Songs you shouldn't sing in UK folk club

Subject: RE: Songs you shouldn't sing in UK folk club
From: Ptarmigan
Date: 21 Feb 10 - 06:42 AM

Aye Jim,

Maybe that's exactly what Folk Clubs need today, to help build up an interest in this dark days - Political Songs, in Latin, that are at least 20/25 verses long!

I can just imagine them goin down a real storm at Folk Clubs today, Hunting element or no!

I can smell a revival already! ;-)

Cheers
Dick

Subject: RE: Songs you shouldn't sing in UK folk club
From: Jim Carroll
Date: 21 Feb 10 - 06:15 AM

"POLITICAL Songs get my vote, EVERY TIME.
If I want to be educated, I'll go to the library!"
Hunting songs get my vote every time - if I want to be sickened I'll take an emetic.
Given that the earliest published songs were political (KIng John - 1199) and in Latin, aren't you a bit late with this one - or maybe you mean political songs you don't agree with?
Jim Carroll

Subject: RE: Songs you shouldn't sing in UK folk club
From: Crow Sister (off with the fairies)
Date: 20 Feb 10 - 12:17 PM

"I beg to differ."

Yeah, Nic Jones does this really sweetly Little Musgrave

Subject: RE: Songs you shouldn't sing in UK folk club
From: Phil Edwards
Date: 20 Feb 10 - 12:11 PM

Let's face it, if you can't say it all in 8 verses, or less preferably, then be honest, you are just waffling!

I beg to differ.

Subject: RE: Songs you shouldn't sing in UK folk club
From: GUEST,Gealt
Date: 20 Feb 10 - 10:44 AM

tHE pROFESSOR aBHORS cAPITALISM.

Subject: RE: Songs you shouldn't sing in UK folk club
From: GUEST,Dr. Quelch
Date: 20 Feb 10 - 09:48 AM

Oh dear, olliamh. Where HAVE all your capital letters gone again?

Subject: RE: Songs you shouldn't sing in UK folk club
From: Ptarmigan
Date: 20 Feb 10 - 09:17 AM

Trust me Jack, no career will ever be upset, just because one person alone doesn't want to listen to them.
After all, in a Folk Club, for everyone who doesn't like political songs, there's bound to be ten who do.

You enjoyed the work of Alistair Hulett & that's fine for you & for thousands of other folk too, but that doesn't mean I have to like his stuff, or worse still pretend to like it, just because it's the done thing.

I'm asked here what I don't like to listen to, so I give my opinion & that after, all is what a forum is all about.

I suspect most folks who get involved with folk/traditional music, don't do so to become popular, after all, if that was their main reason, they'd be off playing Country & Western.

The fact is, I reckon this question is perhaps not specific enough, because of course, the UK is a big place & something that might go down well in a Folk Club above a Nationalist Pub in London, would probably not go down quite so well shall we say, in a Folk Club above a boozer in East Belfast.

The chances are, any overtly political song stands a pretty good chance of perhaps upsetting or worse still, offending at least someone in an audience & for that reason as well, I am not a fan of this form of communication.

At least in Hyde Park, if you don't like what someone is preaching, you can just move on!

Cheers
Dick

Subject: RE: Songs you shouldn't sing in UK folk club
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 20 Feb 10 - 09:07 AM

I don't think politcal or protest songs are really about education, Ptarmigan. There are some that 'ram politall causes down your throat' but, in the main, I think they reflect the views of the general audience. Those that don't will die a death anyway.

I don't think long songs are too bad either if they are done well - If Bob Dylan wanted to sing 'Sad Eyed Lady of the Lowlands' at our club I would not go to the bar and I don't think I would ever tire of Mr Carthy's 'Famous Flower of Serving Man'. There are not too many could get away with it but there is a link on another thread that points to that infamous facist irish bashing monster, Richard Bridge, doing a very acceptable version of 'Famous Flower' but I would not click on for fear of incurring the wrath of olliphant or whatever his name is...

