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From: hel273
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  • How on earth is this not known as an English gem by every person in the country? And another thing...

  • Good God, this is amazing.

  • Such great times Annie. Remembered with both fondness and reverence.

  • Really interesting comparing her performance on this with Sandy Denny's. Both are sublime.

  • Wow, had to pinch myself to come back to my living room.

    

  • 10 people had their brains removed & replaced with a clock-work mouse.

  • What a beautiful voice,it's mesmerising and so pure in tone.

  • Never heard of her before, but I knew this song from Bert Jansch. This version is just lovely! Anyone have the guitar tabs?

  • wow

  • Would anyone post the lyrics, please? I'm not a native speaker and I'd love to sing this song...

  • Comment removed

  • @9SolAnge9 Then go home, go home, to your father's garden. You go home and weep your fill. And you think of your own misfortune that you've wrought with your wanton will.

    For there's not a girl in this whole wide world as easily led as I. Sure it's fishes they'll fly, and the seas run dry, 'tis then he'll marry I.

  • For me she is the best singer of the folk revival. Superb. This inspired Bert Jansch's version which then led to Zeppelin(A load of hot air).

  • forget my comment,totally wrong.happy about it too

  • im afraid she died young.if i remember rightly.

  • @alastairpearson Anne Briggs is alive and well..

  • I always read that many folk artists were "influenced by Anne Briggs" and had a picture in my mind of some matronly old biddy with a radio three voice ......how wrong was I ? :-)

  • @MultiDean75 'some matronly old biddy'??? :( careful how you speak about 'matrons'. they're the salt of the earth and this world would be completely up the swanee without their unrecognised underappreciated but vital contribution to society

  • @jaddajn1 Point taken...but you have to consider that most people's concept of Matron comes from the " Carry on" films.... :-)

  • @MultiDean75 stop digging. otherwise the magnificent hattie jacques will have to come down from Matron Heaven and sit on you until you beg for mercy (which you may not receive for some time)

  • she was a rare thing - fine as a bee wing - so fine a breath of wind could blow her away......

  • anne please please please play a couple of free (or pay what you can) concerts in buncrana (st mary's hall or the plaza theatre). you could stay at the main b&b on the main street or the lake of shadows hotel. i think they need someone like you at this difficult time. it could be good for you too. thank you

  • Bert Jansch's tune wasn't it ?

    Pinched by Jimmy Page.

  • @PhilK1080 nope traditional folk song owned by nobody

  • Incomparable...So pure and natural, young and very sexy...A

  • is Anne still singing ?

  • The most sad and haunting song I have ever heard, but the most beautiful song in the world sung by an angelic beauty.

  • absolutely beautiful

  • Just the best melody in the world.

  • does give one shivers...

  • I love it

  • She is absolutely mesmerizing and brings tears to my eyes. Beautifully done, and I am now a complete fan of hers.

  • This woman truly sings from her soul. It's so full of beautiful feeling I just love it

    She's an amazing singer. I wish most music sounded like this today. Truly a gift.

  • Could you imagine The Silly Sisters as a trio?

    What a loss.

  • just so so beautiful moves me to my core..........

  • just came across this,always liked jansch's and page's versions. I've just got to say that it was worth coming to this page to read the comments almost as much as to listen to the music.......Brittany Spears.....!!!....LMFAO.......­.

  • just came across this,always liked jansch's and page's versions. I've just got to say that it was worth coming to this page to read the comments almost as much as to listen to the music.......Brittany Spears.....!!!....LMFAO.......­..

  • this is BEAUTIFUL

  • This video shows the best and worst of Youtube.

    Fortunately we don't have to read the comments.

  • Jimmy Page turned it into "Black Mountian Side" !

    Just a sweet voice and song. Peace !!!

  • Spears at her best??? are you shittin me.

  • Absolutely brilliant performance!

  • Does anyone have a tab or know the tuning?

  • @Fooliccini Try this fretplay.com/tabs/t/thompson_l­inda/blackwaterside-crd.shtml

    It is slightly different (Linda Thompson) but can be easily re-arranged to fit (as far as open-chords can fit.) Good luck.

  • pretty.

  • beautiful. thanks for posting. i saw anne briggs singing at the neptune rowing club in islandbridge, dublin in the late sixties. i still remember her on the stage and have an image in my mind of her on that evening, and a memory of her voice. i learned to sing the song that i posted above using her interpretation and delivery. i see i left out the last verse as anne sings it. thanks again. lovely anne !

