Part celebration of traditional English/British folk music and festival, part heart-singing pagan hymn (Oh Come All Ye Folkful?) but above all having some fun (mostly at our own expense) this is our BRAND NEW ONE, rehearsed and gigged and lived since the run up to Christmas and OUT TODAY. We've adapted two of the lyric verses to fit the instruments we have in our repertoire including on this occasion leader of the JD BIG BAND John Davies on sexy sax and his bonnie lassie Kathleen on guest drum roll on the drum verse. (They also have a little married duet of sax and drum roll in the play out.) It was an absolute treat to play live with them at Burns Night and to have their jelly roll jazz ( it's probably swing but you know where I and it's coming from) as part of our folk minstrel one. You can watch a film of us playing this track live with the JD Big Band and the Ecclefechan Tarts Orchestra and Choir last week at our annual Burns Night supper on YouTube film The Full Rabbie which premieres tonight at 7.30 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ioIP6Qt5hw

Come all ye rolling minstrels
And together, we will try
To rouse the spirit of the earth
And move the rolling sky

Those that dance, will start to dance
And those who don't will stay
In time to list our merry tune
That we play for you today

So, come all ye rolling minstrels
And together we will try
To rouse the spirit of the earth
And move the rolling sky

Our tooter, he just loves to toot
Upon his common flute
Recorder by another name
Much better with a mute.

So, come all ye rolling minstrels
And together we will try
To rouse the spirit of the earth
And move the rolling sky

Possessor of our sax appeal (see picture)
And no old folkie he
Folk is just some wayward notes
Jazz a wayward key.

So, come all ye rolling minstrels
And together we will try
To rouse the spirit of the earth
And move the rolling sky

Sound of beating on the drum
Song behind you'll hear
And to the rhythm of guitar
We hope you'll lend an ear

So, come all ye rolling minstrels
And together we will try
To rouse the spirit of the earth
And move the rolling sky

Well, the man who plays the bass does make
Those low notes that you hear
And the high notes come from you and me
For we will sing so clear

So, come all ye rolling minstrels
And together we will try
To rouse the spirit of the earth
And move the rolling sky

Source: Musixmatch
Songwriters: Sandy Denny / Ashley Stephen Hutchings / Dp
Come All Ye lyrics © Warlock Music Ltd
Comic adaptations to lyrics of verses 2 and 3 to fit our instruments (and in my case level of virtuosity) by Peacock's Tale.

Come All Ye (A Folk Song)

We've been rehearsing this fireside friendship/love song about the passing and changes of time all winter  ("who knows where my voice goes?) and watching the birds circling in the evening over the woods across the way. In North Norfolk you're never far from heath, holt and wild water so there are a lot of birds, including the winter geese audibly referenced at the end of the song. We both love this song. 

Across the evening sky
All the birds are leaving
Ah how can they know
It's time for them to go?
Before the winter fire
I will still be dreaming
I have no thought of time
For who knows where the time goes?
Who knows where the time goes?

Sad, deserted shore
Your fickle friends are leaving
Ah, but then you know
It's time for them to go
But I will still be here
I have no thought of leaving
I do not count the time
For who knows where the time goes?
Who knows where the time goes?

And I am not alone
While my love is near me
I know it will be so
Until it's time to go
So come the storms of winter
And then the birds in spring again
I have no fear of time
For who knows how my love grows?
And who knows where the time goes?

Words and Music by Sandy Denny
Who Knows Where the Time Goes? lyrics © Fairwood Music (uk) Ltd., Winckler Musikforlag

Who Knows Where The Time Goes?

We've been rehearsing this fireside friendship/love song about the passing and changes of time all winter and watching the birds circling in the evening over the woods across the way. In North Norfolk you're never far from heath, holt and wild water so there are a lot of birds, including the winter geese audibly referenced at the end of the song. We both love this song.

Across the evening sky
All the birds are leaving
Ah how can they know
It's time for them to go?
Before the winter fire
I will still be dreaming
I have no thought of time
For who knows where the time goes?
Who knows where the time goes?

Sad, deserted shore
Your fickle friends are leaving
Ah, but then you know
It's time for them to go
But I will still be here
I have no thought of leaving
I do not count the time
For who knows where the time goes?
Who knows where the time goes?

And I am not alone
While my love is near me
I know it will be so
Until it's time to go
So come the storms of winter
And then the birds in spring again
I have no fear of time
For who knows how my love grows?
And who knows where the time goes?

Words and Music by Sandy Denny
Who Knows Where the Time Goes? lyrics © Fairwood Music (uk) Ltd., Winckler Musikforlag

Two of Sandy's signature subjects and one of her many combinations of a sea faring song and an open air road traveller song. Breezy and refreshing and fun.

I travel over the sea and ride the rolling sky
For that's the way it is, that is my fortune
There are many ears to please, many people's love to try
And every day's begun rising for the moon

There's a heart in every place, there's a tear for each farewell
For that's the way it is, that is my fortune
I'll lure you as the lace that the wayward gypsies sell
With the sinking of the sun, rising of the moon

Rising for the moon, the sun has set and it is dark
But the star of the enchanted tune is bright as any spark
The chorus of the dusk regales the evening lark
Whose every day does start rising for the moon

We travel over the sea and ride the rolling sky
For that's the way it is, that is our fortune
There are many ears to please, many people's love to try
And every day's begun rising for the moon

Rising for the moon, the sun has set and it is dark
But the star of the enchanted tune is bright as any spark
The chorus of the dusk regales the evening lark
Whose every day does start rising for the moon
credits
from our Poachers on the Common (LP), track released February 27, 2022 https://peacocks-tale.bandcamp.com/album/poachers-on-the-common-lp
Composed by Sandy Denny
Moonshot by Bhas Allan

Rising For The Moon

youtu.be/jy0D_WzbVX8 for the film on You Tube and further notes.

