The Owl and The Pussy Cat

The Owl and the Pussy-cat went to sea In a beautiful 'red and white'(!) boat, They took some honey, and plenty of money, Wrapped up in a five pound note. The Owl looked up to the stars above, And sang to a small guitar, 'O lovely Pussy! O Pussy my love, What a beautiful Pussy you are, You are, You are!What a beautiful Pussy you are!'


Edward Lear











Saturday 21 May 2011

Getting back into singing


Our dusty guitars


Up until about 6 months ago Vince and I used to go to folk clubs occasionally and sing a song or two. We'd usually have one or two new songs in the pipeline at any one time and when we felt they were good enough we'd give them a public airing. But neither of us has sung or played much for months. Yesterday, while making some books I was listening to an Eric Bogle CD, a songwriter who's work I love, and I felt the stirrings of wanting to sing again.
We have been doing some singing. We belong to a group of friends who meet most Fridays at each others houses and drink tea and wine and eat cake and sing songs (in that order). We sing mostly just for the pleasure of it and when we started, several years ago, I think it's fair to say that we were all convinced we were terrible singers and none of us would have wanted to stand up and sing in public any more than we would have wanted to jump off a cliff!
Over the years many of us have gradually gained in confidence. As a group we've sung at small village events, at a wedding (of two of the members), and some of us have sung a few solos and duets at folk clubs. On Friday evenings we mostly sing songs together and some of us do solos. 
Ever keen to try new things I did this recording of the group singing. Actually it's a video as I don't know how to record stuff to put onto a computer yet. The camera is just pointing at the wood burner so no one gets embarrassed. It was the first song we sang in the evening so we take a verse or two to get warmed up. I've just put a link here rather than embed the video so that it doesn't make the whole blog take ages to download.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k6369-Dlf-k

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