Barbara Allen and The Beetles

(And pics from last week.) Today’s ‘wake up with a tune annoyingly stuck in your head’ game features the old folk song ‘, Barbara Allen.’ This is infinitely better than last week. After watching Barnum, the musical, on one of our Roku channels, I had a pretty decent night’s sleep only to wake up with a song from Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat going around in my head with a repetitive four/four (D major). I’d rather have had one of the Cy Coleman numbers, but there you go. Anyway…

On Monday morning, it was Barbara Allen, a song I’ve not heard of played for many years. I had first woken up at 5.20 with the first two lines in my head, unable, in whatever dream I was having, to get to line three. In fact, I’d not correctly dreamt the first line, which is (as I am sure you know), ‘In Scarlet town where I was born.’ I’d remembered, ‘In the town where I was born,’ which then launched a Yellow Submarine into my mind to act in a strange fugue-like way with the folk song. I checked in my books and found, “In Scarlet town where I was born, There was a fair maid dwelling. And every youth cried well away, For her name was Barbara Allen.” (Other versions of the lyric may be available, but this was the version I had.)

So, with Babs-Al, as we used to call her, competing with the Beatles, I tried to get back to sleep, which I did, for another half hour or so. She was still there when I finally leapt gazelle-like out of bed (not) and into my socks, slippers, thermals, two hoodies, hat and gloves ready to start the day. I went and looked her up and realised, though I’d played and enjoyed it 100 times, it’s actually a very sad song. Rich boy is dying, calls for the glorious Babs-Al, she looks at him and says, ‘No hope for you, mate,’ and wanders off the fields, hears the church bell toll, repents and decides she’ll die tomorrow as she really loved him after all. The happy ending is suggested by her green briar and his red rose that grow from their graves (her in the churchyard, him in the choir ‘cos he was rich) to fair swamp the church and its steeple.

It’s a bitter-sweet old song, and easy to play, but I hope that by telling you this, I have now exorcised it from my mind. [Waits a few minutes.] Nope, it’s still there in the town where I wasn’t born with a yellow submarine. But, luckily, no Joseph and his amazingly lucrative costume.

As a follow-up to this ramble, I dug into YouTube to find a version of Barbara Allen that I remembered. Seems like everyone has had a go at it from Joan Baez to Art Garfunkel, and everyone has their own version, including variations on the tune and lyrics. The one I settled on was this. (Click here.) Not me singing, sad to say, and I used to play it in E flat but, there, you can have that stuck in your head now.

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Yialos On Friday

As you can see from today’s photos, taken on Friday, it’s sunny and cold here on Symi at the moment. There wasn’t a lot going on in Yialos. Guys meeting to chat about fishing or something, a queue at the ATM, people just sitting and enjoying the view, some out shopping, a group or two in the cafés and bars; a standard winter day.

Over the weekend I finalised the cover for ‘The Witchling’ with the cover artist. I now need to see to the edits and corrections before preparing the files to send to the layout artist who sets the books out for me. All that is on the list of things to do during the week. Other than that, though, a quick glance at the diary shows me a pair of blank pages. Lovely.

We called into the Rainbow on Saturday for a quick drink which thanks to a football match and fun atmosphere ended up being a few more than expected, some of them supplied by Yiannis just as we were preparing to leave. He has asked Neil to work for him again this summer, so, come Easter or just after, normal Rainbow service will be resumed. Or as normal as it ever is with Neil working there.

And so, back to the desk and the things I usually do in the winter which, this year, has been mainly writing.

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Symi Saturday Photos

A couple of workhouse images to start the weekend. Nine degrees in the office this morning as we both set about our morning tasks. Other photos are from the archives. Have a good weekend.

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The Witchling

Today, as we are battered by a cold and strong north wind, sitting here in hat and gloves in the workhouse, I’m going to blatantly advertise the new cover for ‘The Witchling’, and the book itself. We’re still finalising the image, and we’ve not got to the back part of the cover as yet, but below is what we’re looking at, for the moment.

The story is a follow-on to ‘The Saddling’ and, if you could, it would be great if you can share the news around all your Facebook pages and friends and any readers’ groups you might belong to there. (You can use the share buttons on these pages for direct links.) You can find more details, on Facebook, at my author page: https://www.facebook.com/jamescollinsauthor/ Here, I put up links to books and things of interest to my readers, and there will be more news about ‘The Witching’ there, and on here, as we approach publication date. I’m still not 100% sure when that’s going to be, but if you’re interested, below is the vague timetable. Meanwhile, here is the cover so far:

I’m hoping to have my beta readers’ comments back within the next week – thank you to those who have already returned their notes.

Early February, I will be making any last edits to the MS before sending it off for the final edit by my editor, as you can’t have too many people checking for typos, especially not when an MS had been written by me.

The cover will also be finalised before then – must work on the back blurb – and I’m hoping for a release date in early March before we go on honeymoon to Croatia.

Me, being me, want to send this out now and get the book out there, but I am trying to curb my enthusiasm for the sake of accuracy, something I very rarely do.

So, if you’d like to play a part, please share ‘The Saddling‘ around and maybe have a read if you’ve not read it. (It’s on Kindle Unlimited if you have that it won’t cost you anything.) And also keep an eye on these pages and Facebook for more news of ‘The Witching.’ Thank you, and now back to work (Hilary!)

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Symi Music

It must be that time of year again. The time when you start planning your Symi holiday. I know many returning visitors book their next year’s accommodation while they are here enjoying the summer Symi sun, but if you haven’t, there are plenty of tour operators and Symi companies that you can book through. If you’ve not been to Symi before, you might like to trawl through the blog pages here and find out what you can do while you’re here, I’ve mentioned it before. But here’s another idea – with unrelated old photos – of things to do of an evening, while on Symi.

If music be the food of love… I am always impressed and rather proud, when I find myself sitting in a kafenion or a taverna, and someone whips out their instrument. (Don’t be dirty.) There is so much talent on this island, and everyone, it seems, can play something, or can dance. You’ll see a bricklayer or stonemason suddenly leap to his feet and perform an impromptu dance as music plays. Or a younger lad who you’ve seen hanging out in the harbour with his mates suddenly produce his bouzouki and strums away as if he’s been playing in an orchestra for years. The girls at Noufris’ taverna, Georgios, play percussion and sing, and there is usually live music there one or two nights per week in the summer. There is also Greek music at the Secret Garden, one night western music and blues or rock, another night traditional or Rebetika. The same goes for the Jean And Tonic and Lefteris’ kafenion where recently there was a Symi rock night. Rock on the rock, you might say.

Yialos also has places with live music, and everyone is welcome to get up and dance. I’ve been on the balcony at five in the morning in the summer and heard the party still going on over at Elpida’s or Los, or wherever, and you only have to ask around to find out who is playing and where. At Steno, for example, you can sit and have a mezze meal and before you know it, a farmer or a shepherd, someone from the bank or a shop, has appeared with a guitar or something and starts to entertain you. Sometimes it can be hard to leave. Then, of course, there’s the Symi festival which is a wonderful riot of music and dance, and other cultural events.

So, check out your flights and make sure of the boats as best you can – so you can get here in one day. It is possible but tricky to do right now as the boat schedule may not be published yet. Whatever, find a flight and book a holiday resting assured that while you are here, you will find some kind of live entertainment, complete with traditional atmosphere, on the island just about every night of your holiday.

No idea where that blurb came from, but I hope it temps you to live a little, book a holiday and prepare for Symi music.

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