Especially for all soldiers fighting in a war on the wrong side in the wrong country and which they shouldn't be fighting (like the Russian invasion of Ukraine). This is a different mix than the one on the video, especially the final verse. If only because recording drums along with voices and guitar on any kind of condenser mic is like recording a bull in a china shop...

“Oh hark! the drums do beat, my love, no longer can we stay.
The bugle-horns are sounding clear, and we must march away.
We're ordered down to Portsmouth, and it's many is the weary mile
To join the British Army on the banks of the Nile.”

“Oh Willie, dearest Willie, don't leave me here to mourn,
Don't make me curse and rue the day that ever I was born.
For the parting of our love would be like parting with my life.
So stay at home, my dearest love, and I will be your wife.”

“Oh my Nancy, dearest Nancy, sure that will never do.
The government has ordered, and we are bound to go.
The government has ordered, and the Queen she gives command.
And I am bound on oath, my love, to serve in a foreign land.”

“Oh, but I'll cut off my yellow hair, and I'll go along with you.
I'll dress myself in uniform, and I'll see Egypt too.
I'll march beneath your banner while fortune it do smile,
And we'll comfort one another on the banks of the Nile.”

“But your waist it is too slender, and your fingers they are too small.
In the sultry suns of Egypt your rosy cheeks would spoil.
Where the cannons they do rattle, when the bullets they do fly,
And the silver trumpets sound so loud to hide the dismal cries.”

“Oh, cursed be those cruel wars, that ever they began,
For they have robbed our country of manys the handsome men.
They've robbed us of our sweethearts while their bodies they feed the lions,
On the dry and sandy deserts which are the banks of the Nile.”

from Poachers on the Common (LP), track released August 13, 2022
https://peacocks-tale.bandcamp.com/track/the-banks-of-the-nile

The Banks of the NIle

spooky folk song about the loss of a loved one

The Wind Blows The Grass

Enchanting closing title to the album Bon Echo  

BON ECHO

THE LAST DANCE

A folk-rock song celebrating the poetic freedom Pete found wandering alone - around the streets and parks of Brighton, while other people were at work - e.g. on a Tuesday afternoon ... Following scents and trails, with an elusive sense of romance around the next corner.

Up You

Buy track on Bandcamp

A New Poem For You

A medium-slow 3/4 time folk-rock song of yearning regret - ostensibly about tomboy girl Jasmine, but with deeper meaning about the fading of the youthful hippy dream - the spirit of freedom, idealism and rebellion which reached a high point in the 1960s (and was re-echoed in the festival/traveller culture of the late 1980s). The song ends on a note of hope that the spirit lives on.

Jasmine Gold

A happy song about skiving off to enjoy freedom in the sunshine - with a chorus melody based on Pachelbel's "Canon in D" ...

Today

A marriage (and we are actually married, 45 years so far) of melody and rhythm. We do folk, indie, Americana, Norfolk noir, beat poems &  ghazals. Traditional tunes with contemporary beats. Music videos  https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCb8wV0-DNiFs1R5G2VSytBQ
Maz lead & harmony vocals, acoustic guitar. Gaz vocals, voice, bass, drums & percussion, harmonium, recorders, lyre harp, field recordings.

Record Label & Publishing Imprint: 
COLIN WYLIE, HINTERLANDBAND

PETE GIOCONDA is a unique, edgy singer, a protest poet with penchant for historical reference. This mix of punk attitude and psychedelic-folk feel teases the audience to see through new eyes ... like a Johnny Rotten (who hasn’t slept in four days) meets Times They Are a-Changin’-era Dylan and strolls into Cat Power’s bedroom for consolation.

Out now on Bandcamp -
* THE TIME OF GREAT WASTE (single)
* WE ARE REAL EP (5 tracks)
* SAVE YOUR DREAMS EP (6 tracks)

Later in 2025 -
* UP YOU (album of 14 tracks)

Pete Gioconda's songs are fused from new wave, pop and folk/rock influences, mingling poetic lyrics with a punk attitude and playful unpretentiousness. Youthful songs of mischief, desire, loss and sadness, plus transcendent perceptions.

Pete has taken the empty culture of materialism and is attempting to untangle it. His song “Hey You, Out with Shopping Bags” acquired new meaning in the wake of 2011 looting. Shadow shopping. The unseen forces which control our perception, which leave us “dreaming of money gods”, form the subject of “Wake Up or Be Captured”. “In one sense, 1970s punk had it easy,” Pete comments. “All it had to do was attack nice fluffy hippies. It’s much harder now, because mainstream youth culture is filled with aggressive patsies of consumerism. Being aggressive back doesn’t work. I’ve tried. It just makes minds smaller.”

“Some people make shopping mall music. Big, calm, blandly elegant. Somewhere to pass the time and feel comfortable. Pete does not make that kind of music. He makes the music of cobblestone streets, winding alleys, shady lanes. Dimly lit bars. The music of cold, still dawns. Of desolate, wild country.” - Nomenclature Standard

Pete’s poetic style is influenced by the freedom he found hitching and wandering in his 20s, and by his love of classic literature. His aim is to merge story, theatre and poetry with his music and songs. In 2008, Pete performed many Bristol-written songs live on BBC3 TV’s “Upstaged”, as guest of performance artist/musician Badgertrap.

New tracks tagged #Fairport Convention