Marlow Bottom Acoustic Club

Calling All Bottomers !
Here is my 2nd attempt at Blogging......probably not as good as last week,but quite a few people did not say/write down by whom their songs/tunes were written,and I am not clairvoyant (or Clare Francis,or Clare Rainer etc).

We shall start with Gerry (and why not ??), who got straight down to business with "The Pugilist" ,by P Simon,followed later by "Sailing To Australia" ( Dougie MacClean),a subject dear to Gerry's heart.
Steve appears next on the blog sheet,and so I can report that he made light work of Nancy Griffith's "Talk to Me While I'm Listening".Later,he sang something else,but it doesn't appear on the crime-sheet,and my memory isn't what it was......
Next we shall deal with Mr Diegan,who was obviously in a nautical frame of mind ,hence "List For A Sailor" and Engine Room Artificer Tawney's "Sally Free And Easy"......Did the room sway and the lamp swing for you too ??
Ian gave us "The Flying Cloud" and "In Good King Arthur's Time", and Dick led us all in "Come My Lads" and the always -funny "The Fatal Glass of Beer".
A waltz by someone called Archie Dagg was brought to life for our enjoyment by Delia & Stuart,the former also performing "All Among The Barley" with great aplomb. Then up piped the directors of Fenner Fabrics ("Everybody Out !"---remember?) with jolly renditions of "The Rose", "The Hand Song","Hazard" (Richard Marks) and Paul Metzers' "1000 Years Today"..... I think I got that right--but who knows??
Visitor Jon ,from Tring,sang "One Drunken Maiden", a parody of "She Moved Through The Fair", and "We Shepherds Are The Best Of Men" -----at first,I thought it was "Wee Shepherds",ie stunted stockmen,but apparently not.
This brings us on to ----blush ! blush! ---myself and the lovely Karen,and our learned- the- previous- day attempt at Kate Wolf's "Here In California",which went rather well, I thought,then "Where Are You Tonight" as sung by June Tabor , and then I played ( yet again) "Le Canal En Octobre"----I live in hope that Fred Paris has written "Le Canal En Novembre" also.
OK, nearly there now ! The ever dependable and irrepressible Dave treated the assembled throng to "Let Smiling Be Your Banner" and "Hobos" ,which I am generously assuming that he both wrote himself, and lastly,not O'Sullivan's John, but Geraldine's John,freshly arrived from Orpheus but not necessarily in the underworld, sang "Hallelujah" ( L Cohen) and the hilarious "Bournemouth"------Les Barker,I think ?
Oh yes, and Will the Scot played his flute AGAIN ....."Scarborough Fair", it was, which we all joined in with.
Until the next time, then,
RVM

Wednesday the 23rd of September saw a fair gathering of afficionados comfortably, if a little warmly, ensconced in an otherwise deserted main bar at "The Pegasus". Those in attendance were: Dick--Alan &Rosie--Karen & Roger--Kerralee & Martin--The Fletchers--Dave & Norma--Gerry and, later, Paul and John. And a Scottish person who consistently refused to play the flute! There were, Zigo-like,a few absentees,viz. Bob T, Fred and Richard who's been coming a lot lately !

After a warm welcome back from everyone to Dave & Norma, Dick,as usual,had the honour,and started the evening off with the Waltzing Matilda parody "Walking Your Bulldog", with the further contributions,as the evening wore on,of "I Drew My Ship" and,surprisingly,"The Wild Rover".

Alan & Rosie were on top form (almost) with "The Nightingale",followed byCarol King's "It's Too Late" .Later offerings from them included Jake Thackray's "Grandad","My Old Friend The Blues" by Steve Earle, and five (in total) lively "joiny-in" tunesets including "Tehan's Favourite" and "Maggie In TheWoods".