  • Such a beautiful voice!

  • the rain outside, and this song, fits so perfectly. out of this world

  • Hang how can you liken them! One is a fine singer the other isn't, and I'll give you a clue, it aint Britney.ah bless, eh

  • I can certainly hear this interpretation in Sandy Denny's version of the song, though Sandy characteristically gives it a more dramatic reading. Both versions are beautiful, but Sandy's gets my nod for the extra "non-traditional" bits (like Richard Thompson's heavily Leslied guitar).

  • Wow! What a dark angel with an angel's voice. She's definitely up there with the best of them. Beauty is as beauty does. A girl like that could make me forget my principles - oh, that's right, a girl like that did. Whoever loved her...was a better man after. Thank you for this celtic gem.

  • @arhatyellow Bert Jansch was the man and your 100% right. He's the best goddamn guitar player ever. 

  • This performance is utterly sublime an poignantly evocative to the deepest feelings stirring within my heart. I hear it now - in 2010, and imagine myself walking through fields of heather, in my 20's again, and in the warm embrace of a raven-haired Celtic lass named Darby.

  • @irelephant Wow! that sounds so lovely! :)

  • Simply magnificent. Comparing this angel-voiced lady to kosher pop sluts like Gaga & Spears is a clear indicator of just how low artistic tastes have deliberately been laid.

  • Dear irelephant.....its a facetious comment regarding BS ;)

  • the accompaniment reminds me of music in an old italian movie State buoni se potete (stream at megavideo, easy to google) just at the intro of the movie... anyone agrees?

  • @leiaflower the composer of the music of that movie is Angelo Branduardi. if you liked that tune, you should look for the rest of his songs, I'm sure you'll like them

  • Is she irish?

  • @morgzlucas English

  • @morgzlucas English, Nottinghamshire

  • @waldo2384 lady fuck-all doesn't hold a candle to this angel

  • The Britney Spears conversation on this is just hilarious. I love her vocal trills. She taught the song to Jansch who taught it (indirectly) to Led Zep! :-) Pls check out my humble version when you have the time! :)

  • @MrAshToast True. Jimi learned it from Al Stewart and he learned it from Bert.

  • I always have loved the music of Davey Graham and Bert Jansch and Richard Thompson and as a result I have been led to the music of Anne Briggs and also Wizz Jones. Thank you! This is just one of the most beautiful songs and performances. If I never heard another tune after this I believe I might be quite content. Real and honest music.

  • In fact (and the sermon/lecture will end in a minute!) the modern "liberal-left" have sold out completely to the most lowbrow, trashy popular culture (ostensibly in the obviously pea-brained belief that it would somehow be "elitist" to object to popular taste, however corrupted and worthless, but more likely because they've abandoned economic socialism and made a devil's deal with the money-grubbing, anarcho-capitalist corporations that produce this trash).

  • @JekyllBoote The political left initially with goals of Equal wages and rights were admirable have wrought a society of people that regard talent and hard work as right wing we have seen this hard left go against common sense in diet (veggoes) literacy, massive obesity, poor art schools were no one learns figure drawing (Its how Johnny expresses herself not about having skill)

    Art and music are about marketing,this mindset has brought about the Ilk in the world like Spears Hilton et all

  • It's pretty obvious to any reasonably intelligent person - whether they're over or under 25 - that Anne Briggs is artistically is another (infinitely higher) league than Britney Spears, even if Ms Spears could probably buy and sell Anne several thousand times in terms of earnings.

    Something has gone desperately wrong with our culture and society, and although I hate the political right, the political left (both mainstream and fringe) have failed to challenge it or propose an alternative.

  • Such a powerfull and moving voice.

  • I only knew this song from Sandy Denny's version..similar haunting, pure tones! love it.

  • I have long been an admirer of Anne's. Lovely, pure, captivating and unpretentious. No unnecessary or distracting embelishments. Just sung straight and sweet. Quite brilliant. Thank you for posting this.

  • "Reminiscent of Brittany Spears at her best." She is the lowest and least talented of any pop star in the history of music britney is just shit she cant even move like a bad lap-dancer even when she lip syncs

  • Anne Briggs the inspiration for Bert Jansch, Sandy Denny, Maddy Prior and all the folksters from the '60's and '70's and onward - just lovely

  • Soft, subtle and very powerful voice. It reminds me of the opera, where a small demure figure emerges on the stage and belts out an aria that can be heard on the street outside the opera house. Anne's voice is quieter, trembling but yet bold and with a sweetness of tone like none other.

