Marlow Bottom Acoustic Club

It was lovely to welcome back Jaqui on her Xmas trip home from Maine. Terry was in splendid form and played his whistles too – a rare treat. We were missing Rosie and Steve & Jennifer, but Bob and Roger R turned up, so along with the regulars we numbered 18. Several people brought out their seasonal songs and the evening’s performances included:

Traditional / Folk / Shanty Songs:
Old Stomry
The Streams of Lovely Nancy
He’s Young But He’s Daily Growing
High Germany
Towrope Girls
Paddy Lay Back
Wandering Soul (Kate Rusby)
Country Life
Hard Times of Old England
Crow on the Cradle

Xmas songs:
When father was Pantomime Dame
Christmas Be Almost Nigh (Watersons)
Jingle Bells, Christmas Sells….
All I Want For Christmas is Cheese (Roaring Jelly)
The Pudding Hunt Tally Ho!
Christmas in Australia

Celtic:
Ricky Doo Dum Dae
The Fisherman’s Song (Andy Stewart of Silly Wizard)

Comic but not Christmassy:
Give Up The Night Time to Old Custard Creams

Tunes:
Oyster Girl
Isabella
Canal en Octobre
Stuart’s Hornpipe

Other:
Castles in the Air (Don McClean)
The Cootamundra Wattle (John Williamson) (a yellow flowering bush)
It’s Getting Dark (a Bavarian song)
So Was I (Arthur Leonard)
Calling On Song

Next week we are eating from 7 pm onwards along with some seasonal songs & tunes. See you all then. And if not, Happy Christmas and New Year to all our friends.

It’s been a while since we had a banjo player with us, so it was great to see and hear Dan, who plays banjo for Papa Truck. He encouraged us to join in on Cripple Creek and Saw Creek and played an ad hoc version of Duelling Banjos with Roger in the break. His presence also inspired others to play country-flavoured stuff that would benefit from a touch of banjo.

John, a local melodeon player, also joined us for the first time. He played Sussex Cotillion, Portsmouth and Tarantella Calabria (I think). It was good to have another tune player along.

We hope to see both Dan and John again soon.

From our newish attendees:

• Fred sang Rolling Home (with hearty chorus singing from those assembled) and once again baffled everyone by playing splendid tunes with lots of notes on what seems to be a simple piece of plastic pipe but is actually a Willow Flute.
• Gerry started with The Boxer, with spontaneous lie-la-lie-ing from Karen and Rosie and some bass from Steve. I’m not sure that he welcomed my sound effects. Later he added two lesser-known (at least to me) songs: Mike McLellan’s The One I Love and The Lemonheads' Lied About Being The Outdoor Type.

From our occasional visitors:

• Helen sang a couple of songs, one of which was about Banbury
• Dave S didn’t sing. I’m confident that he’ll make up for this at the Xmas meal on 17th.

From the old (and not so old) guard:

• Dick sang Let Union Be, Fair Rosamund and, form his slightly-blue book, The Lusty Smith
• Steve sang Green Hills of Antrim and This Old Town
• Rosie & I tried out In Dulce Jubilo coupled with The Mummers Jig (known as My Darling Asleep except at this time of year) in preparation for Tuesday’s Xmas themed gig at Winslow. Rosie played the Shetland tune Da Trowie Burn on the concertina. With Steve on bass, we added Help Me Make It through The Night, In The Jailhouse Now and Your Cheating Heart (note the banjo friendliness), plus the usual mazurkas.
• Karen sang Shenandoah and Oh Cumberland with Roger’s accompaniment, and Cornish Men with Steve
• Roger played Scan Tester
• John sang Ghost Riders In The Sky and Lilly the Pink

We’re at The Prince Albert next week. Get there early for a good seat or, if you’re called Simon, arrive at your usual time for a stool in the middle.