After a recently- learned "Cloghinne Winds"(Briege Murphy) from Karen & Roger, Dave aired his own "HopPicking Song", which was followed by a skilfully-rendered, by Gerry,version of Mike McLellan's "The One I Love". TheFletchers' chosen concertina duet for the evening was the somewhat prophetically -titled "All At Sea" by Claire Wren, Delia later giving us the song "The Border Widow's Lament". Kerralee and Martin gave us the selves-penned "Old Song", Nina Nastasia's "Dumb I Am", "Shankhill Butchers"( The Decemberists), and "To Ohio" (The Low Anthem),whilst Gerry contributed further with "April Come She Will" (P Simon) and Mr R Thompson's "Galway To Gracelands".

Roger & Karen offered Kate Wolf's "Medicine Wheel", Karen sang solofor "What Can This Be?" (D MacLean) & B Murphy's "One DownThe Road",and Roger played Norma's request "Le Canal EnOctobre" by M Frederick Paris,accompanied by several LOUDmelodeons ! Late-arrival Paul played 2 spirited jigs,"Queen's" and "Basque",&,later,"Whittingham Green Lane" and the splendidly titled "The Duke Of Fife's Welcome To Deesside". John gave us an emotion-charged "Danny Boy",which led to the surprise "turn" of the evening when the hitherto-relcalcitrant Scot gave in and played "Danny Boy" rather neatly on his flute!

A very pleasant evening was brought to a close eventually by Mr Fletcher's appreciation of "The Oggie Man" (Tawney), Dave's recently-collected (from a Morris Side) magnificently loud, sombre & Gothic " Twiglet", and John's rendition of the "All things Bright & Beautiful " hilarious parody by Mr M Python and his Circus!

Next week,we hope to have an equally eclectic &enjoyable time in the cramped but cosy environs of "ThePrince Regent" in lovely Frieth.

RVM.

Who we were

Alan
Dave
Dick
Gerry
John
Karen
Roger
Rosie
Simon

What the Songs Were

Am Jigs
As I Roved Out
Can’t Help but Wonder Where I’m Bound
Castles in the Air
Dido bendigo
Dimming of the Day
Don’t Let it Bring You Down
Fisherman’s Blues
Great Divide
How Can I Tell You That I Love You
I’ve Waited as Long as I Can
Limehouse Lass
Looking in the Eyes of Love
Rare Old Times
Rolling Home
She Loved A Portuguese
Time of the Preacher
Vincent
We Are Safe
Widdicombe Fair
Wish You Were Here

Who Wrote the Songs (or some of them!)

Cat Stevens
Don MaClean x 2
Jim Woodland
John Tams
Kate Wolf
Kostas Lazarides & Tricia Walker,
Neil Young
Pink Floyd
Richard Thompson
Tom Paxton
Traditional
Steve Knightly
Waterboys (Stephen Patrick Wickham & Michael Scott)
Willie Nelson

When we first arrived at the Prince Albert, it seemed that we would be having a quiet evening. But people kept arriving until the pub was full, and we had a great time.

One group of three people we hadn’t seen before included a Japanese woman, who sat amongst us, leaving her male companions to sit at the other end of the bar. Naturally, we asked her if she wanted to sing, so she persuaded one of her (apparently British) companions to borrow a guitar. Together they sang a sing in Japanese, surely a first that not even Alison could top. A rough translation of the chorus is ‘drink sake until you fall over, drink sake until you are unconscious’. Perhaps this is the Japanese version of Bring Us a Barrel. I had hoped to get the Japanese title, but the party departed before I got the chance.

In the middle of the evening, Terry decided that the tone needed to be lowered and so treated us to ‘Vindaloo’, a lavatorial parody of Yahoo’s Only You. We hadn’t seen Roger Rowe for some time. As usual he arrived armed with his PDA. He was persuaded by Karen to pull up the lyrics and sing the hilarious Curry Song, another lavatorial curry-themed parody, this time of Queen’s Bohemia Rhapsody. Tears of laughter were shed!

This was Martin’s last evening with us before returning to Derby, so he sang Jason Mraz’ Dynamo of Volition. This was quite a tour de force, with enough lyrics to last us the rest of the term. His other number was Richard Thompson’s Needle and Thread.