  • have had a fairly stressful, crazy day and have been on the verge of tears for most of the afternoon/ evening, then by chance came across this song/ playlist and suddenly find myself soothed, calmed and relaxed... i shall be listening again!

  • My favorite female singer of all time along with Joan Baez and Joni Mitchell!

  • Thank you for introducing me to this outstanding singer. I didn't think there was a singer to rival Sandy Denny, but I am mistaken. Beautiful!

  • Perfection

  • just beautiful,perfect in fact...thanks for posting x

  • Stunning voice - thanks for posting.

  • I first HEARD of Anne Briggs about 30 years ago. I first LISTENED to her about a year ago. I regret those many years I might have been soothed and moved by her amazing voice and music. But, better late than never, I guess.

  • What a wonderful voice! It is a shame that for whatever reason, she couldn't get the audience she so deserved...

  • a lovely tune, indescribable vocals.

  • absolutely beautiful. i heard this for the first time yesterday. she is amazing.

  • How could you not fall in love with Anne.

  • Wonderfull

    Anne OWNS this song

  • Just haunting. Like a ghost from a past that predates Christianity.

  • wow

  • This IS a new one on me, what a beautiful voice the lady has, one of those people whom God put on earth just simply to sing.

  • And to teach.

  • Her voice makes me shiver deep inside, at the core of my being. When I hear her singing, there's nothing else in the world going on; just her, and me listening to her. I wonder if she has ever known just how very strong she is, and always will be. Rare, and beautiful.

  • so wonderfull thanks for posting this

  • @wikedwhich: Thanks for the anecdote. Together with the tune, so haunting, lovely.

  • I met Annie some years ago, and never knew she could sing...tho she told me she had a following and a hay day once....but this is the first time Ive heard her voice when she was in her prime..life has been lived, water under the bridge, an all that...but wot a voice..it knocks you fat...so pure and sweet...what a gift, she had....My heart goes out to her now and I wish her well wherever she is now.

  • A perfect blend of song and voice. Beautiful!

  • PRECIOSO

  • Stunning. It's like listening to a soul!

  • I feel like crying.

    The most stunning voice I have ever heard.

    Im in love.

  • you`re right :)

  • Damn great taste in music. Had to subscribe.

  • It is perfectly possible to like Lady GG and Anne Briggs without compromise or irony. Nobody would demur if you liked say Shakespeare and Alan Ayckbourn. If someone is reminded of the tone in B Spears' voice, that's a subject of surprise maybe not snobbish ridicule or reverse ageist put down.

  • Heartbreakingly beautiful

  • 1000 years distilled into 4 minutes of purity which seeps into every pore and comes out as tears. Beautiful indeed.

  • wungabunga, it's not easy to sort out the tongue-in-cheek comments from the truly daft ones. If you don't believe me, go look at the adulation being heaped upon vids by Lady Gaga, and you would think she is the reincarnation of the Mona Lisa with the voice of Maria Callas. Good joke by you, though.

  • "Reminiscent of Brittany Spears at her best."

    This was performed by Anne Briggs over a decade before Spears was born. How can it be "reminiscent". Also, Briggs created her own unique vocal arrangement and guitar accompaniment to a very traditional song In this timeless performance. Spears performs a bunch of trashy pop that lasts about two weeks before it's discarded, can't play an instrument, and relies on others to arrange her music. You must be under 25 to make such a silly comment.

  • I got you. :)

  • They're only fooling about. . .

  • well said, its an insult to compare this with britney spears . chalk and cheese springs to mind!

  • @irelephant

    I love Briggs, and fully agree with you, except I am offended by your ageist remark.

  • @54mwi53 it's ann, actually.

  • @54mwi53 i'm old and lost my sense of humor!!! blaarrrggggg yelling...

  • @irelephant

    I think that some irony might have been intended!

  • @irelephant And you must be too old to get the joke.

  • @irelephant - Bwahahah!! Someone's sarcasm detecter has a flat battery....

  • @goodbyeberet like your vibrator.

  • @irelephant The guy must have been using Sarcasm m8 ! no one can be that completelty and utterly tasteless and stupid...

