Folk
Club im Februar 2026 – Party-Time
The Folk Club is having a bit of a hard time with Rhineland
cheerfulness. Carnival and the Folk Club seem to exist in two very different
worlds. The motto of the February session, ‘Party Time,’ seemed a little out of
place at times. Nevertheless, the evening was once again a success –
cheerfulness is possible even without communal swaying in time to the music!
As usual, John Harrison opened the evening, this time
with a country treat: ‘Pamela Brown’ is the title of a song about a futile
attempt. In retrospect, the failure of the advances turns out to be a blessing
for the rejected suitor, whose life at Pamela's side would certainly have been
less colourful. The song about the ‘Derby Ram’, the legendary giant ram from
John's hometown of Derby in central England, is always a favourite. Over the
decades, countless verses have been added to the song, and the ram has become
increasingly gigantic. You could probably fill an entire evening with the
verses. John kept it to a manageable number. The song ‘Black Bottom’ has little
to do with ‘partying’. It is about the areas near the banks of the Mississippi.
Due to frequent flooding, they are not particularly popular with residents. As
a result, less affluent people often live there – predominantly those with dark
skin.
Mario Dompke took up the cause and addressed it with
the cute song ‘Gib mir Bier’ (Give Me Beer). But even this funny song couldn't
do without a tiny, mischievous, raised index finger: ‘Drinking is important’.
Food and drink, and finally the much-loved beer, were also celebrated in the
song about the ‘Thuringian bratwurst’. Yes, and the topic of drinking alcoholic
substances (including beer) was also used in the funny ‘Drunkenness Song’.
Okay, we get it, the man needs something to drink, and he got it in combination
with applause directly from the audience.
Kai Hofstetter – our Lower Franconian dialect bard
from the Main delta – did not perform at the January Folk Club, so we now got
to hear the songs on the theme of ‘temptation’ that were planned for that
evening. Kai explained it for those who were interested. Kai defines the Main
delta not as the estuary area, as with the Mississippi, but as the area near
Würzburg with its large river bends. Kai spanned a blues arc between Goethe's
poetry and Robert Johnson's Cross Road Blues. He wrapped Goethe's ‘Über allen
Gipfeln ist Ruh’ in a basic blues melody and was accompanied by John Harrison
on the harmonica – wonderful! This segued seamlessly into the song ‘Mitm Deifl
verabredt’ (Arranged with the Devil), which references the theme of ‘selling
your soul to the devil to become the greatest’, also wonderfully accompanied by
John. However, Kai's crossroads is located in his Lower Franconian homeland
(between Laudenbach and Duttenbrunn, to be precise) and not, as in Robert
Johnson's case, on the Mississippi (supposedly in Clarksdale). But in the end,
the ‘Deifl’ doesn't come, the soul doesn't have to rush off to hell, but the
blues musician remains completely unknown on earth and is still standing around
“saubleed”. ‘In Harrbach an der Schleuse’ deals with running away from home. The
runaway hides on a barge and is soon discovered. But unlike his predecessors,
he is allowed to stay and sails freely into the world. The song ‘Der Steff, der
Sascha und ich’ (Steff, Sascha and I) is very moving, dealing with the trauma
of soldiers who lose comrades in combat – great lyrics and lots of applause for
Kai.
This time, Hans Ihnen was accompanied by Antje
on the violin. The two started with the wonderful country hit ‘Tennessee
Waltz’. It's actually about a party, but while still on the dance floor, the
sweetheart falls in love with someone else – fatal, but typical for country
songs, which often deal with unfulfilled and even more frequently betrayed
love. ‘Straight To Hell’ by Darius Rucker is also a song from the country
corner. The “hero” is chased out of the house by the girl's mother and wished
to hell. The shipyard song ‘Rattling Bog’ comes from Ireland. In each verse, an
element is added to the lyrics, similar to ‘Old McDonald Had A Farm’. This song
is about a tree in the moor with a branch that has a twig with a nest with a
bird laying an egg, etc. The audience was allowed to sing along to the chorus
and had a lot of fun.
After a long absence, Jutta Mensing performed once
again and reminded us of her folk group ‘Moin’, with which she enjoyed success
in the 1970s, with a little song. Many people know ‘Wenn die Bettelleute
tanzen’ (When the beggars dance) and were able to sing along to the chorus
straight away. Thank you, Jutta, for performing old German folk songs for us.
