It was cold outside but snug and warm in the Prince Albert – becoming snugger as the night went on as more gathered to make music. Thank goodness some kind souls had already tucked the table into the fireplace! (You have to be there to know why).
Besides our usual regulars, we were joined by Shirley and Dave from Devon. Shirley used to run MBAC back in the day when it was the Wycombe Folk Club. Lusty singers both, we had some rousing joining-in numbers from them of which more later. Stuart seemed pleased to have a fellow Devonian along.
Dick opened the proceedings as usual with Daddy Fox, followed by Ian with the Dudley Boys, good chorus songs both.
It being close to Burns Night we had some Scottish offerings: Fred sang For a’ That and Mary Mac, a tongue-twisting song nimbly executed. Liz and Alan (Maidenhead regulars) gave us Lad of Lovely Hair, the Thistle and the Rose, and the Massacre of Glencoe. Their other song, Last Trip Home, penned by the Battlefield Band, commemorates the loss of heavy horses from the farming landscape. Liz and Alan not only sing lovely harmonies together but also in the chorus songs, creating a satisfying sound for us all together. Also keeping with the Scottish theme, Karen sang Ae Fond Kiss, which was well received.
Our Alan once again had to soldier on bravely without me by playing Valse Eric Roché on mandolin, supported by Richard on the whistle. Well done Alan!
Shirley chose two good songs for everyone to join in with, Lowlands and The Water is Wide. Dave entertained us with a Mortal Unlucky Old Chap, and a Devon version of Seven Drunken Nights.
An earlier incident with Simon at the Prince Albert was the inspiration for Richard’s self-penned tune, The Handset Behind the Settle, which he played on piano accordion. I never did get to hear the details of exactly what happened...
As well as the evening’s proximity to Burns Night, it also turned out to be ANZAC day, so Delia gave us Click Go the Shears with Stuart on concertina. Stuart followed this up with another song from Devon, Me Old Game Cock.
Andy by this time had arrived, but without the opportunity to confer with Richard, gave us a solo rendition of I Could Not Take My Eyes Off Her, tenderly sung. Later they pursued the Scottish theme with Lizzie Lindsay.
Martin, accompanying himself on the guitar, provided us with a welcome and contemporary contrast in Helplessly Hoping and Jimi Hendrix’s Angel.
With me out of action, we were grateful to have two melodeonists along – Paul and Simon. Paul gave us the reel the Hills of Alva, while Simon entertained us with another Roaring Jelly song, Valerie Wilkins. Later he sang the Remembering Song by Tom Rush, which is full of resonance for those of us of mature years.
Other songs were: Dick with Who’s the Fool Now? And Ian with In Good King Arthur’s Time (a variant of Three Jolly Rogues of Lynne). Stuart and Delia bravely assayed a concertina duet, Elisabeth’s Waltz, which so depleted them that they then conceded to John.
Highlight of the evening was John’s rendition of The Melodeons Are Coming by Dave Taylor:
The melodeons are coming, cover up your ears my friends
When you hear their ghastly wailing carried on the wind
The melodeons have landed and its very plain to see
That this is the way the world will end....All in the key of D!
Full lyrics here.
Undeterred, Paul responded with a snatch of Nellie the Elephant, followed by a couple of jolly polkas which demonstrated that a melodeon sounds just fine in the right hands.
Next week we will be in the Belle Vue for another convivial evening. Hopefully I will be back to full squeezing (and singing) strength by then.
Besides our usual regulars, we were joined by Shirley and Dave from Devon. Shirley used to run MBAC back in the day when it was the Wycombe Folk Club. Lusty singers both, we had some rousing joining-in numbers from them of which more later. Stuart seemed pleased to have a fellow Devonian along.
Dick opened the proceedings as usual with Daddy Fox, followed by Ian with the Dudley Boys, good chorus songs both.
