Valentine's Day 2017 and Trimdon Grange + 135

Tommy Armstrong

The report will be short and sweet this week since I've ended up writing at the last moment. Last week's session was themed Love and Lust for Valentine's Day. While we were small in number we were strong in voice, and joined as we were by our friends Joe and Josci, who we hadn't seen for some time.

Colin was MC and started off with a version of Clementine which was sung as Valentine. I haven't found any mention of it on the web, so all I can say about it with any confidence is that the first line is "In North Walsham by the cobbler's".

As you might expect there was some smut, including Colin's Bell Bottom Trousers (Roud 20105) and Simon's Big Bamboo.

We had two songs often associated with the Copper Family: Mike's Come Write Me Down (Roud 381) and Derek's When Adam was First Created (Roud 728).

Two songs came from Jake Thackray's repertoire: Colin's Brother Gorilla (Jake Thackray's translation of Georges Brassens) and Simon's Isobel Makes Love On National Monuments (Jake Thackray).

Another two songs were from Ewan MacColl: Colin's Sweet Thames Flow Softly (Ewan MacColl) and Joe's The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face (Ewan MacColl) . Incidentally, contrary to the linked video, Ewan MacColl was from Salford rather than from Scotland though his parents were Scottish. Peggy Seeger is the half-sister of Pete Seeger.

We learned that it was in fact Joe's birthday, so Josci, who wasn't intending to sing, was persuaded to lead us in Happy Birthday, meaning that everyone present sang at least one song.

Derek took a small diversion from the theme to mark the 135th anniversary of the Trimdon Grange Explosion (Roud 3189, Tommy Armstrong).

It was also Derek who finished off the evening as Colin started it, with a song I have struggled to trace. Presumably this WWII song is based on it but instead of the paratrooper, Derek's chorus says she wears a silken garter "for a soldier laddie far, far away".

There will be no theme this week, so come and sing or play whatever takes your fancy. It's always fun to make ad hoc themes, or for them to emerge unintentionally during the evening, so let's see what happens.

Here's a selection of songs sung during this session.

(Number of people present - 6, of whom 6 performed)