Girl from the north country Trad/Dylan/Roy Harper

If you're traveling in the north country far,
Where the winds hit heavy on the borderline,
Please remember me to one who lives there.
She once was a true love of mine.

If you go when the snowflakes storm,
When the rivers freeze and summer ends,
Please see for me she has a coat so warm,
To keep her from the howling winds.

Please see for me that her hair's hanging long,
That it rolls and flows all down her breast.
Please see for me that her hair's hanging long,
That's the way I remember her the best.

I'm wonderin' if she remembers me at all.
Many times I've often laid,
In the darkness of my night,
In the brightness of my day.

So if you're traveling in the north country far,
Where the winds hit heavy on the borderline,
Remember me to one who lives there.
She once was a true love of mine.

One More Cup of Coffee ( Valley Below ) Bob Dylan cover by Andy Roberts

One More Cup of Coffee ( Valley Below ) Bob Dylan cover by Andy Roberts

Another of my favourite Bob Dylan Songs - One More Cup of Coffee from the Desire album, here performed at Havering Folk Club by Andy Roberts on the same night as When the waters rise, posted earlier

One More Cup Of Coffee

One More Cup Of Coffee by Bob Dylan

Your breath is sweet
Your eyes are like two jewels in the sky.
Your back is straight, your hair is smooth
On the pillow where you lie.
But I don't sense affection
No gratitude or love
Your loyalty is not to me
But to the stars above.

One more cup of coffee for the road,
One more cup of coffee 'fore I go
To the valley below.

Your daddy he's an outlaw
And a wanderer by trade
He'll teach you how to pick and choose
And how to throw the blade.
He oversees his kingdom
So no stranger does intrude
His voice it trembles as he calls out
For another plate of food.

One more cup of coffee for the road,
One more cup of coffee 'fore I go
To the valley below.

Your sister sees the future
Like your mama and yourself.
You've never learned to read or write
There's no books upon your shelf.
And your pleasure knows no limits
Your voice is like a meadowlark
But your heart is like an ocean
Mysterious and dark.

One more cup of coffee for the road,
One more cup of coffee 'fore I go
To the valley below.

The Mighty Quinn - Andy Roberts at Havering Folk Club

I should play like this more often

Requests at Havering Folk Club

It's always nice to get requests because (A) it suggests that somebody likes my songs and (B) it saves me having to decide what to play. The only problem is I've got two request from one person and the songs really deserve to be played on two different guitars, which is more than I can be bothered to carry for a normal singers night at Havering Folk Club. So I'm in the position of having one saved up for later, which is fine.
Last night then, we had a large number of floor singers - 19 I think, including some new people like Fanny Feeney

I played my own song "Blue" as a request and then a Bob Dylan classic, Just like a Woman. I'm sure I got the lines to verses one and two mixed up but only John would notice that :-)

Birthday Party at Havering Folk Club

Surprise parties can have a habit of not going exactly to plan but Sarah's 18th at Havering Folk Club hit the spot.

Amidst the chocolate cake, popcorn and pringles there was some music making as well, with plenty of new faces in the audience which needed to extend sideways out the back. I don't know how many of then we'll see again though.

I took my chinese guitar for the first time, it's nice and light to carry being only half the depth of a full jumbo dreadnought acoustic, but the sound produced is correspondingly less voluminous, so no good for quiet finger picking unamplified at a crowded venue. Good enough to strum with a flat pick though, just about.

I played an old song of mine I've been revisiting recently, called Mazet with the last verse in French.

Also two Bob Dylan songs, One Too Many Mornings and I shall Be Released

Hold On Below

So last night was the second and final Havering Folk Club at the White Horse. Next week we return to the reopened Golden Lion. Good.

last night I played Hold On Below for the first time in a few decades, a fast and loud song from my teenage years. People who think they should be able to learn how to play the guitar in a couple of months in their spare time should take note.

Then from out of the recent Dylan fest I selected Tomorrow is a long time

Also yesterday, I've started looking through my songlists that I began compiling at the beginning of my recent trip to Spain. That led to the collection of lyrics I brought back from the solo trip a few years back. There are still two or three more to come out of there, then it's a question of selecting half a dozen for the first set on April 1st.


