Lincoln Tradition Picture...

[stevieannie]

We're open to name change suggestions. We're currently going by "Lincoln Tradition(s)", but I'm a little unsure as to whether it sounds as though we're doing a City Waits kind of a thing, which we're not. What we're *actually* doing is very traditional english part-songs, mostly seasonal, and largely accapella, with some melodeon, percussion and brass accompaniment, as seems appropriate. The name we liked the most was "Baggsy Not Norma", but as we all know both Martin Carthy and Norma Waterson, and would like to carry on knowing them on a personal, rather than litigous, basis, we think that may be out :-)

Some of the photos from this session were hysterical, particularly the ones where we all broke out in spontaneous "Manhatten Transfer" songs and the ones where Liam was telling jokes involving Kate Rusby and some lard...

Comments

[braider.livejournal.com]

Baggsy?

So, where are the *fun* pictures? And what was the Kate Rusby story? No fair dangling stories as one might a feather before a cat.

[vaurien.livejournal.com]

A vulgarism meaning to make the first claim on something. It's derived from the verb 'to bag', as in 'to nab' or 'to take'.

[braider.livejournal.com]

I'm still not getting the connection to Martin Carthy. Or I may not be interpreting the whole phrase correctly.... Norma could be simply Norma's name, Baggsy could be Martin's nickname, Norma could also be a play off "normal", but that doesn't make sense with baggsy as you've described it...

Help?

[vaurien.livejournal.com]

Norma Waterson is married to Martin Carthy. (Eliza Carthy their daughter.) They're also the duo 'Waterson Carthy'. (Not Waters and Carthy as I once thought.) So, Annie's just being rude about Mrs Carthy.

[stevieannie.livejournal.com]

The harmonies that we sing sound a LOT like those used by the Watersons, and Waterson:Carthy (Norma Waterson being a crucial member of both) - can't be helped, we are very traditional english, and a lot of our source material is similar to theirs.

At our first rehearsal, we started singing, accidentally in unison. Frank said, "Let's try that again, a la Watersons. But baggsy not Norma." Meaning that she wanted us to sing in 4 part traditional harmony, but she didn't want to sing Norma's lead part.

It kind of stuck.

[keristor.livejournal.com]

The two are married and in the same band...

[clothsprogs.livejournal.com]

Basically it's a slang way of saying "I don't want to be stuck with Norma's part when we perform this/these song(s)

Another example of the use of the word: When I was a kid, "Bagsy not the back!" or "Bagsy the front!" were frequent cries before going anywhere in the car because everyone preffered to ride in the front seat so hope to bag the front seat by calling it first.

Teddy

[braider.livejournal.com]

Bingo! This is the bit of word usage I was missing. Thank you!