Marlow Bottom Acoustic Club

Another splendid evening at the Prince Albert, with Simon's friend Basil the Bass making a second appearance.

Stand-out number of the evening for me was David's take (with the usual supergroup support) on The Very Thing That Makes You Rich (Makes Me Poor) - it's hard to follow Ry Cooder but this had a great feel about it.

Alison, David and Simon (and Basil)'s other contributions were Darkness Darkness, Let It Be (perhaps prompted by Steve bemoaning the lack of Beatles songs at the club), Ten Thousand Miles and Hey Mister That's Me Up On The Jukebox.
I was pleased to get acquainted with Basil (and have a bit of practice for the following evening's gig at The Boot) when Karen and Steve sang Machine Gun Kelly. Rosie added some concertina to this too, prompting Dick to suggest we were becoming a rival super group. They also sang The Eagles' My Man, Steve sang Sleeping Sailor and Every Now and Then.

James Taylor made a third appearance via Martin with Something in the Way She Moves. Martin also sang Steve Knightley's Arrogance Ignorance and Greed and his own song Touching Base. This cleverly links together a lot of phrases (predominantly from the other side of the Atlantic) that get over-used in the corporate world.

Fred is heading for some sort of record with Je'su Christ s'habille en Pauvre. I think his last four songs have been in four different languages (previous ones have been English, Welsh and Irish)

We also heard:

Rosie and me: Blue Valentines (more practice for Thursday), Looking in the Eyes of Love, Musical Priest / Star of Munster, Kerry Polkas (for a rousing finish)
Rosie: Grandma's Hands
me: Pernod Waltz
Dave H: Misty Glows of Scotland, Hop Picking Song
Debbie: Pretty Amazing Grace and an excellent First Time Ever I Saw Your Face
Dick Who's The Fool Now, Come Ye Lads, Here's To You Tom Brown (The Card Song)
Fred: Westmoreland / Sparre Lilla (Little Sparrow)
Tony: Cornish Lads and a tune

As you can see, Karen was captivated by the evening....

We have our first visit to The Chequers @ Fingest on 30th March. This is a lovely pub and has a room that looks very promising for the club. Im looking forward to it very much.

We had the usual good turnout at the Prince Albert and some fine music. The virtuoso performance of the evening was from Simon (accompanied by David) with the Proper Copper Coffee Pot song – quite a tongue twister that might not have been managed so well after a couple of beers.  This song has been recorded by The Andrews Sisters and Rolf Harris and this more handsome trio. Simon was obviously in ‘crowd’-pleasing mood when we followed later with the music hall number ‘My Old Brown Hat’. He also brought along his new friend, Basil the acoustic bass.

It’s not unknown for singers to struggle to find the right key for their song. Today, one of our number had trouble finding any key at all, but all was well when the relative minor arrived.

Three of The Bottom Line were present and used the opportunity to run out some songs for their upcoming gig at The Cross Key (a somewhat different proposition to The Prince Albert). The numbers were City of New Orleans, I’ll be Your Baby Tonight, Keep on the Sunny Side (with Richard on whistle) and Cash on the Barrelhead.

We’re seeing Liz and Alan regularly at The Prince Albert and hope they come our new venues in the Wycombe area. This evening they sang Horncastle Fair, Yorkshire Gypsy, One for Sorrow, Bay of Biscay and Girls of Sedgefield Fair.

We also heard:

• Alison, David and Simon: Hey Moon, 10,000 miles, The Curst Brothers’ Ain’t Done it Myself and Cape Breton Lullaby
• Richard: Haul, Boys, Haul, My Lady Cullens’ Delight / Lusty Gallant and The Parson + The Suckling Pig
• John: the contrast of Jake Thackray’s Sister Josephine and Leonard Cohen’s Dress Rehearsal Rag
• Dick: Who’s the Fool Now, Peatbog Soldiers, Teenage Cremation
• Martin: Boatman by Maggie & Livingstone Taylor (brother of James) and the lovely (but achingly sad) I Can’t Make You Lovely, popularised by Bonnie Raitt
• Stuart: Cyril Tawney’s Five Foot Flirt
• Stuart & Delia: Concertina Duet by Claire Wren and Carol’s Favourite
• Delia: Pete Coe’s Seven Warnings
• Rosie and me: 3 polkas and 3 jigs

We had a relatively low turnout of regulars at The Belle Vue and so were pleased that Tony was in the area and joined us for the evening. He played Willy Taylor’s High Tea and Steamboat and sang Drift form the Land.

It was clear from their songs this evening that Andy and Richard have a gig on St Patricks Day. They were Jolly Beggarman/Portsmouth,  Dicey Riley/Drowsy Maggie, Banks of the Bann, Seven Drunken Nights (uncensored version), Bonnie Light Horseman, Banks of the Roses, that well known Irish standard If I Were A Carpenter (it was actually recorded by Val Doonican if that counts) and someday soon (can’t find a recordings by anyone Irish).

Also aired this evening were:

• Dick: Who’s the Fool Now, Twas On One April Morning, Fair Rosamund, Kissed the Chambermaid
• Steve: Family Hands (AKA Weavers of the Cloth), Talk to Me When I’m Listening
• Alan (with Richard’s help): Sportsman’s Hornpipe, Stockton Hornpipe and (less successfully) Valse Eric Rocher
• Karen and Steve: Machine Gun Kelly
• John: Skipper Jan Rebec, If You Had a Brain,
• Karen: Maid on the Shore