Folkies

Subject: Folkies
From: Frazz
Date: 31 Oct 07 - 06:09 PM

I sang a few Folk songs at a an Autumn Ball recently and whilst at the bar someone sidled up to me and said "i,m a Folkie as well" and looked around as if to make sure nobody was listening to what he said.   Someone on a quiz show the other night admitted to the nation that he was something of a Folkie. WHAT is a FOLKIE? Are people "coming out" so to speak only it feels as if we are some sort of secret sect with funny handshakes.
                                     I may be getting a bit paranoid or am in denial but does the enjoyment of singing and listening to Folk songs and music make me a Folkie. Someone described a male Folkie to me as having a beard and a tankard hanging from his belt as a form of recognition. Lady Folkies have long grey hair,multi coloured clothes and doc martin boots apparently. What a load of twaddle.
                                    Any observations on this ?

Subject: RE: Folkies
From: GUEST,TJ in San Diego
Date: 31 Oct 07 - 06:24 PM

I don't know about you, but such "buzzword" labels are not meaningful to me. This dates from the fifties and early sixties. I once hung out, as a student and post-graduate type, in a number of "old school" coffee houses. The fellow habitues were of all sorts of descriptions; long-haired, short-haired, bearded and clean shaven, intellectual to just plain dull - some even played folk songs. I never heard the term "folkie" used to describe anyone, except in a semi-pejorative way, and usually by the "Ivy League" types.

Subject: RE: Folkies
From: Sorcha
Date: 31 Oct 07 - 06:38 PM

Hey, man! We could all be Beatniks!!!!
Ya wanna?

Subject: RE: Folkies
From: artbrooks
Date: 31 Oct 07 - 06:44 PM

Well, to me "folkie" means somebody who enjoys listening to, and perhaps plays, folk music (whatever that is). A folkie can be male, female or other, young or old, of any income level or political stance (well, I'd have to think about that a little). It has absolutely no pejorative context whatever.

Subject: RE: Folkies
From: Geordie-Peorgie
Date: 31 Oct 07 - 06:51 PM

Frazz! Are ye sure he didn't say 'Fogey'?

Subject: RE: Folkies
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 31 Oct 07 - 07:43 PM

I'm proud to be a folksinger
who lives near Windsor
A place where even toffs can sing along
To tales of being transported and pit explosions
and how that sort of thing is simply wrong

Subject: RE: Folkies
From: topical tom
Date: 31 Oct 07 - 08:27 PM

artbrooks: You have summed it up in a nutshell. I totally agree. Nothing to add.

Subject: RE: Folkies
From: Leadfingers
Date: 31 Oct 07 - 10:07 PM

Well I have a beard , I regularly have a tankard on my belt (Often got three instruments to carry so a belt hook is sensible) and have NO objection to being called a Folkie !

Subject: RE: Folkies
From: Les in Chorlton
Date: 01 Nov 07 - 03:51 AM

I think it is essential to understand that the true Folkies, The Peoples Front for the Proporagtion of Traditional Folk Song, (PFPTFS) should not be confused with The The Popular Front for the Proporgation of Traditional Folk,(PFPTF) or the Front for the Proporgation of Traditional Folk Songs (FPTFS). Is that clear?

Subject: RE: Folkies
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 01 Nov 07 - 04:40 AM

I feel you've touched on a vital point there Les. Anyone who misinterprets the situation is a scoundrel in my book.

Subject: RE: Folkies
From: Les in Chorlton
Date: 01 Nov 07 - 05:01 AM

"Anyone who misinterprets the situation is a scoundrel in my book."

Ah......... but which book is that then? We can't have people going off reading any old books can we? They have to have access to the one only truth and we all know which book we are talking about don't we?

Subject: RE: Folkies
From: Don(Wyziwyg)T
Date: 01 Nov 07 - 05:26 AM

Oh NO!

Not the dreaded "Pete Seeger sings Sinatra" Song Book?

Don T.

