Music all the way

Billy Bragg performing at WOMAD Reading in 1999
(Photo: Simon Meeds)

Your scribe wasn't present at last week's Dragon Folk Club session having been in the land of the red dragon for a few days, but it seems to have been a good one with a total of 46 songs being sung, which may be just one off the record if my memory serves!

There was a newcomer, Dominic, and a second-timer, Roger, so unsurprisingly there were quite a few songs new to the Dragon database (though not necessarily to the club), which to avoid repetition I will simply mark with an asterisk (*). These two gentlemen arrived together and Dominic accompanied some of Roger's songs on the harmonica.

There was some sort of issue with the pub's plumbing which caused a steady stream of gentlemen to make their way through the barn during the evening. Colin, anticipating an early finish thanks to this disruption and using his full MC powers, decided to start the session early, but in the end everyone was respectful and proceedings carried on to a natural finish.

Colin started things off with Batchelor's hall (roud 385). Denny followed this with Byker Hill (roud 3488) and Paul finished off the first pre-watershed round with Waking dreams (roud 22620).

When Roger and Dominic joined in their first songs respectively were: Wildwood flower (* roud 757 - Joseph Philbrick Webster, Maud Irving) and Dainty Davy (* roud 2387).

All of the songs sung during the session which don't appear in the playlist linked from "a selection" below were written by their respective singers. Paul was first in with his Close the dentist's door (Paul Welcomme), a parody of Alex Glasgow's Close the coalhouse door.

Roger was next with his own Grumpy man lament (* Roger Stanleigh).

As is traditional, I will mention all songs performed by newcomer Dominic:

• Town of Ballybay (Tommy Makem)
• Lakes of Ponchartrain (roud 1836, laws H9)
• The night visiting song (* roud 22568)
• The old woman from Wexford (roud 183, laws Q02 - Marrowbones)
• Talk to me of Mendonico (* Kate McGarrigle)
• Tramps and hawkers (roud 1874)

Colin contributed a new song to the database with Eric Bogle's Safe in the harbour.

Paul told the essentially true story of a diagnosis with his own Fathom my bowel (Paul Welcomme), a parody of course of Fathom the bowl (roud 880).

Roger added two further songs to the database: My baby left me (* Arthur Crudup) and North to Alaska (* Mike Phillips, Tillman Franks).

Colin gave us another "new" song with Billy Bragg's Between the wars (*).

It was Dominic who closed the evening, singing The Newry highwayman (* roud 490, laws L12)

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

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

First times and name checks

Boston Dock, Boston, Lincolnshire

Last week's session of the Dragon Folk Club had no theme and a wide variety of songs was sung, forty in all. It was good to see Steve C join us for the first time in a while.

This Friday's session (15th March) being just two days before Paddy's Day will have a theme of St Patrick and all things Irish. You may be interested to know St Patrick's full list of patronages in case you run out of Irish songs. They are:

Ireland, Nigeria, Montserrat, the Archdiocese of New York, the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Newark (New Jersey), the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles, Boston (Massachusetts), Rolla, Missouri, Loíza, Puerto Rico, Murcia (Spain), Clann Giolla Phádraig, engineers, paralegals, and the Archdiocese of Melbourne. He is also invoked against snakes and sins.

Back to last week, Colin as MC started off the session with Boston Harbour (roud 613). We briefly discussed which Boston this referred to before deciding it was Boston, Massachusetts rather than Boston, Lincolnshire which has a man-made dock, opened in 1884, rather than a harbour. Nevertheless it is this dock which has inspired the featured image.

The only song of the night that doesn't feature in the YouTube playlist linked from "a selection" below is Paul's self-penned parody of Close the coalhouse door (Alex Glasgow) which he wrote while waiting in the car for Denny to have some dental treatment, and which he calls "Close the dentist's door". Of course "...there's blood inside".

There was only one song during the evening that was new to the Dragon database and that was from Colin, The pensioner's complaint (roud 1663).

Simon started a theme of firsts. The first song he sang at a folk club was Suzanne Vega's Tom's diner. The first song Denny sang in a similar situation was Oh! Oh! Antonio (roud V36813 - C W Murphy, Dan Lipton) and Paul's was Fathom the bowl (roud 880).

Steve arrived during the second rotation of the evening, and his first song of the evening was Jolly Waggoner (roud 1088).

Another ad hoc theme, first spotted by Colin, was songs with someone's name in the first line. I'll leave it to you to listen to the playlist and work out how many there were.

