The Brewer Laddie

We were pleased to welcome Bill and Jenny back in our company last Friday.

Bill gave me a CD that he has recorded.

Click the graphic to hear track 1: The Brewer Laddie.

Here I must apologise to Berry for suggesting that he doesn’t know any long words.

Actually he described Bill’s performance style as idiosyncratic.
That’s SIX syllables!

Bill received that comment as a compliment.

Being The 27th of January, 2012 ...

Berry was MC.

(Ignore Ken in the background of this image. Ken was elsewhere in pantomime.)

Berry was charming, (as always,) and he deserves to be congratulated for handling such a busy evening particularly well.

Berry did not use the word 'mellifluous', but he skillfully directed us using words of not more than two syllables.

Going the risky way around the tables, here's what we heard ...

Musn't Grumble: Berry

Bar-room Girl: Max & Sylvia

Ten Thousand Miles: Jane W.

A Man's a Man for all that: Nigel

When the Green Man Walks the Forest: Mave

The Angels have taken my Racehorse Away: Bill

Changes: Mike

In My Life: Roger

Leaning on the Everlasting Arms: Jane R. & Roger

The Drovers: Colin

Song of the Chanter: Lorna

Never Grow Old: Richard

Mole in the Ground: Angela

King of the Fishes: Roland

(?) 2-Step Mystery: Dave

Louisiana Way: Les

Lucy Cartwright: Jimmy

Whatever Happened to Saturday Night: Lynda

What Goes on in Your Mind: Lynda & Paul

Those Memories: Lucy, Max & Sylvia

Almost Persuaded: Max, Sylvia, Paul and others

(Something Scottish - not Burns!): Jane W.

Now Westlin' Winds: Nigel

The Barley Mow: Bill

I Told You: Mike

When I was on Horseback: Jane R. & Roger

Leave Her Johnny: Colin, Angela & Roland

Star of Kintra: Lorna

Canaan's Land: Angela, Roland & Richard

Big Tree: Dave

Blue Night: Les

What am I to You?: Jimmy

Died for Love: Lynda

You are my Sunshine: Paul & full cast

Your Cheatin' Heart: Berry & full cast

Some of us lost the plot in Bill's rendition of 'The Barley Mow'.

For future reference, the final refrain might accumulate the following in some sort of order:

Here's good luck to the company, good luck to the Barley Mow ...

• Company
• Slavey
• Daughter
• Landlady
• Landlord
• Barrel
• Half-barrel
• Gallon
• Half-gallon
• Quart-pot
• Pint-pot
• Half a pint
• Gill-pot
• Half a gill
• Quarter gill
• Nipperkin
• ... and the round bowl

So ... remember all that for next time.

Celebrating the birth of Rabbie Burns ...

Take:

• 1 sheep's stomach or ox caecum, cleaned and thoroughly, scalded, turned inside out and soaked overnight in cold salted water
• Heart and lungs of one lamb
• 450g/1lb beef or lamb trimmings, fat and lean
• 2 onions finely chopped
• 225g/8oz oatmeal
• 1 tbsp salt
• 1 tsp ground black pepper
• 1 tsp ground dried coriander
• 1 tsp mace
• 1 tsp nutmeg
• water, enough to cook the haggis
• stock from lungs and trimmings

Then listen to the following instructions ...

Enjoy ...
Great chieftain o' the puddin' race.

No, thank you; I never eat anything I can't identify!

Rolling Down to Old Maui ...

Here's a suggestion for the next community-singing project:



Here's the chorus:

Rolling down to old Maui, my boys,
Rolling down to old Maui.
We're homeward bound from the arctic ground
Rolling down to old Maui.

Regard this as 'work in progress'!

From a different recording/sleeve notes Nigel adds the following intelligence:

... from Songs The Whalemen Sang by New Englander, Gale Huntington. Many young men working on the American whaling ships kept personal journals in which they recorded the voyage, made sketches, notes and copied their favourite songs. The words of this song were taken from such a journal made aboard the Atkins Adams in 1858. The noble tune is from Chanteying Aboard American Ships by F.P. Harlow. Maui is one of the Hawaiian islands and was a meeting place for whalers . . . . something to look forward to between trips. A‘homeward bound’ feeling prevails after the arctic hunting season but it was likely that they were merely calling at Maui for ‘fittingout’ for a further half year in the southern oceans.
 

Being The 20th Day of January, 2012 ...

Mike, in the chair, impressed us by using this word:

What else did we do?

