Burns Night 2023

What a great session we had last Friday, and a total contrast to the week before. There were six of us, including two newcomers who both sang. This is definitely a result. The newcomers were Alan and Paula. Alan is a member of the Barnacle Buoys shanty group.

The theme was Robert Burns since we were meeting just a couple of days after Burns Night. Though there were quite a few Scottish songs there weren't many actual Burns songs in evidence. In fact I only counted two, but I may have missed others.

Colin, in his usual role as MC started us off in pseudo-Scottish mode with Haggis Season (Jeremy Lloyd, Jim Parker).

Simon's single Burns offering was Ye Jacobites By Name (roud 31021). Bob and Sue wisely stayed off topic, Bob singing John Prine's You Got Gold (writing credits shared with Keith Sykes), and sue bringing out Homeward Bound (Paul Simon).

Talking of Paul Simon, we probably all know about the historical tension between Simon and Martin Carthy over Scarborough Fair (roud 12, child 2). That's all well known, but just this week we found out that Martin's daughter, Eliza Carthy only heard Paul Simon's version of the song for the first time a few weeks ago.

Alan's first song is perhaps called Why Did They Take Them All. I can't find anything about it, so I suspect it may be his own work. Paula skipped the first round, but she will be mentioned since it is traditional to mention all songs sung by newcomers.

Alan gave us two more songs which were definitely at least partly his own work: When The Shanty Men Come Steaming In and Queen And Country. He also sang some more familiar fare: Johnny Come Down To Hilo (roud 650), Wave Over Wave (Jim Payne), The Mermaid and I Wish They'd Do It Now (roud 1401).

Paula started off a little later than the rest but in fine form with The Fisherman's Lassie going on to sing The Yellow Handkerchief (roud 954), Pleasant And Delightful (roud 660, laws O30) and Rosabella. That last linked video is of the Barncale Buoys singing Rosabella and Alan can be seen bottom centre, so there's a bonus for this blog report.

There were a few points that need to be cleared up on other songs sung during the evening where discussion on the night was inconclusive or misleading:

• For House Of The Rising Sun (roud 6393) which Sue sang, I have linked a video of Dave Van Ronk's version because he seems to have coined the popular tune made famous by The Animals. While the song has its origins in England, the current song crossed the ocean and was known by American miners in 1905. The oldest published version of the lyrics is that printed by Robert Winslow Gordon in 1925 and started "There is a house in New Orleans, it's called the Rising Sum, It's been the ruin of many poor girl" (rather than boy).
• Bob's Empty Bed Blues is a rather raunchy, maybe even bawdy song written by J C Johnson and first recorded by Bessy Smith.
• Colin's Campbeltown Loch wasseems to have been written by Alan Cameron. The tune is The Glendaruel Highlanders.
• Sue's Something was of course written by George Harrison.
• Colin had what I believe was the second and final Burns song of the evening with Parcel Of Rogues (roud V31022).

It was indeed Colin who finished the evening with Air Fa La La Lo, which is a traditional Gaelic song translated into English by Hugh S Roberton.

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

(Number of people present - 6 of whom 6 performed)

The Lone Ranger without Tonto

Clayton Moore as the Lone Ranger

We knew it would probably be thin on the ground at last week's Dragon Folk Club session, but I feel sorry for Colin singing his heart out to himself. Well, I'm sure he treated it as a practice so perhaps that's OK. Let's come out in force this Friday to support him. The theme if you choose to follow it is Robert Burns whose night is tomorrow (Wednesday, 25th January) so we will just have missed it. In any case you will be welcome whether you mostly sing, play, recite or listen. Anything goes as long as it's acoustic and the theme, when there is one, is always optional.

You know the usual drill, you will find us from 8:15pm in the pool room at The Bridge Inn, Shortwood, Bristol (UK), BS16 9NG. If you don't know where we are be sure to mention the Dragon Folk Club at the bar and you should be directed to us. You will find FREE ENTRY, a warm welcome, great acoustics and a reasonably priced bar. While the welcome is warm I can't promise the same of the atmosphere. I hope it will be bearable, but just in case please do bring some warm clothing. We don't want a case of hypothermia on our hands.

Back to last week, I have to give Colin credit for singing (yes I trust him) a total of eighteen songs. To mark that achievement I will list all of them - I hope I have found the right songs:

• Misty - Erroll Garner, Johnny Burke
• The Illiterate's Alphabet - Chris Sugden
• The Souling Song - roud 304
• Two Good Arms - Charlie King
• Colón man a-come
• The Limerick Shanty
• Ballad of Richard III - Gwydion Pendderwen
• Take This Hammer - roud 4299
• If - David Gates
• Leave Them a Flower - Wally Whyton
• Back Home in Derry - Bobby Sands
• Cadgwith Anthem - roud 3314
• Oh What a World - Rufus Wainwright
• Tell Me There's a Heaven - Chris Rea
• Thunder Child - Jeff Wayne, Paul Vigrass, Gary Osborne
• Both Sides Now - Joni Mitchell
• What Have They Done to the Rain - Malvina Reynolds
• Tether's End - Jez Lowe

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

(Number of people present - 1 of whom 1 performed)

A bit of everything

Elizabeth "Libba" Cotten

Well, last Friday's Dragon session was a breath of fresh air. Not only was it the second time in two weeks that we had a roll call of seven at The Bridge Inn, but this time they were all in the room at the same time and they all performed.