Hold On Below Lyrics 

Hold on below I'm coming down
Wind up  the sluices I'm going to drown
open up the hatches I'm on my way down

They've covered up the beauty the meaning can't be found
There's creases in the picture distortion in the sound
so hold on below, I'm on my way  down

Your pictures are all empty there's nothing left to draw
Your face it is all faded and you're smaller than before
you walk on your children they won't take it anymore
you move to close the window as they're walking out the door,

The mountains all around me are getting louder every day
they close all around me though they've nothing left today
and they bear down upon me so I can't get away
their grass has turned brown and their skies are all grey

Hold on below I'm coming down
Wind up  the sluices I'm going to drown
open up the hatches I'm on my way down





So clear out the gangway I'm coming down below
making my way down there;s nowhere else to go
and there's another lot behind me there's row upon row,
ad they all want to leave, sit back and watch us go

They've covered up the beauty the meaning can't be found
There's creases in the picture distortion in the sound
so hold on below, I'm on my way  down

Hold on below I'm coming down
Wind up  the sluices I'm going to drown
open up the hatches I'm on my way down

Tangled up in blue

Early one mornin' the sun was shinin',
I was layin' in bed
Wond'rin' if she'd changed at all
If her hair was still red.
Her folks they said our lives together
Sure was gonna be rough
They never did like Mama's homemade dress
Papa's bankbook wasn't big enough.
And I was standin' on the side of the road
Rain fallin' on my shoes
Heading out for the East Coast
Lord knows I've paid some dues gettin' through,
Tangled up in blue.

She was married when we first met
Soon to be divorced
I helped her out of a jam, I guess,
But I used a little too much force.
We drove that car as far as we could
Abandoned it out West
Split up on a dark sad night
Both agreeing it was best.
She turned around to look at me
As I was walkin' away
I heard her say over my shoulder,
"We'll meet again someday on the avenue,"
Tangled up in blue.

I had a job in the great north woods
Working as a cook for a spell
But I never did like it all that much
And one day the ax just fell.
So I drifted down to New Orleans
Where I happened to be employed
Workin' for a while on a fishin' boat
Right outside of Delacroix.
But all the while I was alone
The past was close behind,
I seen a lot of women
But she never escaped my mind, and I just grew
Tangled up in blue.

She was workin' in a topless place
And I stopped in for a beer,
I just kept lookin' at the side of her face
In the spotlight so clear.
And later on as the crowd thinned out
I's just about to do the same,
She was standing there in back of my chair
Said to me, "Don't I know your name?"
I muttered somethin' underneath my breath,
She studied the lines on my face.
I must admit I felt a little uneasy
When she bent down to tie the laces of my shoe,
Tangled up in blue.

She lit a burner on the stove and offered me a pipe
"I thought you'd never say hello," she said
"You look like the silent type."
Then she opened up a book of poems
And handed it to me
Written by an Italian poet
From the thirteenth century.
And every one of them words rang true
And glowed like burnin' coal
Pourin' off of every page
Like it was written in my soul from me to you,
Tangled up in blue.

I lived with them on Montague Street
In a basement down the stairs,
There was music in the cafes at night
And revolution in the air.
Then he started into dealing with slaves
And something inside of him died.
She had to sell everything she owned
And froze up inside.
And when finally the bottom fell out
I became withdrawn,
The only thing I knew how to do
Was to keep on keepin' on like a bird that flew,
Tangled up in blue.

So now I'm goin' back again,
I got to get to her somehow.
All the people we used to know
They're an illusion to me now.
Some are mathematicians
Some are carpenter's wives.
Don't know how it all got started,
I don't know what they're doin' with their lives.
But me, I'm still on the road
Headin' for another joint
We always did feel the same,
We just saw it from a different point of view,
Tangled up in blue.

Bob Dylan

One Too Many Mornings

Down the street the dogs are barking
And the day is a-getting dark.
As the night comes in a-fallin'
The dogs, they'll lose their bark.
And the silent night will shatter
From the sounds inside my mind
And I'm one too many mornings
And a thousand miles behind.

From the crossroads of my doorstep,
My eyes start to fade.
And I turn my head back to the room
Where my love and I have laid.
And I gaze back to the street
the sidewalk and the sign.
And I'm one too many mornings
And a thousand miles behind.

It's a restless, hungry feeling
That don't mean no one no good.
When everything I'm saying,
You can say it just as good.
You are right from your side,
And I am right from mine.
We're both just one too many mornings
And a thousand miles behind.

Bob Dylan