St Andrew's Day 2023

We knew that some of our stalwarts would be missing from last week's Dragon session, but with just two singers present you could say we met a bit short. Nevertheless we sang 33 songs, all somehow on the theme of St Andrew, whether songs from or about Scotland, by Scottish writers, or relating to Andrew's other patronages which include fishermen, miners, textile workers and pregnant women. We didn't even have to resort to his patronage, very useful in this context, of singers.

Now we have one week's respite without a theme (on Friday 8th December), before our Christmas session on 15th. We will see how the wind blows before deciding whether we will meet for a final Christmas bash on 22nd, so watch this space closely.

Colin as MC started things off last Friday with Matt McGinn's The hielan' man (*), marking songs new to the Dragon database as usual with an asterisk (*).

Simon for the first time sang a song from the repertoires of our friends Derek B and Rob W: The dowie dens o'Yarrow (roud 13, child 214). And so ended the first, very short rotation of 16 and a half through the evening before the landlady gave us a not-so-subtle hint that it was time to pack up.

Colin's next song was interesting for the casual way he proclaimed that he may have written it, or maybe not. I have been unable to trace it anywhere, so let's assume he wrote The Thistle (* Colin Owen). The song told of that symbol of Scotland, comparing it with England's rose, Wales' daffodil and Ireland's shamrock. It definitely wasn't The shamrock and the thistle (Hamish Henderson, from a trad fragment heard on board an Irish ferry), which Colin has sung before.

I won't quite count Colin's Tommy Linn (roud 294) as a song new to the database since it is a version of Tam Lin, which we heard from Derek B in times past in the form of Old John Wallis. The linked video isn't Tommy Linn, but Tam Linn sung by Steeleye Span, for which Colin had been searching.

Simon had long wanted to sing The twa magicians (roud 1350, child 44), but couldn't get the tune to stick. This time he had a breakthrough, that the verses go tolerably well to the tune of Bonny ship the Diamond (roud 2172), which he also sang - the chorus being sung to approximately the correct tune.

Colin brought another new song to the party in the shape of Morris Blythman's Superintendent Barratt (*), one of several songs about the theft of the Stone of Scone (Scone pronounced "scoon" in this context of course).

Eric Bogle's Glasgow lullaby (*) gave Colin his next "new" song. Running out of songs about Scotland, Simon also drew on the songwriting of originally Scottish Eric Bogle with The band played waltzing matilda before resorting to songs of St Andrew's other patronages:

• Miners - Dark as a dungeon (Merle Travis)
• Textile workers - Poverty knock (Tommy Daniel)
• Fishermen - Fiddlers' green (John Connolly)

Colin sang St Andrew's day - a toast, which is a poem by Jean Blewett and doesn't appear on YouTube.

Colin added two more songs to the database before we closed for the evening. The first was The broo road (*) about which we know very little. It was composed during the depression in Dundee, and was included by John A Brune in his collection "The Roving Songster". His last and the final song of the evening was Tramps and hawkers (* roud 1874)

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

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

A bit of everything

Elizabeth "Libba" Cotten

Well, last Friday's Dragon session was a breath of fresh air. Not only was it the second time in two weeks that we had a roll call of seven at The Bridge Inn, but this time they were all in the room at the same time and they all performed.

Unfortunately we are going to be down on numbers this week unless you come along, and it would be absolutely splendid if you could, whether you mainly sing, play, recite or listen. As usual anything goes as long as it's acoustic.

Back to last week, Colin as MC started things off with his own song, Hergest Ridge, to a tune borrowed from Mike Oldfield's album of the same name. Hergest Ridge is a large elongated hill which traverses the border between England and Wales in the United Kingdom, between the town of Kington in Herefordshire and the village of Gladestry in Powys. Its highest point, which is in England, is 426 metres high.

All of the songs sung during the session with the exception of the aforementioned Hergest Ridge are to be found on the "a selection" playlist linked below as is T S Eliot's poem Journey of the Magi, which was read by Jane.

What are missing are Jane's stories, which are worth a mention. They concerned:

• the stress of being Father Christmas
• The Brighton Story about a ghost ship seen near Shoreham
• a bird-friendly thatcher and his encounters with Death
• why does some idiot have to write a book about where I live?

I'll pick a handful of songs to mention because they may not be entirely obvious.

Freight Train, sung by Sue, was written by Elzabeth Cotten in her early teens. For a large part of her life she didn't play the guitar. When she was working for the Seeger family as a maid, they were out one day and on their return they heard music. The found it was the maid having picked up someone's guitar and playing it upside down as she continued to do. And so Libba Cotten was discovered and in her later years became a recording and performing artist.

Colin sang Sonny's Dream which was written by Ron Hynes, a folk singer-songwriter from Newfoundland and Labrador. The song was heard by Scottish artist Hamish Imlach while on a trip to Canada. He modified it somewhat and played it in folk-clubs in Britain. There it was heard by Christy Moore who recorded it and passed it on to other artists in Ireland. A version titled "Sonny" was recorded by Mary Black.

Bob gave us Lost Highway, made famous by Hank Williams, but written and first recorded by Leon Payne.

Simon's Lady Franklin's Lament (roud 487, laws K09) first appeared as a Broadside ballad around 1850 and has since been recorded with the melody of the Irish traditional air "Cailín Óg a Stór" by numerous artists. It has been found in Ireland, in Scotland, and in some regions of Canada.

Rob sometimes takes a traditional ballad, particularly one of those indexed by Francis James Child, and writes a new ballad to look at the story from a different perspective or to explain missing pieces of the tale. Young Horn and Lady Jean is just such a song, inspired by Hind Horn (roud 28, child 17).

Bob and Sue sang Jackson, which is usually associated with Johnny and June Carter Cash, but was written by Billy Edd Wheeler and Jerry Leiber.

We had some discussion about Sue's song Busy doing nothing. Written by Jimmy Van Heusen and Johnny Burke it came from the film of Mark Twain's novel A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court where it was sung by Bing Crosby, William Bendix and Cedric Hardwicke.

It was Rob who finished off the evening which cut a little short by landlady Helen informing us that we were the last customers and she would be shutting up. Rob sang The Dowie Dens O'Yarrow (roud 13, child 214).

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

(Number of people present - 7 of whom 7 performed)