Burns' Night 2024

The haggis season?
(Image with thanks to Paul Welcomme)

Last week's Dragon Folk Club session again saw four singers meet to make a noise. This time is was for Burns' Night, belated but only by one day. There were several performances which had in some way been touched by Rabbie, and most others had some connection with Scotland, some strong, some more tenuous.

You will find everything performed on the evening represented in the YouTube playlist linked from "a selection" below. I'll list some of the more Burnsian ones here, and sorry for any I miss:

• Denny - Ye Jacobites by name (roud V21021, Robert Burns)
• Simon - Address to a haggis (Robert Burns)
• Denny - Leezie Lindsay (roud 94, child 226, Robert Burns)
• Colin - Such a parcel of rogues in a nation (roud V31022, Robert Burns)
• Simon - Geordie (roud 90, child 209, but not Robert Burns' version)
• Colin - Afton water (roud 24637, Robert Burns)
• Denny - The collier laddie (roud 3787, collected by Robert Burns)

This Friday (2 February) is a theme-less session so anything goes as long as it's acoustic. Bring your own theme if you wish. While are of course there for your enjoyment every Friday evening, the next theme should you wish to prepare will be a slightly belated Valentine's Day on 16th February. I'll give you some food for thought on that in next week's blog report.

See you there any Friday, but remember to wrap up warm at this time of year. We are promised a snowy blast this weekend in Bristol.

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

(Number of people present - 4 of whom 4 performed)

Burns' Night 2022

Robert Burns

It was a cosy early Burns' Night before a blazing fire. Who am I kidding, but with unseasonably mild weather I'm not complaining either. I've had my haggis and tatties and neeps since then, have you? We met on Friday to sing Scottish songs, and with a little poetic licence here and there that's what we did.

MC Colin went against tradition and asked Simon to start the evening which he did, with an actual Burns song, or at least one of those he collected and changed to be his own, Ye Jacobites by Name (roud V31021). Colin kept it Burns with Such A Parcel Of Rogues In A Nation (roud V31022 - sequential roud numbers no less!).

Most of the remaining songs were Scottish, though not all Burns by any means. I will mention some of the more eccentric or less Scottish ones.

Colin brought out his customary ode to the chieftain of the pudding race, no not Address to a Haggis (Robert Burns) but Captain Beaky's offering: Haggis Season (Jeremy Lloyd, Jim Parker).

Simon's regular song, The Handweaver and the Factory Maid (roud 17771) is generally accepted to be from either Lancashire or Ireland. The version Simon got from the singing of Sylvia Barnes is clearly based in Glasgow. Whether it is traditional or Sylvia's own rewrite we do not know, but Roud doesn't list a Scottish version.

Colin borrowed from the repertoire of The Smothers Brothers the song Eskimo Dog (Dick Smothers, Tom Smothers), replacing "North Pole" in the first line of the first verse with "Scotland". The song is a parody of Whiskey in the Jar (roud 533).

Colin's A Scottish Holiday (JW "Bill" Hill) is a parody of The Road to the Isles (roud 32843). We learn that Bill is a retired local government officer who also worked in the field of education. He wrote some of the funniest songs to have come out of Scotland before retiring from the music circuit due to family commitments. He is now an Edinburgh tour guide.

It fell to Simon to close the evening which he did with what on the face of it is an Irish Song. Wild Mountain Thyme was written by France McPeake, but it is based on The Braes of Balquhither (roud 541) by Scottish poet Robert Tannahill (1774–1810) and Scottish composer Robert Archibald Smith (1780–1829).

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

(Number of people present - 2 of whom 2 performed)

The Day The Pub Burnt Down / Closed Early

OK, it was originally supposed to be
a castle burning down (Image by Simon Meeds)

This evening being earmarked for Robbie Burns, your Substitute Scribe decided, as a fatuous pun on 'Burns', to sing The Day the Pub Burned Down (Rudy Sunde – brother of Ruby Tuesday?). Shortly afterwards the barmaid gave the dreadful news that our festivity was to stop at 10:15 as the rest of the pub was practically empty and they were closing early.

Given Burns' propensity for claiming authorship of most of the songs known in Scotland in C18, I have put together those songs which are associated with as well as those actually written by Burns.

Burns:

[Colin] You Jacobites by Name (Roud 5517), Parcel of Rogues (Roud 5516) & Lassie with the Yellow Coatie (Roud 2582). This last caused great problems, since Colin found himself using the similar tune of the shanty I'm Bound Away – perhaps understandably similar, since the Yellow Coatie girls were fisherwomen, gutting fish etc on the quayside. With a little tutoring from Mike, he got through it, only to find Derek struggling to escape the same tune while singing Coming Through the Rye (Roud 5512).

Saint Andrew and Scotland

Everyone seemed to be in a bad way this week. Maggie was absent with the lurgy of which Mike had a milder dose. Paul was hobbling around and Carl couldn't play his beloved guitar since his left arm wasn't working properly. Nevertheless Colin managed to MC efficiently while Mike managed the whining dog, Indy.

Richard noticed that the following Sunday would be Saint Andrew's Day and started off an impromptu theme of Scotland. Mike noted that Indy seemed to whine more at the Scottish songs than the others. Whether this is significant I'll leave to you to decide.

Burns' Night one night early

Robert Burns

This weeks' session was the nearest one to Burns' Night, so it was the obvious time to get out Rabbie's works, collections and anything else Scottish. Gerty our resident chihuahua was in fine voice and once Mike had managed to park his car we got going.

Mike kicked the session off with John Barleycorn, which is certainly an English song, but one which Robert Burns collected, presumably on a trip south of the border. Other Robert Burns related songs included:

• Such a parcel of rogues in a nation (Richard)
• Ye Jacobites by name (Simon)
• M'Pherson's farewell (Derek)
• The heifer (Richard) - mentions "Bobby Burns"