Twins and triplets

(Photo: The Berkshire Eagle)

The most important announcement from last week was that two weeks previously our harvest sessin raised £50 for the BBC Radio Bristol Alive Appeal. Thanks to those who came along to support us; that was not a bad haul for the small group that was present.

Back to last week, while Mike brought a theme and sang three songs to it, joined by some sort of clairvoyance, for he had not announced the theme, by Derek, it seems that the performances fall nicely into many sets of two or three, so that is how I will present them.

Colin, the MC, started with a Dougie MacLean song: Ready For The Storm. This was the first of three songs of the evening from that particular Scotsman; the others were Simon with Caledonia and Colin again with This Love Will Carry.

Dare I put Simon's Three Drunken Maidens (Roud 252) together with Derek's Four Marys (Roud 79, Child 173) simply for being numerically specific females?

Mike's theme of three related to cautionary tales told to men about women: I Wish I Was Single Again (Roud 437), Pretty Nancy Of Yarmouth (Roud 407) and a parody of Side By Side (original song by Harry M Woods).

As well as following Mike's theme, Derek managed to mirror a song he sang the previous week with The Dumb Wife (Roud 434, Laws Q5) which tells the tale of a man who has his dumb wife's tongue loosed and comes to regret it. This contrasts perhaps with the woman in Marrowbones who has her husband made blind with the plan he would commit suicide but instead he throws her in the river.

Colin sang two from the pen of Richard Thompson: Waltzing's For Dreamers and Down Where The Drunkards Roll.

A tenuous link in the name of a certain city in Texas exists between Simon's The Son Of Hickory Holler's Tramp (Dallas Frazier) and Colin's Family Of Man (Karl "Fred" Dallas). The second of which also forms a pair with Asikatali as songs made famous in the UK by The Spinners.

Three songs about miners come in the form of Derek's The Coal Owner And The Pitman's Wife (William Hornsby of Shotton Moor), Colin's Silver And Gold (Bryn Phillips) and also from Colin, The Ballad Of Spring Hill (Peggy Seeger, Ewan MacColl).

Derek gave us another pair in Fáinne Geal An Lae (Dawning Of The Day) and Dawning of The Day (Brian O'Higgins).

The final pair I'll pick is Colin's Waltzing Matilda by Banjo Paterson in the original published version rather than the better known version, and Simon's The Band Played Waltzing Matilda (Eric Bogle).

Finally, Simon closed the session with When All Men Sing (Keith Scowcroft, Derek Gifford).

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

(Number of people present - 4, of whom 4 performed)