Lyr Add: The Floor Singer (Paul Openshaw)

Subject: Lyr Add: THE FLOOR SINGER (Paul J Openshaw)
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 18 Sep 18 - 09:01 PM

Paul's new song


The Floor Singer

He googled the words, then he cut and he pasted
The tune he was able to rip and then burn
He learned all the verses it took him a while
Now he sat in the circle awaiting his turn
This was his moment to rise and to shine
He took a deep breath when the time came to start
But his mind went blank and he could not remember
The words he had thought to be etched on his heart
Chorus
It did not do much for his ego
His head was all over the place
He started out with the best of intentions
But now he had egg on his face

If he could remember the opening line
Or even perhaps just one single word
But it wasn’t to happen. It wasn’t to be
And that was quite simply the way it occurred
It was almost as though he’d been smitten
Unable to function and gripped by a curse
And there wasn’t a person who did not feel for him
But that only seemed, to make matters worse

When a brain has gone into bungalow mode
There is no cognition. There is no recall
Some people call it a senior moment
As the light goes out and you hit a brick wall
When he retakes his seat in the circle
The words seem to come flooding back to him then
But he can do nothing, but patiently sit
And wait until his turn comes round once again

Paul J Openshaw (September 2018)

Subject: RE: Paul Openshaw's song The Floorsinger
From: Joe Offer
Date: 18 Sep 18 - 09:05 PM

I imagine that all of us who dare to perform, get egg on our faces every once in a while. I would prefer not to make fun of others when it happens to them. It's likely to happen again to us in the future.

If a floorsinger seems clueless, we should pause for a moment and contemplate our own occasional cluelessness. I think this song is written with compassion for all of us who have been in similar situations. I really thought I knew the melody to the verses of John Tams' "Rolling Home" when I tried to sing it last Sunday, but it sure as hell didn't come out as I thought it should. Damn.

I was good on the chorus, though....

-Joe-

Subject: RE: Paul Openshaw's song The Floorsinger
From: GUEST,Cappuccino
Date: 19 Sep 18 - 06:01 AM

I rather think this is going to be a long and sympathetic thread, if we all recall similar experiences!

Subject: RE: Paul Openshaw's song The Floorsinger
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 19 Sep 18 - 07:17 AM

our session had a Black Cloud that followed us from venue to venue - there was always someone looking upward trying to see the words!

One of our members fills in the spaces with la la la la until she finds those Lost Words.

sandra (chorus singer who can't hold a tune on her own & is always losing words)

Subject: RE: Paul Openshaw's song The Floorsinger
From: GUEST,Pete from seven stars link
Date: 19 Sep 18 - 01:47 PM

The answer of course is the good old disparaged music stand and write it out . Having said that , there have been occasions when it's gone pear shaped for me even then !

Subject: RE: Paul Openshaw's song The Floorsinger
From: GUEST,Gerry
Date: 19 Sep 18 - 06:56 PM

Found this in another discussion on mudcat:

Soaring from earth like a fly in molasses
Taken aloft like a slug on the wing;
Seen only dimly through mists as time passes
Where are the words I am trying to sing?
      
    Vaguely remembered, almost remembered
    Vaguely remembered from what I have sung;
    La la la la la la la la la la-la
    Vaguely remembered from what I have sung.

Subject: RE: Paul Openshaw's song The Floorsinger
From: Acorn4
Date: 20 Sep 18 - 03:49 AM

There is usually a hole in the floor down which the words vanish?

Subject: RE: Paul Openshaw's song The Floorsinger
From: GUEST,Some bloke
Date: 20 Sep 18 - 05:06 AM

Excellent.

As for those knocking it, most of us are quite capable of distinguishing between someone who wishes to share their love of music but have reached their personal potential and those who quite frankly haven’t put much thought into it.

The former are encouraged and are, by trying, entertaining. The latter, flicking through a book assuming their first attempt at reading for the first time whilst singing (not easy, even for professional singers) are just wasting time that could be filled by those who make an effort.