It being close to Burns Night we had some Scottish offerings: Fred sang For a’ That and Mary Mac, a tongue-twisting song nimbly executed. Liz and Alan (Maidenhead regulars) gave us Lad of Lovely Hair, the Thistle and the Rose, and the Massacre of Glencoe. Their other song, Last Trip Home, penned by the Battlefield Band, commemorates the loss of heavy horses from the farming landscape. Liz and Alan not only sing lovely harmonies together but also in the chorus songs, creating a satisfying sound for us all together. Also keeping with the Scottish theme, Karen sang Ae Fond Kiss, which was well received.
Our Alan once again had to soldier on bravely without me by playing Valse Eric Roché on mandolin, supported by Richard on the whistle. Well done Alan!
Shirley chose two good songs for everyone to join in with, Lowlands and The Water is Wide. Dave entertained us with a Mortal Unlucky Old Chap, and a Devon version of Seven Drunken Nights.
An earlier incident with Simon at the Prince Albert was the inspiration for Richard’s self-penned tune, The Handset Behind the Settle, which he played on piano accordion. I never did get to hear the details of exactly what happened...
As well as the evening’s proximity to Burns Night, it also turned out to be ANZAC day, so Delia gave us Click Go the Shears with Stuart on concertina. Stuart followed this up with another song from Devon, Me Old Game Cock.
Andy by this time had arrived, but without the opportunity to confer with Richard, gave us a solo rendition of I Could Not Take My Eyes Off Her, tenderly sung. Later they pursued the Scottish theme with Lizzie Lindsay.
Martin, accompanying himself on the guitar, provided us with a welcome and contemporary contrast in Helplessly Hoping and Jimi Hendrix’s Angel.
With me out of action, we were grateful to have two melodeonists along – Paul and Simon. Paul gave us the reel the Hills of Alva, while Simon entertained us with another Roaring Jelly song, Valerie Wilkins. Later he sang the Remembering Song by Tom Rush, which is full of resonance for those of us of mature years.
Other songs were: Dick with Who’s the Fool Now? And Ian with In Good King Arthur’s Time (a variant of Three Jolly Rogues of Lynne). Stuart and Delia bravely assayed a concertina duet, Elisabeth’s Waltz, which so depleted them that they then conceded to John.
Highlight of the evening was John’s rendition of The Melodeons Are Coming by Dave Taylor:
The melodeons are coming, cover up your ears my friends
When you hear their ghastly wailing carried on the wind
The melodeons have landed and its very plain to see
That this is the way the world will end....All in the key of D!
Full lyrics here.
Undeterred, Paul responded with a snatch of Nellie the Elephant, followed by a couple of jolly polkas which demonstrated that a melodeon sounds just fine in the right hands.
Next week we will be in the Belle Vue for another convivial evening. Hopefully I will be back to full squeezing (and singing) strength by then.
Surprisingly, we all managed to accommodate ourselves down the right-hand bar of the Belle Vue and were not in the least distracted by the football-watchers (rare occurance @ BV)in the room on the far side of the pub. We managed about 4 rounds as follows:
Dick (unaccompanied) - Bring Us A Barrell, Drink Old England Dry, Wild Rover!, and Martin Said to His Man
Ian (unaccompanied)- Earsden Sword Dance, Salisbury Plain, Blow the Candle Out, and The Little Tailor
Terry (accompanied by mandolin as his guitar case turned out to be empty! & whistle) - Liverpool Lou, Hawl Away Girls (Wm Pint), Spamish Ladies (tune), Mavis Hornpipe, Sheeps Hornpipe (tunes on whistle - good to hear as Terry is a fabulous whistle player)
Martin (accompnied by his brand new handmade, British, Martin Cole guitar)- No Regrets (Tom Rush), Killing the Blues, Driftin' Blues.
Fred (plumbing pipe whistles & unaccompanied) - Orsa Kyrka (swedish tune), Intoduction of Lily Bolero on whistle followed by The Old Orange flute - described as an old Irish song about a heretical flute), Henry Can'es set of Spanish Ladies, The Ways of Torre (?), and A Farewell to Whiskey.
