Peggy Seeger – in concert in York – The Crescent

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Peggy Seeger is now 82 years young but hasn’t lost any of her zest. Ably accompanied by her son Calum she went through a lively set full of political songs, swipes at the orange buffoon that is Trump, ecological destruction and the state of the world, along with some great playing on banjo, autoharp, squeezebox, keyboards and guitar and a smattering of old folk songs.

Peggy is sister to Mike Seeger and half brother of Pete Seeger. She was married to Ewan MacColl. That sure gives her some status. The crowd not only paid homage to one of the greats but revelled in the expertise and charm of a superb performer and great person.

That book of hers looks like a fine read.

Joy of Living – Ewan McColl – a powerful song of thanks

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Brilliant lyrics about saying goodbye to all you hold dear – the wondrous hills and mountains, wife and children, and giving thanks for such a life of wonder.

I was particularly moved by the verse about his children. That is the verse I’d like to pass on to my four wonders.

Ewan Maccoll – The Joy Of Living Lyrics

Farewell you northern hills, you mountains all goodbye
Moorland and stony ridges, crags and peaks goodbye
Glyder Fach farewell, Cul Beag, Scafell, cloud-bearing
Suilven
Sun warmed rock and the cold of Bleaklow’s frozen sea
The snow and the wind and the rain of hills and
Mountains
Days in the sun and the tempered wind and the air like
Wine
And you drink and you drink till you’re drunk
On the joy of livingFarewell to you my love, my time is almost done
Lie in my arms once more until the darkness comes
You filled all my days, held the night at bay, dearest
Companion
Years pass by and they’re gone with the speed of birds
In flight
Our life like the verse of a song heard in the
Mountains
Give me your hand then love and join your voice with
Mine
We’ll sing of the hurt and pain
And the joy of living

Farewell to you my chicks, soon you must fly alone
Flesh of my flesh, my future life, bone of my bone
May your wings be strong, may your days be long, safe
Be your journey
Each of you bears inside of you the gift of love
May it bring you light and warmth and the pleasure of
Giving
Eagerly savour each new day and the taste of it’s mouth
Never lose sight of the thrill
And the joy of living

Take me to some high place of heather, rock and ling
Scatter my dust and ashes, feed me to the wind
So that I will be part of all you see, the air you are

Breathing
I’ll be part of the curlew’s cry and the soaring hawk
The blue milkwort and the sundew hung with diamonds
I’ll be riding the gentle wind that blows through your
Hair
Reminding you how we shared
In the joy of living

Mountain references: Glyder Fach is in Snowdonia, North
Wales; Cul Beag and Suilven are in Wester Ross in
Scotland; Scafell in the English Lake District;
Bleaklow in the Derbyshire Peak District (near Kinder).

Ling is a variety of heather, milkwort and sundew also
Grow on such mountainous areas.

Maccoll said about the song in a book of poetry (1989):
The last time I climbed Suilven, or to be more precise,
Failed to climb it, was in my seventy-second year. I
Was with my wife and fourteen-year-old daughter Kitty.
“You go ahead,” I told them, “I’ll meet you at the
Top. ” But ‘the flesh is bruckle, the fiend is slee’,
And I hadn’t gone more than half the distance when my
Legs refused to carry me further. My body had given me
Plenty of warnings over the last seven or eight years
But this was the final notice. My mountain days were
Over. I sat down on a rock feeling utterly desolate.
The feeling lasted for several days and then my grief
And feeling of loss gave way to nostalgia and I wrote
The Joy of Living. In an odd kind of way it helped me
To come to terms with my old age. (Ewan Maccoll in
Bell, Poetry 104)

Songwriters: EWAN MACCOLL

What Have They Done To The Rain – The Searchers/Malvina Reynolds

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The Searchers were a great little band. They started out like all the others doing covers of R&B but they were the band that introduced the jangly guitar that the Byrds later built on. They also were the band who developed that more thoughtful interest in the Folky songs with some social impact. In fact they can make a good claim to have invented FolkRock.

This was an early song of their which was written by the great Malvina Reynolds. It is a gentle understated song yet it carries huge weight – and still does.

It asks that simple question – What have we done to the rain?

Well what have we done to the rain, the soil, the air, the seas, the rivers and all the creatures on the planet?

This is a poignant reminder of the damage and slaughter we are thoughtlessly carrying out.

