School’s out! Oh no – it’s back in again!

Imitation, as my old granny and Charles Caleb Colton used to say, is the sincerest form of flattery, and the Regular Scribe had barely packed his little bag and set off on his hols, when the rest of the scavenging pack were picking through his repertoire. Derek began with the Belfast version of Johnny Todd (Roud 1102), and at various times of the evening came Kipling’s Smugglers’ Song (Geoff), Oh no sir no (Roud 146) and When All Men Sing (Keith Scowcroft/Derek Gifford) (both Colin).

Given that it is only a few weeks since we had a theme of Children’s Songs, it was strange to find that the other main element of this bifurcated evening was School Songs. These included folk songs that we had first learned at school, usually in a highly Bowdlerised form, snippets of schoolyard humour advocating the use of arson on buildings, toasting staff on bonfires etc., and even in one case a genuine Old School Song. Here is a selection:  

• Carmen Colcestriense by Percy Shaw Jeffrey (Derek)
• High Germany (Roud 5608), Fish of the Sea (Roud 317) Drunken Sailor (Roud 322)  ( All Mike)
• Drummer and Cook (Roud 3136), Dance to Your Daddy (R2439) (both Colin)

Other songs in the course of the evening included: 

• Lakes of Pontchartrain (Roud 1836) (Geoff)
• Far Away in Australia (Warfield/Byrne) (Geoff)
• Back Home in Derry written by hunger-striker Bobby Sands to the tune of Gordon Lightfoot’s Wreck of the Edmund FitzGerald (Colin)
• Dudley Boys (Roud 1131 - not to be confused with the Dudley Boyz tag-wrestling team) (Derek) 
• Hugh of Lincoln Roud 73 Child155 -  hopefully with all the anti-Semitic references removed (Derek)
• The Substitute Scribe’s Nightmare otherwise known as Thee's Got'n Where Thee Cassn't Back'n, Hassn't? (Mike)

A special thanks to Geoff who in spite of being taken ill, stayed on to act first as audience, and then, as he began to feel better, went back into participation mode, and put us back up into a state of quoracy. Which way leads me on to the following:

WE NEED MORE PEOPLE HERE!

Next Friday 4th October at least two of our hardcore members will be absent. (The reference is to the building trade and not to their participation in pornographic videos).

Those of you who have seen Kenneth Branagh’s wonderful film In the Bleak Mid-winter will recall the scene in which the actors, terrified that sales of tickets for their performance will be miniscule, cut out of card, and paint, lifesize human figures with which to people the auditorium. We may soon be forced into this as well. So please make every effort to come – and bring others with you. 

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