Fato
February '16
Paddy
opened the proceedings with a warning. In between performers we were
to be subjected to 'one liners'. I won't subjecThen he delighted us with his song about the 'selfie' culture. I think it was about taking selfie photographs, but I'm not entirely sure about that.
Bongo
The Weasel were in 1940's mood with the theme to Dad's Army. “Don't
tell him Pike!” Followed by Run Rabbit, Run. For both pieces they
were armed with three ukuleles.
My
two were as Ross noted a self-penned Marxist propaganda about the
state of the NHS “Too Posh to Wash” and “Aesop's Fables”.
I can't help but feel a bit envious when a performer puts one instrument down and then picks up another to perform something a bit different. Andy
Wenham performed 'As
Bonny As The Morning' with guitar accompaniment and then swapped to accordion for 'If I
were a blackbird.'
Old Folky, Bruce sang us
'The Wreck of The Number Nine', a salutary tale warning of the perils
of marrying an engineer. Followed by 'Able Rogers', as Bruce described him, a man as happy as
the sea will allow.
There were some
lovely harmonies from Steve and Carolyn celebrating the centenary of
Ewan McColl's birth, though I will be a few more years 'til we can
celebrate the centenary of anything he wrote. Still, their “Sweet Thames flow
softly” was delightful. On his own, Steve sang something a little way off its centenary, the theme to “The Royale Family”,
“Half a World Away.”
Roland,
on his own this evening, sang a cheery song about violence towards
women, with a version of Waterson Carthy, Oxford Girl. 'with a dark
and roving eye..I promised her I'd marry her if she would lie'. His
second piece came from Henry Lawson, one of The Bush Poets, “Reedy
River”. It didn't end well for Mary Campbell, and none of us were
at all surprised.
Tom
and Steve, House of the Rising Sun and Ring of Fire
Paddy
restarted after the break with Raining in my heart and his perceptive
account of canine nutrition, Kibble.
Bongo
The Weasel, with only one uke this time, took us all back to school assembly for
'Lord of The Dance' and then “The Rout of The Blues”, In the 1800's rout had a different meaning to the current understanding, it was simplly the chaos and heartbreak caused when the soldiers broke camp and headed to a new posting.
My
second half contributions were Dylan's “Knocking on Heaven's Door”
and one of my own compositions, “Simple Life” that has nothing to do with Marx at all, though I'm sure he would have approved of the sentiment.
Andrew
Wenham picked up another tune from the radio, this time by The Kills, a wonderfully melancholic “The last goodbye” and then triumphed with a
song to the tune of My Grandfather's Clock, but about something else
entirely.
 |
| A BEAST OF LITTLE MERIT! |
“My Grandfather's ferret was a beast of little merit” “it would bite off anything it could reach if you stood too close”. And when it shot up the dress of the aunty in distress it could only go from bad to worse. Andy's comic timing was perfect, though whether that was by design or just his being overwhelmed by the funniness of the lyric is uncertain.
Bruce
was Out on The Mara Again, the Beggar.
Steve
was a rockin' with “Oh Boy!” and the maried man's lament, a bit
of Chas 'n' Dave, There ain't no pleasing you.
When he's on his own, Roland often comes up with some cracking monologues or songs from 'Up North', but tonight it was Blues and an old Mississippi John Hurt song 'Richland Woman Blues',and a self penned ragtime tune.
MDF
finished the evening off with 'Fields of Athen Rye' and Dedicated Follower of Fashion. There is something slightly disturbing about the way Ross sings about pulling 'his frilly nylon panties right up tight'.
