Folk Club # 157 in May 2025 – Hail, Hail The First Of May!
“Imagination” was the motto of Folk Club No. 157 on May 2,
2025. What a theme! Every contribution fits in with this, because the authors
of the songs and poems need a lot of this ability to conceive their works. In
addition, many of the texts require the listeners to use their imagination to
understand what is meant. Quite obviously (we should also take a closer look at
this word), imagination is the greatest asset that humans can have. No wonder
that this beautiful German word is at the top of our chief John Harrison's
popularity scale. Compared to their English equivalents, the German terms for
sensory perception come from our traditional, immediately comprehensible
vocabulary, while the English language relies almost exclusively on words of
Latin or French origin in this area. Unfortunately, writers are increasingly
tending to replace the mostly pictorial German words with Anglicisms, which may
sound fashionable but tend to obscure the nature of what is being described to
German-speaking readers.
But enough of these old-fashioned linguistic observations,
let's get on with life. John Harrison's introduction to the evening did
not require too much imagination. As he does almost every year at the May Folk
Club, he started with an a cappella song praising the merry month of May:
“Hail, Hail, The First Of May” is the title of the song, which sounds like an
old-fashioned folk song but is actually a composition by contemporary English
folk musician Dave Webber. The musician is said to have been very surprised
when, during the May singing in Padstow, he was accused of singing the
traditional Padstow song with the May song. Dave first had to enlighten the
assembled troupe about the true origin of the song. However, this incident was actually a great honour for Dave.
John's slightly altered song “Albert McTavish's Brand New
Frigidaire” was a good fit for the theme. In it, John tells the story of a man
who lives alone with his wife on a deserted island in northern Scotland. One
day, he is supposed to get a refrigerator because his wife likes to eat jellied
eels in aspic even in summer, which requires refrigeration. When he finally
manages to bring the appliance from Edinburgh, it turns out that he has bought
a gas-powered one instead of an electric one. His wife, who is very strong and
skilled with her hands, has built a wind turbine in the meantime. The story
then takes a tragic turn. Albert and the refrigerator have been resting at the
bottom of the sea ever since. The musical variation of the piece that follows
is purely instrumental, allowing the listener to let the story pass before
their mind's eye once again.
John then had some musical fun with Holger Riedel.
Holger, who is always good for some quirky performances, had slightly modified
Jimi Hendrix's song “Hey Joe” to “Hey John” (“what are you doing with your
thing in your hand”). To Holger's somewhat adventurous piano music and
woodcut-like singing, John skillfully improvised Hendrix-style guitar riffs, so
that the overall work made a thoroughly respectable impression and was
definitely a nice joke – the applause showed that the audience had enjoyed it.
Hans Ihnen then took the evening's theme very seriously with Ozzy Osbourne's “Dreamer” and Karat's immortal “Über sieben Brücken musst Du gehen” (You Have to Cross Seven Bridges) – both beautifully played on the piano and sung, and rewarded with hearty applause.
Wolfgang Schriefer, who has since become the Folk Club's resident poet, made up for a piece that was actually intended for the Folk Club in April. Wolfgang was unable to attend last month. We remember: it was about women's names. Wolfgang had written a hymn to his wife Brigitte and composed various melodies for it. The title was “Many Women, Many Names,” and I quickly recognised melodies from songs such as “Nights in White Satin” by the Moody Blues and “Kathrin” by Bläck Fööss. Ultimately, the most important message was: “Women have many names, but there's only one you really want!” Wonderful, dear Wolfgang, your wife loves you even more now.
John Harrison, who is also a resident poet at the Folk Club, presented one of his odes to dandelions in keeping with the season: “Dandelion II” is the title. The II indicates that it is not the only praise he has penned. As beautiful as the poem is, your court reporter has a slightly different view on the subject of dandelions – that of a gardener plagued by stubborn weeds. It's like in real life: beauty is important, but it's not everything.
