Nothing More - with Fotheringay

with Fotheringay

from the recording Fotheringay (1970)

My friend I know you've suffered,
Although you are still young.
Why was it you who'd not take help
From anyone?

Oh it's true, it's very true, he said,
Some hard times I have known,
But I have always overcome them
On my own.

Oh the pearls that you hold in your hand
They are beautiful to see,
But you show them not to anyone,
Not even me.

For you are like the others, he said.
I never can be sure
That you wish just to see the pearls
And nothing more.

Why can you not see reason?
Our lives they are not long.
Why can you take no time
To tell us all we're wrong?

My tune it does not change, he said,
And neither does your song,
And words I use them rarely
When I'm all alone.

[Sandy Denny]

(Copyright © 1970 Warlock Music)

Sandy Denny, vocals, piano, acoustic guitar
Trevor Lucas, vocals, acoustic and electric guitars
Jerry Donahue, lead guitar, backing vocals
Gerry Conway, drums, backing vocals
Pat Donaldson, bass, backing vocals

Banks of the Nile - with Fotheringay

with Fotheringay

from the recording Fotheringay (1970)

This is the only traditional song on Fotheringay's self-titled album, Fotheringay. This an absolutely stunning interpretation by Sandy Denny, with Jerry Donahue, electric guitar; Trevor Lucas, acoustic guitar; Pat Donaldson, bass; Gerry Conway, drums. The recording took place at Basing Street and Sound Techniques Studios in Spring 1970

“Oh hark! the drums do beat, my love, no longer can we stay.
The bugle-horns are sounding clear, and we must march away.
We're ordered down to Portsmouth, and it's many is the weary mile.
To join the British Army on the banks of the Nile.”

“Oh Willie, dearest Willie, don't leave me here to mourn,
Don't make me curse and rue the day that ever I was born.
For the parting of our love would be like parting with my life.
So stay at home, my dearest love, and I will be your wife.”

“Oh my Nancy, dearest Nancy, sure that will never do.
The government has ordered, and we are bound to go.
The government has ordered, and the Queen she gives command.
And I am bound on oath, my love, to serve in a foreign land.”

“Oh, but I'll cut off my yellow hair, and I'll go along with you.
I'll dress myself in uniform, and I'll see Egypt too.
I'll march beneath your banner while fortune it do smile,
And we'll comfort one another on the banks of the Nile.”

“But your waist it is too slender, and your fingers they are too small.
In the sultry suns of Egypt your rosy cheeks would spoil.
Where the cannons they do rattle, when the bullets they do fly,
And the silver trumpets sound so loud to hide the dismal cries.”

“Oh, cursed be those cruel wars, that ever they began,
For they have robbed our country of manys the handsome men.
They've robbed us of our sweethearts while their bodies they feed the lions,
On the dry and sandy deserts which are the banks of the Nile.”

[Trad. arr. Fotheringay]

Sandy Denny, vocals, piano, acoustic guitar
Trevor Lucas, vocals, acoustic and electric guitars
Jerry Donahue, lead guitar, backing vocals
Gerry Conway, drums, backing vocals
Pat Donaldson, bass, backing vocals

The Quiet Joys of Brotherhood - with Fairport Convention

with Fairport Convention

outtake from the Liege & Lief sessions
compare and contrast with the version to be found on Sandy (1972)

As gentle tides go rolling by,
Along the salt sea strand
The colours blend and roll as one
Together in the sand.
And often do the winds entwine
Do send their distant call,
The quiet joys of brotherhood,
And love is lord of all.

The oak and weed together rise,
Along the common ground.
The mare and stallion light and dark
Have thunder in their sound.
The rainbow sign, the blended flower
Still have my heart in thrall.
The quiet joys of brotherhood,
And love is lord of all.

But man has come to plough the tide,
The oak lies on the ground.
I hear their tires in the fields,
They drive the stallion down.
The roses bleed both light and dark,
The winds do seldom call.
The running sands recall the time
When love was lord of all.

[Richard Farina/Sandy Denny]

(Copyright © exists)

Sandy Denny, vocals
Dave Mattacks, drums
Ashley Hutchings, bass guitar
Simon Nicol, guitars
Dave Swarbrick, violin and viola
Richard Thompson, guitars

Sir Patrick Spens - with Fairport Convention

with Fairport Convention

outtake from the Liege & Lief sessions
compare with the version by Fairport Convention on Full House

The King sits in Dunfermline town
Drinking of the blood red wine,
Where can I get a good sea captain
To sail this mighty ship of mine?

Then up there spoke a bonny boy
Sitting at the King's right knee,
Sir Patrick Spens is the very best seaman
That ever sailed upon the sea.

The King has written a broad letter
And sealed it up with his own right hand,
Sending word unto Sir Patrick
To come to him at his command.

An enemy then this must be
Who told a lie concerning me,
For I was never a very good seaman
Nor ever do intend to be.

Last night I saw the new moon
With the old moon in her arm,
A sign, the sign since we were born
That means there'll be a deadly storm.

They had not sailed upon the sea
A day, a day, but barely three,
When loud and boisterous grew the winds
And loud and stormy grew the sea.

Then up there came a mermaiden
A comb and glass all in her hand,
Here's a health to you my merry young men,
For you'll not see dry land again.