    But then again, girls lined up at Sydney airport to "see" Paris WaldorfSaladBrain and cried when she snubbed em , sadly it was on the Six O'clock news..

  • @DROTTOHARRIS Every time I listen to Anne Briggs performing Blackwaterside, I am transported back to the most treasured moments of my youth, gazing into the eyes of the one I love on a fine summer's day, in a meadow of wildflowers, with gentle breezes blowing and the sound of a mountain stream nearby. Anne didn't even consider herself talented, and abandoned her recording career early on. Spears and Hilton by comparison seem utterly self-absorbed, so perhaps you're correct.

  • @irelephant you got played!

  • @TheFashionbugs Perfume criticism seems more your speed than music.

  • @friendlier bwahhahaahahhhaaaahahahaha you tool

  • @TheFashionbugs You're supposed to fashionistas? Then you should know that "bwahhaha" etc went out a couple of years ago. I bet you still use "lol" too.

  • @friendlier lol bwahahahaha lol

  • @irelephant

    You really think that person's "Reminiscent of Brittany Spears at her best." comment was being serious? Who's silly now?

  • @persear Let's see how many thumbs up you get for your insightful comment. I think my reverence and love of Anne Briggs performance here is nothing to play with, nor is this music to be disrespected by trifling, even if the ridiculous comparison to Spears was meant as a joke. Y'all need to get off my back, I am deeply moved by this music, even though Anne is now elderly and out of the scene entirely. I feel no embarrassment whatsoever for loving and defending this wonderful lady.

  • @irelephant Guss you didn't "GET IT" ! Whoever wrote that comment made me laugh out loud! Whoever DID write it your sarcasm was duly noted and appreciated! Hilarious!!!!!!!

  • @irelephant

    you must be and old man to not understand the youth of today. So get off your 'it was so much better in the old days' horse and enjoy the world around you now, once you've wiped the shit from your eyes.

  • @slamvyn Not sure who you're hanging out with, but most 20-somethings I know detest the music of this era. In fact, I'm always taken aback by the vociferousness with which they seem to attack it.

  • @slamvyn Unable to express yourself without bringing excrement into the conversation, yet you consider yourself representative of your entire generation. I merely said your demographic has failed to produce anything close to the music of the sixties, and that is a fact. If you can prove otherwise, do so. Just find someone from your age group as good as Dylan, Beatles, Dead, Floyd, Richard Thompson, Jimi Hendrix, Doors, Simon & Garfunkel, Bert Jansch, Anne Briggs, Sandy Denny.  Luck to you mate.

  • @irelephant Those are all great artists, but I respectfully suggest you find albums by the following contemporary artists and take a good long listen: Fleet Foxes, Blitzen Trapper, Devendra Banhart, Sufjan Stevens, Midlake, Gillian Welch, Horse Feathers, the National... just the start of a very long list.

  • @irelephant The music this artist created is great. Enjoy it. Judge not. Treasure smiles.

  • @crowpass All of my comments pertaining to the music of Anne Briggs have been appreciative. Your comment seems to have been made under the influence of cannabis, which is fine in its intent, yet not completely sensible, coherent, or in line with objective reality.

  • @irelephant

    And you must have a stick up your ass to take life so seriously.

  • @darnok0611 Another Brit with an anal fixation. What is with you lot ?

  • Wow! I am speechless. Thanks for this!

  • Very lovely. Wonder if there's a recording of her singing this with Bert Jansch playing guitar. His guitar work on this piece is a perfect match for her voice. I read that Ann has been living a secluded life on an island in the Hebrides for years and avoids all public contact. Good for her, sad for fans.

  • She always sang this unaccompanied, even though she gave it to Jansch. She sings it on #1 of Bert Jansch; Acoustic Routes, on Youtube, and Jansch stitches in a guitar riff, so you half way get your wish. Apparently she still has some contact with Bert, and apparently she became what he once was, a plant nursery person. - Amazing for one who even influenced the Watersons, among others.

  • I love her music AND who she was, and I'm sure still is. I would love to have known her in the 60's. She was the inspiration for Richard Thompson's song "Beeswing". He didn't know her very well but was obviously so taken with her he wrote this beautiful song.

  • 'twas the Irish lad I spied...."

    Indeed!

    Anne Briggs's voice is the woman we all seek.

  • "Anne Briggs's voice is the woman we all seek. " that is so beautifully put, sir!

