FOLK SESSION – Howard Arms, Brampton
This being the month of March, our theme was ‘March’ (or ‘march’) when we met at the Howard Arms on the 18th (yes, of March!) We had connections to military marches; winds (March winds); madness; hares (mad March hares), spring, and of course events that took place in the month of March. Or any other subject that could plausibly be wrenched round to refer to March.
The month of March is clearly not as popular in song as, say, May or October, but Phil headed for The Lakes of Pontchartrain on a ‘bright March morning’; Charles’ Kerry Recruit decides to enlist ‘one morning in March’; Alan’s version of Masefield’s Cargoes mentions ‘mad March days’ and Richard’s Ballad of John Willie Stell commemorated his great-uncle, killed in the March 1918 German offensive. Gary Skinner assured us that the March wind was ‘blowing his blues away’ (Sun’s Gonna Shine in my Backyard Some Day) and less season-specific winds featured in Steve’s Blowin’ in the Wind and Gary’s Dust in the Wind. As March is generally considered to be first month of spring, Charles enjoined us to celebrate by Poisoning Pigeons in the Park while Steve met his love in the springtime, When Blue Skies Turn to Grey.
Hares and madness (not in combination) were popular. Les sang us his own song, Hare Magic, while Gerda’s Hare Spell dates chillingly from a Scottish witch trial. Geoff and Kath found a mention of hares both in the song Where Ravens Feed and in the poem The Poacher. Gary imagined how young men would take to hunting if girls were Hares on the Mountain, then Anne lowered the tone further (naturally) with the double entendre of The Bonny Black Hare. Gerda assured us that it is a Mad World; Les told us that his own song was a Load of Nonsense and Insanity and Anne sang the tragedy of Crazy Man Michael. Tom o’ Bedlam (Katy) begs his way on the roads of Jacobean England and Garry Swinton found both madness and a march in the parody Psychotherapy, where ‘the id goes marching on’.
Which brings us to ‘marching’. Sally, on recorder and flute played the March of the Men of Devon and a medley of Irish marches: Battle of Auchram; Lord Mayo; Chief o’Neill and Tralee Gaol. Gerda’s Lancashire Lads marched away; Geoff and Kath sent the troops Over the Hills and Far Away; Richard’s Peat Bog Soldiers ‘marched with their spades to the moor’ and the captain of Irish dragoons wooed The Bonnie Lass of Fyvie (Phil). On a more light-hearted note, Garry Swinton’s Dedicated Follower of Fashion has a ‘Carnabetian army marching on’.
Outliers included Alan’s devious inclusion of Sam’s Lost in IKEA (by routes that are too complicated to describe!); the doomed love between Tushie Law and ‘the Earl of March’s daughter’ (Phil) and the Easter poem-song, Jerusalem Tomorrow (Charles).
We next meet on Tuesday, 15th April at 8pm in The Howard Arms, Brampton. The theme will be Houses/Places to Live (think palaces, castles, houseboats, shacks, tents, caravans…) ALL WELCOME.