We received a warm welcome from Paul and Fiona at our new venue and had a busy night with around 25 people turning out to join us for our first evening at The Dog and Badger. It's a lovely pub and everyone felt very comfortable and happy to be there. We also had enough room accomodate everyone, and we are all looking forward to our Xmas meal there in December. The people who happened to be in the bar also enjoyed the evening. Somehow we managed to get round the room twice. Apologies to anyone or any song or tune I’ve missed out, but the evening went something like this:-
Dick started off the evening with Bring Us A Barrell which was followed by another chorus song courtesy of Delia – Aikendrum by James Hogg. Fred also had us singing along with his own chorus composition We’ve Gone To Be Bears, and
Ian had us marvelling at his ability to remember so many words with his rendition of Jack O’Robinson – highly appreciated by Dick. Terry gave us a humorous tone with the parody “A Folk Club Lad Won’t Do For You” and then Alan, Rosie, Steve, Roger and Karen launched into a collective sing for Keep on the Sunny Side, Down to the River to Pray, and The Weight, and Alan, Rosie, and Roger did their rather tasteful version of Crazy.
Dave Heath sang his own Hop Picking Song and Malcolm austen then led some lively tunes which included Dennis Crowley’s No 2. Kerraleigh accompanied herself on guitar to Pretty Bird by Jenny Lewis, and then Martin sang Glen Tipton by a band called Sun Kill Moon. Tring John sang a song about Tanderagee which is between Newry and Portadown.
Mike Ainscough, a very welcome visitopr sang the 1921 “I’ll See You in My dreams” which was followed by Alison’s haunting “Strange Affair” by Richard Thompson. Dave Fenner sang his own eco warrior lyrics “Wounded Hillsides”. In contrast we then had Chris’s blues number, 9lb Hammer by Merle Travis, followed by the Chumbawamba Facebook song “Add Me” – which everyone sang along with somewhat raucously! This was follwed by Glen’s very tasteful “When Yellow’s on the Bloom” which sounded so beautiful that someone, maybe the landlord, bought her a drink! Helen sang Anna From Fermanagh so we could all sing along, followed by Delia’s “Oh can you sew cushions”.
Fred then gacve us his Swedish whistle experience with some polkas. John, fresh from the Orpheus choir, had us all singing Hallelujah a la Cohen, Ian sang Two More Fields, & Terry did Intercity Blues.
Karen, Roger, Steve, and Dave Fenner then accompanied each other for Here in California and Follow The Heron Home. Dave Heath did hos very snigalongable Tolpuddle Man and Malcolm played a tune by Mick Pearce with the parody “The Sailor’s New Leg” all though we preferred the title the No Oh song – which is what he said at the end of every refrain when we all sang Oh and he said No Oh, except for the last verse where the O was allowed!
Kerraleigh and Martin gave us 2 more songs but I didn’t get the title. Tring John did The Carter/Hearty Good Fellow, Mike livened us up with Dennis Murphy and John Ryan’s Polkas. Alison then caused some merriment with rather leud allusion swhen she sang The very First Time, Chris sang a very pretty lullaby by Tom Russell, and Helen did another joiny–in song, Our Gold and Silver Days.
We will be at The Dog and Badger again on 16th December for our Xmas Meal, and then for our normal Wednesday meeting on the 3rd Wednesday in January and February.
Next week, we're at The Belle Vue, High Wycombe. See you there!
Dick started off the evening with Bring Us A Barrell which was followed by another chorus song courtesy of Delia – Aikendrum by James Hogg. Fred also had us singing along with his own chorus composition We’ve Gone To Be Bears, and
Ian had us marvelling at his ability to remember so many words with his rendition of Jack O’Robinson – highly appreciated by Dick. Terry gave us a humorous tone with the parody “A Folk Club Lad Won’t Do For You” and then Alan, Rosie, Steve, Roger and Karen launched into a collective sing for Keep on the Sunny Side, Down to the River to Pray, and The Weight, and Alan, Rosie, and Roger did their rather tasteful version of Crazy.
Dave Heath sang his own Hop Picking Song and Malcolm austen then led some lively tunes which included Dennis Crowley’s No 2. Kerraleigh accompanied herself on guitar to Pretty Bird by Jenny Lewis, and then Martin sang Glen Tipton by a band called Sun Kill Moon. Tring John sang a song about Tanderagee which is between Newry and Portadown.
