What's Ozzy got to do with folk music?

Ozzy Osbourne in 2010

Yes, we were a bit thin on the ground at last week's Dragon Folk Club session, but we sang. There were no attempts for a record number of songs, just lots of chat and lots of singing.

Stand-in MC, Simon, started us off with Chase the dragon (* Keith Hancock) which Simon acquired from the singing of Gregson & Collister (Clive Gregson and Christine Collister) - Hancock and Gregson were school friends. Simon sang the song for the first time in a few years as a sort of sideways tribute to the recently deceased Ozzy Osbourne.

After earlier talk of children working in the mines, Rob decided to sing Frank Higgins' The testimony of Patience Kershaw (*), based on the report given by Kershaw, of Halifax, to the Children's Employment Commission of 1842. Rob said that Patience wasn't as well respected by the commission as the song implies.

Stan completed the first rotation by singing Return to me (* Carmen Lombardo, Danny Di Minno), first recorded by Dean Martin in 1958.

The one song of the evening not found on YouTube and therefore not in the playlist linked below was Rob's own Lost in the wild (Rob Winder).

Stan sang More than I can say (*), understandably mentioning the 1961 hit version by Bobby Vee, but it was written by two members of Buddy Holly's band The Crickets: Sonny Curtis, Jerry Allison and was recorded by them in 1959 soon after Holly's death, being released in 1960. The link is strong because the then fifteen-year-old Vee was one of the musicians who volunteered to fill in with his brother Bill among others after singing stars Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and "The Big Bopper" J. P. Richardson were killed in a plane crash on 3rd February 1959. The stand-ins performed as a band which they named The Shadows on the spur of the moment. The band which already existed without a name modelled itself on Holly's style. This marked the beginning of Vee's career.

After some discussion of the 1960s and whether one remembers it Rob segued seamlessly and artfully into Shel Silverstein's monologue, The man who got no sign (*).

We had a mini links theme which started when Simon sang Roger Whittaker's Durham Town, which incorrectly places the city of Durham on the River Tyne. I incorrectly stated that Whittaker was South African. He was in fact born in Kenya to English parents although he enrolled at the University of Cape Town in 1956. He moved to Britain in 1959.

Rob's linked song was Back in Durham Gaol (*) written by Jez Lowe. Not only is the song about Durham, but Lowe is from County Durham.

Simon's next song also came from the pen of Jez Lowe, being The Bergen, which our friend Derek Brinkley once suggested may be the only song that has been about Seaton Carew.

Rob's last song of the evening was Bob Dylan's Just like Tom Thumb's blues (*). The penultimate song of the evening was Earth angel (Curtis Williams, Jesse Belvin, Gaynel Hodge) sung by Stan, followed ultimately by Simon inviting everyone present to raise their voices for When all men sing (Keith Scowcroft, Derek Gifford).

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

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

In the above report songs new to the Dragon database (though no always new to the club) are marked with an asterisk (*).

New faces and lots of "new" songs

Connie Francis in 1961

At last week's Dragon Folk Club is was great to see Paul and Denny swelling the numbers by bringing along Helen for her second experience of a session, and Quentin for his first. Helen had prepared some songs, which was great, but lack of preparation didn't stop Quentin from venturing three with the help of others present who provided the word sheets.

I know Helen enjoyed the experience and will be back; I think the same is true of Quentin. We're a friendly crowd; performing is encouraged and very welcome, but encouragement is just that, everyone should feel free to just sit and listen if they want to, maybe joining in with the odd chorus and some banter.

With Colin as MC, Roger was invited to start the session and he marked the recent death of Connie Francis by singing her 1960 hit Everybody's somebody's fool (* Jack Keller, Howard Greenfield) which made her the first woman to reach No. 1 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart.

Paul sang Peggy Gordon (roud 1180) and Denny gave us Idle women of the waterways (Charlotte Oliver).

Helen's first song of the evening was When I'm gone (roud 17255 - AP Carter) though some readers may know it better as Cups (A. P. Carter, Luisa Gerstein, Heloise Tunstall-Behrens), sung by Anna Kendrick in the film Pitch Perfect (2012). As I've said many times, I'm always sceptical when I see AP Carter as the writer of a song because, under the instruction of his publisher, he often took traditional songs, made a very minor change to them, and claimed US copyright. I don't hold that against him personally, but it was certainly a sharp practise by the music industry albeit presumably one seen to have no victim. I am sure he is not alone in being a victim or beneficiary, depending on how you look at it, of this way of working.