Alan (without Rosie, but with Mandolin) - 4th time lucky & managed to start the Stockton Horpipe(!) then revealed by expleting "A part now" that he has played the B part first. My Darling Asleep (and so she may have been), Ship in Full Sail
Steve (accompanied by guitar) - Mr Dream Seller, the unaccompanied When I First Came to Caledonia, and Will the Circle Be Unbroken which went down well.
Karen (accompanied by Steve on guitar & harmonies) - the Great divide, though not in a great key, Sonny's Dream, Machine Gun Kelly.
Debbie (accompanied by guitar)Kate Rusby's very clean version of The Good Man, the lovely Song for Ireland.
John (unaccompanied) - If You Had Brain You;d Be Dangerous, & Les Barker's parody of Mud Glorious Mud with the immortal line "men never make passes at girls in crev-arses"
Next week we're at the Prince Albert and as it's Burns' Night it would be great to hear some Scottish songs & tunes.
Dick (unaccompanied) - Bring Us A Barrell, Drink Old England Dry, Wild Rover!, and Martin Said to His Man
Ian (unaccompanied)- Earsden Sword Dance, Salisbury Plain, Blow the Candle Out, and The Little Tailor
Terry (accompanied by mandolin as his guitar case turned out to be empty! & whistle) - Liverpool Lou, Hawl Away Girls (Wm Pint), Spamish Ladies (tune), Mavis Hornpipe, Sheeps Hornpipe (tunes on whistle - good to hear as Terry is a fabulous whistle player)
Martin (accompnied by his brand new handmade, British, Martin Cole guitar)- No Regrets (Tom Rush), Killing the Blues, Driftin' Blues.
Fred (plumbing pipe whistles & unaccompanied) - Orsa Kyrka (swedish tune), Intoduction of Lily Bolero on whistle followed by The Old Orange flute - described as an old Irish song about a heretical flute), Henry Can'es set of Spanish Ladies, The Ways of Torre (?), and A Farewell to Whiskey.
Alan (without Rosie, but with Mandolin) - 4th time lucky & managed to start the Stockton Horpipe(!) then revealed by expleting "A part now" that he has played the B part first. My Darling Asleep (and so she may have been), Ship in Full Sail
Steve (accompanied by guitar) - Mr Dream Seller, the unaccompanied When I First Came to Caledonia, and Will the Circle Be Unbroken which went down well.
Karen (accompanied by Steve on guitar & harmonies) - the Great divide, though not in a great key, Sonny's Dream, Machine Gun Kelly.
Debbie (accompanied by guitar)Kate Rusby's very clean version of The Good Man, the lovely Song for Ireland.
John (unaccompanied) - If You Had Brain You;d Be Dangerous, & Les Barker's parody of Mud Glorious Mud with the immortal line "men never make passes at girls in crev-arses"
Next week we're at the Prince Albert and as it's Burns' Night it would be great to hear some Scottish songs & tunes.
Alan and Rosie and others preluded us with tunes before Dick embarked on Let Union Be, which we did, followed by Steve’s rendition of the Blue Bonnets Grow song which I can’t remember the true title of. As it was the first MBAC of the new year, and as Richard Thompson is MBE in the Honours list, I sang We’ll Sing Hallelujah. Alan & Rosie tried and gave up on the polkas but manged Captain Byng, Peg Ryan and Maids of Ardar, ably accompanied by Richard on low whistle. This was followed by more low whistle to Richard's home-spun composition, in honour of MBAC I think, called Just a Little Tipple on a Wednesday, and the seasonal Advent Mazurka. Later in the evening we had some minute tipples via a box of liqueurs Alan and Rosie donated to the raffle which we decided to share amongst us – and why not!
Martin sang Glen Hansard’s Falling Slowly, from the film Once. And in no time at all it was Mr Frost’s go again as our numbers were select. Dick did The Fatal Glass of Beer (can it really be?) and Steve, surprisingly, did the sad lilting Green Hills of Antrim, and then accompanied Karen on the Eagles My Man, which was written to honour the deceased Gram Parsons.