Other contributions were:

• Dick: Let Union Be, Dido Bendigo
• Martin & Kerraleigh (AKA The August List): Settling Song (Nina Nastasia), Diamond Heart (Marissa Nadler), Whiskey In My Whiskey (Felice Brothers?) and Diamond Dust (an excellent original)
• Terry: Slow Down To My Speed (John The Fish)
• Bob: Learning the Game (Buddy Holly), Little Bowl (his own song about Hiroshima), Down Where The Drunkards Roll (Richard Thompson)
• Richard: Pull the knife and stick it in again/The Eavesdropper/Cathal MCConnells on the low whistle, Captain O’Kay/Planxty Kelly on the recorder
• Rosie and Alan: Off To California/Tomgraney Castle, Across the Universe (John Lennon) - chosen to celebrate the release of the remastered versions of all the Beatles CDs that day, Crazy
• Rosie: The Kippers’ Overstrand, with the remnants of her Norfolk accent that she brought back from our week in a cottage near to all the villages mentioned
• Karen and Roger: Country Roads, Someone Waits For Me, Follow The Heron Home
• Stuart F: Cyril Tawney’s Chicken On a Raft
• Delia: Can Ye Sew Cushions
• Roger Rowe: All Among The Barley
• Gerry: Dougie Mclean’s More Fool I, Frankie Miller’s I Can't Change It (apparently featured in the TV series Life On Mars)
• Ian: Burn The Candle Out, We Gets Up in the Morn (While The Morning Sun Do Shine)
• David/Alison/Simon: Ready For The Storm, Chant A Ma Moulin, List For A Sailor

As we no longer go to The Old Ship, we’ll be at The Belle Vue in Wycombe next Wednesday (16th). I’ll set up the PA for anyone who wants to use it. Let’s hope that the evening is a varied as this.

Several of our regulars will be playing at the MarlowFM Riley Park Music Festival this Saturday. The event runs from 11:00 until 19:00 in Riley Park, behind Waitrose in Marlow.

As well as us, the line-up includes:

• Megan Henwood - 2009 Winner of the Radio 2 Young Folk Singer of The Year Award.
• Sandy Newman, lead singer of Marmalade.
• Kindred Spirit
• The Quotes
• Anwen
• Cheryl Hillier
• Cruel Folk
• The Falling Ashes - this is Martin's band

There will be a bar and a barbecue, plus lots of other stalls. We're hoping for fine weather to add to the great music.

Do come along to help make the event a success.

Missing some of our regulars, we had a lovely relaxed unamplified acoustic evening at The Belle Vue.

For some reason we had a sprinkling of Irish sings this evening. Steve did Black Velvet Band, Andy and Richard - Fields of Athenry, John - Galway Shawl. We had 2 Dylan songs, a lovely version of Tangled Up In Blue from visitor Chris Capel from Wales, and I'll Be Your Baby Tonight from Steve and Karen. Chris also sang us two excellent songs he had written himself, Longest Day and Americano Girl, accompanied by a rather fine Gibson guitar.

Andy and Richard did some tunes as did Simon - Herbert Smith's 4-hand Reel, Dark girl Dressed in Blu, and The Maid on the Wad.

Dick was sung-out from 4 days singing in The Three Horsehoes Barn at Towersey, but managed to give us Dido Bendigo, Limehouse Lass and Twas On One April Morning.

Steve had expected to be in Durham but was unexpectedly able to be in Wycombe, and although he hadn't picked up his guitar in weeks and hadn't managed to put his new strings on, he played and sang well with Karen for The Circle Game and Dimming of the Day.

Richard and Andy had us all singing along to The Weight and The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down which they described as "a work in progress". They also sang The Broom of the Cowden Knowes, and finished the evening off with Mrs McGrath.

Before the end we managed to fit in 2 songs each for late-comers, John - whose other song was the amusing Alcoholics Anthem, and Jeremy (just back from Mexico) who treated us to Neil Young's Helpless and David Gray's This Year's Love.

jennifer won the raffle and very kindly decided on the 2 bottles of real ale for Steve - aaah!

Next week we're at The Prince Albert at Frieth. See you there.