Subject: RE: Folkies
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 01 Nov 07 - 05:34 AM

This Rise Up Singing seems to have a lot of fans.....

Subject: RE: Folkies
From: GUEST,buspassed
Date: 01 Nov 07 - 05:37 AM

So where does PTFE fit in?

As for reading books there can only one choice ai this time of year, the Argos catalogue! [or as Bill Bailey has it 'The Laminated Book Of Dreams'!]

Subject: RE: Folkies
From: Waddon Pete
Date: 01 Nov 07 - 05:57 AM

I agreed with Artbrooks too.

However....does your mode of dress identify whether your sympathies lie with traditional music or with that of a more modern nature?

I'll get me waistcoat.....

Best wishes,

Peter

Subject: RE: Folkies
From: Les in Chorlton
Date: 01 Nov 07 - 06:44 AM

The PTFE, the PTFE? A breakaway group from the Stainless Steelfolkies (SS)on the grounds that the SS stuck to fried eggs as the true symbol of Easter and not boiled ones!

As for waistcoats NO! Westcts, maybe.

Subject: RE: Folkies
From: topical tom
Date: 01 Nov 07 - 07:07 AM

"Rise Up Singing" is a fantastic song book. Check it our.

Subject: RE: Folkies
From: Les in Chorlton
Date: 01 Nov 07 - 07:10 AM

Has this book been before the Central Committee of the PFPTFS? I think not! The Union of Artists and Musicians (M-L) will have a view on this "Comrades"

Subject: RE: Folkies
From: Waddon Pete
Date: 01 Nov 07 - 07:21 AM

More likely to be weskits, zurr Len Zurr. Spotted hankercher opshonul.

Best wishes,

Peter

Subject: RE: Folkies
From: Les in Chorlton
Date: 01 Nov 07 - 08:12 AM

Double Bluf Comrade, weskits it is, but I am not falling for the old spotted hankercher false password

Subject: RE: Folkies
From: Roger the Skiffler
Date: 01 Nov 07 - 10:24 AM

Think yourself lucky- people often sidle up to me and whisper that they also used to like skiffle, we hide near the dumpsters away from the folk police and occasionally break into a quick burst of Rock Island Line before staggering away...

RtS

Subject: RE: Folkies
From: BusyBee Paul
Date: 01 Nov 07 - 10:59 AM

I can't understand what the folking hell everyone is on about!

Subject: RE: Folkies
From: Waddon Pete
Date: 01 Nov 07 - 11:08 AM

Perhaps this might help Busybee Paul and others! Or not!

For work read Folk!

http://openlearn.open.ac.uk/mod/resource/view.php?id=209217

The blue clickyizer didn't work that time!


Best wishes,

Peter

Subject: RE: Folkies
From: Banjiman
Date: 01 Nov 07 - 11:22 AM

BBP,

Shouldn't that be f*lking hell? Your language is appalling!

Subject: RE: Folkies
From: Ross
Date: 01 Nov 07 - 11:28 AM

Is smell a factor?

Subject: RE: Folkies
From: Fidjit
Date: 01 Nov 07 - 06:46 PM

I'm quite proud of being a part of the second revival.
Even though I'm now also a "Fogey"

Chas

Subject: RE: Folkies
From: Frazz
Date: 01 Nov 07 - 07:11 PM

What,s a Fogey?

Subject: RE: Folkies
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 01 Nov 07 - 07:31 PM

are we part of the second revival...like France had a seond empire and all that?

Subject: RE: Folkies
From: GUEST,martin ellison
Date: 01 Nov 07 - 07:53 PM

F orget the words
O ut of tune guitar
L et's start again
K ey too high
I mbibe excessively
E mbarrassing

Subject: RE: Folkies
From: Geordie-Peorgie
Date: 01 Nov 07 - 07:58 PM

Aah can verify that Leadfingers certainly DOES hev a beard

And if it's HIS book you are taalkin' aboot - It's a good 'un although he hasn't finished colourin' it in yet.