After a well-deserved break, Wolfgang Schriefer
shared his experiences from his numerous train journeys with us in the poem
‘Vorfreude’ (Anticipation). This was also intended for the evening in January,
but it was enjoyable this time as well. Part of the enjoyment comes from
discovering, in a poetic way, that you have fellow sufferers.
We thoroughly enjoyed the Irish Folk Choir, whose
thirteen singers (including the conductor) really got the audience going. The
Irish songs ‘Star Of The County Down’, ‘Eileen Og’ and ‘Farewell To
Carlingford’ were particularly impressive when sung in harmony, and the
audience demanded an encore.
The ballad ‘Wild Mountain Thyme’ (most likely from
Scotland) gave us even more goose bumps and encouraged the audience to sing
along enthusiastically. Many thanks to choir director Dietmar Imhäuser, choir
spokesperson Gabriele Steinhauer and the singers for their performance.
John Hay then delighted us once again with a song by
Darius Rucker (it was certainly not arranged with Hans Ihnen): ‘Wagon Wheel’
put everyone in a good mood and immediately encouraged them to sing along.
Another sing-along song was ‘Champs Elysées’ by the unforgettable Joe Dassin.
John stayed with the French language (a nice change from the dominant English)
and presented the song ‘Je veux’ by the phenomenal Zaz (Isabelle Geffroy).
Because Shay McVeigh, who was next in line, did not show up, John quickly added
another song: With ‘This Is The Life’ by Amy McDonald, he had the audience on
his side and received thunderous applause.
Now Shay McVeigh had also made it onto the stage and
brought three songs and a joke story with him: ‘I Want To See The Bright Lights Tonight’ by
Richard Thompson perfectly served the theme of the evening: on Friday, after a
long working week, it's time to let loose. He wrote the funny little story
himself about a drone that gets stuck in a tree while trying to smuggle drugs
into a prison. The police rush to the scene and try to kick the drone down with
a football. The plan fails, and they miss the drone several times. However, the
squirrel that lives in the tree is knocked off its branch several times in the
process. The squirrel finally decides to sit on the drone. That's where the
danger of being hit is least. The music continued with the wonderfully
schmaltzy country song ‘I Dream Of Highways’ by Hoyt Axton. Longing for faraway
places combined with the loss of love are absolutely indestructible motifs for
schmaltzy songs. ‘Dust’ by the Dead Tongues goes in a similar direction. 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.
The Folk Club's not-so-new ‘new discovery’ provided a
successful conclusion to the evening: Rick Fines delighted us with his
inimitable guitar technique and four songs, two of which he wrote himself. The
blues song ‘You Got A Leak In This Old Building’ is by Lightning Hopkins. Rick
explained that there are several songs with the title ‘Leak In This Old Building’,
but only one with the aforementioned title. ‘Riley Wants His Life Back’ is a
song by Rick and draws on his own life. With ‘You Got To Walk This Lonesome
Valley’ by Mississippi John Hurt, Rick once again delved into the seemingly
inexhaustible blues repertoire of the old masters and delighted us with a
magnificent interpretation of the song. The audience was allowed to sing along
to the chorus, and after some initial shyness, they did quite well. Perhaps the
shyness was due to the lyrics, which deal with the final journey of every human
being. The Siegfried legend inspired Rick to play an instrumental piece. He
also admitted that many of his melodies contain stolen elements. So, dear
musicians, take note! Don't play a melody that has just occurred to you in
Rick's presence. If it's good, he'll steal it immediately. His performance
concluded with the immortal song ‘You Are My Sunshine’ by Paul Rice from 1937.
The audience was allowed to sing along, and Rick added the lesser-known verses,
making it clear that it is truly a super sad song. OK, another abandoned love
affair that dresses its sorrow in wonderful melodies – and also with fantastic
guitar accompaniment from Rick and thunderous applause at the end of the
evening.
The end? Of course not, because no Folk Club evening ends
without the entire hall paying musical homage to Jock Stewart, ‘A Man You Don't
Meet Every Day’.
See you again at the Folk Club on 6 March with the fantastic
guitar duo Ismael de Barcelona and Thomas Monnerjahn as
featured artists.
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