Knocking on Heaven's Door: Mike P.
Yesterday: Paul
Am I that Easy to Forget: Lynda & Paul
Spotted Cow: Roland
Morningtown Ride: Yvonne
Sat in a Circle: Mike H.
Skye Boat Song: Lorna
And our Singing will Never be Done: Mave
Blackwaterside: Mick
Grave-Digging Song: Tony
I Want You: Steve
Looking in the Eyes of Love: Melanie
I'm a Man: Max
Wind and Rain: Lucy
January Man: Nigel
Ny Kirree fo Niaghty: Colin
Scousers Never Buy the Sun: Mike
Noah: Paul
Maid of Culmore: Lynda
Ship in Distress: Roland
Black is the Colour: Angela
Mrs. Bennet's Eyes: Yvonne
Whiskery Bob: Mike H.
Banks o' Doon: Lorna
Jacko the Shunter: Mave
Itzikel: Mick & Mike P.
The Foggy Dew: Tony
Subterranean Homesick Blues: Steve
The Show: Melanie
Bird in the Bush: Nigel
Love Farewell: Max
Young Banker: Angela, Roland & Colin

... and we all went home feeling so much better than when we arrived.
Dogsbody dreamed about Jacko the Shunter ...

(That's an Andrew Barclay 0-4-0 saddle-tank.)

Young Banker

You might hear a rendition of this shortly...



The banker, in this instance, is not a bowler-hatted-commuter to the City of London.
He is a rustic tradesman.
He clears ditches and builds stone walls.
He sports a fine head of hair and shows a pleasing face.

His lace-adorned hat renders him questionably attractive to fair maidens.

Here's the chorus:

Young banker he had such an handsome face

And all around his hat he wore a band of lace

Beside such an handsome head of hair

For my young banker I will go there

(I think some of those 'h's should be aspirated.)

Go for it!

PSM shares the following intelligence:

The Wilsons are a fine group and, in a rare Southern appearance, are booked to do a day-long workshop (on Mining songs & Graeme Miles songs) plus an evening concert at the Lewes Saturday Club on the 21st of July.
You'll find Lewes Arms Folk Club's programme of workshops at LAFC workshops

Being Friday, the 13th of January, 2012 ...

Twenty-six people overcame the widely-held, irrational superstition regarding the date and ventured forth.

The director's chair was occupied by an innominate penguin of indeterminate gender.

Two experts in Antarctic ornithology have reliably identified the penguin as eudyptes moseleyi.
That's a rockhopper: anyone who has watched the film Happy Feet will know that.

The flightless bird was lovingly assisted by Angela who has still to decide on a name for her accomplice.



Action:

Wildwood Flower: Angela & Roland
Captain Wedderburn's Courtship: Colin & Laura
Little Bitty Tear: Paul
Sealed with a Kiss: Lynda & Paul
Bold Gambling Boy: Roland
The Man with a Child in his Eyes: Molly
Please Don't Call me Louise: Mike H.
After the Goldrush: Laura & Colin
Two Shetland Tunes: Lorna
Christmas in No-Man's Land: Annie
Four Strong Winds: Margaret
The Shepherd of Aberdovey: Bill
The Snows They Melt the Soonest: Kath
Little Pot Stove: Ken
Stone Walling Song: Mave
At the End of the Day: Nigel
Dreaming: Berry
King of Rome: Lucy
With a Little Help from my Friends: Les
Santiano: Angela & Roland
Parcel of Rogues: Colin
Things we used to do: Paul
The Carnival is Over: Lynda & Paul
Four Seasons in one Day: Molly
Do You Remember (something about a former girlfriend who went off to France): Mike H.
Looking at the Rain: Laura
Maid of County Down: Lorna
Farewell (my Love): Annie
Sospan Fach: Bill
Billy Riley: Kath
Farewell to the Gold: Ken
North Country Maid: Mave
Bye Bye Blues: Berry
When You Say Nothing At All: Lucy
Speak to the Sky: Les
The Farmer's Toast: Nigel

Cut!

Dogsbody's note:
Nigel had earlier advised that he would like to present the finishing song: an offer that the MC gladly accepted.
Nigel kindly distributed hard-copy of the chorus during the interval, so the finale became a glorious piece of community singing.
It strikes me that this is a strategy that would be worthy of perpetuating.
Thank you, Nigel!

Ray Hedges - progress report 2

Ray is out of hospital and staying with daughter Di. He's still somewhat breathless.

In No Strange Land

Here's ROGER!

Lyrics: Francis Thompson (1859 - 1907).
Original tune: Roger, Pitched betwixt Heaven and Charing Cross.

Ray Hedges - progress report

Ray was well enough to see vistors today (Monday 9th), and had had 6 before Mave and I got there, to be joined by daughter Di and granddaughter Gemma, and his neighbour and her daughter. Cautiously optimistic that Ray, in good spirits and clearly much better, will be home later this week.

Being The 6th January, 2012 ...

17 people were sufficiently recovered from the season of overindulgence to attend.

Paul directed operations.