WHAT HAVE THEY DONE TO THE RAIN (written by Malvina Reynolds) Performed by the Searchers

Just a little rain falling all around

The grass lifts its head to the heavenly sound

Just a little rain, just a little rain

What have they done to the rain

Just a little boy standing in the rain

The gentle rain that falls for years

And the grass is gone, the boy disappears

And rain keeps falling like helpless tears

And what have they done to the rain

Just a little breeze out of the sky

The leaves nod their head as the breeze blows by

Just a little breeze with some smoke in its eye

What have they done to the rain

Just a little boy standing in the rain

The gentle rain that falls for years

And the grass is gone, the boy disappears

And rain keeps falling like helpless tears

And what have they done to the rain

What have they done to the rain

Do You Hear Me Now? – Bert Jansch

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I first heard this song sung by Donovan. He produced a brilliant EP of anti-war songs with this, Buffy St Marie’s Universal Soldier, Mick Softley’s The War Drags On and his own Ballad of A Crystal Man. Quite a brilliant EP.

This was the mid-sixties and I was very much into lyrics and a complete pacifist. The Vietnam War was raging so this was one of my favourites. I had a girlfriend who was into Donovan in a big way and I remember putting that EP on my Dansette and playing it on repeat.

I had another friend who was into contemporary Folk by the name of Neil Ferby (he nicked one of my girlfriends off me). He introduced me to Bert Jansch and John Renbourn who I considered to be more authentic and less commercial than Donovan so that was good.

That first Bert Jansch album was more political than his later stuff and I liked social/political songs so it was right up my street.

This was a very powerful song and I loved both Donovan’s and Bert’s versions.

“Do You Hear Me Now”

Freedom fighters, speak with your tongues
Sing with the might of the wind in your lungs
Do you hear me now? Do you hear me now?Peace loving women, single or wed
Give thanks for the mercy of a child with one head
Do you hear me now? Do you hear me now?

My mama told me, papa said it too
Son, the world’s divided and you know your cause is through
Do you hear me now? Do you hear me now?

There’s snow-men in the winter, blossoms in the spring
If they drop the bomb in the summertime, it won’t mean a doggone thing
Do you hear me now? Do you hear me now?

Freedom fighters, speak with your tongues
Sing with the might of the wind in your lungs
Do you hear me now? Do you hear me now?

The War Drags On – Mick Softley

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This was another song that I first heard on that great anti-war Donovan EP. It took me quite a while to track down the original Mick Softley version but well worth it. He’s a bit of an unsung hero.

Back in the 1960s there was a ferment of social commentary and anti-war songs that the Press had a habit of calling Protest Songs. They were my favourites. I like songs with meaning, poetry and purpose.

It was Dylan, with his fantastic songwriting, who sparked the interest and paved the way for others like Mick Softley to follow. Already, at this early stage in the Vietnam war, one can see clearly from Mick’s lyrics that it was not going well. War is bloody and always catches the innocent. It is bloody and cruel and makes enemies out of friends. The very people that the US was ostensibly their to save were becoming the main victims. It was a breeding ground for hatred.

Mick ends the song with a vision of a nuclear holocaust. I hope people in the Trump administration and North Korea have copies of the song and play it before they go to bed.

The War Drags on – Mick Softley

Let me tell you the story of a soldier named Dan.
Went out to fight the good fight in South Vietnam,
Went out to fight for peace, liberty and all,
Went out to fight for equality, hope, let’s go,
And the war drags on.
Found himself involved in a sea of blood and bones,
Millions without faces, without hope and without homes.
And the guns they grew louder as they made dust out of bones
That the flesh had long since left just as the people left their homes,
And the war drags on.
They’re just there to try and make the people free,
But the way that they’re doing it, it don’t seem like that to me.
Just more blood-letting and misery and tears
That this poor country’s known for the last twenty years,
And the war drags on.
Last night poor Dan had a nightmare it seems.
One kept occurring and re-occurring in his dream:
Cities full of people burn and scream and shoutin’ loud
And right over head a great orange mushroom cloud.
And there’s no more war,
for there’s no more world,
And the tears come streaming down.
Yes, I lie crying on the ground.

Strawberry Moon at O’Rileys in Hull – Photos and Review

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Strawberry Moon gave a fabulous performance At O’Riley’s! They are a small acoustic band with a great set of songs and a great sound. The sound is Psychedelic Folk and at times I found myself comparing it to Richard and Mimi Farina. Thoughtful and thoroughly absorbing with blended vocals, the box drum, a bit of marimba, harmonica and squeezebox and some great guitar.

