Marlow Bottom Acoustic Club

Friday 30th May at Swisss Farm Camp Site

The usual Horse and Groom venue wasn't available due to a funeral, so Roger found us a venue at The Swiss Farm Camp Site on Marlow Rd, Henley. We had a brilliant evening with a mixture of tunes and songs, with everyone getting a turn to do around 3 songs each using amplification if they wanted. Some excellent performers ensured it was a great evening and the owner of the campsite, and a number of campers, also enjoyed it every much. If we go again Roger will ensure they lay on some real ale! But other than the beer, the venue was fine.

A very big thanks to Dougie Brown, Terry Silver, Sara Daniels, Bill and Joan McKinnon, Anne-Marie and her friend, as well as some of the regulars of MBAC - that is Alan & Rosie & their son Martin, Steve and Jennie, Karen and Roger.

As a depature from the usual pattern of blogs here, I thought I'd encourage some interaction by posing a question.

Which are your 3 favourite Dick Frost songs?

Please use the 'Comment' link to submit your entries. Although I encourage you to register, you can comment wihtout doing so - just put your name in the comment.

If we have enough response, I'll compile a 'Hit Parade' and perhaps even create a special 'Dick Frost Greatest Hits (so far)' jukebox.

People
Number - 10 (less than usual as some people on holiday)
Age range – approx 50 years
Average Age – approx 49 years
Gender – just 3 of the fairer

Songs and Tunes
Number - 26
Age Range – over 300 years
Average Age – Probably 20th century, but a bit difficult to work out without a lot of research!

Topics

Well, there was a lot of banter and a lot of jokes and laughter and discussion on all manner of subjects.

As for the music:

Tunes

Sonny Brogan’s Mazurka
Charlie Lennon’s Mazurka
Musical Priest
Star of Munster
Sheebeg and Sheemore
Speed The Plough
Stockton Hornpipe
Boys from the Blue Hills
Road to Hull
Some tunes I didn’t catch the name of

Songs

Let Union Be
Hours of Wealth
Keep on the Sunny Side
Country Roads
Amelia Where You Bound To
She Loved a Portuguese
Original Fire
Crazy
Maid on the Shore
Wish You Were Here
Don’t Slay that Potato
Fanny Blair
Rock and Roll Nerd
Help Me Make It Through The Night
Medicine Wheel
Lily the Pink

Friday 30th May we are at Folk on Friday in henley at the Club House at Swiss Farm Camping on the marlow Road, from 7:30 onwards.

Next week (Wed 4th June) we are at The Old Ship, Cadmore End.
Following wk (Wed 11 June) we are at The Nag's Head, London Road, High Wycombe.

The nice weather encouraged some people to take an evening stroll and then pop into The Prince Albert at Frieth this week. They seemed to like what they heard, and joined in with choruses and applause. This made for a very pleasant evening.

If they were listening closely, they heard Karen sing John McCrae's excellent update of Arthur McBride. The recruiting sergeant's victims in this version are reminded that they may end up in Iraq or Afghanistan.

Here's what else they heard:

Dick	Innocent Hare, Bring Us a Barrel, Limehouse Lass
Dave H	The Sea, Let Smiling Be Your Banner (which really should be Dave's motto), Clipper Ships
Dave F	New Barbary (if we operated a word quota, this would have used Dave's up for the evening - and without a lyric sheet), William Taylor, Fishing for the Humpback Whale
Roger M	Durham Rangers (which would have used up his note quota)
Karen	Somewhere Along The Road
Karen & Roger	Where Are You Tonight (hear this on the music player on the right)
Rosie & Alan	Tar Road to Sligo/Tripping Up the Stairs/Blarney Pilgrim, I'll Fly Away, Crazy, Teahan's Favourite/Maggie in the Woods
Alan	Sportsman's Hornpipe
Delia	Where Have All The Flowers Gone, Generation of Life
Roger R	The Unfortunate Tailor, Some Tyrant Has Stolen My True Love Away, Rosabella
John	Northwest Passage
Vicky	Bluebonnets' Wing

We look forward to hearing Always Look On The Bright Side Of Life from Roger when he's loaded the full lyrics rather than just the first lines onto his PDA.

We're at TJ's next week, where we're unlikely to encounter passing hikers. However, we're sure to hear some great songs and have a lot of fun.

We had a lovely evening, and it was especially good to see (and hear) Richard Lloyd and Dave Sanderson. Sally joined us with her bodhran and she and Karen joined in with several tunes. I’m afraid this blog is rather brief – busy life! Apologies if I have omitted anyone’s songs or tunes. The evening comprised:

Dick (voice): Wild Rover, Bring Us A Barrell, Fair Rosamund, Lovely Nancy, Man in The Moon

Alan & Rosie (voice, guitar, mandolin):
Tunes: Lord Inchquin, Am Jigs, Musical Priest, Star of Munster, Captain Byngs, Peg Ryan, Maids of Ardagh, Fanny Power
Songs: Jolly Rogues of Lynn, Across the Universe, You’ve Got Her in Your Pocket, I’ve Waited As Long As I Can, Your Cheating Heart

Richard (voice, whistle, accordion) : I Drew My Ship Into The Harbour (accompanied by piano accordian), Sucking Pig, Rippling Lads, Bold Riley,

Roger & Richard (guitar and low whistle): Haste to the Wedding, Behind the Haystack

Roger (guitar): Boys of the Blue Hills, Harvest Home

Karen (voice, bodharn): The Call And The Answer, Sun Coming Over the Hill, Heart Like A Wheel, Great Divide,

Dave Sanderson (voice): Tom Brown, The Maiden Over

John (voice): Anathea (Hungarian gypsy song), Sloop John A,

Sally: bodhran

Karen and Roger had a successful recording session in the Brake/Jackson dining room last week. I've added several of the tracks to the main music player on the right.

I've also started to add some of the recordings from Stuart's minidisc player. These really are 'live from Marlow Bottom Acoustic Club' and capture what's it's like on a Wednesday evening, complete with mistakes, coughing and joining in. Thanks to everyone for letting us use them. More to come!