (Roud 2146).

Tony gave us morris tunes through the evening, ably played on the conertina: Worcestershire Monkey, Winterbourne Down Stick Dance (or is that Broom Dance as some present thought?), Kajelus (Rochdale Coconut Dance), Maid In The Meadow, and Pull The Knife Out And Stick It In Again.

Simon started out on safe ground with Dave Sudbury's King Of Rome.

Derek continued his tribute to Jack Elliot with The High Blantyre Explosion (Roud 1014), Banks O' The Dee (Roud 3484), The Volunteer Putter (a mining variation of The Volunteer Organist), A Ticket For The Meat Draw (Derek's own variant of the song most associated with Jack, The Celebrated Working Man), The Unlucky Duck, and Jowl Jowl and Listen (an explanation of which can be found here).

We seemed to have quite a few songs linked to Johnny Cash through the evening. First John with Will The Circle Be Unbroken (Ada R Habershon, Charles H Gabriel, Roud 3409). Next it was John again with Folsom Prison Blues (Johnny Cash). And finally, Geoff with A Boy Named Sue (Johnny Cash).

Nearing the end of the evening, John gave us his tribute to the recently deceased Leonard Cohen: Suzanne. The final two songs were, by chance or otherwise, both from the same Spinners album: An Evening With The Spinners [I knew because I grew up with it]. The songs were, Kick The Cat (Pat McIntyre), sung by Colin, and Black And White (Alan Roberts, Earl Robinson), sung by Geoff.

See you this Friday at The New Inn and don't forget that next week (2 December) will be at The Bridge. "Normal" service will resume on 9 December, which may be the Christmas session - watch this space.

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

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