Knock knock

(Photo: Simon Meeds)

It was another great session at the Dragon Folk Club last week. We were back to reasonable strength in numbers with seven people present and all singing. There was no theme which left the field wide open.

Speaking of themes, this Friday's session (23rd January) will be our Burns' Night special (though Rabbie's actual day is Sunday), so bring your songs written or collected by Robert Burns, general Scottish songs, or anything you can vaguely link (I half-jokingly suggested songs about fire). Failing that, remember that our themes are always optional, just a bit of fun, so the most important thing is to turn up to sing, play, listen and chat - or whichever subset of those is your fancy.

Back to last week, Colin was MC and started the ball rolling with In these hard times (roud 23324 - RP Weston, Fred Barnes).

Simon delayed his planned first song and instead went for Les Barker's poem Have you got any news of the iceberg.

Roger introduced us to his self-penned song Can't be doing this any more (*#Roger Stanleigh).

Denny sang Poverty Knock (roud 3491 - Tommy Daniel). I always knew that there were stories to tell around this song, but I've done a bit more research.

Tommy Daniel was a 5ft tall weaver from Batley, although he had other jobs during his working life. He was born around 1890, started work aged 11, and died in 1970. He is variously credited with writing, re-creating or collecting the song. Piecing together the stories of various individuals who knew him, knew weaving, or simply knew the area, anecdotally the song had been in existence in some form since at least the 1920s.

Tommy himself wrote: "This work song dates back to the early Dobby power looms. Owing to low wages and the slow dreary 'knock-ity knock' sound of the looms, weavers were called 'Poverty Knockers'."

According to Wikipedia, Dobby looms first appeared around 1843, roughly 40 years after Joseph Marie Jacquard invented the Jacquard device that can be mounted atop a loom to lift the individual heddles and warp threads. The word dobby is a corruption of "draw boy," which refers to the weaver's helpers who used to control the warp thread by pulling on draw threads.

It seems that Tommy may have collected some verses of the song, edited out others that he thought too risqué, and maybe written or "recreated" some more. He sang various verses at different times and I'm sure I've heard a story that claimed he would come up with a new verse and say that he had recently "found" it somewhere.

Whatever the case, it's a great song to sing, and get people singing along. Apparently Tommy required the audience to do a tap-tap after "poverty knock".

Paul's first song of the evening was Fathom the bowl (roud 880).

Sue sang the Crawdad song (roud 4853) and Bob completed the first rotation with The last ride (Robert Halcomb, Ted Daffan).

Apart from Roger's "Can't be doing this any more" which has already been mentioned there were three more songs not found on YouTube and therefore not in the playlist linked from "a selection" below:

• Sue's own A chilly song (# Sue Lonsdale) written specifically for the Dragon Folk Club - the heating's now working, but best to still bring warm clothing at this time of year
• Colin - My favourite things (*#), which is of course a parody of My favourite things (Richard Rodgers, Oscar Hammerstein II). OK, my pedantry forced me to use the original Mary Martin performance from the Broadway show. Here is the Julie Andrews film performance you were all expecting.
• Roger - Together we fight (#Roger Stanleigh)

Paul finished the session off appropriately with the Farewell shanty. Mervyn Vincent from St. Issy and Alan Molyneux from Plymouth are largely responsible for the revival of this 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 - 7 of whom 7 performed)

In the above report songs new to the Dragon database (though no always new to the club) are marked with an asterisk (*) and any songs not included in the "a selection" playlist are marked with a hash (#).

Back at it

Last Friday was the first Dragon Folk Club sing-around for seventeen months, so it was quite a big day even if we could only muster six singers to mark it. The reason for the hiatus was of course the COVID-19 pandemic and while none of us know what the future will hold, for the time being we are able to meet and sing in our usual room at The Bridge Inn. The changes are that we are requested not to park in Bridge Road, and closing time is a little earlier than before. That didn't however stop us having a good first night back.

Colin, as MC, started the proceedings with a local theme and Smith of Bristol which is traditional and is included in Dominic Behan's "Ireland sings: An anthology of modern and ancient Irish songs and ballads".

