The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #47889   Message #4094734
Posted By: Joe Offer
24-Feb-21 - 11:16 PM
Thread Name: Origins: Fiddler's Green (John Conolly)
Subject: ADD: Fiddler's Green (parody)
Elizabeth Block sent an interesting parody:

I don't think you have this. I think you'll want it! and I don't think there are a lot of people who still know it.

Fiddlers Green
(parody by Stu Cameron)

Oh Fiddlers Green is a place I've heard tell
Where folksingers go if they don't go to hell
There's guest sets and ceilidhs if you want to play
And if you're a performer you don't have to pay

Dress me up in my levis and denims
No more on the stage I'll be seen
We'll sing the old chorus
Until we get hoarse
And I'll see you someday at Fiddlers Green

The first time you go there you think it's a zoo
Is everyone crazy, or is it just you?
There's puns in profusion, the language is blue
You've just been exposed to the Fiddlers Green crew

The audience listens, they know every song
They always can tell if you're singing it wrong
You can lie at you leisure, there's no work to do
If you don't feel like singing, they'll sing it for you

When your song it is over and the first half is through
There's a break for refreshments and a trip to the loo
The bagels are toasted, the butter is free
And the coffee and tea taste identically

I don't want a harp or a guitar, not me
Just give me a tune and I'll sing it off-key
Just give me a finger to stick in my ear
So I won't have to listen to what you will hear

When the evening is over and you've done your bit
You'll hear the sweet voices of Jim, Tam, and Grit
If you don't eat your garbage please take it along
Or we'll force you to listen to more of this song

By the late Stu Cameron, about the now defunct folk club in Toronto. He was a member of the Friends of Fiddlers Green (the group still exists, and do a concert once a year in the fall). Jim is Jim Strickland; Tam is the late Tam Kearney; Grit is Grit Laskin.