FOLK SESSION – Howard Arms, Brampton
We met on 18th February in the Howard Arms with the theme of ‘Stories and Storytelling’ (a very wide and all-embracing subject). A warm welcome to Garry, joining us for the first time from Corbridge.
Given the reputation of folk music (‘a dismal song in three-four time’), no-one was surprised when the body count started to rise. Some were single deaths such as the eponymous hero of The Ballad of Billie-Joe (Jane); the heroine of Molly Malone (Steve), and the grasshopper in the fable of The Ant and the Grasshopper (John). There were double deaths in Miss Otis Regrets (Gerda) and Barbary Allen (Chris), and thirteen deaths of smokejumpers caught in the forest fire of Montana in 1949 (Missouri Waters – Liz). Anne despatched a whole Cumbrian army and a monarch (King Dunmail).
Several singers found songs with factual backgrounds. Nine-Pin Jacques (Alan) was written by Sam Millington, based on a friendship between an American blues singer and Durham teenagers that lasted fifty years. We also heard The Story of Isaac (John); the history of the first immigrant to pass through the Ellis Island, the Isle of Hope (Steve). Les sang his own song, A Walk in the Park, about meeting, marriage and loss, and Anne her own Finsthwaite Princess, about a woman buried in Finsthwaite churchyard who was said to be Bonny Prince Charlie’s illegitimate daughter (unlikely!)
Luckily there were plenty of cheerful and funny songs. The Mary Ellen Carter (Adrian) was raised from the depths of the sea by her tenacious crew; the sailors who are Rolling Down to Old Maui (Liz) are rejoicing at their return home; Wedding Bells (Jane) are ‘ringing out one day of joy’ and the extraordinary participants in The Reel in the Flickering Light (Phil) had a wonderful time. The Widow of Bridlington (Charles) defied spiteful neighbours to continue on her merry way. Sam Millington’s song Never Press Nine, sung by Alan, is a hilarious ‘take’ on the frustrations of call centres; The Muck Spreader Song (Garry) is a comic tale of misfunctioning agricultural equipment (to put it delicately); Phil sang the tall tale of The Silloth Submarine, about U-boat submariners who came ashore for fish-and-chips in wartime, pretending to be Free Poles.
Some had more ambiguous endings. The highwayman of Whiskey in the Jar (Charles) may or may not escape; the fragile heroine of Gerda’s Beeswing keeps her freedom but at great cost, and we never know if the daughter heeds her father’s warning against marrying the Willy ‘Ole Lad (Liz).
Particularly ingenious were those who told tales of tales. Chris told the tale of The King’s Tailor, whose suit ends up as a story. The Story that I Started at the Kirk Soiree (Katy) is a story about a storyteller telling a story. Les’s own song So Many Stories is inspired by ‘people watching’, seeing them playing out their own stories; while Garry’s We Tell Stories explains that story-telling is part of the human condition. Adrian topped the lot by encompassing the greatest story of all in his tune on melodeon, How Great Thou Art.
We next meet on 18th March in the Howard Arms, Brampton, at 8pm. The theme will be ‘March’ – think hares and madness; the beginning of the spring. Or getting one’s marching orders. Or military marches (a gift to instrumentalists!) ALL WELCOME!