As already noted, Quentin had come to the session without any songs, but he seemed keen to contribute. He said he might manage a Beatles' song, so Roger dug out the words to You've got to hide your love away (John Lennon, Paul McCartney) and he sang it with guitar accompaniment from Roger.

Colin's first musical contribution was the Bee Gees' New York mining disaster 1941 (* Barry Gibb, Robin Gibb).

Simon returned us to traditional songs (we don't really mind what you sing) with Claudy Banks (roud 266, laws N40).

By the time it came to his turn, Steve had arrived and he finished the first rotation with Stan Rogers' The Field behind the plow (sic).

Paul's self-penned song Close the dentist's door (# Paul Welcomme) is the first of two songs performed that are not to be found on YouTube and therefore are not in the linked playlist.

It was quite a surprise that Denny's singing of The Bellringing (* roud 1515) was a new entry into the Dragon database because Colin has certainly sung it before, but so it is. The database only goes back to 2018 and isn't complete even that far.

Helen brought us I'll sail this ship alone (* Paul Heaton, Dave Rotheray) from The Beautiful South.

This time round Quentin was presented with words by Paul. He said it wasn't the sort of thing he would usually sing, but he would manage it with help from the assembled masses. With this promise he sang Drunken sailor (roud 322).

From Roger we got a self-penned and autobiographical song called Fifties child (*# Roger Stanleigh).

Helen gave us a another "new" song in Hunter (* Dido Armstrong, Rollo Armstrong).

Quentin again looked to Roger for words and he came up with Raindrops keep fallin' on my head (Burt Bacharach, Hal David). To resolve the discussions that went on on the evening, it was written for the 1969 film Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. The uplifting lyrics describe somebody who overcomes his troubles and worries by realising that "it won't be long till happiness steps up to greet me."

The film is an American Western buddy film directed by George Roy Hill and written by William Goldman. Based loosely on fact, the film tells the story of Wild West outlaws Robert LeRoy Parker, known as Butch Cassidy (Paul Newman), and his partner Harry Longabaugh, the "Sundance Kid" (Robert Redford), who are on the run from a crack US posse after a string of train robberies. The pair and Sundance's lover, Etta Place (Katharine Ross), flee to Bolivia to escape the posse.

This was followed by Colin singing another song more loosely connected to a film and where I can clear up some more conversation points. They shoot horses don't they? (Gareth Mortimer) performed by Racing Cars and which got to no. 14 in the UK charts in 1977 was inspired by the 1969 film of the same name, which was in turn based on Horace McCoy's 1935 novel.

The story centres on Robert Syverten (Michael Sarrazin in the film) who is sentenced for murder. The main timeline of the book though involves a dance marathon competition where he partners with Gloria Beatty (Jane Fonda in the film). It is Gloria who he is accused of killing.

From the start, Gloria tells Robert that she wishes she were dead, a point she repeats in most of their conversations. Her parents are dead. She ran away to Dallas from a farm in West Texas where her uncle always made passes at her. In Dallas, she tried to commit suicide, then ran away to Hollywood with dreams of being in movies, but is finding only rejection.

In the end Gloria presents Robert with a gun and asks him to kill her, which he does. He remembers when he was young, and his grandfather shot the beloved family horse, which had broken its leg. The police ask Robert why he shot Gloria, and he answers, "Because she asked me to." The policeman persists. Robert answers, "They shoot horses, don't they?"

Helen's final song was Good riddence (time of your life) (* Billie Joe Armstrong, Green Day).

The last addition to the database for the evening came from Colin and was The wee cooper o' Fife (* roud 117).

The session was closed by Steve who gave us a good sing-a-long opportunity with Leave her Johnny (roud 354).

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

(Number of people present - 8 of whom 8 performed)

In the above report songs new to the Dragon database (though no always new to the club) are marked with an asterisk (*).

As hot as...

Photo: Simon Meeds

As expected at the end of another scorching day we were slightly low on numbers at last week's Dragon Folk Club session but we carried on singing. Paul selected from his repertoire songs he hadn't sung recently, Simon appropriately sang mostly songs relating to hot or warm weather, and Denny just sang some excellent songs.

Simon as stand-in MC and first comer started off the session with Three songs to one burden (*), a song written by our old friend Derek Brinkley. Denny followed on with I live not where I love (roud 593) and Paul finished the first rotation with Waking dreams (roud 22620).

Simon's second was The hippopotamus song (Michael Flanders, Donald Swann) where instead of singing a chorus in Russian as Flanders sometimes did, he switched to Latin:

Lutum! lutum! Pulcherrimum  lutum

veni, o veni huc mecum ablutum

sequimini cuncti, laeti coniuncti

et volvamur uncti in luto pulchro.