Mike considered this evening the resurrection of the club and so sang a resurrection song in Stan Rogers' The Mary Ellen Carter.

Geoff saw the end (for now at least) of lock-downs and restrictions as the end of a sentence and gave us Tie a Yellow Ribbon, a song which was recorded by Tony Orlando and Dawn. Irwin Levine and L Russell Brown may have been inspired to write the song by the 19th-century practice that some women allegedly had of wearing a yellow ribbon in their hair to signify their devotion to a husband or sweetheart serving in the US Cavalry.

Derek commented that he hadn't brought with him his bones (vegetarian version) when Simon sang Graham Moore's Tom Paine's Bones. Simon compounded the frustration with his second song, Poverty Knock (Tommy Daniel). Maybe Derek also hankered after his bones when Colin later sang Dance Ti Thy Daddy (Roud 2439).

Derek himself next sang Sweet Swansea (Roud 1612). He had noted a suggestion on the radio that the term "lock-down" had only come into use during the pandemic. I am not convinced that this is the case since there seem to be a number of earlier uses of the term; indeed former Royal Navy man Tom referred to its nautical use.

Maggie had sent Mike to the club with the message for all of us that Mike's canine companion Indy relaxes when Rock and Roll is played. Derek immediately suggested that Mike should sing "Rock and Roll me over", so indeed at the next opportunity he gave us One More Day (Roud 704).

Geoff is always ready to oblige when Rock 'n' Roll is required. Let's Think About Living, written by Boudleaux Bryant, was recorded by Bob Luman in 1960, but neither Geoff nor anyone else recognised his name in connection with any other song.

Geoff told us that in 1959 he heard Along Came Jones on the radio and liked it enough to buy it. The record was by The Coasters and he was initially disappointed with his purchase; it seemed that the version he had heard was not by The Coasters and he didn't like their version as much. Nevertheless his purchase was justified by the flip side, That is Rock 'n' Roll which was also written by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, and it was this song that he sang to us.

Derek told us that sometime during lock-down his sister had been ill. She seemed to be OK now but he wanted to sing something for her. There are plenty of "sister" songs in his repertoire but they all seem to involve murder or rape, and therefore aren't really appropriate. He then remembered the first folk song he sang at home when he was about 15 was Lord Randall (Roud 10, Child 12). His mother heard him singing and said it seemed to describe how he and his sister behaved when they were younger. The way he sings it now is not the same as he would have done then - one difference I suspect is that he now usually sings the first verse in Welsh.

Before singing the song, Tom regaled us with the meaning of the Cockney rhyming slang terms in Pop Goes the Weasel (Roud 5249).

When Colin started to sing Sydney Carter's Crown on the Cradle, Derek apparently thought he was about to start Bonny at Morn (Roud 3064), so he gave us that at the first opportunity. This song in turn inspired Tom to sing his own song, Lasso the Moon.

Because of uncertainty about when we would be required to stop singing, there was no proper interval although a brief break was taken for early last orders. Eventually the evening was brought to a close by Tom singing Allan Taylor's Standing at the Door.

With the principle proved, there will be a sing-around next week as long as someone takes up the mantle of MC in Colin's absence.

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

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

Christmas II 2019

December Grey Seal Pup at Donna Nook, Lincolnshire
(Photo: Simon Meeds)

Last week's session didn't have an official theme but predictably there were a lot of Christmas levef-overs from the previous week. Having said that, this weeks selection of recordings is a bit patchy because as with all left-overs there were the bits no one could really palate and some that seemed to repeat more than might be ideal.

This Friday, 27 December there will be a session and if you need a theme it will be Boxing Day, so expect to hear plenty about wrens and maybe some wassails as well. If that's all a bit specific for you then just come along with some songs to cheer us all up. The most important thing is that you come along and give us some support because we may need it.

Up north comes down south

Durham Miners' Gala (Photo: Darrell J Rohl)

A great session this week, thanks in part to the presence of our occasional visitor, Rose, who no doubt influenced the presence of both Kath and Tom. Malcolm and Janet were also welcome visitors from Yorkshire on one of their periodic visits to the area.

Colin as MC started the evening with Needle Cases (Roud 1300).

