Great October songs

Subject: Great October sogs
From: mg
Date: 29 Oct 15 - 07:03 PM

I am sure we have done it already but to me refreshing old threads is like pulling out a recording of a conversation you had three years ago. Not the same as fresh. Stale coffee etc.

Here are some off the top of my head. Hurry..only a few days left.

1. Rocks of Baccalieu
2. October winds
3. mary ellen carter
4. Lady of Autumn?
5. Three score and ten.
6. Castle of Dromore.
7. Halloween in France
8.

Subject: RE: Great October sogs
From: GUEST,One-eyed Jim
Date: 29 Oct 15 - 07:09 PM

Anything about Trafalgar

Subject: RE: Great October sogs
From: Jack Blandiver
Date: 29 Oct 15 - 07:18 PM

Robin Williamson's first ever song was called October Song. Here's my favourite version:

The Incredible String Band - October Song, Live 1968

Subject: RE: Great October songs
From: Ged Fox
Date: 29 Oct 15 - 08:40 PM

The Agincourt Song
Fair stood the wind for France

Subject: RE: Great October songs
From: Dave Hanson
Date: 30 Oct 15 - 03:12 AM

'October Song ' from The Incredible String Band [ Robin Williamson ]

Dave H

Subject: RE: Great October songs
From: Jim Carroll
Date: 30 Oct 15 - 04:19 AM

The best, as far as I'm concerned
Jim Carroll

Grey October
By The Critics Group

Grey October in Glamorgan,
High pitheaps where the houses stand –
Fog in the valley, backshift ending.
Children awaken in Aberfan.

Warm October in Thai Binh Province
Huts of bamboo and rattan,
Sun comes up, repair gangs stop
And children waken in Thui Dan.

Pithead hooter sounds from Merthyr,
Load the coal in the waiting trams;
Shoot the slag down the high pit heap
While children eat in Aberfan.

Oxcarts rattle down Thai Binh Highway
Work begins on the broken land,
Night's work ended, the roadway's mended,
Children eat in Thui Dan.

Dai Dan Evans grabs his satchel,
Michael Jones his bread and jam,
Five to nine and the school bell ringing
Time for school in Aberfan.

School bell ringing, children running,
Down by the river and across the dam,
Hot sun burning, time for learning
Time for school in Thui Dan.

Lessons start in Pantglas Junior
Through the fog a black wave ran,
Under the weight of the man-made mountain
Children die in Aberfan.

Lessons start in the Thai Binh schoolhouse
And another day began, Bombers fly in the morning sky
And children die in Thui Dan.

Tears are shed for Glamorgan children –
And the world mourns Aberfan:
But who will weep for the murdered children
Under the rubble of Thui Dan ?

Grey October in Glamorgan,
Warm October in Vietnam
There children die - while we stand by
And shake the killer by the hand.

Subject: RE: Great October songs
From: MoorleyMan
Date: 30 Oct 15 - 05:21 AM

Robin Williamson's October Song has always been my top choice, and I'd also listed most of those already posted.
Jim - yes, Grey October is a very underrated song.
Thinking fast, the only other song I might add to the above lists is The Bell-ringing (One day in October...).

OK, Lady of Autumn is a natural, tho' not specifically October - ditto the standard Autumn Leaves, of course! And general references to autumn abound everywhere, right down to Dido, Bendigo - but I guess that's cheating!

Yeah, I'm sure there must be several more October songs - I'll do some more thinking on't in an idle moment as the month draws to a close.

Subject: RE: Great October songs
From: Will Fly
Date: 30 Oct 15 - 05:32 AM

I was walking through some woodland in Sussex just a couple of days ago. The wonderful colours in the trees, the slight nip in the air (though it's still mild for October) and the carpets of leaves - all brought Robins Williamson's "October Song" to mind as I walked.

Subject: RE: Great October songs
From: GUEST,George Henderson
Date: 30 Oct 15 - 06:22 AM

Bell ringing song as sung by the late Tony Rose and the late Cyril Tawney.

Subject: RE: Great October songs
From: GUEST,Gerry
Date: 30 Oct 15 - 07:14 AM

Joni Mitchell's song, Urge For Going.

