The Measure of the Man

Come take a place by the fireside

Rest from the wearying road

Sup from the cup of your neighbour

And lay down your load

One of us is the wanting

One of us will supply

Sitting room only

Be still as the world rushes by

Knock your troubles over

Feed them into the flame

Problems shared are halved they say

We will play our favourite game

And the measure of the man is how far apart his hands are held

To welcome the embattled and the lowly

This session took place on the same day in two parts. The first half of the session involved 5 musicians learning the song together then recording and filming that performance. We set ourselves up in the older part of the church and the sunlight was streaming through the stained glass and everything looked and sounded wonderful. It took us about 5 takes improvising our parts individually before I knew I had enough material to make it work. I'm particularly happy about the way the track ends. Everyone was flowing at that point and some lovely spontaneous magic happens in the closing bars as the whistle, violin, accordion and guitars gently and freely conclude the music.

The second half saw the scratch choir assemble to learn the song in the main part of the church before moving to the older part for filming and recording on top of the band's recording. Vicki taught and coached two parts and you can hear the subtle differences come together if you listen carefully to the recording. Everyone was in fine voice and it was easy to get good takes.

Tim Beck - Acoustic guitar and lead vocal

Erica McCarthy - violin

James Watt - low whistle

Kathryn Wheeler - accordion

George Moorey - Acoustic guitar and pre-recorded drums and bass