One does not brag, surely?

One once heard Ewan McColl say that folk music is all sorts of things, including recording how life is suiting you. So, when I was a miner singing in folk clubs in the early '80s, my lifestyle was something people in the folk clubs enjoyed listening to. Presumably because of some affinity or something. The more I think about it, the more I am bemused.

However, as far as bragging is concerned, I did point out that I was never enjoyed for the quality of my songs. Any songs that actually made me money were rock songs. In fact, I know of three of my "folk" songs that are on albums where I was not credited, but hey ho. I wasn't proud of them anyway.

Pity about Folkie Dave missing the point. Some of his other posts resonate with my thoughts about why folk clubs are not the big thing they once were. The bit about singing fox hunting songs and then supporting the ban is based on experience. The friend in question being able to differentiate between heritage singing (keeping history alive?) and using music to put a point across.

SO.... back to the point of the thread.

Are they being killed? Possibly yes. I was at a party a few weeks ago where my friend had managed to dig out friends from over the last 30 years, mainly from the folk clubs we used to go to. Amazing how many were like me. I was asking them if they still went and they were asking me the same. Sad that so many of us felt the same. Very few of us felt folk clubs were places to go to regularly. Times change, attitudes change, people change.

1) Folk clubs as we knew them were more than just acoustic music outlets. They still had the echos of a movement about them.

2) Sadly, few of us felt the same radical instinct any more. Protest songs no longer resonated, old traditional ballads had lost their appeal, other than for nostalgic reasons of hearing them in nicer times in smoky upstairs rooms with candles on the tables.

3) Those who had ventured to clubs again had found them clique ridden, run by committees with differing views, rules and not quite what they remembered. (Mind you, clubs with chips on shoulders have always been around, we just conveniently forget about them.)

Mind you, going out at night with the guitar in the boot is a wonderful way to end a hard day. I am looking to go to singarounds, dig up a few old mates and enjoy.

Who knows, I may even stand to the challenge above of writing a song about the world I live in... Mitch tells me he wrote "High Tech Folkie" with me (not just me...) in mind.

Got it. I feel a song coming on, about a reed cutter from Norfolk who worries about his shares portfolio.

Missing the point? I seem to have missed the movement.

Merry Xmas