  • It's a pity to hear that Ann has stopped singing as her voice is equal to any female folk singer anywhere.

  • Isn't it strange. She gives up singing 'cos she hates her own voice, and nearly every English female singer from the Watersons, Maddy Prior, June Tabor, Eliza Carthy, all try to sound like her. Over so many years too. It would be nice indeed if she would do another album.

  • The true test of real talent, a pure un altered voice with simple accompaniment, she passes 5 stars out of 5 !

  • Great singer, a beautiful mystery... If you ever get a chance,check out John Cromwell.This man will be a legend. One of Dublins finest.He pops up in The Dame Tavern and The Cobblestones from time to time. He sings a fw briggs songs, and what this man doesnt know about folk isnt worth knowing

  • John Cromwell is not on youtube is he?

  • Trying to get John Cromwell to go on Youtube but he's proving to be more elusive than Ms Briggs, but Im getting there

  • haha, great!

  • She looks just like I imagined Julia from 1984. Beautiful song.

  • Tip - forget showbiz values. If you're in a small pub, and someone like Briggs sings a song, it's very special. Plus - don't forget - she was a trailblazer.

  • Hello, Mr. Pigshit, spreading your goodwill to all men! Long live Ann Briggs and all she stands for.

  • I would follow her to the ends of the Earth.

  • and crack one out in her handbag no doubt

  • Comment removed

  • What part of the British Isles is her bizarre accent supposed to represent?

  • it's the sort of accent that someone singing this sort of song sort of slips into. Like the thigh slapping interlude before you decide on a book from the shelf, or a bloke who is on the shelf, or an Ikean shelf...one always slaps ones thighs as a sort of ultimate decision..like smelling our armpits....not having a good day...night night x

  • Easy - vaguely the North! As she was, I think, from Newcastle, that seems fair enough, don't it?

  • @PeterOzanne

    She was from Toton in Nottinghamshire.

  • Comment removed

  • Dia duit, I only drink the black stuff. I think Ann drank whatever was going. Have a look at the Dubliners, Humpty Dumpty, a song written by James Joyce. Bawnog.

  • wow

  • truly angelic.

  • Does anyone know where I could find the chords or tab for this?

  • I would find out from Bert Jansch directly who still does this song- maybe write him at his web site or look there. Usually artists can provide simple chord outlines if time permits. Since this is Celtic fingering, you most likely won't find info on US websites. Also you can go to the Irish/English/Celtic guitar society and they will help sort it.

  • Thanks mate!

  • you can get bert janschs version easily on tab, but its quite difficult.

    now i know that this is also bert jansch on guitar, but "his own" version is very different, and kinda hard.

    this version i feel brings it more to the voice, which is great cos the song is supposed to be capella

  • It's not bert on guitar; its Anne herself

  • This music soaks into your soul and enriches it like a good friend.

  • yeap! The voice still seems the same. McDaids is still there. In the fifties it used to be frequented by Brendan Behan, JP Donleavy and other writers and poets along with a few left wing revolutionaries and the few tappers. I haven't been in it for years but it still might be worth a visit. The sort of equivelant pub in Dublin now would be Grogans, the Castle Lounge, South William Street. It has no television which says a lot.Grogans and McDaids are only a few minutes walk from each other.

  • Funny question, but what did you drink? What did she drink?

  • Oh, by the way. If I am ever in Dublin, and I fully intend on going there, I will hoist I pint to you and Anne at McDaids. It is still there, I checked.

  • I was just one of many who had frequented O'Donaghues in the mid sixties. Though not involved in music myself I was pally with those such as Luke, Ted Furey, Tony McMahon, Johnnie Moynihan etc. Actually it was Johnnie Moynihan that Ann was closest to. I think she actually sang with Sweeney's Men. I haven't seen her since 1969.

  • Is the voice here as good as you remember? Man, I wasn't born until the 1970's. Did you know how lucky you were to see her, Jansch, and Zeppelin? My generation got New Kids on the Block...

  • I knew her in 1968 when we both drank in Mc Daids pub in Harry street, Dublin. Lovely person who sometimes went barefoot as far as I recollect.

  • Thats cool, man.

  • Beautiful. Just a voice and a guitar, and it reaches inside me and twists an emotional response out of me.

    The more complex music gets, the less emotive it becomes. Lovely, simple music is so difficult to do well. This is exceptional music, in my view.

    Thanks for posting it.