Sorry Terry!! Aah'll get me weskit

Subject: RE: Folkies
From: Leadfingers
Date: 01 Nov 07 - 08:11 PM

Geordie - As long as you dont nick one of MY weskits ! But where else do you keep the Capo and picks ?

Subject: RE: Folkies
From: Ian Burdon
Date: 02 Nov 07 - 01:58 AM

"I'm quite proud of being a part of the second revival."

That rather assumes that there was a first one...

Subject: RE: Folkies
From: Art Thieme
Date: 02 Nov 07 - 02:40 AM

I'm proud to remain a portion of the first one.

Art

Subject: RE: Folkies
From: Les in Chorlton
Date: 02 Nov 07 - 05:23 AM

Comrades! This proves the argument put forward by the PFPTFS for a strong Vanguard and a Trained Seal.

As for the Skifflers .. I was a Skiffler before I was re-educated. They were once a majority of the minority now they are.........

........sorry I have completely lost the plot here.

Subject: RE: Folkies
From: GUEST,Mingulay at work
Date: 02 Nov 07 - 05:41 AM

Would a skiffler turned folkie be a fiffler or a skokie? Does it matter? If the answer to the Meaning of Life is 42, is the question "How many strings are there on 7 guitars"?

Of more interest is where Les got his Vanguard. The Standard Motor Company has been gone for years now!!

Subject: RE: Folkies
From: Rasener
Date: 02 Nov 07 - 06:02 AM

Whats a Fogey asks Frazz.

A Fogey is an "Old Fart" :-)

Subject: RE: Folkies
From: Les in Chorlton
Date: 02 Nov 07 - 06:39 AM

The Vangaurd is related to the Trained Seal. In a code I cannot reveal!

Subject: RE: Folkies
From: greg stephens
Date: 02 Nov 07 - 07:20 AM

I am a card carrying folkie from the 50's and proud of it. Though I have no beard, and my tankards are in cupboards or on shelves, and not on my belt, not even when I go to Sidmouth.

Subject: RE: Folkies
From: Fidjit
Date: 02 Nov 07 - 12:16 PM

"I'm quite proud of being a part of the second revival."

That rather assumes that there was a first one...

Er..... somewhere around the late 18 hundreds early 19 hundreds.

Second one (this one)started in the 1950's around about the time of the ban the bomb marches etc. "We shall not be moved..."

We've been constipaited ever since.

Sorry lads couldn't resist that last remark. I didn't mean it.

Chas

Subject: RE: Folkies
From: GUEST, Mingulay at work
Date: 02 Nov 07 - 12:32 PM

Les, I too know that code, but only after several pints of falling over water.

Just had a thought, why has no one developed a belt that could be filled with ale and drunk on the move? It would save spillage from open tankards and leave the hands free for other tasks.

Subject: RE: Folkies
From: the button
Date: 02 Nov 07 - 12:36 PM

Such items are available from specialist running shops.

Subject: RE: Folkies
From: GUEST,Songster Bob
Date: 02 Nov 07 - 02:09 PM

"Whats a Fogey asks Frazz.

A Fogey is an "Old Fart" :-)"

Actually, there are gradations; one does not go directly from "fogey" to "old fart" without passing your curmudgeon levels.

Bob

Subject: RE: Folkies
From: the button
Date: 02 Nov 07 - 04:45 PM

Curmudgeon. One of the finest words in the English language.

Subject: RE: Folkies
From: Frazz
Date: 02 Nov 07 - 05:00 PM

I see, so I,m a Folkie therefore an old Fogey and an Old Fart just for good measure. I think I need a second revival!!

Subject: RE: Folkies
From: Fidjit
Date: 02 Nov 07 - 06:53 PM

You have to moan a bit first.

Chas

Subject: RE: Folkies
From: GUEST,Margret RoadKnight
Date: 02 Nov 07 - 09:10 PM

Lazy word, too often heard in "I'm just an old folkie"....can't imagine jazz players/fans calling themselves Jazzies.
No wonder the folk scene, outside of festivals, is hardly thriving.

