Week 19, and we approach the end of the seasonal white album with two January songs.
In the month of January is a beautiful Irish song; I bracket it with “When a man’s in love”, though they may be totally unconnected. This is after the singing of Sarah Makem and others. A lot of my ornamentation is after June Tabor; Sarah Makem’s influence is probably most audible on the swoops on some unstressed syllables. (That’s for any singers reading this. For everyone else, I just hope you like the song.)
Dave Goulder’s song The January man is one of my personal exceptions to the rule that there are no modern folk songs. This may not be a folk song, but the words and music make it sound like one, and it’s sung by folk singers who learn it from other folk singers. It’s a fine song, anyway, and deserves to be sung this and every January.
Fifty-Two Folk Songs 