Cheers

DeG

Subject: RE: Songs you shouldn't sing in UK folk club
From: Jack Campin
Date: 20 Feb 10 - 08:01 AM

Bang goes Alistair Hulett's entire career, then.

If you never heard Hulett performing you missed out on something wonderful.

Subject: RE: Songs you shouldn't sing in UK folk club
From: Ptarmigan
Date: 20 Feb 10 - 06:33 AM

POLITICAL Songs get my vote, EVERY TIME.

If I want to be educated, I'll go to the library!

I go to a Folk Club to be entertained, not to have someone else's latest little political cause rammed down my throat!

After that, anything goes for me pretty much, although if a ballad lasts for more than 8 verses ... I'm off to the Bar.
Let's face it, if you can't say it all in 8 verses, or less preferably, then be honest, you are just waffling!

Cheers
Dick

Subject: RE: Songs you shouldn't sing in UK folk club
From: Commander Crabbe
Date: 20 Feb 10 - 04:59 AM

Subject: RE: Songs you shouldn't sing in UK folk club
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 19 Feb 10 - 11:17 PM

If I were to sing Summertime I might well be embarrassed if someone were to comment that I'd sung it badly (which would probabaly be true) - but why in earth would I be in the least embarrassed by it being pointed out I'd got the name of the writer wrong? Getting stuff like that isn't what singing is about.
...........................................

As for most of the stuff about songs being done to death and so forth - it seems to me that the mindset that overvalues novelty is a bit strange in lovers of folk music. Folk music is about recognising the good stuff and preserving it. The challenge is to be able to sing old songs, including very familiar songs in a way that makes them feel fresh and alive, Not an easy thing to do, but well worth attempting.

Subject: RE: Songs you shouldn't sing in UK folk club
From: GUEST,ollaimh
Date: 19 Feb 10 - 10:40 PM

oh yeah and i don't sing kumbayya. however it is a prayer. it would be quite appropriate sung after a major humanitarian disaster--like a posting by richard bridges--oh that was a cheap shot but it felt so good.

i sing almost all acadien/quebecois trad tunes or nova scotia newfoundland songs and dance tunes. i do get tired of the pop slippage but i don't think you can tell others what to sing.

i do love to hear great traditional singers from any tradition.

i don't much like fields of athen rye but i have heard it sung sean nos and it was great.

i get a little tired of hackneyed lowland scotts songs like a parcel of rogues in a nation--i mean really the act of union made the lowlanders rich. how horrible. its the highlanders who got ehtniclly cleansed from their homes to cape breton and the like.

i do wish to report however that once you get over here--things aren't half friggin bad. there were never more than six hundred thousand gaels(we don;t call ourselves highlanders by the way) in scotland and there are seventeen million in north america, in addition to the fifty five million descendants of irish gaels in north america..

i have heard a great version of stings "we work the black seem together" at a folk circle and it was great. it is a very common theme in a lot of coal mining areas.. so it needn't all be traditional tunes.

in eastern canada there are many new songs "in the tradition" i love to hear them. from stan rogers(from guysborough countryl ike half my family) to dermot o'reilly and fergus o'byrne. i like great big ses modern take on traditional songs but they do cut too many verses. i don't like their modern tunes at a folk circle.

and i love to hear any one singing gaelic

Subject: RE: Songs you shouldn't sing in UK folk club
From: GUEST,ollaimh
Date: 19 Feb 10 - 10:11 PM

read the tripartite report on northern ireland from the eighties. the ulster volunteer paramilitaries were supplied by the british army. this was asked in parliament and not denied. for those who know anything this is admission in the parliamentary system as denial thats untrue is still not acceptable in parliament.

this is not some ancient thing. the killings on bloody sunday were not a "cock up" they were murder, and were covered up for decdes, including false criminal charges against some law abiding protesters.no one out side the english speaking world takes the government line seriuosly but in dear ole and bush america you just have to mutter about terrorista and murder is ok.

