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| Kris Kristofferson in 1978 |
Colin started off the session with a rendition of Me and Bobby McGee, written by Kris Kristofferson and Fred Foster, no doubt in memory of the recently deceased Kristofferson who originally performed this popular song. Rob told us that while in the vicinity of Salinas, CA, which is a location mentioned in the song, he felt compelled to visit. He didn't find much there, but he will always remember a large sign proclaiming it the "Artichoke Capital of the World". According to Wikipedia that title is claimed by Castroville, but given that the two towns are less than ten miles apart, which would be considered as nothing in the USA, we'll let it go.
Simon referred to the county of his birth with John Sykes' The Lincolnshire Song.
Rob followed with The Keeper: not the traditional roud 1519, but a song written by Steve Knightley.
Denny said on her recent visit to see him in hospital, Paul had managed to sing Peggy Gordon (roud 2280), so she followed his example, asking everyone to join in in the style of a ventriloquist.
Sue was the first to add a new title to the Dragon database, perhaps in this case, but not always new to the club, with I wake up every morning with a smile on my face (* Boxcar Willie). As usual, I will mark new entries to the database with an asterisk (*).
Bob completed the first rotation with Bear Creek Blues (A P Carter).
Colin brought some jollity to the proceedings with Miles Whooton's The fishfinger song (*).
Bob has several strings to his bow, and ballads make up one of them. Drawing on that string he gave us The heir of Linne (* roud 111, child 267).
Sue sang some of her own songs, which are not available on YouTube and therefore not included in the playlist linked below from "a selection". These were: Recycled teenager, A chilly song, and She was 73.
Denny's song, Wayhill Fair is another that eludes YouTube. It is closely related to Weyhill Fair (roud 1086) and the different spelling isn't significant. They share a tune and have similar structure, but the traditional one is purely about horses at the fair while the one sung apparently by The South Bank Grunters goes more off-piste in its descriptions of the fair.
Colin gives us Cheerily man (*). Apparently Rob was also considering singing it, and they discussed what Stan Hugill apparently described as "probably the most primitive, and one of the oldest of all these heaving and hauling songs of the sea. It was obscene to a degree and most versions have had to be camouflaged". Colin had sung a very much cleaned-up version.
Rob sang his own song, The sailor's return (Rob Winder). Denny commented on its passing similarity to Dorset is beautiful (Bob Gale) sung by The Yetties and The Wurzels. Although Rob accepted that some of his writing may be influenced by existing songs, he didn't seem to be aware of that song. Denny and Simon gave a quick rendition of the chorus to illustrate the point.
Denny sang a song not on YouTube, and that is The pickled herring man (*) by Cathy Wallis. The chorus has the man selling silver (herring) to buy gold (whisky).
Rob's next two songs were Bonnie laddie, hieland laddie (* roud 2330) and Farewell, farewell (* Richard Thompson), both of which were new to the database. Farewell, farewell was written by Thompson after Fairport Convention's van crashed on the way home from a gig in Birmingham killing his girlfriend Jeannie Franklyn and the band's drummer, Martin Lamble.
Uke player Sue sang Making love, ukulele style (Paul Weirick, Charles R Hayes), a song recorded by Dean Martin.
Colin asked Rob to finish off the evening, which he did with Hand me down my walking cane (roud 11733).
Now listen to a selection of songs sung during this session.
(Number of people present - 6 of whom 6 performed)