If you weren’t there you missed something.

Acoustic Guitarists of the Sixties – Bert Jansch, Davy Graham, John Renbourn and Roy Harper.

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The mid-sixties produced a wealth of great acoustic music loosely under the initial heading of Folk-Blues but in reality extending much further than that. The Greenwich Village Scene, sparked off by Bob Dylan, Joan Baez and Phil Ochs, had sparked a massive resurgence in folk music and made it a commercial proposition. So much so that the record companies were chasing acoustic performers and the Pop Charts featured them. The popular performers, like Donovan, were propelled into Pop stardom. But there was an underlying scene that did not see itself as part of the Pop scene at all. They were producing music for a new generation of aficionados.

Davy Graham was probably the most seminal to the movement. His brand of Folk-Blues was adulterated, if that is the right word, with jazz and middle Eastern rhythms and chords. He started the ball rolling with his brilliant Angie (Anji) which set a new innovative standard in guitar playing. Teaming up with the Folk Traditionalist Shirley Collins he took Contemporary Folk in a different direction.

Bert Jansch came roaring down from Scotland with venom and spark to illuminate the Folk Scene with his verve and mastery of the guitar coupled with strident singing.

John was more mellow and melodic and based a lot of his music on more traditional material. He was the ideal foil for Bert and together they produced some excellent music before expanding and teaming up with Danny Thompson and Jacqui McShee to form Pentangle.

Roy burst on the scene a little later, befriended Davy, Bert and John, and developed his own acoustic style that tended to be more aggressive, at least in those early days. For a time Roy had a number of musical directions to follow – his love songs, social protests, humour and instrumentals. It was a toss up as to which he was going to progress.

I was fortunate to see all of them perform on a number of occasions back in the days of Les Cousins, The Barge and Bunjies and I enjoyed them all. I also used to frequent the Three Horse Shoes where, in the basement, Pentangle performed for free – more a meeting of friends.

My feeling was that the fires that stoked Davy, Bert and John cooled pretty quickly as their proficiency developed. Their music was sophisticated and high quality but I preferred the energy, vibe and stridency of the Harper songs – like One For All, or Blackpool. They had an urgency about them. Though Roy was not as technically proficient as Bert, Davy or John, he more than made up for that with his drive and innovation. But then, as with everything, it is always a matter of taste, isn’t it? And musical proficiency does not always produce the best music, does it? Sometimes a bit of raucous energy injects a spark that is lacking in more sophisticated exponents and propels the music into a different dimension.

Oh for the wonders of those days. I’d give anything to see those four perform again. It is so strange to think that Roy is the only one of those four who is still alive.

 

Edwina Hayes and Alistair Artingstall at the Bell Driffield 14th of January.

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Edwina has the most beautiful voice and writes some well crafted haunting songs even though she is probably best known for her cover of Randy Newman’s Feels Like Home which featured in the film My Sister’s Keeper. She does a number of other covers too – Leonard Cohen and Richard Thompson – and has a way of making them her own. She is the most English of singers. Couple that with such a bubbly personality and you have a winner.

Alistair Artingstall writes and sings delicate songs accompanied by nice equally delicate guitar coupled with a sad persona and witty asides that tell another story. He is good at stories as well. He is a very good sound engineer who has worked with the likes of Rufus Wainwright.

The two of them together compliment each other nicely. At the Bell they alternated songs and accompanied each other. There was great mutual respect and the combination worked well.

With a bit of effort I think Edwina could be singing on a bigger stage than this but she seems content to stay at this level.

I enjoyed it greatly.

Here’s a few photos:

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Polly & the Billets Doux at the Great British Folk Festival – Photos

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They were a pleasant band and Polly had a nice voice.

Here’s a few photos:

Donovan at the Great British Folk Festival – Photos!

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I’ve seen Donovan here before. I was looking forward to it. He is quite a character. As a young kid of sixteen I was very taken with a documentary about him and Gypsy Davey wandering around the Scottish islands in what looked to me like the idea bohemian freedom.

He’s worked with the likes of the Beatles and in between songs regaled us with anecdotes that were humorous and insightful. It made for an interesting evening.

Donovan with his guitar and songs was delightful. He tended to focus on his early work and particularly his first two albums which was great for me – bit of a nostalgia trip. I enjoyed it a lot. It was great to hear the Buffy St Marie Universal Soldier!

Here’s a few photos: