THE MACAW SINGS THE BLUES

With our reputation for being a bit daffy on stage at times, quite a few people seem intrigued (even impressed occasionally) that we still include a traditional Blues in our set. This is " Wee Midnight Hour Blues," a song recorded by Leroy Carr and Scrapper Blackwell in the early 1930's. We also featured it on our 2008 CD "Roll It Up and Eat It."

WMHB however goes almost right back to our formation as a six piece rock band in the 1970's. We used to do it as part of a much "heavier" electric set, featuring Martin Smalldon on electric base ,Vance on drums, Mick on keyboards, Arnie on lead guitar and me handling vocals. I have a dog-rough Mono rehearsal recording to prove it, which only friends and family may access!!

I've always loved the song. I first heard it on my well worn vinyl copy of Paul Oliver's "Story of The Blues" anthology. Carr and Blackwell had teamed up and shifted North to Chicago at the time of writing and recording it. Some of the lyrics reflected an increasing sophistication, characterised in the opening lines:
"In The Wee Midnight Hour, Long 'fore the break of day/when the Blues creep up on you, carry your mind away."

The whole song is about worry, regret and lamentation. The mournful melody, the mellow instrumentation and the melancholy vocals compliment the overall mood: "My heart's in trouble...my mind is sinkin' deep".

Obviously, we could not replicate our 1970's version as a four-piece folk band. Instead, we re-arranged it to include the interesting combination of acoustic Guitar,mandolin and accordion. Oh, and (if I'm not too shy!) a tiny little bit of Blues harp from yours truly. This kind of takes the mood of it back down South, and away from Chicago. I'd like to think Leroy and Scrapper might have approved of that.

The first song we ever rehearsed and ever played in public was also a blues. John Lee Hooker's "Dimples" Rob Lockington on drums, Tez Tehergee and Arnold on guitar and me on vocals. Later we added Barry Ousby on base and felt confident enough to also try out Sam Cooke's "Bring It On Home" in public.

In 1971 I had the privilege of meeting John Lee backstage at a London venue. Backed by The Groundhogs, he was headlining at my College. He was a quiet, shy and very pleasant man. His only "rider" was a strong cup of coffee! Later, John Lee would have a lot to say about what he once called "The Hurt." He wasn't one of those Black Bluesmen who looked down on White Boys trying to play his type of music. He maintained that delivering the Blues was less about technique or ethnicity and more about understanding (and experiencing) loneliness, pain, grief,sorrow,loss and tragedy. I got some of that.

Later on in the 1970's Martin and Vance replaced Barry and Rob on base and drums respectively. In this same format, we then also featured a 12 bar blues "Going down to Gasthorpe" and an extraordinary Bo Carter blues called "All Around Man." Bo wasn't a great believer in innuendo, and some of his stuff was absolutely filthy! I have a mono recording of us doing "All Around Man", and it really used to shift along. In fact we've talked (briefly) about resurrecting it, but I cannot honestly see any way we could play it publicly again without getting lynched!! Rory Gallagher later did a song of the same name with a similar chord progression, but drastically cleaned up from the Bo Carter original.

Anyway, that's five Blues-based songs from the BPS back catalogue. And there's more from the current one. When the four of us aren't all available to go out and perform together, Arnie and I have added "Sun Won't Shine For You"- Jethro Tull version, Robert Johnson's "If I had Possession" and "Vigilante Man " to a set we now do as a duo. The last two feature me singing and Arnie playing that magnificent Dobro of his. We're also currently sharpening up a version of Jimmy Reed's "Shame, Shame, Shame."

And finally..it's no secret that I occasionally do solo spots at local clubs. Unaccompanied I've aired "Vigilante Man" " Bring It On Home" and
" Jesus On The Mainline" in public, and not yet been booed off!! The Blues was my first love, and I'd like to do more. I've got a whole fist of other songs I'd like to cover. Anyone out there interested?

Maudslay date confirmed-25th March

Well we've been away for a bit-literally. Belgium, Spain and France to be specific. I could be a real poser here, and pretend that we've been on a European Tour together-but we haven't.

There is however, photographic evidence from last week of Arnie jamming on a borrowed telecaster, with a French Blues band. And I did manage to do a bit of networking in a most excellent music cellar Bar in central Bruges, where the owner's playlist was almost as good as mine. He's got a few BPS cards now,so he might even be reading this! Anyway, Listening to an Albert Collins solo pumped through a potent sound system certainly helped the Garre, De Ranke XX and Zot slip down at 2am in the morning!