its the worst kind of disgusting racism and imperialist violence. there are many other examples. for cripes sake it was an empire.they were invading almost evey country in the world to steal what every they could to make a buck. they transported more slaves than any other country and comitted many massacres from india to africa. these would not be acceptable to any right thinking people. the irish fight for self determination was like any other fight for self determination.nelson mandela gave a speach on this subject saying so for example(and the british were amazed)


i really doubt that any modern irish really think that the murder of civilians was ok or would agree with the twenty year cover up, or think that the crimes against humanity were ok. that's what i'm saying . i am not suporting any political group or movement. however crimes against humanity , war crimes and murder are just that. to dismiss them is despicable and shouldn't be acceptable. however on list afetr list i see engishmen making cracks like bridges and no one seems to mind. he demeans his own humanity .

a few of you ought to self examine. what kind of people are you that you condone murder and war crimes, and respond with such frivolous cracks? again read the tripartite report.it was extensively published in the economist and the toronto globe and mail. in additon to the arming protestant parmilitaries and giving them intell on which british citizens to assisinate, they reported there has never been a fair election in northern ireland, that the ruc and rur members formed nightime hit squads . not to mention mundane discrimination on housing education and welfare against the irish community. the uk was convicted in the european court of human right violations with their anti terrorist laws because they didn't meet human rights standards in europe, and continue to pay fines rather than amend them. the only amend ment has been to abolish the presumption of innocence in the uk.

and of course the repeat allegation that there's no difference between gaelic and terrorist. that kind of racism demeans you more than others.

good people take responsibility for their mistakes and crimes biot to try to claim no one is responsible or tyo blame the victums. it amazes me i have to make these points but we live in a world where power and money have the control. an amazing number of americans still worship was criminals like robert e lee who ordered the execution of black prisoners of war, and it is the direct result they tolerate massive deaths of civilians in iraq. and we live in a world where far too many british still think the problems inireland have nothing to do with them. well they elected those governemnt and sent the troops,but then many still believe in weapons of mass destruction. they elect governments that abolish the presumption of innocence and have anti terrorist laws that don't meet international and european standards.

as to capitalization,i leave small things to the small minds

stop demeaning youselves with cracks about murder and denialof responsibility and wow,you will grow as a person

Subject: RE: Songs you shouldn't sing in UK folk club
From: Dave MacKenzie
Date: 19 Feb 10 - 07:40 PM

"The downsides to aging are many" and include the fact that I'd probably get arrested if I sang "Good Morning Little Schoolgirl" nowadays. When I first did it there were schoolgirls older than me. Great tune though, so I'll just have to do one of the other sets of words like "Me and my Chauffeur".

Subject: RE: Songs you shouldn't sing in UK folk club
From: ruairiobroin
Date: 19 Feb 10 - 04:34 PM

The downsides to aging ary many and one for an aging folkie is the number of songs you believe have been done to death. at age thirtyfive , far too long ago I was working on an arrangement of an 18th century ballad with among others an 18 year old banjoist who believed that he should do an instrumental solo mid story. we nearly came to splitting up and decided to call it a night. In another part of the club we came across a singer I hadn't seen since I was 18 and we had a few jars before we started naming all the ould shite we had had to sing in times gone by. We each could remember chunks of Home boys Home , Brennan on the Moor, The Leaving of Liverpool , The streets of London and so on. we sang for 4 hours, taking the piss out of dozens of the Old Hat numbers and I realised that my young banjoist was staring cold and sharp daggers at me . When i asked him what ailed him he said You Bastard you never told me you knew all those brilliant songs . He had never heard any of them they were a revelation to him. I suppose It's no harm giving some songs a rest its not the songs that irk but their repetition. That being said Molly Malone, The fields of Athenry, Dublin in the rare old Times could wait a few more years Though funnily enough I'd nearly welcome The Streets Of London back as an old friend. Sadly it has developed a new relevance

Subject: RE: Songs you shouldn't sing in UK folk club
From: Richard Mellish
Date: 19 Feb 10 - 01:26 PM

I totally agree with Marje's postings, especially
> regulars usually respect the repertoires of others and try to find something different to sing. It's not just being considerate to the other singer, it's considerate to the audience, so they get something different to listen to.

