Some more music from Summer All Year Long. And All Year Long is right – SAYL started thinking about songs for Solstice Shorts back in January last year, looked at hundreds and discarded almost as many,
The Year Turns by John Tams was already in the repertoire, and we each found and championed at least one other song and curated (meaning anything from finding existing recordings, to arranging parts or arranging for an arrangement, to stamping a foot and insisting a song stayed in the set list). Some fell by the wayside as too complex, or not quite ‘us’, the rest were rehearsed twice a week for what seemed like years while we took turns to get a particularly nasty throat infection, which meant we have only ever sung these with everyone there ONCE before!
The Ladies Go Dancing at Whitsun, written in the sixties by Austin John Marshall and known to us through Shirley Collins’ recording, was under Alix’s care and we felt that something about WWI was appropriate for 2014. We are very grateful to the lovely Lester Simpson for arranging it for us.
Cherry remembered Roll Turn Spin from Play Away which featured Toni Arthur and Julie Covington doing an amazing version of it. A LOT of research was needed to track down a recording, particularly as in fact it is two songs sandwiched together (RTS and The Green Man by Alan Bell), and only the chorus of Roll Turn Spin is used, the rest of the song (by Len Chandler) is about something else ENTIRELY. (If you are looking for the Play Away version its on the LP Hey You!) Peter worked out the arrangement from listening to the recording over and over and over. It was a labour of love, and as far as we were concerned it was the theme tune for the festival.