All being well, the full four-piece B.P.S. combo will be allowed out to participate in a Cancer Research Fund Raiser at The Maudslay Hotel in Coventry on Sunday 25th March.

It's an evening gig in the Concert Room upstairs. These are usually very good sessions-even the ones where we turn up! We've done quite a few sessions there over the last few years. The acoustics in the room are excellent. There is usually a good mix of guests. Previously we've been joined by people like Sara Bennett, Kev Dempsey, Threepenny Bit, Katherine Fear and Jon Harrington, Rod Felton and Rob Armstrong, Sean Cannon and Maggie Coleman. To name but a few. Pete Grassby organises and so usually has a warble, too.

Being the crazy, globetrotting guys we are,April's looking a bit thin due to more overseas commitments, but our appearance at Bedworth Folk Club on May 23rd date is also now fully confirmed.

Gig updates

Regrettably, we've had to pull out of our next commitment, which was due to be at "The Cock", Rowington, next Wednesday-February 15th. A pity, as this would have been a new venue for us,and we were all looking forward to adding it to our collection. Better to make a decision well in advance, with the weather being as it is.

Hopefully,Pete Grassby will re-arrange an alternative date for us there. If he's still talking to us, we anticipate appearing in one of his Sunday Night extravaganzas, at The Maudslay Hotel, Coventry, on Sunday 25th March.

We will also be at Bedworth Folk Club on Wednesday 23rd May. This is a Festival fundraiser. A couple of other venues and/or organisers have been in touch, and we hope to finalise a few more dates locally over the next few months.


Looking further ahead it seems likely we'll be busy in November, with an appearance in Witherley, and later in the month, shifts at Bedworth Folk Festival 2012 already pencilled in.

Meanwhile, Arnold and I kept busy during January. I did a solo spot at The Black Bank on the 12th-giving me a rare opportunity to air that BPS classic "Bonio Romeo." And as "Simpering Wolf and Slim Hopkins," Arnie and I did a couple of spots as a duo. A chance for Slim to air the Dobro and me to exercise the tonsils. We were at Bedworth Rugby Club on the 25th and The Bell in Monks Kirby on the 29th. The latter appearance featured awesome audience singing of "Albert Balls." What a pity we didn't put that song on the last CD. It's become a real favourite! If we do another-we must make sure AB is on it-and a "Live" version! ( Offers, anyone?)

Parrot are Back On The Perch

Well, Happy Christmas, a Happy New Year and a Happy Everything Generally to BPS followers near and far, young and old, past and present. It's been a while since the last Blog, primarily because of Festive Stuff. Band members tend to use December as a bit of a Lardfest generally, reducing the performing opportunities to a minimum whilst maximising the social occasions.

Shortly after the most recent post above, for example, I went off to The Harz Mountains in Eastern Germany, for a birthday treat. I'm a bit of a railway fan, so hammering up through the snow-covered pine forests to a white-out at the summit of The Brocken was damn near an orgasmic experience for me. Beer,Sausages,Steam Trains-come on-it doesn't get much better than that.

At the same time, Arnold was in Kracow, I think. And Eddie's just come back from Madeira. So no time for much practical music making in between. I squoze in a couple of local solo spots before Santa came, but nevertheless, we also managed to fit in two seasonal BPS staff "do's." One before Christmas at Wood Farm Brewery Tap, and a New Year session last week in the wonderful Byatt's Kingdom of Whitefriars Alehouse, Coventry.

Today I'm delighted to say that we finally got back down to the serious business of music making. A full rehearsal of the four piece format. And a jolly good work out it was too. Interestingly, we selected all cover versions to work on today. They were: "The Poacher's Lament": "Man of Constant Sorrow": " The Bonny Black Hare": "Courting is a Pleasure": "Requiem for Steam" and "Over The Hills and Far Away". The last few are regulars: the first two are very close to being new additions to the current set. We've done the Poacher publicly before-but we're working on a longer version now, with four-part harmonies and "The Foxhunter" and "The Galway Hornpipe" as two instrumental pieces added at the end of the vocals. MOCS is the song made famous from O Brother Where Art Thou. A Good excuse for some good Ol' Country Music whilst slugging from a jug of Chicken Whisky. or something.