Unfortunately we are going to be down on numbers this week unless you come along, and it would be absolutely splendid if you could, whether you mainly sing, play, recite or listen. As usual anything goes as long as it's acoustic.

Back to last week, Colin as MC started things off with his own song, Hergest Ridge, to a tune borrowed from Mike Oldfield's album of the same name. Hergest Ridge is a large elongated hill which traverses the border between England and Wales in the United Kingdom, between the town of Kington in Herefordshire and the village of Gladestry in Powys. Its highest point, which is in England, is 426 metres high.

All of the songs sung during the session with the exception of the aforementioned Hergest Ridge are to be found on the "a selection" playlist linked below as is T S Eliot's poem Journey of the Magi, which was read by Jane.

What are missing are Jane's stories, which are worth a mention. They concerned:

• the stress of being Father Christmas
• The Brighton Story about a ghost ship seen near Shoreham
• a bird-friendly thatcher and his encounters with Death
• why does some idiot have to write a book about where I live?

I'll pick a handful of songs to mention because they may not be entirely obvious.

Freight Train, sung by Sue, was written by Elzabeth Cotten in her early teens. For a large part of her life she didn't play the guitar. When she was working for the Seeger family as a maid, they were out one day and on their return they heard music. The found it was the maid having picked up someone's guitar and playing it upside down as she continued to do. And so Libba Cotten was discovered and in her later years became a recording and performing artist.

Colin sang Sonny's Dream which was written by Ron Hynes, a folk singer-songwriter from Newfoundland and Labrador. The song was heard by Scottish artist Hamish Imlach while on a trip to Canada. He modified it somewhat and played it in folk-clubs in Britain. There it was heard by Christy Moore who recorded it and passed it on to other artists in Ireland. A version titled "Sonny" was recorded by Mary Black.

Bob gave us Lost Highway, made famous by Hank Williams, but written and first recorded by Leon Payne.

Simon's Lady Franklin's Lament (roud 487, laws K09) first appeared as a Broadside ballad around 1850 and has since been recorded with the melody of the Irish traditional air "Cailín Óg a Stór" by numerous artists. It has been found in Ireland, in Scotland, and in some regions of Canada.

Rob sometimes takes a traditional ballad, particularly one of those indexed by Francis James Child, and writes a new ballad to look at the story from a different perspective or to explain missing pieces of the tale. Young Horn and Lady Jean is just such a song, inspired by Hind Horn (roud 28, child 17).

Bob and Sue sang Jackson, which is usually associated with Johnny and June Carter Cash, but was written by Billy Edd Wheeler and Jerry Leiber.

We had some discussion about Sue's song Busy doing nothing. Written by Jimmy Van Heusen and Johnny Burke it came from the film of Mark Twain's novel A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court where it was sung by Bing Crosby, William Bendix and Cedric Hardwicke.

It was Rob who finished off the evening which cut a little short by landlady Helen informing us that we were the last customers and she would be shutting up. Rob sang The Dowie Dens O'Yarrow (roud 13, child 214).

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

(Number of people present - 7 of whom 7 performed)

New Year 2023

What a start to the New Year. After struggling to get people to come to Dragon Folk Club sessions towards the end of 2022, the first session of 2023 almost busy. True, not everyone performed, and true, not everyone was there at the same time, but nevertheless it was good to see new and old faces in the pool room at The Bridge Inn, Shortwood, Bristol, BS16 9NG.

John and Kate were first time visitors in the first part of the session. They didn't perform, but a little bird tells me that John can wield a guitar, so maybe we will hear from him another time. Much later in the evening we were joined by old friend of the club and very good singer / guitarist, Keith G.

Colin, MCing as usual, started off the evening in New Year theme with The Shamrock and the Thistle. Hamish Henderson collected a fragment of a song on board an Irish ferry and added his own contributions.

Bob and Sue both admitted to not preparing songs of New Year and Twelfth Night, but it really wasn't necessary since our themes are always optional. Bob's first was Bear Creek Blues. AP Carter is widely credited for writing this song, which may be the case, but I am always sceptical at this credit since Carter is well known for having subtly changed music or lyrics, under instruction from his management, in order to claim copyright under US law and therefore benefit from royalties earned against traditional songs.

Sue gave us Banks of the Ohio (roud 157, laws F5) which was first recorded in 1927.

Simon returned to the theme with Dave Goulder's January Man which takes us through the year and emphasises the circular nature of the seasons.

The linked YouTube playlist includes all the songs sung at this session except for two of Sue's self-penned songs, both autobiographical. The first was "She was seventy-three", a version of Sam Cooke's Only Sixteen which examines love as experienced later in life. The second was Sue's take on House of the Rising Sun in which the house of the title is transferred to the pub of that name on Cleeve Hill near Cheltenham where she went with her future husband on a bicycle ride. The song tells of Sue's life with her husband and how she dealt with his death.

As already mentioned, it was great to see and hear Keith G. After swapping news of various people and music venues we persuaded him to sing and play three songs despite the fact that he hadn't recently played the guitar since he was concentrating on learning to play the piano. Keith played:

• New Coat of Paint (Tom Waits)
• Can't Stand Losing You (Sting)
• Sittin' on the Dock of the Bay (Steve Cropper, Otis Redding)

It fell to Simon to close the evening with Ian "Nobby" Dye's Welsh Back Quay.

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

(Number of people present - 7 of whom 5 performed)