FOLK SESSION – Howard Arms, Brampton

High winds blew sixteen of us into the Howard Arms on 17^th December to sing, play, recite and tell stories on the theme of Parties/Christmas. Some focussed on ‘parties’, some on ‘Christmas’ (and midwinter more generally) and some, not to be outdone, managed to find songs that were about both!

Les is clearly a party animal, as he sang about bopping to loud music at his Winter Solstice Party and wrote Party on the Beach for those who like to go abroad to hot climates for Christmas. Charles took us through a lifetime of birthdays with Cut the Cake. Partying households refused Truth an entrance until wrapped in the rainbow clothing of Story in Chris’s neat allegory Truth and the Story. Misty, Moisty Morning (Anne) ends in a wedding and a dance. Chris’s Jolly Broom Man has been trying to gate-crash parties since the 17^th Century, but was certainly a more welcome guest than Anne’s demonic fiddler who brought an end to the wedding dance at Stanton Drew. Which brings us to the subject of parties that go wrong – Gerda reflected ruefully on social gatherings where the narrator has shot her mouth off and Can’t Go There again; Phil’s Snowman can’t enjoy a party or even a cuddle with a Snow Lady without overheating and ending up as a puddle, and Anne recounted the rampage of John Willie’s Ferret at a formal dinner. After all these disasters, perhaps we’d be glad to say goodbye to the party in Despedido, Jane’s Spanish farewell song!

Interpreting ‘parties’ in the wider sense of ‘social rejoicing’, John’s Somerset Wassail and Gerda’s The King looked back to ancient traditions of the countryside in the depths of winter, and John’s The Trees Are All Bare honoured the Christmas tradition of the famous Copper family. Rolling Downwards (Adrian) and Lullay, Mine Liking (Katy) both described the rejoicing and ‘mickle melody’ among the angels over Christ’s birth.

Traditional carols were popular: Gary gave us In the Bleak Midwinter; John sang Sweet Chiming Christmas Bells; Adrian on melodeon played a medley (Good Christian Men, Rejoice; Joy to the World; While Shepherds Watched; We Wish You a Merry Christmas); Charles conducted a communal version of Good King Wenceslas and Jane, taking us abroad, sang the mediaeval Spanish carol Riu Riu Chiu, with a chorus said to be based on the call Basque shepherds use to summon their sheep. Sally recited Longfellow’s poem I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day, yearning for peace during the American Civil War.

Less traditional but still touching on Christmas were Do You Hear What I Hear? (Sally); Greg Lake’s I Believe in Father Christmas (Alan); Chris de Burgh’s A Spaceman Came Travelling (Gary); Steve’s own songs I Thought I Saw an Angel and Sleigh Bells in the Sky and Alan’s Gotta Get Out of Bethlehem (a blues ‘take’ on the Massacre of the Innocents). And finally, comic slants on the season included the wickedly funny parody Champion Life (Phil); the pathos of Percy the Puny Poinsettia (Sally and the all-too-recognisable stress of At Last I’m Ready for Christmas (Chris).

We next foregather for song, tunes, story and poem on 21^st January 2025 in The Howard Arms, Brampton at 8pm. As it will be nearly Burns’ Night, the theme will be ‘Scotland and all things Scottish’.  ALL WELCOME!