Looking over Paul's shoulder, Denny managed to follow from the front, singing Sweet thyme (John Conolly, Pete Mundy) in correct expectation of Paul's Wild mountain thyme (roud 541 - Francis McPeake).

When Simon followed that with Brian Bedford's This is the way the world ends Denny asked how she knew the writer's name. Brian Bedford was a member and the main songwriter of Artisan, the harmony group that also included his wife Jacey and Hilary Spencer. Simon thought that Denny may know Brian's song What's the use of wings (*) and so she did, from the singing of Vin Garbutt (his version which he called "Wings"), and so proceeded to sing it. Below the YouTube video of Vin's version I see Jacey Bedford has made this comment:

"We (Artisan) played Trowbridge Folk Festival many years ago, and Vin was on the same bill. We were put up in the same pub and late one night we were sitting in the bar with Vin, sharing songs. We sang What's the Use of Wings - that's its full title - and Vin immediately asked Brian if he could sing it, Brian was delighted, of course. Some years after that Artisan was invited to play the Port Fairy Festival in Australia and on the way we did a stop-over in Hong Kong where we were accommodated by the Hong Kong Folk Club (which was in Doyle's Irish bar in Kowloon - how surreal!). We sang Wings and the whole audience sang it with us... courtesy of Vin taking it there long before we did. Thanks, Vin, you took Brian Bedford's song around the world. Lovely job."

Paul returned us to our old friend Derek Brinkley by singing his song Lament for the fishing (#).

Simon spent some of the evening well off the folk piste, including sharing The bare necessities (Terry Gilkyson).

Denny charmed us with Linden Lea (William Barnes, Ralph Vaughan Williams), which became this week's photo feature thanks to a chance find only yesterday.

Simon took a leaf out of Denny's book by singing a popular song from the early 20th century - 1932 in this case. So he sang The sun has got his hat on (* Noel Gay, Ralph Butler) - and yes, he made a small word replacement from this original version found on YouTube. Ensuing talk of songs evolving to fit changing fashions and mores caused Simon to make his last song of the session Ol' man river (Jerome Kern, Oscar Hammerstein II). Simon remembers watching a whole television documentary programme about adjustments made to that song over time.

Denny's final song was a good sing-along: Byker Hill (roud 3488) and Paul finished the session appropriately with the Farewell shanty. Having no reference for this other than that it is one sometimes used by our friend Mike Starkey when asked to sing at a funeral, I decided to do some digging. I didn't have far to look because MainlyNorfolk provides a quote from the notes for Brenda Wootton and Robert Bartlett's 1975 album Starry-Gazey Pie:

"Mervyn Vincent from St. Issy and Alan Molyneux from Plymouth are largely responsible for the revival of this lovely West Country shanty. Mervyn found it in an old book on boat-building and it later served as the closing song at Alan’s Breakwater Club in Plymouth."

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

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

In the above report songs new to the Dragon database (though no always new to the club) are marked with an asterisk (*).

American Independence 2025

Photo: Simon Meeds

At last week's Dragon Folk Session Colin sprang a theme on us quite reasonably, but very last minute. Being 4th July we were invited to find songs with American (or should that be USAnian?) connections. This was done admirably by all. I believe American connections were found for every song sung, but don't look too closely at the playlist because some were very tenuous, maybe even treasonous, connections depending on which country you find yourself in.

There seemed to be something not quite right with the ladies' toilet, so there were occasional excursions made through our room during the evening. Almost without exception they weren't too disruptive, but even as I arrived one lady was sitting with Roger. On a later visit this same person, who Roger later assumed to be his groupie, approached him while he was singing and appeared to caress his head. Roger meanwhile impressively continued his performance without so much as a stutter until she left the room, at which point he could go on no more. He soon carried on from where he had left off.

Colin himself started us off with Yankee Doodle (* roud 4501). There are plenty of stories about the origin and meaning of this song.

The Macaroni wig ("called it macaroni") was an extreme fashion in the 1770s and became slang for being a fop. Dandies were men who placed particular importance upon physical appearance, refined language, and leisure hobbies. A self-made dandy was a British middle-class man who impersonated an aristocratic lifestyle. They notably wore silk strip cloth and stuck feathers in their hats. In British conversation, the term "Yankee doodle dandy" implied unsophisticated misappropriation of upper-class fashion, as though simply sticking a feather in one's cap would transform the wearer into a noble.

Roger stayed firmly on the appropriate side of the Atlantic with Banks of the Ohio (roud 157, laws F5).

