Being Friday the 23rd of May, 2014 ...

Here’s what la plus belle Angela did ...

Elle chante dans une langue étrangère ... sans pantalon!

Did you ever wonder why the noun ‘trousers’ is always plural in English?
(I know a poem by steve rudd about that,)
Mais, en français, la mot ‘pantalon’ est singulier.

Molly was distracted from her homework ...

Sorry for poor quality image.
In a good light Molly is particularly handsome ...
like it says in the song.

Paul sang about a radio programme ...

You don't have to play it, but ...

Tony was a star!

He has abandoned France, and his bathroom-suite, in order to concentrate on his grandchildren.

He threw one of them from this iconic London river-crossing ...

"Tick-tock," we all sang ...

in company with Yvonne and Mike H.

There was a smattering of holiness ...

(Sydney Carter, 1915 - 2004.)

There were only two fictional deaths, one very long train, a single lost maidenhead and one obtuse reference to a very ancient profession.

We all went home smiling ... 

because the whole world smiles with you!

For Molly: some research ...

Well, I never …

Almost 40 years ago, while working on the other side of the world, I became friends with an antipodean.
His name was Andy Gough.
We sang and played together.
We even got paid once!
(Andy is probably very famous now.)
He shared with me a song entitled Handsome Molly.
Andy had no idea where it came from, so we dubbed it ‘trad.’.

After some decades of the song residing in the deepest recesses of my tiny brain, I trotted it out in our little club.
I still had no idea of its origins.
Encouraged by Angela to research it, I understand that it was composed by a near-blind individual named Gilliam Banmon Grayson (1887 - 1930.) ...

He was an American old-time fiddler and singer.

Now I discover that it has been recorded by Mick Jagger on his 1993 album Wandering Spirit …

Who would ever have thought that Dogsbody would share repertoire with a Rolling Stone?
(Actually, Jagger pinched it from me!)

Romeo and Juliet ...

We can do this, can’t we?





Here's how it might work ...

• Keyboard … Brenda.
• We need a competent lead-guitarist. We’ve got one … Roger!
• A vocalist would help … Roger.
• Celestial vocal harmony ... Angela.
• Rhythm-guitar … anyone in concert pitch who can follow Roger's fingers.
• Bass guitar … Lucy.
• A fiddle would work rather well … Mick, surely you can do that?
• Percussion … there’s always somebody around with a goat-skin.
• Bowed psaltery? " ... NO!” says Ken-the-Wise.
• Dogsbody dejectedly weeps!
• Kazoo … "Are you sure that’s appropriate, Mr Paul?"

Ignoring all that frivolity above, Roger does a rather wonderful and much-requested, solo.
You'll just have to come along to hear more.

Is that folk?
Does it matter?

Being Friday the 16th of May, 2014 ...

Angela, fortified by herbal beverage, kept a motley crew in order.

She was presented with a home-made boat, but Moseley chose to use it as a hat ...

"Do you think it might rain?"

Paul delivered wise counsel on how not to be ...

Spoil-sport!

Berry demonstrated his new guitar ...

"... and only fifty quid!"

Mave sang delightfully about an engine driver ...

Now he's the King of the North-Eastern Line.

Now, I'll bet that you all believed that Lord John Franklin was lost in an Arctic wasteland some time after 1845.
Ken gave a different account:
Captain Sir John (RN) became disorientated in this metropolis ...

"Please, can you direct me to the North-West Passage?"
(That seems rather strange because MK was only established in 1967.)

Les lamented the loss of his local filling station ...

... where the old pumps used to stand.

Here you see Melissa's rather lovely guitar ...

Only love can do this, she sang.

Angela made an instrumental debut using her new mandolin.
(Dogsbody forgot to photograph it.)

There was music, singing, yodelling, whistling, foot-tapping, bubble-blowing, benign interpersonal abuse ...
(Yes, Berry and Ken were there!)
There were the usual accounts of love, loss, death ... but no amputations nor confinement in secure units.
Next time, maybe!

Being Friday the 9th of May, 2014 ...

Numbers varied throughout the evening, but we managed to pay the rent.