Mike Ainscough, a very welcome visitopr sang the 1921 “I’ll See You in My dreams” which was followed by Alison’s haunting “Strange Affair” by Richard Thompson. Dave Fenner sang his own eco warrior lyrics “Wounded Hillsides”. In contrast we then had Chris’s blues number, 9lb Hammer by Merle Travis, followed by the Chumbawamba Facebook song “Add Me” – which everyone sang along with somewhat raucously! This was follwed by Glen’s very tasteful “When Yellow’s on the Bloom” which sounded so beautiful that someone, maybe the landlord, bought her a drink! Helen sang Anna From Fermanagh so we could all sing along, followed by Delia’s “Oh can you sew cushions”.
Fred then gacve us his Swedish whistle experience with some polkas. John, fresh from the Orpheus choir, had us all singing Hallelujah a la Cohen, Ian sang Two More Fields, & Terry did Intercity Blues.
Karen, Roger, Steve, and Dave Fenner then accompanied each other for Here in California and Follow The Heron Home. Dave Heath did hos very snigalongable Tolpuddle Man and Malcolm played a tune by Mick Pearce with the parody “The Sailor’s New Leg” all though we preferred the title the No Oh song – which is what he said at the end of every refrain when we all sang Oh and he said No Oh, except for the last verse where the O was allowed!
Kerraleigh and Martin gave us 2 more songs but I didn’t get the title. Tring John did The Carter/Hearty Good Fellow, Mike livened us up with Dennis Murphy and John Ryan’s Polkas. Alison then caused some merriment with rather leud allusion swhen she sang The very First Time, Chris sang a very pretty lullaby by Tom Russell, and Helen did another joiny–in song, Our Gold and Silver Days.
We will be at The Dog and Badger again on 16th December for our Xmas Meal, and then for our normal Wednesday meeting on the 3rd Wednesday in January and February.
Next week, we're at The Belle Vue, High Wycombe. See you there!
Once again, we had an almost-full complement of the usual suspects and filled the pub to overflowing. We just managed to get two turns each.
Congratulations were due to David and Alison for their Silver Wedding Anniversary on Tuesday. Had we known in advance, we could have prepared some suitable material. As it was, Rosie came up with the reel Silver Spear (With Sally Gardens) in the break and Delia added the Anniversary Waltz.
Among the many highlights of the evening was a song called The Sun it Goes Down, in which David, Simon and Alison each sang a verse. They’d learned this number when they performed in Steve Heap’s production called Mr Humphries Railway, with which they toured Sweden and the south of England in 1982. I’ve been provided with a contemporary photo of some of the cast, and am open to offers not to publish it here, especially from the member dressed in the Saturday-Night-Fever-meets-Sunday-Morning-Cardigan outfit. I suspect that this number will pop up in Chesham on 8th.
Alison also sang Sally Ann along with Done With Sin and Sorrow and later Sally Rogers’ Lovely Agnes. David was surprised that I didn’t recognise his song. I think he told me it was by John Martyn, so it was probably Dive Deep. Simon led the assembled musicians in Oscar Wood’s Jig and Dark Girl Dressed in Blue.
Also digging up old material were Richard and Andy. As well as Down Where The Drunkards Roll, we heard:
Congratulations were due to David and Alison for their Silver Wedding Anniversary on Tuesday. Had we known in advance, we could have prepared some suitable material. As it was, Rosie came up with the reel Silver Spear (With Sally Gardens) in the break and Delia added the Anniversary Waltz.
Among the many highlights of the evening was a song called The Sun it Goes Down, in which David, Simon and Alison each sang a verse. They’d learned this number when they performed in Steve Heap’s production called Mr Humphries Railway, with which they toured Sweden and the south of England in 1982. I’ve been provided with a contemporary photo of some of the cast, and am open to offers not to publish it here, especially from the member dressed in the Saturday-Night-Fever-meets-Sunday-Morning-Cardigan outfit. I suspect that this number will pop up in Chesham on 8th.
Alison also sang Sally Ann along with Done With Sin and Sorrow and later Sally Rogers’ Lovely Agnes. David was surprised that I didn’t recognise his song. I think he told me it was by John Martyn, so it was probably Dive Deep. Simon led the assembled musicians in Oscar Wood’s Jig and Dark Girl Dressed in Blue.
