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| Geoff Gammon (Photo: Simon Meeds) |
Remember that this week's session on Friday 20th October 2023 has the optional theme of Harvest. So if you have any songs of farming, the countryside, plenty, even about fishing, now is the time to bring them out. All following of the theme, however tenuous, will be considered, and if you can't follow the theme then come along and sing, play or otherwise perform anyway.
As usual, I've tried to mention songs new to the Dragon database (*), though not necessarily to the club as well as those songs from Geoff's repertoire (@). So in order to avoid repetition, those are the symbols I will use to indicate them.
With Colin as MC we set off with the first song coming from Chris: She's like the swallow (roud 2306).
Roger sang Ramona (* roud 25739 - L Wolfe Gilbert, Mabel Wayne) in the style of the Bristol accent (complete with the Bristol "L").
John's first song was Lou Reed's Oh! Sweet nuthin'.Colin, unwittingly, was the first to contribute to the selection of songs from Geoff's repertoire with Being a pirate (@ Don Freed).
Denny sang The bunch of thyme (roud 3) and Paul followed with Love farewell (roud 1301).
Simon sang only songs from Geoff's repertoire throughout the evening, starting with All around my hat (@ roud 22518).
Starting the second rotation, Chris gave us The banks o' Doon (roud 13889 - Robert Burns).
Former guardsman Roger took out his harmonica and spelt out his day with Reveille (*) and Sunset (*).
Colin referred to Geoff's performances of Pat Cooksey's The sick note by giving us Stanley Accrington's Sicknote: the reply (*). Sorry, there's no recording of it either here or in the playlist linked from "a selection" below.
Denny didn't claim that Geoff had sung Fiddlers' Green (John Conolly) and I can't find any record that he had, but she said it reminded her of him somehow. Paul however sang Lament for the fishing (@), written by former Dragon Derek Brinkley, which Geoff certainly sang. Sorry this is another with out a recording, and indeed one without a definite agreed tune (see Derek's 'Young Buchan' comments at the linked Mudcat thread).
Simon's next song was Battle of New Orleans (@ roud 17913 - Jimmy Driftwood).
Roger acknowledged that he risked a forfeit for singing Wild Rover (@ roud 1173). Don't worry, we don't do forfeits here.
Simon sang Robert Coltart's jingle for his confectionery business, Coulter's candy (@ roud 19019).
Chris surprised and amazed us all by reciting Lewis Carroll's Jabberwocky (*). It seemed Roger was following in a similar line of thought with an excerpt from John Donne's Meditation XVII (*), but he followed that short piece with Ralph McTell's Streets of London (@).
Colin sang Peter Sarstedt's Where do you go to my lovely (@) and Simon gave us Bob Dylan's Blowin' in the wind (@).
Colin's next song, new to the Dragon database, was Soon may the Wellerman come (*). This song from New Zealand was popularised in 2021 when Scottish postman, Nathan Evans, published a video of him singing it on TikTok. The video went viral, and despite the song not being a shanty, a new wave of popularity for shanties was born. The Wellerman of the song is an employee of the Weller brothers, Englishmen of Sydney, Australia, and Otago, New Zealand, who were the founders of a whaling station on Otago Harbour and were New Zealand's most substantial merchant traders in the 1830s. New Zealand–based music teacher and folk music compiler Neil Colquhoun claimed to have collected the song around 1966 from one F. R. Woods. Woods, who was in his 80s at the time, had allegedly heard the song, as well as the song John Smith A.B., from his uncle.
Simon's last contribution of the evening was Black velvet band (@ roud 2146).
Colin finished off the evening with Stan Rogers' Mary Ellen Carter.
Now listen to a selection of songs sung during this session.
(Number of people present - 7 of whom 7 performed)
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