We had eight complete rotations of the room and while Steve missed the first Colin made up for it by starting a ninth just before the end, so his singing of New York girls (roud 486) brought us to a round tally of forty songs in the evening.

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

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

Children in need 2023

The original BBC Children in Need
Pudsey Bear (1985)

Last week's Dragon Folk Club session didn't have an official theme, but I had suggested in the previous week's report that people might like to take some inspiration from the BBC Children in Need appeal which would hit its climax on that day. There was some ambivalence in the room about the appeal itself, but no problem for most people of considering childhood an influence for the session.

Again there is no official theme this week (Friday 24th November 2023), but it has been suggested that Lancashire Day which falls on 27th might be a suitable inspiration.

Colin was MC as usual at last week's session, but the first to sing was Chris with To a wild rose (*) which is the first piece from Woodland Sketches, Op. 51 of Edward MacDowell. This was also the first song of the evening not previously in the Dragon database. As usual this doesn't necessarily mean it hasn't been sung before at the club. All such songs are marked here with an asterisk (*).

Roger followed on, with help from Chris, singing I'll see you again (* Noël Coward).

Colin was on theme with Teach your children (Graham Nash).

Sue's first of the evening, on theme at least by being in an edition of Singing Together, was Yellow bird (Michel Mauléart Monton, Oswald Durand). Bob followed up with Hawaiiian Blues (Sid Tepper, Roy C Bennett), the first of three songs of the evening from the singing of Commander Cody And His Lost Planet Airmen.

Simon finished off the first rotation with Michelle Shocked's The ballad of Patch Eye and Meg.

Other songs which must be mentioned are:

• Denny - I wan'na be like you (the monkey song) - (* Robert and Richard Sherman)
• Roger - My dearest dear (* Ivor Novello, Christopher Hassall)
• Sue and Bob - Rose Garden (* Joe South)
• Sue and Bob - Teddy Bear (* Kal Mann, Bernie Lowe)

Paul sang his own Close the dentist's door, based on Alex Glasgow's Close the coalhouse door lad.

• Denny - White horses (* Michael Carr, Ben Nisbet)

Chris recited Pam Ayres' poem Like you would (*), which unfortunately doesn't feature in the YouTube playlist linked from "a selection" below.

• Bob - Orange Blossom Special (* Ervin T Rouse)
• Denny - As tears go by (* Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Andrew Loog Oldham)
• Colin - The jeely piece song (* Adam McNaughtan)
• Bob - Back to Tennessee (* Billy Ray Cyrus, Tamara Dunn, Matthew Wilder)
• Denny - How much is that doggie in the window (* Bob Merrill)
• Denny - Teddy bears' picnic (* John Walter Bratton, Jimmy Kennedy)

The evening was drawn to a close with Simon singing Flanders and Swann's The hippopotamus song.

I make that a total of 45 performances during the evening (44 songs and a poem), which must be close to the Dragon Folk Club record - I have a feeling the record is 47, but I may be wrong.

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

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

Sumer is icumen in

Catacombs of Paris
(Photo: Simon Meeds)

Things are getting warmer at The Bridge at last and some of us are "casting clouts". Five slightly less heavily clothed singers turned up to make some noise on a Friday evening.

Colin was MC as usual ans started the session off with Bobby Sands' Back home in Derry.

Paul took us on our first antipodean journey of the evening with The Green Man from the pen of John Thompson who is a member of the Australian band Cloudstreet.

Denny brought us a serving of Good English ale (roud 1512), after which Simon tried to put us to sleep with John o' dreams (Bill Caddick, Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky).

Geoff completed the first round with Dinny the piper (roud 8147).

I'll randomly mention a few more of the songs we sang.

Paul sang Generations of change by Matt Armour, which was new to the Dragon database. It was alsoPaul who sang another song new to the database, though not necessarily new to the Dragon, which was Close the coalhourse door by Alex Glasgow, clearly about the hard life of a miner, but with an extra verse dealing with the Aberfan Disaster.

Denny was suffering from the after-effects of a dental appointment which didn't stop her singing, but we later learned that while Paul was waiting for her session in the chair to finish he had rewritten Close the coalhouse door "Close the dentist's door, there's blood inside... there's bones inside... there's screams inside... there's gold inside." We heard the world premier.

There was some discussion after Geoff had sung the challenging Rocky road to Dublin (roud 1676 - DK Gavan) in slip-jig time (9/8).

Colin sang his own song, John Chiddy about a local (Hanham) man who was killed while averting a rail disaster in 1876, and for whose widow and children a house was built with donations.

Simon closed the evening singing Stan Rogers' Northwest Passage.

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

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