Favourite Songs Index
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Here is a collection of my favourite songs. I began to get interested in singing as a boy scout, then as a choir boy in North Petherton church in Somerset. Rugby also taught me a few unsavoury songs which are included elsewhere and we were taught folk songs in school. Returning to Somerset I renewed my love of Triumph motorcycles and joined the club when a fellow member asked me to join the RAOB ( Royal Antediluvian Order of Buffaloes) which is a sort of poor mans Masons. The reason was that the local lodge wanted someone to play the piano so I found myself as the minstrel of the Loyal Sedgemoor Lodge and learnt a few more songs. Then I started caving and discovered the wonderful singing sessions at the Hunters Lodge Inn at Priddy on the Mendip Hills and boy did I learn a few songs there and even wrote one or two. My job then took me to Scotland where I became a member of a folk group. The Ghillies were an Edinburgh folk group and you can find more about them here.The Ghillies were formed in 1967 at a flat in Gilmore Place, Edinburgh. The first members were George Alden who owned the flat, Alan (Goon) Jeffreys, Peter (Snab) MacNab and Steve Tirelli who played guitar. Singing with the Ghillies added many more songs to my repertoire. Many of these songs are from my Ghillies days.
I was a resident in the flat and became fed up of the discordant rehearsals during their practice sessions so I volunteered my services and eventually joined the group when Snab left. We had a residency at the Glenelg Hotel just around the corner and filled the bar every Friday night. Goon eventually also left the group when he got married and we recruited Brian (Brian-Brian who often said things twice) Melville who played Guitar, Mandolin, Bouzouki-zouki, Flute, Whistle, Bagpipes and any other musical instrument he could find! His playing of the pipers lament; 'Flowers of the Forest' made grown men weep. The group disbanded in 1969 when Steve who was a medical student at Edinburgh Uni returned to England and I emigrated to Australia with my job. We used to sing 'Good Night Ladies' at the end of every session at the Glenelg and on the last night there was a spontaneous response from the ladies singing 'Goodbye Ghillies'. Brings tears to me eyes it do! The mp3 sound files included on these pages have been converted from the original midi files and will play on most browsers but there might be an issue with some browsers which will not accept player plugins. Midi files are tiny which is why I used them originally but are not supported on all players. For this reason I am now using mp3 files which are huge by comparison but widely accepted and, if your browser doesn't accept player plugins I am putting a link in to the file so you can play the mp3 file on whatever player you are using. All new songs will now be coded for this format.
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