Also digging up old material were Richard and Andy. As well as Down Where The Drunkards Roll, we heard:
- May I Rest My Mind While (I think)
- Could Not Take My Eyes Off You (usually sung by Bob)
- Still I Love Him (that I know from The Bothy Band as ‘Do You Love An Apple’)
- Black Night by Holly Golightly (best known to me from her cameo appearance on The White Stripes Elephant)
- Vessel in Vain by Bill Callaghan
- Rabbit Fur Coat by Jenny Lewis
- Stormy Weather by Nina Nastasia
- Here In California (Kate Wolf, who’ll probably get 3 songs in our set)
- Take Me Home Country Roads (Roger has yet to get the round glasses for this)
- Lowlands
- In The Jailhouse Now
- I’ll Fly Away
- Dick: Dido Bendigo (presumably because there was a shooting or hunting group in the pub when we arrived) and Limehouse Lass
- Delia: Look What They’ve Done To My Song Ma (a hit in 1970 for Melanie)
- Jim: Oh Boys Oh, Maid of Bethnal Green
- Bob: Do You Wanna Dance, written and recorded by Bobby Freeman in 1958 (it’s rumoured that Jerry Garcia played lead guitar on this), but best known by brits of a certain age from the Cliff and the Shadows’ version in 1962, Tim Hardin’s If I Were A Carpenter
- Gerry: John Lennon’s Julia, Dougie Maclean’s Down Too Deep
- Steve: Nanci Griffith’s Gulf Coast Highway
- Rosie and me: Schottische A Bethanie
- Ian: Flying Dutchman
It seems likely that The Pegasus will cease to be available to us in the relatively near future. With this in mind, our session on 25th November will be at The Dog and Badger in Medmenham with a view to making this a permanent venue if it works for us and them.Medmenham is between Marlow and Henley on the north side of the river. The pub is on the right when coming from Marlow and has plenty of parking. Here's a map.
Do try to come along for this first evening.
Hi everyone who might be interested ! How are you both ??
Anyway, last night, viz Wednesday the 4th November in the year of Our Lord 2009 (doesn't time fly ?), saw a small but determined (and PA-less) hard core (can I say that?) group of us gathered in the rather hot bosom of the "Belle Vue" in High Wycombe. At least, not having the paraphernalia of the PA meant that we had a bit more room in our corner; just as well we don't normally have harp or sitar players, says I.
The cast at circa 2045 comprised Dick Frost...Karen and me ...Alan & Rosie...Canalboat Jim....& Ian from Burnham. Later participants included our other John, Simon, and local student Alice, a new "find"! Anyway, Dick got us all warmed up nicely with the splendidly Francophobe "Drink Old England Dry", further contributions including "Billy Me Boy", and "Titty Fol The Day", or it could be "Titty Fal The Day"--who knows ??
Next-in-Line Jim, on this occasion, gave us Andy Cutting's "French Dance", paired with "Navvy On The Line" on mandolin. Alan & Rosie, not wanting to be outdone instrumentally, riposted (with my modest help) with the polkas "Captain Byng", "Peg Ryan", and the "Maids of Ardagh"----followed by, subliminally perhaps, all Byngs considered, the Cher song "Bang! Bang!". Ian O'Burnham then reminded us of our tenuous "folk" connections with a soulful" Greenland Whale Fishery".
At this juncture, Karen decided that we should "do something lively", most of the (admittedly) small audience of numbers almost in excess of 6 being nearly comatose, so, eager not to lose their love & support, we burst into song with "Across The Great Divide"( K Wolf). This seemed to get their attention, so I showed my extraordinary versatility by playing "The Upton Stick Dance" on tremolo harmonica. It being a busy night for me, I then accompanied Simon's melodionic "Madeleine's Waltz", a tune much used by the Jan Steen Netherlands Dance Group. By now, we had the ever-swelling audience in the palms of our hands, and Jim's very funny rendition of "The Rottenstall Annual Fair" sealed their undying loyalty.
By now able to do no wrong, we proceeded at a cracking pace, with some Mazurkas and "I'll Fly Away" (Alan, Rosie & moi again), Ian's "Drunken Blackbird"(D Behan), and Simon / myself with "The Lass of Richmond Hill" and "Belle Vue", Simon's movable feast tune that changes from venue to venue! And of course, dear Karen's recently-learned, with my accompaniment, "Long and Lonely Winter" (D Goulden, from the singing of Archie Fisher) went down rather well also ----- I can say that,'cause it's ME doing the blog!
The rest of the evening was a great success,certainly the most enjoyable for me at that venue anyway, with a real sense of "the Craic" to it, and I think Dick really enjoyed it, too. We had a visit, but no songs, alas, from a jet-lagged Helen Akitt and Glen who'd got up early to ferry her from the airport, and local Uni student Alice borrowed Alan's guitar to give us a creditable "Black Is The Colour" and, later, "Caleb Mye" (I think !) by Gillian Welsh......Alice can come again !!
Of later offerings,after the raffle ?? Well, Dick sang "Limehouse Lass", we had "Wedding Bells" and "Mary McCree" from Jim (self-penned & with a serious message); "Rakes of Kildare", "Tenpenny Bit" and "It's Too Late" were favoured by The Jackson Two; Ian sang "The Trees They Do Grow High" (always a Poplar song) and "The Dudley Boys" --- Between us, Karen & I did "Cloghinne Winds" (B Murphy), "The Rare Ould Times", and "Canal en Octobre" (F Paris), Simon offered his & Dick's composition about cross-dressing clerics, "Doris the Bishop" - set in the Six Bells, Thames, and I had a go at Les Barker's "My Futon's Gone Ron" from his book "Waiting For Dogot".
