Song for Jo

A song written to celebrate the life of my dear friend Jo Kennedy, who died on 19th August 2017 aged 38, just a few hours after being diagnosed with cancer. Her funeral was a spectacular celebration of her life that highlighted her great love for her two daughters and the joy that she brought to so many through her love of music and misrule. Many friends gathered to play tunes and to sing together in her honour.

Emma and I spent many happy hours with Jo playing tunes together, drinking gin and concocting plans to bring more misrule to Cornish cultural celebrations. I think we were pretty successful. They say there was still glitter on Causewayhead 6 months later. Jo led the Raffidy Dumitz band, infamous across west Cornwall for their parading prowess, and this song celebrates her love of music and drama. The daisy was her favourite flower, “because they appear in the most miserable looking places and make them jolly”.

Lyrics:

There is a lady dressed in green
Like the Queen of the May
She leads the way
With her fiddle and her bow
Let music flow
As she goes along before us.

Strike up the drum and gather round
For the flowers that grow
In stony ground
With a whistle and a grin
Break out the gin
For the friend who goes before us.

Dots:

Listen to the tune on Soundcloud:

I am sure Jo would have laughed at this: when I first uploaded the tune to Soundcloud it was removed pending potential copyright infringement for being a copy of ‘George Foreman’s Hornpipe’ by Geordie Armstrong. The only similarity was that they were both played on solo fiddle so thankfully that has now been resolved. I have yet to write a song about a sandwich toaster but who knows what the future will hold.