I most enjoy hearing a song that I've never heard before -- provided that it is sung at least reasonably competently and that it's either traditional or not too far away from traditional character.

I don't mind hearing familiar songs -- and that's just as well, because I've been around long enough that a large proportion of what I hear is familiar.

I do not enjoy hearing a song that I've heard loads of times.

I cringe at hearing a song that has been done to death, or a really bad performance -- but I suffer in silence and look forward to the next singer who, with any luck, will sing something completely different.

When it's my turn to sing, I try to do as I would be done by, singing songs that I have never heard anyone else sing in that place and that I hope will be unfamiliar to at least some of the audience. If I've been singing in the same club for many years and have no new material, I will at least avoid repeating anything within less than a few months.

Richard

Subject: RE: Songs you shouldn't sing in UK folk club
From: Dave Sutherland
Date: 19 Feb 10 - 02:55 AM

"Intersting comments about pinching the guest's songs when they appear at a club. Not always that straight forward"
Last night I visited Derby Traditional Music Club in order to hear Sam Lee for the first time. Not necessarily expecting to sing myself I was however called upon and picked something tried and trusted, "The Lakes of Shilyn", to contribute. At the end of the night Sam, who had performed exceptionally well, came across and asked polite and interesting questions about the song; sources, variants etc. After I had explained my bit he told me that he had been singing it in the car on the way to the gig and was thinking of doing it last night! It immediately prompted me to inform him of this particular thread and the comments about such an occurrence.
Clearly someone like Sam has enough material in his locker not to be thrown by such an instance.

Subject: RE: Songs you shouldn't sing in UK folk club
From: GUEST,Gealt
Date: 11 Feb 10 - 05:48 PM

Sorry that query re Scottish singer was from me.

Subject: RE: Songs you shouldn't sing in UK folk club
From: GUEST
Date: 11 Feb 10 - 05:37 PM

Who was the Scottish singer who used to sing 'The Sash' to the air of 'Kevin Barry' and vice versa? Not always appreciated either.

Subject: RE: Songs you shouldn't sing in UK folk club
From: Dave MacKenzie
Date: 11 Feb 10 - 06:20 AM

I hardly ever sing "The Patriot Game" nowadays, as, although Dominic Behan wrote it as an anti-war song, it is seems to be taken by both sides as a rebel song.

Maybe I should work up a programme of misunderstood songs - tPG, "Okie from Muskogee", the list is surprisingly long.

Subject: RE: Songs you shouldn't sing in UK folk club
From: Crow Sister (off with the fairies)
Date: 11 Feb 10 - 05:13 AM

PS I'm of Northern Irish Catholic descent myself, I find these songs of interest primarily for that reason.

Subject: RE: Songs you shouldn't sing in UK folk club
From: Crow Sister (off with the fairies)
Date: 11 Feb 10 - 05:08 AM

Regards rebel songs, I think - if one at least takes care to pay attention to the historical and social conditions from whence they arose - they can be thoroughly fascinating and engaging as a direct evocation of the real lives and passions that forged them. It seems a pity to me, that virtually the only 'folk' songs that can still have a potent immediate impact upon us today, are ironally taboo for that self-same reason.

This phenomena to me, very much describes the way in which 'folk' songs have in the modern day become museum pieces or curios of interest to collectors and curators - polite entertainment for dilettantes who have no personal connection to the events or kinds of lives these songs depict - rather than the potent folk art communicating real shared experiences of the common people, that they once were.

I'm just musing btw. Not trying to make any particular point.

Subject: RE: Songs you shouldn't sing in UK folk club
From: Howard Jones
Date: 11 Feb 10 - 04:43 AM

Ollaimh, rather than continue this rather pointless debate on Irish history, which clearly neither side is going to agree on, perhaps its best simply to say that, outside a few die-hard sectarian enclaves, Irish rebel songs are unlikely to be well-received in the UK. That's less to do with the songs themselves or their historical context and more to do with events over the last 30 or 40 years.