Oh, long may my lady look
With a lantern in her hand
Before she sees my bonny ship
Come sailing homewards to dry land.

Forty miles off Aberdeen
The water's fifty fathoms deep
There lies good Sir Patrick Spens
With the Scots lords at his feet.

[trad. arr. Fairport Convention
]
(Copyright © 1969 Warlock Music)


Sandy Denny, vocals
Dave Mattacks, drums
Ashley Hutchings, bass guitar
Simon Nicol, guitars
Dave Swarbrick, violin and viola
Richard Thompson, guitars

Crazy Man Michael - with Fairport Convention

with Fairport Convention

from the recording Liege & Lief (1969)

Within the fire and out upon the sea,
Crazy Man Michael was walking.
He met with a raven with eyes black as coals,
And shortly they were a-talking

“Your future, your future, I would tell to you.
Your future, you often have asked me.
Your true love will die by your own right hand.
And Crazy Man Michael will cursed be.”

Michael he ranted and Michael he raved,
And beat at the four winds with his fists-o.
He laughed and he cried, he shouted and he swore,
For his mad mind had trapped him with a kiss-o.

“You speak with an evil, you speak with a hate,
You speak for the devil that haunts me
For is she not the fairest in all the broad land,
Your sorcerer's words are to taunt me.”

He took out his dagger of fire and of steel,
And struck down the raven through the heart-o.
The bird fluttered long and the sky it did spin,
And the cold earth did wonder and start-o.

“Oh, where is the raven that I struck down dead,
That here did lie on the ground-o?
I see but my true love with a wound so red,
Where her lover's heart it did pound-o.”

Crazy Man Michael, he wanders and walks,
And talks to the night and the day-o.
But his eyes they are sane and his speech it is clear
And he longs to be far away-o.

Michael he whistles the simplest of tunes,
And asks of the wild wolves their pardon.
For his true love is flown into every flower grown,
And he must be keeper of the garden.

[Richard Thompson/Dave Swarbrick]

(Copyright © 1969 Warlock Music)

Sandy Denny, vocals
Dave Mattacks, drums
Ashley Hutchings, bass guitar
Simon Nicol, guitars
Dave Swarbrick, violin and viola
Richard Thompson, guitars

massive thanks go out to coramunroe for this video feed

The Ballad of Easy Rider - with Fairport Convention

with Fairport Convention

to be found on the re-mastered Unhalfbricking (2003)

The river flows, flows to the sea
Where ever that river goes that's where I want to be
Flow river flow, let your waters wash down
Take me from this road to some other town

All he wanted was just to be free
And that's the way it turned out to be
Flow, river flow, let your waters wash down
Take me from this road to some other town

Flow river go, past the shady tree
Flow river flow, flow to the sea
Flow river flow, flow to the sea

The river flows to the sea
Where ever that river goes that's where I want to be
Flow river flow, let your waters wash down
Take me from this road to some other town

All he wanted was just to be free
And that's the way it turned out to be
Flow, river flow, let your waters rush down
Take me from this road to some other town

Flow river go, past the shady tree
Flow river flow, flow to the sea
Flow river flow, flow to the sea

(Roger McGuinn/Bob Dylan)

Sandy Denny - Vocals, Harpsichord
Richard Thompson - Electric & Acoustic Guitars, Electric Dulcimer, Piano Accordion, Organ, Backing Vocals
Ashley Hutchings - Bass, Backing Vocals
Simon Nicol - Electric & Acoustic Guitars, Electric Dulcimer, Backing Vocals
Martin Lamble - Drums

Who Knows Where The Time Goes - with Fairport Convention

with Fairport Convention

a rare acoustic version, of the classic Sandy Denny song, performed by
Fairport Convention on a BBC Radio session 4 February 1969 (Symonds on Sunday)

to be found on Live at the BBC. Fairport Convention (2007)
and Fairport UnConventional ( 2002)

Across the morning sky, all the birds are leaving
But how can they know it's time for them to go?
Before the winter fire, I will still be dreaming
I have no thought of time

For who knows where the time goes?
Who knows where the time goes?

And I am not alone while my love is near me
I know it will be so until it's time to go
So come the storms of winter and then the birds in spring again
I have no fear of time

For who knows how my love grows?
And who knows where the time goes?

[Sandy Denny]

Copyright © 1967 Sonet Music)

Sandy Denny; vocals
Ashley Hutchings; electric bass guitar
Simon Nicol; acoustic guitar
Richard Thompson; acoustic guitar

Fotheringay - with Fairport Convention

with Fairport Convention

from the recording What We Did On Our Holidays (1969)

How often she has gazed from castle windows o'er,
And watched the daylight passing within her captive wall,
With no-one to heed her call.

The evening hour is fading within the dwindling sun,
And in a lonely moment those embers will be gone
And the last of all the young birds flown.

Her days of precious freedom, forfeited long before,
To live such fruitless years behind a guarded door,
But those days will last no more.

Tomorrow at this hour she will be far away,
Much farther than these islands,
Or the lonely Fotheringay.

[Sandy Denny]

(Copyright © 1967 Warlock Music)

Alexandra Elene Mclean Denny, vocal
Ian Matthews, vocal
Martin Lamble, drums
Simon Nicol, guitar
Ashley Hutchings, bass
Richard Thompson, guitar, vocal