Separation Blues

On Saturday I attended a concert and ceilidh to celebrate 50 years of the Edinburgh University Folk Soc. Originally known as the Folk Song Society, one of the first British folk clubs, the society was co founded by Stuart MacGregor and Hamish Henderson. I never met Stuart MacGregor but Hamish was a friend to us all. Folklorist, songwriter, socialist, humanist, soldier and former professor of Scottish Studies Hamish is thought by some to be the most important Scots poet since Burns.

On Saturday night performers from each era appeared on stage to give a performance and chat. One story I hadn't heard before was about a pub session were the ball cock in the one and only toilet was missing and the youngest member, Bert Jansch, was sent to the next pub to 'borrow' a ball cock. The other thing that I found amazing was the number of people who had met their spouse through the society and are still happily married, particularly as someone used to warn everyone that society marriages never lasted.

Anyway the last era on stage was the first era and Separation Blues, which seems appropriate for a divorce blog, was sung in great style. I found this YouTube video of Patrick Sky singing the original on Pete Seeger's TV programme Rainbow Quest during the mid 1960s.