After all, the aim is to entertain people. At one time in folk clubs, that is what happened and others sat and listened. At times, I begin to sympathise with those I usually bitch about, ie those who talk or flick through phones and folders whilst someone is singing. A bloke I know well gets up at our local club occasionally and flicks through saying, “let’s try this one, I’ve never done it before.” His saving grace being it is my cue to head to the bar.

I have been known to sing “The Galway Drawl” before now.....

I also ensure those who really try despite it not being their strong point get a good hearing. Asking for a bit of order tends to be my catch phrase these days.

Subject: RE: Paul Openshaw's song The Floorsinger
From: Acorn4
Date: 20 Sep 18 - 10:06 AM

My New Song

I learned to sing a brand new song
Learned it well and felt so proud
But all my dreams would turn to ashes
When I went along to that singaround

I practised hard, both night and day
Memorised the words on every page
It sounded so good in the bathroom
And now the world would be my stage

As I went into that crowded room
I felt wound up like a coiled spring
But when I’d sat down in that circle
I did a very stupid thing

I sat in the only empty place
Where the turn to sing had just moved past
Now I’d have to sit around for hours
Oh woe is me ! Oh, damn and blast

It started with a gruesome murder ballad
Which ended on the gallows high
But not till after 42 verses
When it was done, I heaved a sigh

Then some pissed up clown
Started a sea shanty
With a drunken chorus nine times or ten
By the time he’d reached the Bay of Biscay
He forgot the words and had to start again.

Then an intense young man with a Takamine
Bared his soul to all in a song he’d written so deep
All about a failed relationship
I think I must have fallen asleep.

Then a rather large Scottish lady
Did and introduction
That was even longer than the song,
The it's “oooaaaah whoooaaaaant' ye gan to the heeeeeels, laddie?”
Another half an hour and we moved on!

And several more painful dirges later
When things had sunk to an all time low
From under a seat appears a melodeon
Just wind him up and off he’ll go

And then this bloke waltzes in and sits down
He arrived at least two hours after me
He must be up the organiser’s backside
‘Cos he gets to sing almost straight away

And once again it was a marathon performance
As despondency filled up the room
Till someone did a Leonard Cohen song
Just to lighten up the gloom

It was my turn at last after an eternity
I said “Oh, is it me?”, take a deep breath
Now is my chance for retribution
I’ll make sure I get my pound of flesh

        I’ll make this song go on forever
Stretch every syll-a-ble -and line
I’ll get my own back on those bastards
That kept me waiting all that time
I’ll go slow, so very slow,,
And oh so slow, so very slow...

        I’ll sing so loud I’ll give them earache
        Let them know my time has come
They can forget about the beer break
As no-one’s moving till I’m done

And as for those who carry on talking
Or crunching crisps at them I’ll glare
And as for going to the toilet
        I’ll just say ”don’t you bloody dare”

        I’ll make this song go on forever
Stress every syllable and line
I’ll get my own back on those bastards
That kept me waiting all that time
I’ll go slow, so very slow, and even more slow,
Very slow........

Subject: RE: Paul Openshaw's song The Floorsinger
From: GUEST,Jerry
Date: 20 Sep 18 - 12:25 PM

And here’s an old one of mine on the same subject....

It’s a damn tough life full of toil and strife, we wailing men undergo
But we don’t worry none when our songs are sung, how hard it was a show
For we’re bar room bound for another round, with our gullets taut and free
And we don’t give a toss about the verses lost, that just slipped from memory

Going down the Folk Club my brave boys, Rose and Crown is where we’ll be
But Homeward Bound and the Holy Ground, they’ve all slipped from memory

Once more we’ll wail our miserable tales, of death and grief and woe
Of calamities on the old High Seas, and battling ‘gainst the foe
Both night and day we’ve wailed away, about good ships lost at sea
But most still sail where I have failed to remember that verse three

We’ve learnt our craft both fore and aft, but mostly below decks
It’s a tragedy but for the life of me, I can’t remember what comes next
There’s something about rant and rout, or did I just do that verse?
Something, something I’m mumbling, maybe just repeat the first....

There is more, but you get the drift.