The joy of chorus singing

Henry Joy McCracken

Five of us met last Friday to sing. While there was a charity event on in the bar and, shock horror, there was no hand-pumped ale, we proceeded with little disruption except when the barbecue was retrieved from the forecourt through the carriage doors in our room. Colin even received a complement for his performance at that stage!

Indeed Colin was back this week and returned to his customary role of MC, starting off the evening with Keith Scowcroft and Derek Gifford's When All Men Sing: a good way to get everyone singing.

Mike is trying to prepare us for being his chorus on 25 September at Tormarton (see the previous week's blog report), so he sang Outward And Homeward Bound (Roud 18905) which has a chorus made to fool the careless joiner-inner, changing several times through the song. Simon incorrectly thought he remembered Mike saying the song was not a shanty, though he had the right idea in that a shanty "should be" either an outward bounder or a homeward bounder and this song can't make its mind up. Nevertheless, it is apparently not the only only shanty to introduce such confusion. Note that the linked version is based in Liverpool whereas naturally, Mike's is based in Bristol.

Geoff's first song was The Limerick Rake (Roud 3018).

There had earlier been a comment that Colin, who had not found his usual table (we later worked out it had been taken outside), was sitting on a bar stool to better reach the pool table. Simon joked that he was "young and still growing", which Derek took as a request to sing The Trees They Do Grow High (Roud 31, Laws O35).

Simon's first song was Elizabeth Padgett's The Plover Catcher. It didn't go quite to plan because he found himself singing it closer to the way Elizabeth sings her own song than the way he usually does it. Having restarted in something approaching the usual vein it was only much later he worked out what had gone wrong... he doesn't usually use a capo on the third fret as she does.

Mike continued our chorus practice with Spanish Ladies (Roud 687). He asked us why this isn't a shanty. The answer is that the version he sings is from the Royal Navy. The Royal Navy did not allow the singing of shanties, and apart from the national anthem this was the only song allowed on board.

Derek wasn't put off by the fact that it was 3 September and in any case sang The Donibristle Mine Disaster (Roud 3509) which starts "On the twenty sixth of August the fatal moss gave way".

Mike's continuing chorus tutorial brought us Drunken Sailor (Roud 322). He seemed disappointed that most of us chose to attempt to sing harmonies.

It was Colin's singing of Linstead Market (Roud 16397) that impressed the lady who came to bring in the barbecue.

Derek started a trend with Henry Joy (Roud 10612) which Colin followed with Tom Paxton's Ramblin' Boy ("So here's to you my Rambling Boy, May all your rambling bring you joy."), and Simon concluded with Bob Dylan's The Mighty Quinn (But when Quinn the Eskimo gets here, Everybody's gonna jump for joy"). Geoff broke the pattern with Copper Kettle (Albert Frank Beddoe).

It was Geoff also who gave us the penultimate song of the evening. From the second single he ever bought, presumably sung by The Everly Brothers, it was Bird Dog, written by Boudleaux Bryant.

Our final song of the evening was the second part of a pair sung by Derek. The earlier component was The Volunteer Organist (William B Gray, George Spaulding) and the second part was a parody of it from Jack Elliott of Birtley, called The Volunteer Putter. In Northumberland, "putter" was the local term for the person who brought empty coal tubs up to the coal face and took loaded tubs to the pit bottom.

Now listen to a selection of songs sung during this session.

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