First Taste of Christmas

The first Thursday of December signalled the all-clear to unleash the Christmas songs and it was Joe Lyon who got the (snow) ball rolling by including “A Winter’s Tale” in his opening set.

Bob Neale painted a sombre seasonal picture with “Delia’s Gone”, a sad song about Delia Green who was tragically shot and killed on Christmas Day, 1900.

Bob’s wife Penni lightened the mood somewhat with “Christmas in Paradise” followed by Richard Shindell’s “Ballad Of Mary Magdalene”.

Then in the second half, she took us back to 1970 with “I Don’t Know How to Love Him” from Andrew Lloyd Webber’s rock opera, Jesus Christ Superstar.

And the tinsel didn’t stop there. “Merry Christmas”, “Blue, Blue Christmas” and “All I Want for Christmas is You” were the three classical yuletide treats served up by John Ryder.

It was Tom Degney who broke the Christmas spell by looking forward to one sunny day in the spring with Doc Watson’s “Sitting On The Top Of World”.

The rest of the evening was filled with an eclectic mix from the fourteen performers, including the 19th century traditional folk song, “Wayfaring Stranger” from Richard Davies, Donovan’s “Colours” from Glyn Hudson, we had a “First Taste of Texas” from Lynda Degney, Clifford T Ward’s “Where’s It Going To End?” from John Rowell, and some Greeday and Cohen from Chris.

The evening’s second dose of Andrew Lloyd Webber came from Enid and Neil with “Don’t Cry for me Argentina”. Dave Reese delivered two Simon and Garfunkel classics followed by John Lennon’s “Jealous Guy”.

This week’s finale came courtesy of the dude in black with white sneakers, Harry Robertson. Accompanied by Tom, Richard and John Bass, he delivered “The Letter”, taught us “True Love Ways” and took us down to “Memphis Tennessee” to round off another great evening of music.

Next week is the last singers’ night before our Christmas party on the 15th.  See you there!