You might also be surprised to find that they may not even be well-received by those of Irish descent, especially the younger generation, many of whom realise that what has come out of the Good Friday Agreement, however flawed, provides the best opportunity in decades for the Irish to stop killing each other and start building a better society in peace. Many people, British and Irish, think that's a good thing and wonder why you would want to undermine that by raking over old animosities.

Subject: RE: Songs you shouldn't sing in UK folk club
From: GUEST,English Jon
Date: 10 Feb 10 - 09:22 PM

"richard bridge is the worst kind of apologist racist and fascist."

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!

oh that is priceless... ollaimh? o'Lame, more like.

Cheers,
Jon

Subject: RE: Songs you shouldn't sing in UK folk club
From: Commander Crabbe
Date: 10 Feb 10 - 12:42 PM

10 minute introductions for well known 3 minute songs?

CC

Subject: RE: Songs you shouldn't sing in UK folk club
From: Phil Edwards
Date: 10 Feb 10 - 11:28 AM

As a son of the Brit, I reserve the right to sing good British songs all the time, whether people like them or not - e.g. in front of ollaidh and his mates.

(I also reserve the right not to.)

Subject: RE: Songs you shouldn't sing in UK folk club
From: GUEST,Jim Knowledge
Date: 10 Feb 10 - 11:28 AM

I `ad that Milan Kundera in my cab the other day. `e was going up to the Borough Market to get some exotic nosh for `is dodgy restaurant.
I said, " `ere Kundy, some guest `as been talking about you on that Mudcat"
`e said, "`as `e? What`s `e been saying then?"
I said "`parently you said ` to fight to remember is the fight against tyranny`".
`e said, "Did I? I don`t remember saying that. Don`t sound like me. I expect `e `eard it wrong. I pro`bly said `remember to light the Christmas tree!!"

Whaddam I Like??

Subject: RE: Songs you shouldn't sing in UK folk club
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 10 Feb 10 - 11:04 AM

I guess 'The British Grenadier' would not go down to well in your pub then, olli?

:D

Subject: RE: Songs you shouldn't sing in UK folk club
From: melodeonboy
Date: 10 Feb 10 - 10:54 AM

You tell 'em, Quelchie!

Cripes! Where's that half-crown postal order?

Subject: RE: Songs you shouldn't sing in UK folk club
From: GUEST,Dr. Quelch
Date: 10 Feb 10 - 09:21 AM

Ollaimh and the following Guest,
                                 Now come on. You know you can do better. Where have all your capital letters gone? I feel sure your English language teacher showed you how they are used in script and prose and the effort required to find them on the keyboard is minimal. You are just being lazy. So come on now, let`s try harder.

Dr.Quelch, (M.A Eng., B.S.A {Clips} V.D& Scar)

Subject: RE: Songs you shouldn't sing in UK folk club
From: Jim Carroll
Date: 10 Feb 10 - 09:21 AM

"a story
a good tune
bits to join in with
cleverly played and sung
not over long but long enough"

Would "The Nun's Chorus" from Casanova do?
If so, why?
Jim Carroll

Subject: RE: Songs you shouldn't sing in UK folk club
From: Richard Bridge
Date: 10 Feb 10 - 07:51 AM

"modern ulster volunteers are always not officially condoned. the authorities just never do anything about them"

Bollocks

If that's the level of the "truth" you seek to convey you really have no idea.

Subject: RE: Songs you shouldn't sing in UK folk club
From: GUEST,FloraG
Date: 10 Feb 10 - 07:37 AM

What about songs you should sing.

I expect folk songs to be melodic and narrative. I heard a really good song last night sung in the Good intent pub in Rochester in Kent   ( not a club but the room was mainly guest and performers). It was about the closing of Chatham dockyard and turning it into a tourist centre. The gent who wrote it played interesting chords but these did not detract from the melody. I know the issue wont mean much to many who dont live in kent but but it had

a story
a good tune
bits to join in with
cleverly played and sung
not over long but long enough

I dont think you can get better than that for a folk club song. Could anyone add to my list?

