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| Easter eggs (photo: Ikonact) |
It was with great pleasure that we welcomed first time visitors Debbie and Hazel. Debbie, from the Isle of Wight was keen to point out how much folk there is on the island and that if we visit we must consul her folkonwight website. As usual with first timers, I will mention all of the songs they sang through the evening.
Colin was MC and started us off straight into Easter with The Old Rugged Cross (George Bennard, Roud 22417).
Derek's first, a version of The Little Ball Of Yarn (Roud 1404) which he had written that very week, dealt with the Australian cricket ball tampering scandal and might be called The Little Cricket Ball.
Debbie sang Coulter's Candy (Roud 19019) which was written by a former Galashiels weaver, Robert Coltart (1832–1880). The song was an advertising jingle for the aniseed-flavoured sweeties that he manufactured in Melrose and sold around the markets of the Border towns.
Hazel declared that she only sings miserable songs, which put her immediately into Derek's good books. Her first of the evening was Gaol Song (Roud 1077).
Mike's Easter contribution was the Pace Egging Song (Roud 614). He claimed that the tradition, often associated with the North of England, particularly the North West, actually originated in Dorset. I wouldn't argue with that but I only found northern references, with the exception of an apparently Cornish version entitled Pasager. In this context "Pace" comes from "Pascha", the Latin name for Easter.
The reference to eggs caused a brief run on bird-related songs with Simon's King Of Rome (Dave Sudbury) and Colin's Bantam Cock (Jake Thackray). This was only the first of several links Simon found through the evening; the next followed logically if not immediately on being another devious animal, My Grandfather's Ferret (Derek Jolly). Simon thought that this song, written by a friend now, as far as we know, living in Bulgaria, might be little known but no, according to Debbie, on the Isle of Wight, it is "traditional" no less to cheer at the mention of "Wellington after Waterloo"!
Debbie modestly described herself as "an unaccompanied singer with an instrument she can't really play", bringing out her melody bowl to sing the Canadian scout song, Land Of The Silver Birch (Roud 4550). Hazel followed this with Oak, Ash And Thorn, the first of three songs from Rudyard Kipling's Puck of Pook's Hill, the other two being Simon with The Smugglers' Song and Debbie with Harp Song Of The Dane Women, another outing for the melody bowl.
Debbie had two songs on the theme of sinful consumption. The first was The Chocolate's Not For You, a version of The Shearing's No For You (Roud 4845) and the second a temperance song, Nay John.
Hazel gave us Sydney Carter's John Ball, this being a matched pair with Colin's singing of Carter's Son Of Man. Another pair by the same author came from Stan Rogers: Mike with The Mary Ellen Carter, and Simon with The Northwest Passage.
Hazel, having run out of songs for the evening, recited Marriot Edgar's The Lion and Albert. This inspired Derek to recite The Hoily Rigs from the repertoire and possibly the pen of Bob Roberts.
Debbie sang two other songs not mentioned so far: Bold Riley (Roud 18160) and Hares On The Mountain (Roud 329).
Derek wasn't the only one to lower the tone slightly but in so doing he piqued Debbie's interest with two songs: Ned Flanagan's Gander, found in the culture column of a newspaper when he was a student, and Mary Went To A Tea Party, collected from Bertha Brown.
The session was rounded off by Simon with When All Men Sing (Keith Scowcroft, Derek Gifford).
Here's a selection of songs sung during this session.
(Number of people present - 6, of whom 6 performed)
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