4 Songbirds, 6 Crooners and a Croaker

Of the Songbirds… 

Only two of these were actually airborne. The Lesser Spotted Lynda was high on the wing in the “Wild Montana Skies” and the Yellow Crested Penni was tweeting us from “Somewhere Over The Rainbow”.

Not being one to grouse, Glyn Hudson was to be found wading along “Banks of the Ohio”, whilst Sandpiper Ros was drifting “Under The Boardwalk”.

Of the Crooners…  it was John Ryder, the old romantic, who alluded to the 14th of Feb with Willy Nelson’s “My Valentine”.

Joe Lyon sang some Joe Brown, some Beatles and some Searchers. Geoff sang about “Sand and Water” and about “Silver and Gold”. And Tom took to his little red ukulele for a medley that started with a song he wrote for a mermaid friend of his and finished with “Ain’t She Sweet” by which time everyone was singing along.

Peter Leslie sang “Wonderful Life” in honour of Liverpool singer/songwriter Colin Vearncombe, aka Black, who sadly passed away on January 26th, at only 53 years of age.

Then he treated us to the first airing of his latest composition.  “Relentless Rain” was written last weekend after he was awakened in the middle of the night by the sound of that very same wet stuff!

As someone who is becoming known as the writer of somewhat quirky songs, Mike Whittaker first gave us “Travelling Day”, a song about being on a train amongst strangers, followed by a rather dark and quirky tale entitled “The Maid”.

Did someone mention Croakers…?  Ah yes, that would be me. I gave up though, after one Carol King song, as I wasn’t doing much to endorse the use of Sanderson’s Throat Specific, Strepsils and Vocal Zone!  Someone said I might get high mixing all those different remedies. But I can assure you, I still felt low – even after nearly overdosing on the lot of them!

Depending upon how you enumerate the medleys, I counted a total of thirty-two songs from ten and a half performers (I didn’t qualify as being the full 100%), and it was Penni who brought the evening to a close with a quite beautiful rendition of “Vincent” written by Don McLean as a tribute to the somewhat tortured life of the artist Vincent van Gogh.

Next Week: Singers’ Night – but with the added appeal of a nice little showcase by Chris Yeoh who wowed us with a great floor spot when he happened upon our club last November.  Plenty of time for your usual spots – so bring your instruments as usual.