For Ramona#1/I'm a Loser: Paul
Galway to Graceland: Mike P.
There'll be no Sorrow There: Angela
God Bless the Master: Roland, Angela & Colin
Faded Coat of Blue: Richard
Now the Buffalo's gone: Les
...(?) and the Sorcerer: Mick
Carrion Crow: Tony
Give to the Belly, Boys: Ken
I'm Forever Blowing Bubbles: Mave
After 2000 Years: David
My Eldorado: Nigel
I've got Nothing but Time: Sue & Patrick
Ogreyala: Patrick & Sue
Forsaken Mother and Child: Colin
For Ramona#2: Paul
Galway Girl: Mike
Here we Come a Wassailing: Angela
Fakenham Fair: Roland
Sugar Hill: Richard
When I'm 64: Les
Khosidl: Mick
The Indian Lass: Ken
When the Green Man Walks the Forest: Mave
Don't Weep for Me: David
Westering Home: Sue
The Painful Plough: Nigel
Annie's Gonna Sing a Song: Patrick
Parting Song: Colin

Someone asked about Mick's offering, Khosidl.
(Isn't Wikipedia is wonderful resource?)
Apparently it's some sort of Yiddish dance. See Jewish dance

Celebration at a siyum ha-Torah (completion of the writing of a Torah scroll) in a synagogue, Dubrovno, Russia (now in Belarus), ca. 1905.

You can find Mick's earlier rendition recorded on board MV Richmond in June 2011 at Khosidl, Mick W

Ray Hedges unwell

Our dear friend and supporter of folk clubs along the South coast, Ray, was admitted to St. Richard's on Wednesday (the 4th). He's not well enough to receive visitors yet. I'm sure all at the City Folk Club will join me in wishing Ray a speedy recovery and a quick return to singing and playing his accordion.
Ken Hobbs

Being The 30th December, 2011 ...

22 people gathered to celebrate the approaching Turn of the (calendar) Year.

They were welcomed by this strangely dressed individual …

… who greeted everyone with a single word – HUMBUG!

Here’s some of the charming company …

We received apologies from certain regular participants on the grounds of ill health.
Somebody asked, “Where’s Ken?”
It seems he and Mave had a better offer.
Berry? Brenda? – Dunno!

Unfortunately Pat Ware, (who oversees our tenancy of the Guide Hall,) and husband, Allan, were unable to attend to receive our customary gift of flowers, again because of some seasonal suffering.

We were particularly delighted to welcome our founding father, Max, and Sylvia once more in our company.

With a near-prompt beginning at 20.14 hrs, 47 secs, here’s what we performed:

In the Bleak Midwinter: Jane T.
Travellin' Light: Richard
Kathy's Song: Lynda
Saint Stephen: Roland
As I sat under a Sycamore Tree: Angela
Mother's Fed up with Christmas: Les
Lavender's Blue: Yvonne
I'll Take you Dancing Tonight: Mike H.
Coventry Carol: Jane R.
The Owl and the Pussy Cat: Roger
Cherry Tree Carol: Margaret
Sleigh Bells: Mick
The King: Max & Sylvia
Bedlam Boys: Max & Sylvia
To Know, Know, Know Him: Lucy
Perhaps Love: David
Copper's Christmas Song: Nigel
Your Mother and I: Paul
Shepherds Arise: Colin
Farewell, Farewell: Lynda
Play a Simple Melody: Richard
Three Babes: Angela
Shady Grove: Les

At this juncture Dogsbody coerced Angela and Roland into performing The Boar’s Head Carol, unrehearsed apart from some summary exchanges by email.

It went rather well, and served as an invitation to share food that everybody had brought along.

The FOOD – aaah!

Thank you everybody.

GLORIOUS FOOD!
The blueberry pavlova was a culinary triumph.

Down to musical business again:

Butter and Cheese and All: Roland

Push a Little Button: Yvonne

The Freedom Come All Ye: Nigel

Washed in the Blood of the Lamb: Jane & Roger

Ghost Horses: Mike H.

My Love is like a Red Red Rose: Margaret

Children and the Flowers: David

Blanket on the Ground: Lucy, Paul, Sylvia & Max

Farther Along: Roger

Dreaming my Dreams with You: Max & Sylvia

The Ship Comes Home: Mick

The Good Old Way: Colin, Jane, Angela & Roland
Won't you come Home, Bill Bailey: Paul
Cole Creek March: Richard
Days: Max & Sylvia
Awake, awake, you Drowsy Sleeper: Angela
Good Night Angel: David
Down in yon Forest: Colin
Dance me to the end of Love: Jane, Roger & Mick

We finished with a traditional rendering of Auld Lang Syne led by Nigel. There was only a little gymnastic difficulty with regard to the hand-holding/arm-crossing choreography.

All in all this was a special evening of wonderful music in delightful company.

Importantly, it celebrated the end of another successful year for The City Folk Club.

Thank you to everyone who came along, shared music and food, and contributed in whatever way.
Thank you to all of you regularly attend, and to those who occasionally come along.
It is you that makes this remarkable gathering work.

Here's wishing you all a very happy and healthy 2012.

Addendum: Mrs. Ware says, "Thank you for the lovely flowers," and wishes us all joy for the coming year.