Subject: RE: Folkies
From: Richard Bridge
Date: 02 Nov 07 - 10:00 PM

WhenU last on the road?

Subject: RE: Folkies
From: Gulliver
Date: 02 Nov 07 - 11:25 PM

I was half listening to Newstalk (Irish radio station) last week as I was working around the house when some musical person (a reviewer, or something like that--he sounded English) was being interviewed about the development of Irish trad music. He lauded the usual individuals and groups like the Chieftains, Planxty and so on and then eventually came up to the present day when he referred to certain contemporary trad musicians as "sad old men with beards singing Monto in a pub somewhere" (I think those were his exact words). I did think this was derogatory. It almost describes some of the gang I play with every week, but they are anything but sad!

FWIW, Don

Subject: RE: Folkies
From: BusyBee Paul
Date: 03 Nov 07 - 03:39 AM

In my experience, Folkies are the best people on Earth - kind, considerate, always ready to share a beer and a song.

And most of them are the friends I've just not met yet. Which means I've still got loads of lovely people out there to get to know. Fantastic!

Deirdre

Subject: RE: Folkies
From: melodeonboy
Date: 03 Nov 07 - 07:55 AM

So, the demise of folk is apparently due, in part at least, to the addition of the suffix "ie" to the word to describe those who like/play/sing it.

Is it therefore reasonable to assume that the fortunes of techies, hoodies, foodies and trekkies are also on the decline?

Subject: RE: Folkies
From: Fidjit
Date: 03 Nov 07 - 12:03 PM

FWIW, Don
Still alive then Don

Chas

Subject: RE: Folkies
From: Frazz
Date: 03 Nov 07 - 02:11 PM

Well said Deirdre, they are the salt of the earth. Lovely people.

Subject: RE: Folkies
From: terrier
Date: 03 Nov 07 - 02:23 PM

Wasn't Dan FOGEYberg a sort of folk singer at some time or other?

Subject: RE: Folkies
From: Fidjit - PM
Date: 02 Nov 07 - 06:53 PM

You have to moan a bit first.

Chas

Yes it has been mentioned recently on the Cat that us Brits do tend to moan too much ;)

Subject: RE: Folkies
From: Jack Blandiver
Date: 03 Nov 07 - 02:53 PM

Peter Bellamy called himself a 'Traddy' rather than a 'Folkie' & it's something I've taken to calling myself when attending singarounds & open mic nights where the remit is mostly non-traditional material.

Subject: RE: Folkies
From: Stringsinger
Date: 03 Nov 07 - 06:42 PM

"Folkie"---usually an image of someone who decides what someone who sings folk songs looks like.

Or someone who would like to imprison folk music by putting it in an image straight-jacket.

Or someone who comes from the city and sings rural songs. (Like me).

Or like "hippie", "beatnik", ...as useful as all those meaningless terms.

Frank

Subject: RE: Folkies
From: Jim Krause
Date: 03 Nov 07 - 07:42 PM

Oh NO!

Not the dreaded "Pete Seeger sings Sinatra" Song Book?

Don T.

Is that the one they use in the day room of the Neil Young Centre for the Terminally Screwed?

JimK

Subject: RE: Folkies
From: quantock
Date: 04 Nov 07 - 12:26 AM

I'm with Deirdre!

    "In my experience, Folkies are the best people on Earth - kind,
    considerate, always ready to share a beer and a song.

    And most of them are the friends I've just not met yet. Which
    means I've still got loads of lovely people out there to get
    to know. Fantastic!

    Deirdre"

Rob Williams

Subject: RE: Folkies
From: Mr Happy
Date: 04 Nov 07 - 12:52 AM

Typical stereotypes:http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=BhNXJGmcqNI ?