Subject: RE: Songs you shouldn't sing in UK folk club
From: GUEST,the fight to remember is the fight against t
Date: 09 Feb 10 - 11:26 PM

the pretense that the british empire was all just an accident really gets old. it really is time for british citizens to stop pretending that their army has been in oreland for eight to nine hundred years by accident and that the british are not responsible for what it does. it is the first line of defense by fascists and racists to pretend it never happened or to pretend it was all a mistake and its not the fault of the peopler and government who sent the troops who accted so badly. there were thousands of acts of war crimes done by the british army during the rebellion and many more in northern ireland.

this isn'tnew. i'm a quarter acadien. eastern canadian french, we were ethnically cleansed by the british army i 1755and deported from out homes in nova scotia and new brunswick and prince edward island to the ends of the earth. famlies were split all the property seized and land taken and never returned. the on going policy of the british empire was war crimes .remebering the past accurately is the first sterp to correcting it.

remember what milan kundera said

"the fight to remember is the fight against tyranny"

Subject: RE: Songs you shouldn't sing in UK folk club
From: GUEST,ollaimh
Date: 09 Feb 10 - 10:57 PM

richard bridge is the worst kind of apologist racist and fascist. the ric actions as the modern ulster volunteers are always not officially condoned. the authorities just never do anything about them. funny about that. the present good friday agreement compells the ira to disarm but not the ulster defense paramilitaries.anyone who reads the economist or the toronto globe and mail could see the findings of the tripartite commisision onnorthern ireland which was extensively quoted. there they founf that british army and adminstrators and spys did the intell forthe ulster paramilitaries, armed them, anmd empl;oyed them part time in the royal ulster regiment, formerly two regiments. they handed them dossiers on aproximately 5000 catholic community activists and the artms to kill them. then about three thousand were assissanated.. this was all admitted in parliament in the eighties and ninties and now promptly forgotten by the british public and government.   they alway do things arms length when they are really dirty..

even if this were not true. songs of freedom are good tobe sung and in no way make anyone a terrorist or conmdoning terrorism..its orwellian. in fact to say so is supporting state imperialism and racist fascism. it was an empire. duh .wake up.

and bloody sunday a cock up--thats the worst understatement since noah said looks like a little rain. the government blackmailed soldiers with seriuos thgreats to not testify at the hearings and shipped several to foreign countries and hid them during the first investigative commission. these were the guys who said the crowd was unarmed..   as all the honest witnesses said.the liars have now recamted. amd they weren'tcharged with perjury.if they had lied that the british murdered people they would have been charged. the government fought tokeep the cover up going for twenty years!!! finally a fair commission found the origional commission was a fraud and found the army fired on peacefull protestors, as they have done many many times in orosh history. bit no one is responsible. its never authorized. just all an accident.

and the couple of times i was shouted down for singing rebel songs i sang louder and most of the people came forward to support me. the racists are safe alone on lists but they don't do so well in public places where normal people realizes that freedom is the right of all people, and that fairness is the right of all minorities.

Subject: RE: Songs you shouldn't sing in UK folk club
From: Commander Crabbe
Date: 09 Feb 10 - 08:23 PM

Richard

Have you got all the words?

CC

Subject: RE: Songs you shouldn't sing in UK folk club
From: Richard Bridge
Date: 09 Feb 10 - 10:21 AM

Although the parody again is fun: something like -

"He had no timing
No sense of thythm
No feel for music
No none at all

He sang each verse
Like an Irish                            setter
And the song he murdered
Was the Galway Shawl."

Subject: RE: Songs you shouldn't sing in UK folk club
From: Commander Crabbe
Date: 09 Feb 10 - 07:41 AM

The Galway Shawl sung in lament style!

Subject: RE: Songs you shouldn't sing in UK folk club
From: Dave MacKenzie
Date: 08 Feb 10 - 07:25 PM

I don't believe killing is ever justified, just that people in glass houses shouldn't throw stones.

