All Fools Day 2022

Album cover of Save the last gherkin for me
by Mike Absalom

Like the previous one, this will be a very brief report. We were very thin on the ground last Friday but in honour of All Fools Day we had a good amount of jollity and mirth.

The first two songs are not available on YouTube, but most of the rest are and can be found on the "a selection" link below. Colin kicked us off with our friend Richard Gillion's song Superstition's Game and was followed by Simon with Richard Stilgoe's The Transplant Squad.

The first song I managed to find on YouTube was The Leprechaun. The strange thing about this is Roud seems to list it as both 5264 and 5274 - both with the same first line "In a shady nook one moonlit night", so I can't differentiate between them. One of the collected instances of roud 5274 records a writer - PW Joyce.

I promised Colin I would find out a little more about his song Laura the Leg. While I didn't find a recording, it was written and recorded by Mike Absalom, and featured on his 1969 album Save the last gherkin for me (this recording from John Peel's extensive record collection is missing the last two tracks, one of which is sadly Laura the Leg). I didn't exactly find the lyrics, but if you're quick you may find an obscured copy here.

Simon closed the evening with Bare Necessities (Terry Gilkyson).

Upcoming optional themes will be:

• 15th April 2022 - Easter
• 22nd April 2022 - St George

All other Friday sessions will be unthemed until further notice.

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

(Number of people present - 2 of whom 2 performed)