It looks like the first airing for the two new songs could be The Cock at Rowington in February-unless of course, someone out there has an earlier opportunity they'd like to float past us?

The Gravy Train

On a day like today, after the working public have been trashed as militant money grasping scum by POLITICIANS ,( erm...pot, kettle,black?) I thought it appropriate to post on here the full lyrics of one of our most popular ditties.

Oh the Gravy Train is coming,but it's not for you and me
It won't stop at your station, unless you're an M.P.
Oh the Gravy Train is coming, hear it rumble down the track
It's loaded with our money which they say they're giving back.

If you're standing on that platform just wave as it goes by
At all those smiling faces subsidised by you and I
You cannot have a ticket and you do not get a ride
All seats reserved for the privileged just sitting there inside

Don't trespass on that railway line it isn't very safe
Unless you're flipping mortgages whilst acting in good faith
They claimed lots of expenses whilst "sticking to the rules"
And if they think we'll swallow that they must think we're bloody fools

The Gravy Train is coming, it's all weighted down with cash:
-Allowances and handouts for Opportunist Trash.
Ministers and politicians of every shade and hue,
Their second homes and Porno films paid for by me and you.

Oh the Gravy Train is coming! Can you hear the whistle blow?
They say there's an enquiry-but we'll never get to know.
They will hope we've all forgotten when next time to vote has come
And if you do not vote at all in come the Nazi scum.

We need a revolution, let's roll those tumbrils out,
They're the perfect resolution for a mud encrusted snout,
For those with a flat in Chelsea and a farm in Warwickshire
Who say they're living hand-to-mouth on a hundred grand a year.

( repeat First verse).


words are copyright of BPS 2010. Can be reproduced-but only with my permission.

Barking at "The Bell"

Last night I was in the company of the Sly Old Dogs and Friends at The Bell, Monks Kirby. It drew a hectic (for me!) but comforting programme of four live performances in seven days to a close. In contrast to some other pub venues I've sung in recently, a welcoming host, free food (offered without demanding gratuity or reward), and a building overflowing with customers on a cold Sunday night out in the Warwickshire Tundra. Good to see some friendly faces fresh from our, erm, experience last Monday there, too.

I do like this particular venue. It reminds me of the Folk Clubs of my youth. A huge room, with good acoustics, and a separate bar. Plus, the singing from the audience here really is rather good. This all seems to lift the performers, and they respond with spirit. The musicianship is accomplished and varied, reflecting a group of friends who are obviously relaxed in each others' company. There is good natured banter between the audience and the performers. The material is mostly(but not exclusively) traditional-but the format is refreshingly fluid. That fluidity is infectious. I went along with a set idea of what I was going to sing-but changed it completely over the course of the evening.

I had been working hard for example, on resurrecting one of my favourite folk melodies recently-the bittersweet “Peggy Gordon”. I renewed acquaintance with this song, after seeing a disturbing version of it during that excellent Ray Winstone film “The Proposition.” I'd thought about giving it an airing last night. But the guy next to me sang it as I was thinking! How often this happens when trying out a new song. It was a slightly different version to the one I've been working on-so I might still give my version a go if they'll have me back. And I managed to sing along with every verse, without the words and from memory. (Wonder if I can do that solo!)

My first song instead was therefore the blatant crowd-pleaser. “Black Velvet Band”. Although this is on our 2008 CD, I'm just not allowed to do it with the band any more. BVB was one of the only songs I sang in public during the couple of decades when the Parrot were “resting”. It was one of the first I remember hearing sung in Folk Clubs. Belfast, a Partitioned Ireland, petty street crime, Alcoholism and Transportation are perhaps things the Guardian-Reading, Knit your Own Tofu Tree-Huggers would probably rather not think about. But Hey! That's Folk Music-sometimes it speaks the unspeakable! I suspect the other Parrots feel it's dated, schmaltzy, corny and just too, well, Irish. It may well be,but the audience didn't seem to mind, roaring the choruses out with gusto. Despite me pitching it down in a vocal area Pete Willow later described as “Lee Marvin/Paint Your Wagon territory”. That's just one of the challenges of not playing an instrument, and in singing unaccompanied when you've spent the last thirty years or so fronting a band. As the nice lady sitting next to me very kindly said, “ it must be very difficult.”