Subject: RE: Songs you shouldn't sing in UK folk club
From: Richard Bridge
Date: 08 Feb 10 - 07:18 PM

The actions of the RIC were officially unauthorised and were greeted with public horror by the Dublin Castle-based British authorities.

The fire of the RIC was carried out without orders and exceeded the demands of the situation.

In short - the Irish terrorists had even until recently a policy of indiscriminate murder of non-combatants. Bloody Sunday was a cock up in which the RIC exceeded their orders in the apparent belief that armed combatants were being pursued and possibly entering an armed stronghold of a revolutionary force - which at that stage the soi-disant Irish government was.

Revolutionary attacks on occupying forces may be justified - but again it is a different kettle of fish when the forces that are being attacked are under orders not to shoot back.

Subject: RE: Songs you shouldn't sing in UK folk club
From: Dave MacKenzie
Date: 08 Feb 10 - 05:40 PM

"During the Irish War of Independence on November 21, 1920 Croke Park was the scene of a massacre by the Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC). The Police, supported by the British Auxiliary Division entered the ground, shooting indiscriminately into the crowd killing or fatally wounding 12 during a Dublin-Tipperary gaelic football match. The dead included 11 spectators and Tipperary's captain, Michael Hogan. Posthumously, the Hogan stand built in 1924 was named in his honour. "

Subject: RE: Songs you shouldn't sing in UK folk club
From: Phil Edwards
Date: 08 Feb 10 - 05:37 PM

i sing them all the time, whether people want to hear them or not(i.e. before some english and english canadian audiences)

I think what people really don't want to hear is the sound of a performer telling them he's going to make them listen to something they don't want to hear. You might want to reconsider the attitude. Or you might want to make your audiences feel like they're going to be made to listen to something they don't want to hear, in which case good luck with that.

Subject: RE: Songs you shouldn't sing in UK folk club
From: Richard Bridge
Date: 08 Feb 10 - 04:57 PM

Aspiration is one thing. Murdering civilians is quite another.

Subject: RE: Songs you shouldn't sing in UK folk club
From: GUEST,ollaimh
Date: 08 Feb 10 - 03:16 PM

i love where have all the flowers gone just when another war breaks out. i sing it with a slow harp accompanyment and try to do it slow and prayer like. i admit i don't sing it any other time.

bob dylan? how about eric bogles" i don't sing any bob dylan" as a response! however i do like a couple of dylan songs.. "visions of joanna", but i wouldn't sing it in a folk club.

and irish rebel songs, of course as a son of the gael i sing them all the time, whether people want to hear them or not(i.e. before some english and english canadian audiences)

most of the irish rebal songs come from the 1916 -1922 period or before. anyone who calls the irish aspiration to freedom to be terrorist is a racist fascist and thats that. gaels have a right o self determination and the songs are part of that right. if the songs of the fight for independence bother you you ought to look inside and find why you hate the gaels.

Subject: RE: Songs you shouldn't sing in UK folk club
From: Richard Bridge
Date: 08 Feb 10 - 12:00 PM

"Oh, no, not the Fields of Athenrae
If I hear it one more time I'm going to cry
It's such a boring song
It goes on, and on, and on.
I'm so pissed off with the Fields of Athenrae"

Subject: RE: Songs you shouldn't sing in UK folk club
From: Leadfingers
Date: 08 Feb 10 - 10:48 AM

I trust you mean Catter Trayton's parody Richard !

Subject: RE: Songs you shouldn't sing in UK folk club
From: Richard Bridge
Date: 08 Feb 10 - 10:16 AM

It is worth memorising the parody just for such occasions.

Subject: RE: Songs you shouldn't sing in UK folk club
From: GUEST,Neovo
Date: 08 Feb 10 - 07:55 AM

Drifting slightly but has anybody else observed the common phenomenon that occurs whenever "folk" songs are being sung in a public bar (as opposed to the folk club) whereby a drunk will stagger up to the performers and slurr "can ya shing fieldsh of athenry"?

Subject: RE: Songs you shouldn't sing in UK folk club
From: Commander Crabbe
Date: 08 Feb 10 - 07:41 AM