Have a listen...

THE DRAGON OF CASTLE CARLTON

Ali has a fascination for a good story and all things medieval so imagine her delight on moving to Lincolnshire in 2021 and finding that a dragon used to dwell in the next village! 

Find out more at https://lincolnshirefolktalesproject.com/2024/02/12/sir-hugh-bardolph-the-dragon/

GRANDAD FRED'S MARROW/FOUR DAYS IN AMERSHAM

A pair of English tunes. We know they are English because the first is by Graeme and the second by Ali!

Grandad Fred is Graeme's Dad, winner of the Basingstoke allotment competition so many times he got banned and grower of extraordinarily large marrows. Fred loves marrow... nobody else in the family does, in fact you may have seen us trying to give them away at gigs...

The second tune arises from a misunderstanding about a possible competition prize, apparently it was actually Amsterdam, not Amersham, (lovely as Amersham is obviously).

WIND'S COLD TODAY

Also known as The Unquiet Grave and Cold Blows the Wind this is a song of a woman sat by her true love's grave asking for just one more kiss. One of the most beautiful and chilling songs you will ever hear.

THE DRAYMAN

A song by Graeme and a tune by Ali (also called The Drayman). Graeme's Mum's father worked with heavy horses and had worked on a dray and that inspired him to write this song.

This song reflects on the changing world, the rise of the oil industry after the war and the loss of a traditional way of life.

CAMBRIC SHIRT

This song is a 'riddle song', a list of impossible requests that must be completed before the maid will marry her suitor, sometimes referred to as the 'Elphin Knight'. 

With its refrain of 'Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme' it was made famous in a version recorded by Simon and Garfunkel, 'Scarborough Fair' who may or may not have borrowed it from the singing of the great Martin Carthy...