It is. Little voices in your head say, just as you're standing up and clearing the tubes, “ I think it's about here.” Once under way, the nerves kick in, and the same voice mutters “ Are you sure? Is that not a little too high? Too low? Too fast? Too slow?” (With a band intro, you follow whatever tempo and key they begin in!) In the third verse I also inexplicably and incorrectly referred to the “roving black eye “ of the thieving miscreant luring young country boys into trouble on Broadway, as a “roving glass eye.” Well that got a good laugh, didn't it!

Along with some country influenced stuff , came another one of my favourites, “The World Turned Upside Down. ” I have always really liked the Dick Gaughan version of this immensely. Now that's what I call ANGRY! Along with a couple of excellent comedy songs, we then seemed to hit a seafaring patch, trading songs about whaling, trawling, and angling for Perch in the Oxford Canal with a stick float and a size 14 hook. (Actually I made that last one up). It was good to hear " The Little Pot Stove", popularised on the Nic Jones's Penguin Eggs album, given an enthusiastic rendition here.

Inevitably with a seafaring theme, Yarmouth got a few name checks. Three songs at least, as I made a late decision to drop "Vigilante Man" and do “Shoals of Herring” instead. (a request!). Got hoisted by my own deck winch there as it happned, as I'd left the full lyrics at home. Ewan McColl is another folk voice I grew up enjoying. Both Shoals and The Thirty Foot Trailer we used to do, when we ran the Folk Club in Brinklow many years ago, It was always a truncated version of Shoals we did. The full radio documentary version is quite long, but since I've started doing solo spots, I've revisited it. However, confidently striding out to the car during an interval, I realised that it was this full version I'd left on the music stand at home, after using it as my “warm-up” piece this week! Ah well. Our Drifter didn't quite make it to Canny Shiels, but the audience didn't seem to mind a shorter version. The little voice in my head incidentally, this time suggested pitching this one a little too high, so my eyes were watering by the end.

I must mention the magnificent medley of Morris tunes which the ensemble plays during the third part of the evening. Featuring a brass section, and a Tuba sustain note which just goes...on and on. Remarkable. And very foot-tappingly infectious.

We'd already had songs about a Teddy Bears Orgy and a monumental pub crawl of Manchester. ( Took me back to the stag “do “at Nottingham Beer Festival in October!) So I felt it appropriate to do a medley of erm, adapted and personalised Christmas Songs as my finale. Well it was Advent Sunday. This is a little collection BPS have put together over the years, as part of a Christmas Party package. That raised a few laughs too.

The company finished (as they always do) with a version of "Wild Mountain Thyme." This is a very different version to the (Alex Campbell?) one I've learned and performed over the years. There must be half a dozen versions of this song doing the rounds in Folk Clubs, but in most venues, it's always belted out magnificently by all. I really enjoyed the evening. Thanks to all The Dogs and the Audience for indulging me. Hope to see you again soon.

Gig Update

London Bus time. Very quiet then three gigs come along at once.

Starting Monday with The Boat at Newbold. With our good friends Borderline Crossing as hosts. And with other good friends Brian and Marie Phillips and Malc and Gill playing there also. Sizeable BPS following swelling the numbers and putting lots of money over the counter. Singalonga Parrots until....

Only managed eight numbers-which were very well recieved. Encore demanded but not able to oblige due to change of management in the morning. All over before drinking up time. Odd. At least it wasn't about us, or our material. Apparently. Even though " Poacher's Lament" went a bit awry. More work on that required-relegated to the Sub's bench for Friday (see below).

Friday 25th saw us paired up again back to back with The Borderlines (Mmm. Bagsy being next to 'Chelle!). We warmed up a decent audience for them with about the same number of songs. Once again, demands for "Vacuum Cleaner" overlooked due to time constraints. Good crowd, excellent beer (three from Church End), fine communal whistling and a morale booster after some recent experiences.

Saturday saw us back at Bedworth Folk Festival. A more traditional set than last night. Good sized audience sparked off a good performance from us. Good to hook up with all kinds of people at BFF this time round-from the past, Enchante,Rob Armstrong,Mr. Donnelly and Mr. and Mrs. Melodeon. New friend-Ali O'Brien. All thoroughly nice people. Loved the Craft Fair. And the Appalachian Dancing.