What a grand, champion, smashing' (north-eastern credentials sneaking out here) time we had last night (well I did, anyway). It was great to welcome Dave back and Meg and, for the first time, (drum roll) Rod was roused to cross the Square from the other side of the road through the village. Their presence and contributions were much appreciated. We were endowed with seven guitarists (Meg, Dave, Carol, Phil, Rod, Angus, and Steve) a recorder (Carol), a whistle (David) a bodhran (Rod) player, and a smallpiper (as opposed to small piper) (David), many voices and a partridge... Amongst her offerings, Carol sang one of her own... and the company boasts at least two other lyricists. I recorded the session on a new digital recorder, something i'll do randomly once every few months or so. Not sure how this will have turned out as last time it was done by an expert (thanks Kevin) but hope to upload songs and photos during the next week or so once I get my head round editing etc (which Kevin did last time). Watch this space.
To business. Eliza kicked off with Robin Williamson's version of 'The Raggle-Taggle Gypsies.' Sad (in my view) that being on the road in Britain belongs more or less to a romantic past (obviously not romantic if you actually live/ lived it). She later followed this up with Williamson's own 'The Road the Gypsies Go.'
There were a couple of emigrant/stranger songs, perhaps brought on by the refugee crisis. It was good to see Steve again with his topical 'Isle of Hope' by Brendan Graham about Ellis Island, passed through by emigrants from Ireland (and elsewhere) in the process of gaining entry to America. Dave did the 'Banks of the Bann,' a nineteenth century song about Delaney who probably moved from one part of Ireland to another (County Meath to Ulster?) as a result of too much drinking and sporting - so not really emigrant but he did arrive as a 'stranger'. Drunken and nutting maidens were also in evidence in Dave's bawdy 'Three Drunken Maidens' (with Rod on bodhran) and David's 'Nutting Girl' (and as he pointed out, summer is an odd season for hazelnuts).
David and Angus did starting work and Monday Morning Songs, 'The Little Piecer' and Cyril Tawney's 'On a Monday Morning' respectively. (Others by Tawney were 'Jack Tar on Shore' sung by Phil and 'Farewell to Kingsbridge' contributed by Katy). Other work songs were 'The 'Chiner's,' a steam threshing machine song (Shirley Collins' version) from Eliza, 'The Carver' by sung by David and 'The Right Side of the Footplate,' a Tony Williams song sung by Dave. Songs of heartbreak and relationships included Angus' Annie McElvie and his 'You Can't Stay Here' by Stan Rogers, Carol's 'A Heart Needs a Home' by Richard Thompson and, perhaps, Steve's 'Gentle Annie' written by Stephen Foster, Steve thinks for and about his mother. There were a couple of ballads; Katy's rendering of the Child Ballad, 'The Brown Girl' in Frankie Armstrong style and Eliza's 'Reynardine.'
Meg, who runs a club at 'The Railway' at Fourstones did some stunning renderings; of Mary Black's 'Bright Blue Rose,' John Prine's powerful, 'Angel from Montgomery' as well as her arrangement of Loretta Lynn's 'Coal Miner's Daughter' in a strong country bluesy style (I hope i've got this one right) and a rocking 'Two More Bottles of Wine' by Emmy Lou Harris.'
A strand that developed linking some of the songs was socialism/social justice versus fat cats. Carol set it going with Jim King's, 'Little Posh Kids' eerily resonant of recent revelations about the antics of a certain 'esteemed' leader and his cohort. Steve did Ray Hearne's haunting 'Calling Jo Hill' and Phil, 'A Socialist ABC' by Alex Glasgow.
Robbie borrowed Carol's copy of Strawhead's song book and found a trio of songs beginning with their version of 'Over the Hills,' now known at the Grapes as his personal signature song. He followed with 'The Fall of Babylon' and 'One Eyed Jack,' all rendered in his own inimitable style.
Carol and Phil did a couple of philosophical songs about time and change, Steve Tilson's 'Oil and Water' and 'Watch the Clock by 'Sam...' Eliza threw in a brief scrap of something longer from 'The Incredible String Band,' 'This Moment is Different' about seizing the moment. And (at the risk of sounding like someone compiling a book on songs with subheadings...well actually not being able to resist doing so) there were handful of comic songs, too; Katy's 'Granny Frazer's Flittin,' Rod's 'A Yorkshire Couple' and 'The Vicar and the Frog' and Phil's, 'It Went All Right at Home.'
Carol's own song was the evocative, 'The slow train.' And Rod did one that began, 'If I were a...' which I obviously thought was memorable (for those who are compos mentis unlike me, obviously) because I haven't noted anything else. ('...Witch's Hat comes to mind...but there have been one too many Williamson/String Band references.) It was good - that's all I remember. Sorry Rod.
Tunes this time were Dave's 'Merry Blacksmith' with guitar and bodhran accompaniment, David's 'Little Wee Winking Thing' (not recorded), 'Bobbing Joan,' and 'Cherry Garden' on small pipes and, to finish, some tunes led by Carol on recorder and then various people with Dave, Phil Angus and Rod on guitar, David on whistle. These included 'Bonny Nancy' on recorder and 'Harvest Home' and 'Midnight on the Water' on whistle.