Alan treated us to Lord Inchquin on mandolin and then part of the Bottom Line band did the rhythmic Cash on the Barrelhead which was accompanied by voyeurs doing a whole lotta shaking. Richard felt the urge to bring out Henry the Accountant, (written by Paul caplan) maybe because he thought the ending reflected what the bankers ought to do! Martin then brought us back to a tasteful rendition of Paul Simon’s Old Friends, but the humour would not die down as John got in one last Xmas song – The Christmas Pudding Hunt.
3rd go round found Dick wishing for springtime with Twas On One April Morning, Steve wishing for the Arizona Plains and his cowboy hat with Night Rider’s Lament, and Karen and Steve pondering the vagaries of loving the inappropriate and unattainable one with Bonnie Bessie Logan. Alan and Rosie, determined to restore their own confidence did the difficult jigs, White Petticoat and Out in the Ocean, followed by the somewhat wistful Neil Young’s Don’t Let it bring You Down. Lovely Nancy brought us all singing together with Richard with accordion, and another wistful & poetic song from Martin with James Taylor’s Fire and rain. The mood then lightened considerably as John had us all singing along to the wonderful parody of Walking in a Winter Wonderland, entitled Walking Round in Women’s Underwear – great stuff!. Dick was obviously determined not to be outdone, and so we smirked at the thought of Brian Boru in his pelt in front of the fire plucking up the courage to tell the lady that times were changing.
Back then to tasteful, with Steve’s Every Now and Then, and yes, there are lots of people we think of every now and then, followed by him and me doing Joni Mitchel’s The Circle Game, about the seasons and time passing as they do, which was followed by one of the classiest songs of the evening, one of my personal favourites when John sings it because he sings it so well and so full of pathos - Casey.
Dog and Badger closed for the time being, so we’re at the Belle Vue on Wednesday 19th Jan. We hope to get some Dog and Badger news by the end of the month and will post it here.
See you all soon,
Karen
PS Sat 29th Jan – Burn’s Night Supper, with Scottish entertainment from the wonderful Colm and Devina McCabe, John Summerville and Moira Craig (nearly said Stewart!) from Maidenhead Folk Club – should be a good night, well worth going to.
Vegetarians can have vegetarian haggis.
Info from Judith Inman:
Could you let the club know of the annual Burns Night at the URC,Quoiting Square, Marlow .
£12 on 29th Jan, starts promptly at 7pm all the usual neeps, tatties, haggis ,speeches etc [its either one or poss 2 drinks included...bring your own whiskey]
and after all that there will be dancing AND Moira , Colm, John and Davina will entertain [also local scottish dance club display] so there wont be much dancing but lots of strange words for the English .
Pearl says its great fun ....
#Any way if anyone is interested please let me know andIi will reserve tickets for you .01628 486845 or e-mail
Martin sang Glen Hansard’s Falling Slowly, from the film Once. And in no time at all it was Mr Frost’s go again as our numbers were select. Dick did The Fatal Glass of Beer (can it really be?) and Steve, surprisingly, did the sad lilting Green Hills of Antrim, and then accompanied Karen on the Eagles My Man, which was written to honour the deceased Gram Parsons.
Alan treated us to Lord Inchquin on mandolin and then part of the Bottom Line band did the rhythmic Cash on the Barrelhead which was accompanied by voyeurs doing a whole lotta shaking. Richard felt the urge to bring out Henry the Accountant, (written by Paul caplan) maybe because he thought the ending reflected what the bankers ought to do! Martin then brought us back to a tasteful rendition of Paul Simon’s Old Friends, but the humour would not die down as John got in one last Xmas song – The Christmas Pudding Hunt.
3rd go round found Dick wishing for springtime with Twas On One April Morning, Steve wishing for the Arizona Plains and his cowboy hat with Night Rider’s Lament, and Karen and Steve pondering the vagaries of loving the inappropriate and unattainable one with Bonnie Bessie Logan. Alan and Rosie, determined to restore their own confidence did the difficult jigs, White Petticoat and Out in the Ocean, followed by the somewhat wistful Neil Young’s Don’t Let it bring You Down. Lovely Nancy brought us all singing together with Richard with accordion, and another wistful & poetic song from Martin with James Taylor’s Fire and rain. The mood then lightened considerably as John had us all singing along to the wonderful parody of Walking in a Winter Wonderland, entitled Walking Round in Women’s Underwear – great stuff!. Dick was obviously determined not to be outdone, and so we smirked at the thought of Brian Boru in his pelt in front of the fire plucking up the courage to tell the lady that times were changing.
