For the love of women

Last week's session had no official theme but Derek said that he had created one for himself and asked us to guess what it was. No one quite got it but he admitted in the end it was for International Women's Day, which it was. More specifically, all his songs for the evening were sung from the point of view of a woman. I'll mention all of Derek's songs but I'll try to extract the female themes from the songs of our other singers too.

First of all, a reminder that this week's session will have a St Patrick's Day theme. I'll leave it up to you to decide what that can mean for you since there is quite a lot of scope.

MC Colin started us off with George Papavgeris' Friends Like These.

Derek's first song from a woman's point of view was The Jacket Green (Michael Scanlon - Roud 9520) - no one said they would have been written by women. His second was Waiting For The Pit Bus which was written by Vera Rutherford. I'm afraid I have no more information about song or writer.

Derek's third song from a female perspective was his own Lament For The Fishing. Another song from Derek was in a similar vein to I'll Dance Upon Your Grave, but it wasn't that and I can't find it anywhere.

Colin gave us All Day Singing - "Come along Mary and set by me" and we were back to Derek for The Doffing Mistress (Roud 2133).

Geoff sang The Tinkerman's Daughter (Michael MacConnell) the words of which were inspired by a poem, The Red-Headed Ann by Sigerson Clifford.

I'm not sure whether we can count Simon's singing of Mike Harding's Uncle Joe's Mint Balls as on topic but there I've done it anyway - "Give 'em to your Granny and watch the bugger go!".

While Silver And Gold (Bryn Phillips), sung by Colin is really about a former miner, his daughter, for whom he makes a wedding dress, is an important character.

Derek's next song was a version of Lord Gregory (Roud 49, Child 76) although not identical to the one linked here.

Simon gave us three, or really four ladies, if we can describe them as such, with Three Drunken Maidens (Roud 252).

Colin's next song wasn't on the theme of women but I promised him some help with its origins. He sang the version of False Knight On The Road (Roud 20, Child 3) which can be found on Steeleye Span's album, Please To See The King. He was puzzled to note that they seemed to have recorded a totally different version of the same song. In fact this isn't quite so, it was actually Tim Hart and Maddy Prior (who have both been members of the band) who recorded it on their own album, Summer Solstice. To add to the confusion, both albums came out in 1971. It seems that the Steeleye version is Irish or Scottish, whereas the Hart and Prior version comes indirectly from the singing of Maud Long, whose mother, Jane Gentry, was one of the singers from whom Cecil Sharp gathered songs in North Carolina in 1916.

Derek gave us a mixture of Gaelic and English with Siúil A Rún and from that sublime example Geoff took us straight to the ridiculous with Tommy Makem's In The Town Of Ballybay.

Colin evoked dearest Nancy with Pleasant And Delightful (Roud 660, Laws O30). Comedy sound effects and actions, traditionally supplied by Mike and Maggie were filled in by Derek and to some extent Simon.

Derek gave us four ladies or to be more accurate Four Marys (Roud 79, Child 173) in an abridged version he had never previously attempted. I think the intention was to sing only those parts related directly by a female character in order to fit the strictures of his own chosen theme.

Geoff introduced us to the bewitching Miss Henrietta Bell in Courting In The Kitchen (Roud 1007, Laws Q16).

Simon closed the evening, swerving seriously (if taken literally) off topic with When All Men Sing (Keith Scowcroft, Derek Gifford).

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

(Number of people present - 5, of whom 5 performed)