Subject: RE: Great October songs
From: Jim Carroll
Date: 30 Oct 15 - 07:34 AM

Sometimes Known as 'Castle of Dromore', a lullabye known also as 'October Winds'
Jim Carroll

The October winds lament around
the castle of Dromore.
Yet peace is in her lofty halls,
my loving treasure store.
Though autumn leaves may droop and die,
a bud of spring are you.

Chorus:
Sing hush-a-bye loo, la loo, lo-lan,
Sing hush-a-bye loo-la-loo.


Bring no ill-wind to hinder us,
my helpless babe and me,
Dread spirits of the Blackwater,
Clan Owen's wild banshee,
And Holy Mary pitying us
in heaven for grace does sue.

Chorus:
Sing hush-a-bye loo, la loo, lo-lan,
Sing hush-a-bye loo-la-loo.

Take time to thrive, my ray of hope,
in the garden of Dromore,
Take heed, young eaglet, till thy wings
are feathered fit to soar.
A little rest and then the world
is full of work to do.

Chorus:
Sing hush-a-bye loo, la loo, lo-lan,
Sing hush-a-bye loo-la-loo.

Subject: RE: Great October songs
From: G-Force
Date: 30 Oct 15 - 08:37 AM

'Battersea Park' by (the late great) Vera Johnson.

Subject: RE: Great October songs
From: GUEST,henryp
Date: 30 Oct 15 - 09:46 AM

January Man by Dave Goulder

Subject: RE: Great October songs
From: Sir Roger de Beverley
Date: 30 Oct 15 - 12:39 PM

I sang the ISB's October Song at our session on Tuesday.

R

Subject: RE: Great October songs
From: GUEST,silver
Date: 31 Oct 15 - 06:34 AM

Thanks, Jack Blandiver, for posting the link to the original version of "October Song". I had only heard it by Cindy Kallet before (on the CD "Neighbors", with Gordon Bok on cellamba). Loved this song from first hearing.
Gordon has also done a great version of "Castle of Dromore". Incidentally, it's his birthday today. Have a happy one, Gordon!

Subject: RE: Great October songs
From: banjoman
Date: 31 Oct 15 - 08:13 AM

I always think that "Turning towards the morning" is an October song

Subject: RE: Great October songs
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 31 Oct 15 - 11:15 AM

It's not an October song, of course, but I think one of the most beautiful modern songs is "The September Song", the one Maurice Chevalier sang. It starts:

When I was young man, courting the girls,
I played me a waiting game.

So next fall, when you want something good to sing, try it.

Subject: RE: Great October songs
From: Sir Roger de Beverley
Date: 31 Oct 15 - 11:30 AM

The version of October Song that most people know is by the Corries. I always used to think that Roy Williamson of the Corries was related to Robin Williamson of the ISB but apparently not so.

R

Subject: RE: Great October songs
From: Tattie Bogle
Date: 31 Oct 15 - 02:16 PM

"The Grey October Clouds go drifting by" (not the same as the Grey October one above): from Tommy Makem and Liam Clancy: see here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OLd7V_A_lNw

And not specifically October, but "Autumn Has Come" by Shay Healy, which you can find on another thread, but a YouTube here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oedHC4R3LAo

Subject: RE: Great October songs
From: GUEST,henryp
Date: 01 Nov 15 - 06:18 AM

Autumn Gold by Andy Irvine

Autumn Gold

Subject: RE: Great October songs
From: bubblyrat
Date: 01 Nov 15 - 06:27 AM

I don't know if it counts (being a tune rather than a song) , but I love to play "Le Canal En Octobre" by Frederick Paris .

Subject: RE: Great October songs
From: Jack Blandiver
Date: 01 Nov 15 - 06:39 AM

Thanks, Jack Blandiver, for posting the link to the original version of "October Song"

That link is to a live rendering of the song from the heady days of 1968 - consequently, it's pretty stretched out, wild and trippy with swathes of sitar and melismatic acid-dreched vocals. Two years earlier, it was a different story - sober, solemn and respectably Dylanesque - so here it is as originally recorded:

Incredible String Band ~ October Song

Contrast & compare!

*

To bring it up to date (almost!) here's the great man himself giving it a rare old dressing down in 2009:

October Song - Robin Williamson