Back then to tasteful, with Steve’s Every Now and Then, and yes, there are lots of people we think of every now and then, followed by him and me doing Joni Mitchel’s The Circle Game, about the seasons and time passing as they do, which was followed by one of the classiest songs of the evening, one of my personal favourites when John sings it because he sings it so well and so full of pathos - Casey.
Dog and Badger closed for the time being, so we’re at the Belle Vue on Wednesday 19th Jan. We hope to get some Dog and Badger news by the end of the month and will post it here.
See you all soon,
Karen
PS Sat 29th Jan – Burn’s Night Supper, with Scottish entertainment from the wonderful Colm and Devina McCabe, John Summerville and Moira Craig (nearly said Stewart!) from Maidenhead Folk Club – should be a good night, well worth going to.
Vegetarians can have vegetarian haggis.
Info from Judith Inman:
Could you let the club know of the annual Burns Night at the URC,Quoiting Square, Marlow .
£12 on 29th Jan, starts promptly at 7pm all the usual neeps, tatties, haggis ,speeches etc [its either one or poss 2 drinks included...bring your own whiskey]
and after all that there will be dancing AND Moira , Colm, John and Davina will entertain [also local scottish dance club display] so there wont be much dancing but lots of strange words for the English .
Pearl says its great fun ....
#Any way if anyone is interested please let me know andIi will reserve tickets for you .01628 486845 or e-mail
It's always nice to have passing musicians pop in to our Wednesday sessions, and so it proved this week. Charlotte and Richard live near Brighton and were wen route to Oxford, so paid a visit to us. They sang three of Charlotte's excellent original songs, accompanied by Charlotte's concertina and Richard on mandolin or fiddle
plus an interesting take on Things Ain't What They Used to be and a non-often-heard, and seasonal, George Formby song - Letting The New Year In. They were much appreciated, so we hope they pass by again soon.
Other contributors were:
- The Frost Fair, about the times when the Thames froze over and a fair could be held near Battersea Bridge
- SeaHab, describing how young men join the sea crab fisherman in order to get away from temptation
- The Sussex Shepherdess, about the trials and tribulations of a modern-day shepherdess
plus an interesting take on Things Ain't What They Used to be and a non-often-heard, and seasonal, George Formby song - Letting The New Year In. They were much appreciated, so we hope they pass by again soon.
Other contributors were:
- Dick - Turkish Men of War, The Moon Shines Bright and Limehouse Lass
- Alison, David and Simon, who arrived before 9 - early enough for Simon to get a proper seat rather than his usual stool. The Sun It Goes Down, Elvis Presley Blues, something foreign about autumn, Brain Damage, Widdecombe Fair and It's Just Emotion
- Fred, who started with Snowy Path on his F whistle and later recited Ogden Nash's I Never Even Suggested It (which seemed somewhat heartfelt)
- Karen, with re-instated accompanist Steve, dug up Dimming of the Day and (at the request of one of the locals), Crazy Man Michael
- A Rosie-less me: a tune bearing some resemblance to The Pernod Waltz
- Steve: Julie Gold's Southbound Train and his own excellent You Only Got One Life
- Stuart using Delia's quiter concertina to accompany the lady herself on a 'Xmas/New Year' song, the name of which I didn't catch, followed by a concertina duet of The Huntsmen's Chorus / Astley's Ride. Stuart later sand Daddy Fox, to a different tune than the ine used by Dick
- Richard - Marshall's Law and A Maiden Sat A Weeping
- John had been told of my facebook post about my series of unfortunate events on the Monday. He was kind enough to dedicate It's Going To Be One Of Those Days to me.
All in all, an excellent evening.
See you at the next one!