Mike went back to our suggested theme throughout June of songs sung in the earlier days of the club, singing from the repertoire of Johnny Collins, Free And Easy (Roud 1084).

A handful of songs

We met as seven for last week's session which had no theme. The title of this report does not mean we sang only a few songs, for in fact we sang a good number if not exactly a record; I make the total forty. Nor does it imply that the song made famous by Guy Mitchell and Tommy Steele was sung. Nor is there any particular connection with the 1970s children's TV programme of that name (see the photo). It is rather that they seemed to come in a number of small, logical groupings, some of which I will attempt to bring out here.

But first a quick mention of this Friday's session, which will mark St Andrew's Day which takes place just the day before. So the main intent is for the singing of Scottish songs and the playing of Scottish tunes but if you need more scope, then look into the other places and activities of which St Andrew is patron, or otherwise just sing, play or recite anything you like because the theme is optional.

Valentine's Day - 2016

Newly weds take a trip on a traditional Maltese dgħajsa

Being the closest session to Valentine's Day, love and not a little lust was in the air, or at least in some of our songs. Derek introduced a second theme though of songs sung by Roy Harris, who had died the previous Tuesday. One or two seemed even to include both themes in a single song!

Colin as MC asked Derek to kick off the session. Derek said it was 40 years this year since he first met Roy Harris, and from his repertoire sang Poverty Knock (Roud 3491, probably written by Tom Daniel), accompanying himself on the bones. He apologised to Simon, who sometimes sings that song (Simon says that was unnecessary) but suggested that he might like to sing No Sir No (Roud 146), which he did when it came to his turn - thus hitting both themes.

The beggar man

James V of Scotland

Before I start the report on last week's session, please remember that this week's (31 July 2015) will have a theme of "One Song To The Tune Of Another" in the spirit of Radio 4's I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue. So if you can sing just that you will be very welcome; in fact you will be very welcome even if you can't - our themes are almost always optional.

Last week, Richard was MC and started off with Yr Wyf Little Collier, a song which mixed Welsh with English. later on in the evening Richard went all Welsh with Lleucu Llwyd, a song based on a poem by Llywelyn Goch ap Meurig Hen (1350 - 1380) written about his dead mistress, whose name translates as Lucy Grey.

Derek took up a theme by singing two versions of The Beggar Man (Roud 118, Child 279), one of which was something like this and the other wasn't. He told us that there were stories that the song was either written by King James V of Scotland or that he was the beggar man of the story. Apparently there were a number of ballads describing his romantic conquests while roaming the countryside in disguise so the story may not be false. Possibly without knowing it, Lesley managed a tenuous link here as well, singing Maid of Amsterdam (better known as A-Roving). The link is via a poem "So, we'll go no more a roving" by Lord Byron. The poem seems to have been suggested in part by the refrain of a Scottish song known as "The Jolly Beggar", which is one of the same group of songs as Derek's.

Sick notes, back spasms and hard work

Addie Laird, 12 years old.
Spinner in a Cotton Mill.
Girls in mill say she is
10 years old, February 1910

There were a couple of announcements from Maggie at the head of this week's session. Following the recent death of our good friend Pat, Maggie announced that there will be a session in her memory on 3 October. Pat was being cared for at St Peter's Hospice so the raffle and any other donations that evening will be for the hospice. The week before, 26 September, will be Harvest, so bring along your harvest songs and produce. Any money raised that evening will also go to the hospice.

Pat's funeral will be at the United Reformed Church, Thornbury at 10:30 on Friday, 12 September with a wake afterwards at The Ship Inn, Alveston. There will of course be the usual Dragon Folk Club session in the evening, which will be MCed by Richard.

Wherefore art thou Maggie?

With Maggie and Mike watching Shakespeare instead of taking charge at The Bridge, Richard took Mike's place for the evening, helped by Lesley on raffle tickets.

Simon arrived at the same time as Colin, and any impression that he may have tried to run him over was definitely unintentional (and didn't really happen at all). An apparently friendly chap standing at the door of the pub suggested that Colin had been less than willing to exchange pleasantries; maybe it was his recent brush with death?