An Evening of Irish Songs (so it was).

Heather

Yes, once again we had an Irish night. Sadly, Clive was unable to run it as planned and so when I arrived Chris Martin gave me the list and gleefully told me I was to have the honour. So gleeful was he that he had completely forgotten to add Heather's name to it, thereby suffering a major loss of Brownie points. I'm not smirking, honest.

I started off with a classic Irish ballad by Planxty Van Morrisson 'Brown Eyed Girl' followed by the 'Mountains of Mourne', Having got things underway I announced  Oliver.

Oliver sadly only had one song for us but it was a good one - Gold Watch Blues by Mick Softley. At the end of the evening Oliver kindly gave me a copy of his CD entitled 'Vol 1'.

Oliver was followed by Chris Martin posing as The Edge and so not surprisingly we had the U2 song 'With or Without You' followed by his own composition 'The English Way'.

Steph (doing Irish songs properly) sang for us the traditional ballards 'Oralee' and 'Bantry Girl's Lament'. That's more like it!

Brenda gamely attempted 'Paddy McGinty's Goat' a tongue twister at the best of times and then read us a traditional Gaelic blessing. Lovely.

Then Frank with his harmonica embraced 'Whiskey in the Jar' and 'Copper Kettle'. Sing up Frank, some people in Heathfield missed the odd note. Never mind Heathfield, you can probably find it on YouTube.
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLnCPNBptGEZMDKI34q1V3mKJ-doJXA9YK

Time for quality, Tash & Terry a really great folk duo. Natasha sang 'Raglan Rose' and then 'The Night Visitor' accompanied by her penny whistle, while Terry tried to break the 'notes per minute record' for the accoustic guitar. Wonderously, all his notes were in the right order!  Outstanding.

Heather next, (having realised what Chris had done I had added her to the list) with a couple of serious political songs from the 'troubles' Boolaville and 'The Soldier' by Harvey Andrews. Harvey Andrews at a concert, mentioned that one of his lyrics formed part of an 'O' or 'A' level English syllabus, how many other folkies can say that?

Time for Jason to leave his trusty sound desk and give us his U2 number 'One', this was followed by Van the 'Man's 'Brand New Day'. Jason has mastered the sound desk and the only times he struggles now is when singers sing too far away from the mic. Don't do it folks, our mics like you up close and personal.

Erica must have been about four times now and is very welcome. I like her autobiographical lyrics and her American country style. Her songs were 'Momma ain't got no time' and 'Alberkirky night' er...... maybe that's 'Albuquerque Nights', something like that.

Next up was Vicky, new to the SBF&BC and a great first performance it was (on a borrowed guitar too). First song 'Grace' then 'Wild Mountain Thyme' and lastly, 'The Sick Note' (You know, the one about Paddy and the barrel of bricks). Very enjoyable.

It was nice to see Rusty again after an absence of many years, not surprising as she now lives in Derbyshire. Accompanied by Terry she sang for us 'The 'Gallway Shawl' and 'Black Velvet Band'. Rusty was great then and she is great now.

Chris Mansell popped in, he said, for a half on his way back from a fish supper and found himself performing in the first time for a while. He sang for us 'She moved through the fair' a lovely song and always one of his best.

That ended the evening and we all dispersed into the night. Thanks to all those that remained and helped pack up the gear. May Irish eyes smile upon you.

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Chris Mansell