Something fishy

Fishing smacks in Boston,
Lincolnshire - 1980s
(Photo: Simon Meeds)

We didn't get through quite so many songs last week but that was because there was more chat and that certainly wasn't a problem.

Colin, as MC, started off proceedings with Cam Ye Here Tae Dance (Bob Ferguson), which is unsurprisingly a parody of Cam Ye O'er Frae France (Roud 5814).

Simon followed that with Phil Ochs' There But For Fortune before Derek started a theme of fishing, inspired by a pre-session discussion of freshwater fishing. He began by singing Cod Banging (Roud 1747).

Mike continued the piscatorial theme with Mike Waterson's Three Day Millionaire. Only Derek continued the theme further with Jolly Herring (Roud 128)

An unusual contribution came from Colin in the form of The Court Of King Caractacus, made famous by Rolf Harris. Apparently Colin had obtained the words from The Mucat Café but it seemed to me that Rolf's "... the boys who put the powder on noses on the faces of the ladies..." scanned more easily than Mudcat's "...the boys who powdered the noses on the faces of the ladies...". Anyway, it turns out that the song is older and The King Of Karactacus was first recorded by a music hall duo called Rich and Rich.

Colin brought out his second parody of the evening with Miles Wooton's Public Bar (a parody of Early One Morning - Roud 12682).

Simon's singing of Graham Moore's Tom Paine's Bones, inspired in part by Colin's rendition the previous of week of the same writer's Tolpuddle Man, caused Derek to tell a story, which I believe was from his student days. Forgive me if I get the details wrong but the gist was that the Communist Party owned some property and to defend against a possible future split in the party had created a fictitious Tom Paine Society to be the official owner. As some of the older members of that society died or otherwise became unavailable they required new officials and Derek found himself duly co-opted. He thinks he may still be a member.

It was Derek's turn when we came to finish the evening, and to do so he appropriately sang The Parting Glass (Roud 3004).

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

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