Ever do open mikes?

Very occasionally.

Went to one last night in the Carpenter's Arms at Coed y Paen with Rachel and Sam. And do you know, I drove them all the way up there and Rachel didn't even buy me a drink.

There were quite a few people taking part. It was nice to see the couple who run Newport Folk Club again. They used to come up to the Star in Llansoy when Huw Chidgey and Catherine Handley were running the folk night. Those were good times. They did a version of "Cousin Jack" by Steve Knightley. A good open mike song.

In fact, it's quite a tease knowing what to sing at these events. We were discussing that in the car on the way home. It's got to be well known but not too well known.

The first song I did last night is probably the ideal song. You start, "Here I go, out to sea again . . ." People think, "Heard this before somewhere . . ." "Look at me standing, here on my own again . . . " Singer-songwriter pose. And then the dramatic A minor chord and the chorus, "No need to run and hide, it's a WONDERFUL, WONDERFUL LIFE." And people can join in.

Another song like that? "Look around you, how it will astound you . . ." "What is this song? It's driving me mad!" And the chorus comes in "Everybody's got to learn sometime . . . " "Oh yes, I remember that. I'm so much wiser now etc. etc." And that sets up another nagging quest in the audience to try to remember who sang it.

Rachel and Sam did "I bet that you look good on the dance floor." A little too populist perhaps? I countered with "Big Yellow Taxi". Is this kind of thing really playing the open mike game?

Best song of the evening? "Don't think twice, it's all right." By far the best song. I'm not talking about performances but material.

So, the search is on for something familiar but not too faamiliar. Upbeat but not mindless. How about "Baby, I don't care" by Transvision Vamp?

A closing thought: "Live at Sine" by Jeff Buckley is the ultimate demonstration of how to choose open mike songs. Every one a winner; every one transformed.

Why the pause?

We've been asked to do a fiftieth wedding anniversary.

So we're dusting off the Beatles items we do:
you've got to hide your love away
Yesterday
Things we said today (beautiful middle 8)
Hey Jude
Let it be

One more controversial request has been for some Abba. Catherine doesn't really want to do that so I'm going to do Dancing Queen and Knowing me, Knowing You

All these on top of numbers like:
wild World
Clouds
Big Yellow Taxi
Who Knows where the time goes
Dylan songs

Not many lively, uplifting numbers in that lot, I hear you say.

This is true, but that's another story.

Yes, and?

I'll give an update about people's moneymaking enterprises tomorrow.

Today, I've just got time to write about one more Dylan song.

I was reading this week that Joni Mitchell was dissing Bob for being a fake.
I love Joni and think she's a big talent both lyrically and musically:

"White flags of winter chimneys wave truce against the moon
In the mirrors of a modern bank, from the windows of a hotel room."

And, I know about the lifting that Dylan has done from various sources.

However, somebody who can write this is the genuine article and not a fake by any measure:

"Senor, Senor, can you tell me where we're heading,
Lincoln County Road or Armageddon?
Seems like we've been down this way before.
Is there any truth in that, Senor?"

This is from "Street Legal". It's his final album before the Christian trilogy and has always sounded like a "searching" album but it's unusually dense lyrically so it's sometimes hard to know what's going on.

In this context, "Is you love in vain?" is quite direct but of course there's a twist. Dylan can't really be this chauvinistic ! Or can he?