Pleasantly satisfied

Mince pies are for life, not just for Christmas

It could have been so lonely with some regulars not available last week, but happily we were joined once again by Bob and Sue despite their uncertainty the previous week, which at least meant that Simon wasn't singing to himself all evening. There was no set theme and the usual eclectic mix of songs came out.

Simon kicked off the session with Graham Moore's Tom Paine's Bones about Thomas Paine, English-born American political activist, philosopher, political theorist, and revolutionary who wrote Common Sense (1776) and The American Crisis (1776–1783), two of the most influential pamphlets at the start of the American Revolution, and helped inspire the Patriots in 1776 to declare independence from Great Britain. After his death, Paine's body was brought to New Rochelle, but the Quakers would not allow it to be buried in their graveyard as requested by his will, so his remains were buried under a walnut tree on his farm. In 1819, English agrarian radical journalist William Cobbett dug up his bones and transported them back to England with the intention to give Paine a heroic reburial on his native soil, but this never happened. The bones were still among Cobbett's effects when he died over fifteen years later, but were later lost. There is no confirmed report of what happened to them after that although various people have claimed to own parts of Paine's remains, such as his skull and right hand.

Sue's first song of the evening was Paul Simon's Homeward Bound, and Bob completed the first rotation with Leon Payne's Lost Highway, written in 1948 and made famous by Hank Williams who recorded it in 1949.

Possibly new songs to the Dragon included:

• Raindrops keep fallin' on my head sung by Sue (Burt Bacharach, Hal David)
• Hawaii blues sung by Bob (Andy Stein, Billy C Farlow, Ernie Hagar, Michael Richards)
• I'll see you in my dreams sung by Sue (Isham Jones, Gus Kahn)
• Something sung by Sue (George Harrison)
• Somethin' stupid sung by Sue (C Carson Parks)

Bob and Sue stayed to hear Simon sing Jake Thackray's Isabel Makes Love Upon National Monuments. After this Simon continued singing to himself until the pub staff called a slightly early end to the evening since he was the only remaining customer, everyone else having gone home in disgust at the England football team's earlier 0-0 draw against the USA.

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

(Number of people present - 3 of whom 3 performed)

No mince pies were harmed in the making of this session.