Paul brought to mind the author of Innocent when you dream (Tom Waits) before Denny gave us Row on (roud 2084), the words of which were found in the 1846 logbook of the Nantucket Whaler, "The Three Brothers". It was a transcription of a poem from GPR James' 1844 "Arabella Stuart: A Romance from English History". It has been said that it was written in part in memory of the crew members of the "Essex", sunk by a sperm whale in 1820, but this is thought to be unlikely. The crew of 20 of the Essex were in rowing boats for 95 days. Eight survived.

Simon completed the first rotation with The night they drove old Dixie down (Robbie Robertson).

Roger introduced a number of new songs to the dragon database, the first being It never rains in Southern California (* Albert Hammond, Mike Hazlewood).

It's not a serious aim or competition, but we do maintain a record of the number of songs sung at a Dragon Folk Song session. On the face of it at 41 performances, this evening was doing well, but nothing remarkable. However, Roger put the cat among the pigeons by singing and playing two medleys. The first combined four songs and the second included six. This could be said, arguably, to bring the total for the evening to 49. There is however no need to bring out the umpires to make a special decision, because the current record stands at 50.

Roger's first medley incorporated: Blue moon of Kentucky (* Bill Monroe), Today's teardrops (* Gene Pitney, Aaron Schroeder), Oh boy (Sonny West, Bill Tilghman, Norman Petty), and Hello Mary Lou (* Gene Pitney, Cayet Mangiaracina).

On a roll, Roger's second medley combined Folsom prison blues (Johnny Cash), Freight train (Elizabeth Cotten), Last train to San Fernando (* Sylvester DeVere, Randolph Padmore, Mighty Dictator), Worried man blues (roud 4753), Runaway train (roud 9859), and Six-five special (* Don Lang and His Frantic Five).

Colin finished the session with Keep your lamp trimmed and burning (roud 10433).

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

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

In the above report songs new to the Dragon database (though no always new to the club) are marked with an asterisk (*).

Old, new, borrowed and blue

Denny wearing Bonnet and Shawl?
(Photo: Simon Meeds)

Last week's Dragon Folk Club session saw a very rare appearance from Alison: non-singing but nevertheless welcome. There was no theme and an eclectic bunch of songs was sung.

There will be no official theme again this week, but as usual feel free to bring your own or we can allow something to develop through the evening.

The reason for Alison's presence was Simon's birthday, and the session was started and finished with Happy birthday to you. Of course, this song is problematic for the scribe, because it is probably included in roud 36104, which appears to be a bucket for unloved songs, and it is controversially attributed to Patty and Mildred J. Hill who wrote Good Morning to All.

The session proper started with Colin singing Ben Backstay (roud 21256).

Deny's first song of the evening was Graeme Miles' Drift from the land (*) and Paul's was Generations of change (Matt Armour).

On the face of it Stan gave us a new song: AP Carter's I never will marry (*), but according to the Roud Folk Song Index it is a version of the oft-sung Forsaken mermaid (roud 466, laws K17). I assume there was an interim American version since Carter is well-known for having taken traditional songs and, under instruction from his publishers, making very minor changes before claiming copyright.

Simon completed the first rotation with Jez Lowe's The Bergen.

Colin had us singing along to Sail away ladies (roud 17635). I didn't take enough notes to be sure, but I think it was the Uncle Dave Macon version rather than the hit version from The Vipers Skiffle Group and Lonnie Donegan among others, Don`t You Rock Me Daddy-O (Bill Varley, Wally Whyton). I believe Colin has sung both in the past and I was singing too hard to take note of which it was.

Stan introduced us to another "new" song in Earth Angel (* Curtis Williams, Jesse Belvin, Gaynel Hodge), from the singing of The Penguins. I knew I recognised the song. It could well be because I used to be, and still am to some extent, a fan of 50s and early 60s music, but could it also be because it was used in Back to the Future - here.

Stan was full of new songs for the database, giving us My buddy (* Walter Donaldson, Gus Kahn), first recorded in 1922 by Henry Burr and later by Mario Lanza among many others, and then Eileen (Sylvia Fine, Max Liebman). Fine, who was Danny Kaye's wife, is credited with the lyrics. It has been collected in Ireland and England and is listed as roud 23884, but it seems it may have been original to Fine since the collection dates all post-date Bing Crosby's recording of 1950.

Simon finished off the evening in traditional Dragon club style with When all men sing (Keith Scowcroft, Derek Gifford), that is before the aforementioned post cantatum reprise of Happy birthday to you.

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

(Number of people present - 6 of whom 5 performed)

In the above report songs new to the Dragon database (though no always new to the club) are marked with an asterisk (*).