It’s day six of my Christmas posts this year and that means it’s the turn of those six geese a laying. Now I must confess that no goose or geese songs sprang immediately to mind when I was doing the initial research for my 12 days of Christmas series of posts. However I have been able to find a couple of good songs for you. But before those songs how are our geese doing these days? Well the greylag which I’m told is the ancestor of most of our current domestic geese has quite a healthy population as does the pink-footed goose. . However the white-fronted goose, which visits the UK in winter has a shrinking population. I guess that means we’ll probably stick with the traditional roast turkey and not goose this year!
So on to those two goose related songs. Firstly it’s “Grey Goose” by Sweet Honey In The Rock. This group is all female, African-American and they sing a capella. They take their name from the bible, Psalm 81:16, which mentions a sweet, nurturing substance and the strength of rock. They have received several Grammy nominations since they formed nearly 40 years ago. They won a Grammy for the song I have chosen, which was originally by Leadbelly. The group also take a professional sign language interpreter on tour with them. Their vocals have also featured on Sesame Street.
The second of my goose related songs comes from Joan Armatrading, it’s called “The Flight Of The Wild Geese“. It was written for the 1978 film ‘The Wild Geese’ and can be heard on the opening and closing credits. The film starred Richard Burton, Roger Moore and Richard Harris. Joan has always been a great supporter of her fellow musicians and on her Starlight tour earlier this year the opening act was different at each of the 56 dates. Each gig had a local singer songwriter open the show. Some of the songs from those artists were later released on a compilation album on Joan’s Hypertension label. She also provided vocals on Queen’s ‘A Kind Of Magic’ album on the track “Don’t Lose Your Head”
With Just A Hint Of Mayhem 