Last week's session saw the welcome return of our American friend Gabe who last joined us before Christmas. This time he was joined by his wife, Sarah, over from the States for just one week. To satisfy tradition I have to mention ervey song that first-timer Sarah sang, and I was going to leave it there, being once again short of time, but there was really just too much of interest to not try a bit more commentary this week, so here goes...
MC Colin started us off with The girl I left behind me (roud 23929). This leads us into two ad hoc themes which emerged. Firstly, an American theme. Colin had at one time associated the song with the USA , but Wikipedia tells us it "is an English folk song dating back to the Elizabethan era. It is said to have been played when soldiers left for war or a naval vessel set sail. According to other sources the song originated in 1758 when English Admirals Hawke and Rodney were observing the French fleet. The first printed text of the song appeared in Dublin in 1791. A popular tune with several variations, 'The Girl I Left Behind Me', may have been imported into America around 1650 as 'Brighton Camp', of which a copy dating from around 1796 resides in the Bodleian Library, Oxford."
The second theme was songs with the same or similar tunes. The tune Brighton camp is the same one used for The Waxie's Dargle as sung by Gabe, and The real old mountain dew (roud 938), sung by Colin.
It was Gabe also who initially picked up on the American theme with I ride an old paint (roud 915).
Sarah's first contribution also took us the North America if not to the USA, with the Canadian song The log driver's waltz (Wade Hemsworth).
Geoff also went American in theme if not in song origin with Gone to America (Peter Knight).
Mike chose to paddle his own canoe, highlighting May with Hal-an-Tow (roud 1520), traditionally sung at Helston on May Day. He went on to sing at least two songs with American connections: Roll the cotton down (roud 2627) and John Cherokee (roud 4693). He told us that the version of Hanging Johnny (roud 2625) he sang was collected by Robbie McGregor by overhearing children in a Gloucester school playground. Mike had added some of his own verses, which meant there was a verse for each of quite a number of British Prime Ministers, though he didn't include all of them in his performance.
Sarah sang us Kate Wolf's Across the great divide.
Geoff's singing of The rocky road to Dublin (roud 3012, DK Gavan) was followed by Gabe with the similarly set Cam' ye o'er frae France (roud 5814). This led Simon to pick on a word from Gabe's song and later contribute Geordie (roud 90, child 209)
Just to fill in a gap, Simon's song The transplant squad (Richard Stilgoe) can't be found on YouTube nor anywhere else on-line come to that, and so is not present in the playlist linked from "a selection" below. This song was just one example of a third theme, and one upon which I won't dwell too much, whether songs can or should offend people. Those present were of the general feeling I think that particularly old songs can be sung in the context of their history, and that in many cases acknowledgement of that history can be used to examine our own current views on a subject. Sorry to anyone present if my summary doesn't exactly match what was said.
It's notable that Mike has been asked to sing at a festival, I won't mention which. He is to sing shanties, but has been asked to avoid singing anything potentially offensive. Anyone who knows anything about shanties will know this is as close to impossible as makes no difference.
Sarah sang Town of Ballybay (Tommy Makem) which Geoff commented was better than his own version; I think it was the dramatic additions to which he particularly referred.
Colin's rendition of This land is your land (roud 16378, Woody Guthrie) prompted Sarah to ponder that what she sang as an innocent children's song at school in the 1980s is now rejected by certain factions in the States as being too far left.
I'm always pleased to be able to link to a video of the actual person present singing a song, and so I can with Gabe singing Slim Dusty's A pub with no beer.
We joined in with gusto as Sarah sang Sydney Carter's John Ball.
On the American theme, Geoff gave us his comic monologue about Ronald Reagan and the leprechaun, which leaves Ronald well hung after an encounter with a representative of the little folk. I have been unable to trace a video or script for the monologue, but just for fun, I wonder whether this had a similar effect?
Sarah got us singing the chorus of Roy Guillane's The great ships which tells of the end of shipbuilding in Glasgow. Along similar lines Geoff sang of the end of the fishing industry in Great Yarmouth with our friend Derek Brinkley's song Lament for the fishing.
It took me a while to find details of the song Colin calls "The handsome factory girl", and I was not able to find a recording. It turns out that The factory girl (roud V4694), not to be confused with at least two other songs of that title, was published as a broadside between 1840 and 1866.
Sarah told us of the shanty sing that she and Gabe attend in Minneapolis, which is about 1,000 miles from the sea. Michael Shewmaker from that session decided to write his own "local" shanty, Confluence, and it was that which she sang, carefully instructing us on how to join in the various refrain parts. The linked video says it is the writer of the song performing it, and I dare to venture that Sarah and Gabe may be in the throng singing at the top of their voices.
Colin told us previously that he had set Edwin Waugh's poem Oh the Wild ,Wild Moors to music and posted it on the Facebook group Friends Of Yorkshire Song And Music with the hope that it met their strict criteria. I know its acceptance had been delayed, but he was happy to announce that it had now been accepted to the group, and in celebration he sang it to us. I note from his Wikipedia entry that Waugh was a Lancashire man, so maybe Colin was lucky to get away with it.
Sarah last contribution of the evening was Alan Bell's song Windmills.
It fell to Simon to close the evening with When all men sing (Keith Scowcroft, Derek Gifford), which was known to everyone so they proceeded with "uplifting beams of Inn or Hall, and shaking plaster from the wall".
Now listen to a selection of songs sung during this session.
(Number of people present - 6 of whom 6 performed)