Shay McVeigh, the featured artist of the evening, comes from Northern Ireland and has been living in Endenich for years. In addition to music, he also devotes himself to the visual arts. He brought along some beautiful examples of his work and exhibited them. His selection of music takes us again and again into the wide world of seemingly inexhaustible compositions beyond the familiar. “Boston” by Irish singer-songwriter Mick Flannery is probably only known to specialists. One wonders why something like this isn't played on the radio. Or maybe I'm listening to the wrong stations. Perhaps I'm too old-fashioned anyway: who still gets their music knowledge from the radio these days? Shay beautifully adapted the song, which Mick Flannery originally accompanied on the piano, for guitar accompaniment. The song “Agony” by the English group Ezio also belongs in the category “should be played more often.” Even when this group was mentioned, there was no sign of recognition from the audience. After all, the group has already performed at the Harmonie in Bonn in 2011. Yes, dear Shay, even if you seem surprised by this, the world is too diverse for anyone to know and understand everything. But we have you to discover songs. “Walk Away” by Tom Waits, on the other hand, is likely to be better known. Shay may not have Tom Waits' hoarse voice, but his interpretation is no less convincing. His fingerpicking is also top-notch. “Picasso” by Citizen Cope is another contribution from the world of discovery, a touching story about a homeless man who falls in love with the beautiful lady on the poster near him: ‘The woman that I love, is forty feet tall’ is one line. In the end, the homeless man successfully fights to prevent the poster beauty from being removed. Your chronicler remembered this song because Shay had played it several times at the Folk Club.
Is there a new star in the Folk Club sky? It could be, and it would even be a triumvirate. Iris Brück, Carsten Exner, and Steffi Sawatzki are the three who know each other from their work in their association “Motiviva” for children, youth, and family assistance.
Somewhat shyly, they started their performance with the well-known song by Hal David and Burt Bacharach, “Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head.” It quickly became apparent that shyness was completely misplaced. Carsten played a confident accompaniment on his guitar with beautiful fingerpicking, and the women's voices were strong in volume, confident in intonation, and complemented each other wonderfully in two-part harmony. And then the three had to announce a song that had already been played by Andreas Kulik.
“Autumn Leaves” was now performed by a trio. Surprises are the spice of life at the Folk Club – there are usually no agreements, so occasionally there are duplicates. The audience was allowed to decide for themselves which version they liked better. For their third piece, the trio chose “Venus” by the Dutch group Shocking Blue. Your chronicler still vividly remembers his school days. Back then, we also had pop music in music class, which was super modern. Our progressive music teacher had studied as a clarinetist in the US and had a keen sense for newer sounds. The class was allowed to choose a piece, and the choice fell on “Venus.” I remember that the teacher praised the intro highly, but dismissed the lyrics – which were very modern for the time – as rather misogynistic: the woman who only gains importance because of her physical charms. In addition, the singer Mariska Veres made a glaring mistake in the lyrics at the time, and that in the official record version: she sang “Godness” instead of the correct “Goddess.” Our music teacher also taught English, so he couldn't resist making a comment. However, the criticism did not detract from the song's popularity, then or now. Carsten, Iris, and Steffi were wonderful in all three songs, and we hope they will grace the Folk Club with their presence again soon.
Peter Bachmann, who can draw on his huge repertoire, has become almost part of the Folk Club's inventory. This includes many songs in German. “Einfach sein” by Willy Astor is a really good song that gets under your skin and should inspire our imagination. Peter wrote his own lyrics in his native Rhineland dialect for Steve Harley's song “A Friend for Life” – “Vür et Levve en Fründ” – a beautiful variation and true folk! Bravo Peter and much applause.
After so many highlights, our featured artist Shay McVeigh returned to the stage in the second half of the evening and introduced us to the world of lesser-known songs:
Country lovers, however, will be familiar with the wonderful country ballad “I Dream Of Highways” by Hoyt Axton. Shay's version was considerably less schmaltzy, making it a really good interpretation of the road ballad. Damien Rice, an Irish musician, wrote the song “Lonely Soldier,” which is not schmaltzy at all. Years ago, the song's author himself failed to provide an answer as to its meaning. Interpretations range from a call to end the war to a longing for death. Either way, the lyrics are rather disturbing. In a film series about a dubious motorcycle club in California (Sons Of Anarchy), the song “Wish It Was True” by a musician named “The White Buffalo,” alias Jacob Aaron Smith, was used. The song is a desperate cry for sincerity, which the singer sorely misses in the world around him—very impressively interpreted by Shay. Another problematic world is described in the song “Carmelita” by Fred Eaglesmith. It is about migrant workers and their hardships. Shay followed up his impressive performance with the song “Dust” by the Dead Tongues. It is a love song and quite melancholic because the love remains unfulfilled. But it is precisely the melancholic songs that appeal to us most, isn't it? Lots of applause for Shay for his song selection and captivating interpretations.
Of course, the evening couldn't end without the community paying tribute to Jock Stewart, the patron of the Folk Club.
See you on June 6 for the 158th edition of the Folk Club. The motto is “Sunshine, Light, and Colours.” Well, it should be possible to find musical contributors for that.
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