For some strange reason Lucy and Paul wished it would rain ...

I wish they hadn't sung that song

Roger 'regurgitated an albatross' ...

... a flashing turquoise blade ...
For 'albatross regurgitation' read 'something Roger writ that he has done before.'
Roger's regurgitation never fails to enchant.

Elayne brought along her extensive and immaculately ordered repertoire ...

"Yes, I know them all!"

Mick did some fine fiddling ...

In company of Tony we revolted ...

Aux armes, citoyens, To arms, citizens, Formez vos bataillons, Form your battalions, Marchons, marchons ! Let's march, let's march! Qu'un sang impur Let an impure blood Abreuve nos sillons ! Water our furrows! (repeat)

Aux armes, citoyens,	To arms, citizens,
Formez vos bataillons,	Form your battalions,
Marchons, marchons !	Let's march, let's march!
Qu'un sang impur	Let an impure blood
Abreuve nos sillons !	Water our furrows! (repeat)

Aux armes, citoyens,

To arms, citizens,

Formez vos bataillons,

Form your battalions,

Marchons, marchons !

Let's march, let's march!

Qu'un sang impur

Let an impure blood

Abreuve nos sillons !

Water our furrows! (repeat)

Nobody lost their heads, but there was one hopeful soul ...

Great song, Melissa.
Full lyrics at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wayfaring_Stranger_(song)

We parted, near-silently, in hopes that the morn might bring ...

but on Saturday it rained!

Being Friday the 2nd of May, 2014 ...

A wonderful thing happened … somewhere!

So, what did we do this week at the City Folk Club while some people were somewhere else?
(Come on, you know who you are!)

We welcomed May …

Bluebells they have started to ring - oh!

Paul wished he worked in wood …

There was one execution …

You may forget the singer,
but don't forget this song.

An unplanned competition arose about who could perform the most ancient music.
Roger won by performing a song that Sophocles wrote …

Well, that's what Roger said.

We welcomed Jenny and daughter, Gaelle.
Gaelle successfully reduced the average age of participants.
She put us all to shame by performing a charming song that she had crafted spontaneously within the first hour of proceedings.
Don’t worry, Gaelle, we won’t tell your mother!

Jenny, (welcome back!) sang about a shoreline harvest ...

Cockle Picking, North-Easr Coast, John Falconer Slater, (1857 - 1937.)

Mike sang about some luxurious night attire …

Available on eBay: £16.98 + £3.00 p&p.
(Please note: youthful body not included!)

Nigel introduced us to a lead miner …

Year: 1851 ...

Angela navigated the ocean in a home-made vessel.
Just follow these simple instructions ...

Here's one I made earlier.
It rapidly sank!

Mike offered his own composition about illicit trade in Chichester Harbour …

...up muddy creeks and rolling tide ...

Then we rolled home in near-silence!

About a Song ...

The Parting Glass

Last week Roger-the-Knowledgeable attested that The Parting Glass is a very old song of Scottish-border origin.

Dogsbody didn't know that.

Indeed, it is true!

It first appeared in print as a broadside of 1770, although there are earlier references.

Some say that it derives from a poem written by one Thomas Armstrong.
The Armstrong family was notorious as border reivers.
Thomas was executed in 1601 for the murder of Sir John Carmichael of Edrom, Warden of the Scottish West March.

Sir Walter Scott published Armstrong’s Goodnight in Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border in 1802/3 …


By his own hand Sir Walter is circumspect about the original words.
Other authorities contend that such attribution is simply apocryphal. 
Nevertheless, the romantic notion that it was composed by a convicted felon awaiting the gallows remains rather attractive, (in a macabre sort of way!)

Acknowledgement with thanks to: http://www.justanothertune.com/html/partingglass.html

Now here's a triumphant variant composed/arranged by Shaun Davey ...

Then there's The High Kings' rendition
(Skip those annoying adverts!)

You will discern an additional reprise ...

So fill to me the parting glass,

And drink a health whate'er befalls.

Then gently rise and softly call:

Good night and joy be to you all.

We need only a uillean piper, a harp, a solo flautist, full orchestra and chorus ...
Next time, maybe!