A truly SPLENDID evening was eventually brought to a dazzlingly climactic and very vocal, if not terribly musical, end,by "Our John" of the Orpheus Choir singing that old "Folk" standard " Lily The Pink" !!
Sorry if it's a bit long (as the Bishop said to, presumably, another Bishop), but A) I can't help it and B) hopefully I won't be asked to write the Blog again tee hee !!!
Roger
Anyway, last night, viz Wednesday the 4th November in the year of Our Lord 2009 (doesn't time fly ?), saw a small but determined (and PA-less) hard core (can I say that?) group of us gathered in the rather hot bosom of the "Belle Vue" in High Wycombe. At least, not having the paraphernalia of the PA meant that we had a bit more room in our corner; just as well we don't normally have harp or sitar players, says I.
The cast at circa 2045 comprised Dick Frost...Karen and me ...Alan & Rosie...Canalboat Jim....& Ian from Burnham. Later participants included our other John, Simon, and local student Alice, a new "find"! Anyway, Dick got us all warmed up nicely with the splendidly Francophobe "Drink Old England Dry", further contributions including "Billy Me Boy", and "Titty Fol The Day", or it could be "Titty Fal The Day"--who knows ??
Next-in-Line Jim, on this occasion, gave us Andy Cutting's "French Dance", paired with "Navvy On The Line" on mandolin. Alan & Rosie, not wanting to be outdone instrumentally, riposted (with my modest help) with the polkas "Captain Byng", "Peg Ryan", and the "Maids of Ardagh"----followed by, subliminally perhaps, all Byngs considered, the Cher song "Bang! Bang!". Ian O'Burnham then reminded us of our tenuous "folk" connections with a soulful" Greenland Whale Fishery".
At this juncture, Karen decided that we should "do something lively", most of the (admittedly) small audience of numbers almost in excess of 6 being nearly comatose, so, eager not to lose their love & support, we burst into song with "Across The Great Divide"( K Wolf). This seemed to get their attention, so I showed my extraordinary versatility by playing "The Upton Stick Dance" on tremolo harmonica. It being a busy night for me, I then accompanied Simon's melodionic "Madeleine's Waltz", a tune much used by the Jan Steen Netherlands Dance Group. By now, we had the ever-swelling audience in the palms of our hands, and Jim's very funny rendition of "The Rottenstall Annual Fair" sealed their undying loyalty.
By now able to do no wrong, we proceeded at a cracking pace, with some Mazurkas and "I'll Fly Away" (Alan, Rosie & moi again), Ian's "Drunken Blackbird"(D Behan), and Simon / myself with "The Lass of Richmond Hill" and "Belle Vue", Simon's movable feast tune that changes from venue to venue! And of course, dear Karen's recently-learned, with my accompaniment, "Long and Lonely Winter" (D Goulden, from the singing of Archie Fisher) went down rather well also ----- I can say that,'cause it's ME doing the blog!
The rest of the evening was a great success,certainly the most enjoyable for me at that venue anyway, with a real sense of "the Craic" to it, and I think Dick really enjoyed it, too. We had a visit, but no songs, alas, from a jet-lagged Helen Akitt and Glen who'd got up early to ferry her from the airport, and local Uni student Alice borrowed Alan's guitar to give us a creditable "Black Is The Colour" and, later, "Caleb Mye" (I think !) by Gillian Welsh......Alice can come again !!
Of later offerings,after the raffle ?? Well, Dick sang "Limehouse Lass", we had "Wedding Bells" and "Mary McCree" from Jim (self-penned & with a serious message); "Rakes of Kildare", "Tenpenny Bit" and "It's Too Late" were favoured by The Jackson Two; Ian sang "The Trees They Do Grow High" (always a Poplar song) and "The Dudley Boys" --- Between us, Karen & I did "Cloghinne Winds" (B Murphy), "The Rare Ould Times", and "Canal en Octobre" (F Paris), Simon offered his & Dick's composition about cross-dressing clerics, "Doris the Bishop" - set in the Six Bells, Thames, and I had a go at Les Barker's "My Futon's Gone Ron" from his book "Waiting For Dogot".
A truly SPLENDID evening was eventually brought to a dazzlingly climactic and very vocal, if not terribly musical, end,by "Our John" of the Orpheus Choir singing that old "Folk" standard " Lily The Pink" !!
Sorry if it's a bit long (as the Bishop said to, presumably, another Bishop), but A) I can't help it and B) hopefully I won't be asked to write the Blog again tee hee !!!
Roger