Joe Offer - PM Date: 21 Dec 16 - 05:29 PM
> In some songs, you really need to sing all the verses. Don't stop "We Three Kings" before you get to the myrrh. If you're singing a Trinity song, don't stop at the Son. If you're singing a murder ballad, don't stop before the victim dies....

I agree; but the "Folk" haven't always seen things the way we folkies do. Almost all the pub versions of "While Shepherds ..." include the verse that ends "And this shall be a/the sign", then miss out the verse describing how to find the Heavenly Babe and go straight on to "All glory be ...".

At the other extreme from a narrative ballad is the kind of song that is inflicted on us in many public places, which has barely enough words for one verse, but repeated forty-eleven times.

Apropos not taking too long before the next person gets a turn, I have a few extra-short songs that I can pull out if called on near the end of an evening when we're running out of time.

There's also a difference between wishing to perform and being willing to perform if asked. On a typical evening at my usual club (Sharp's) most of us get to sing/play/whatever once in the first half and once more in the second. But sometimes we're thin on the ground and go round more than twice, and sometimes there are too many for two each. I am always happy not to perform, but if I'm not going to be called on I do like to know, so that I can stop thinking about what to sing or play.