Subject: RE: Folkies
From: Fidjit
Date: 04 Nov 07 - 06:20 AM

Thanks Mr. Happy

Best version of the, "Wild Rover" I've heard for years. I usually charge extra to sing that.

Chas

Subject: RE: Folkies
From: Declan
Date: 04 Nov 07 - 06:50 AM

Some people who like jazz have a collective name for themselves but it tends to be Jazzers rather than Jazzies.

By the way the song Monto which Gulliver mentions above was written by George D Hodnett (GDH) who was mostly a Jazzer and wrote it as a bit of a slag on folk music. Strange that it should be mentioned as the epitome of Trad by whoever was making the snide remarks on the Radio.

Of course by some definitions Monto can never become trad. because its authorship is known.

Subject: RE: Folkies
From: GUEST
Date: 04 Nov 07 - 06:54 AM

I'm a folkie and proud...

Subject: RE: Folkies
From: Declan
Date: 04 Nov 07 - 06:57 AM

But not proud enough to tell us who you are!

Subject: RE: Folkies
From: TheSnail
Date: 04 Nov 07 - 07:51 AM

Declan

Jazzers rather than Jazzies

I don't want to call myself a Folker.

Subject: RE: Folkies
From: JennyO
Date: 04 Nov 07 - 09:34 PM

I have to agree with Deidre and quantock. That has nearly always been my experience with folkies. I think of them as my family - and that includes all the ones I haven't met yet. They were the people who helped me move house a few years ago when I was having flatmate problems, and they are the ones who are always there when I need a friend.

A friend of ours, Billy, who ran the Merry Muse folk club in Canberra, had a slogan on all his mailouts - "There are no strangers here - only friends we have not met yet!" If you were at one of his concerts, at some stage he would get everyone to say hello to the people on either side. Sounds corny, but it was easy to do - and it's not unusual for that to happen anyway without any prompting.

And now I'm going to do something that I suspect is common to a lot of folkies, and think of a song on the subject (my son often says "Why do you always have to keep breaking into song, mum?") This is a truly awful song that another one of my friends sings - but I'm going to post it anyway. What can I say? The devil made me do it ;-) You know the Paul Simon song, The Boxer? Well this isn't it.



THE FOLKIE - Lyrics: Mike Agranoff, ©1989 Mike Agranoff, Music: Paul Simon © 1969 Paul Simon.

1
I am just a folkie, and my song is seldom heard
For I cannot sing the tune, and keep forgetting all the words
That's not unusual.
But I try my best And I play the three chords that I know and disregard the rest, mmmm...

2
Asking only gas and free beer, I come looking for a gig
But I get no offers, just a ripoff from this bar on Seventh Avenue.
He told a tale,
After six nights at three sets a night he'd pay me without fail, mmmm,
And the check was in the mail.

chorus
Lie-la-lies.....

3
So I left the bars and the coffeehouse feeling no more than annoyed,
And I come to play for strangers on the corners, streets, and subway stations, anywhere
They would go
For the nickles, dimes, and quarters that the harried people throw,
Playing Dylan songs, or something they would know.

instrumental

4
In the kitchen sits a folkie, a songwriter by his trade
, And he tries to do his taxes on the money he ain't made on singing protest songs
Against the war
Or that Simon and Garfunkle stuff that folks don't sing no more,
And he asks himself, "What do I do it for?"

chorus
Why-wa-why....

Subject: RE: Folkies
From: Fidjit
Date: 05 Nov 07 - 04:46 AM

Tom Learer had a tongue in the cheek song "We are the folksong army"


One of the lines is " Every one of us cares"

Chas

Subject: RE: Folkies
From: Waddon Pete
Date: 05 Nov 07 - 10:23 AM

Great video Mr. Happy!

(notice the weskits?)

As a great friend of mine is fond of saying, "If you don't get made fun of, you just ain't important enough!"

Best wishes,

Peter

Subject: RE: Folkies
From: BusyBee Paul
Date: 05 Nov 07 - 11:00 AM

JennyO - I love that song!

Deirdre