Fairport Convention - Farewell, Farewell

[Zgreens]

fairport convention liege and lief is available here. simplyvinyl [dot] com /sv-exclusives [dot] html

[kopjesenseo]

beautifull song:)

[humptyflippingdumpty]

My favourite song from L & L, Sandy had such a beautiful voice. It always leaves a lump in my throat.

[kopjesenseo]

@humptyflippingdumpty yes she has! i wonder why so many people don't hear it..

[coy0te9]

The tune is remarkably similar to Pentangles Willie o' Winsbury. It would be impossible to pick between Sandy Denny and Jacqui McShee 

[czgibson]

@coy0te9

It's based on the melody of Willie o' Winsbury, with new lyrics. It's an old melody, and a lovely one too. The Pentangle version is my favourite of their tunes. It's one of the few songs that can reliably bring a tear to my eye.

[coy0te9]

The tune is very similar to Pentangles Willie o' Winsberry, which has been a favorite for decades. Impossible to decide if Sandy or Jacqui McShee had the more haunting voice

[mushy3737]

Haunting song...bless you

[Djsullivan011]

@mushy3737 Haunting indeed, When I heard how and when Sandy Denny died, it made me cry. And so, her beautiful voice, haunts us still.

[Djsullivan011]

@mushy3737 Haunting indeed. I cried when I learned how and when she died. Such a loss. 

[blink182rox94]

No matter what taste in music you have, this song is amazing.

I mean I listen to like screamo and stuff, but I still go to the fairport convention folk festival in cropredy every year to hear music like this :) cos it is just wow.

R.I.P beautiful sandy

[monk3ypilot]

sweet golden liquid ear magic

[RN1805]

Sandy was unique - her greatest talent was adding simple twists and decorations to a melody so as to put a a barb in your heart and shred it to pieces - this song is a pefect illustration - After all these years she is still sorely missed by all who loved her music.

[y54tub]

Yes .......the winding road does call ......................do international boundaries restrict me from Sandy in the afterlife?

[tommymasontml]

I saw Sandy and Fairport in DC sing this song, early 70's, RT was a special guest, Sandy's voice was stunning, heartfelt, then some years later it was a song I listened to in tears over the loss of a friend who died tragically...the poetics of reverie

[christygum]

Nicky, if this touching lilting tune moves you will never be olde. Aye, keep a song in your heart.

[lahore55]

for my mum and the late great Sandy. farewell to you both

[snicky58]

Thank you for this. I also love Willy of Winsbury, which has the same tune, recorded by Pentangle.

[freespritz]

lol nicky, we are old and love true things. xxx

[wornpick1]

I am so glad that people younger than myself are discovering Sandy Denny - for a while I thought my generation were all going to pass on, following her, with little recognition of her as the accomplished vocalist that she was. Farewell, Farewell, is a simple song, a simple rendition, and all the more poignant for that. It has been my favorite of Sandy's since first released. I have requested that it be played at my funeral amongst my friends.

[wmacisaac]

This album and House Full are my favorites, no doubt about it.

[y54tub]

we must retreat to fair autumn ...die in winter...

[monk3ypilot]

oh sandy ;_;

[Fairport70]

It's so beautiful, I've used this quote from time to time in me past, including me Activities box expressing depression in Facebook.

Yeah, this song is greater than that!

[HumbertoPoubel]

esta é canção mais triste e linda... beatfullll... very very very very nice....

[catweasel28]

If I have a fault with with this near perfect album, it's that this should have been the closing track - swapping places with 'Crazy Man Michael'.

Of course, I couldn't do without either, and 'Liege And Lief' will always be the greatest British album (of any genre) ever.

[penrod59]

catweasel28, yeah, that's a good idea, actually. This is a closer; a great song that lopes along beautifully, from a great album.

[fingling8]

@catweasel28 I think it's a thought, but perhaps too obvious an ender? I like the twist provided by the new material, new thought of Crazy Man Michael. The newer CD i just bought--never having heard this, shame--adds Sir Patrick Spens and Quiet Joys of Brotherhood to the originals.

[catweasel28]

I agree it's a shame. They're both great songs, but totally out of place on L&L. The first being Fairport without Sandy, the latter Sandy without Fairport.

[fingling8]

@catweasel28 I hadn't noticed that, that the 2 extras were not the same human constellation! Mind you, I'm new to Fairport...shamed to admit I confused them with Steeleye who R grt. Until 2 weeks ago, I only knew Sandy D as a sad-sack solo singer (my dad played her a lot when mom left him). Both bands are musically damned fine, but I think Fairport has a metaphysical depth and doesn't just put great music to Childe ballads...or is it only the regrettable young deaths that make them seem so?

[catweasel28]

It's always great to welcome new converts. What, for me, makes L&L such a groundbreaking album is that it's the first album of modern music that draws upon solely English/British tradition. Up until then all British bands were directly influenced by American music, be it Chuck Berry, Motown, Dylan or whoever.

L&L, with much instigation from it's American producer Joe Boyd, was designed as a British answer to the Band's first two albums, which started the 'genre' now known as 'Americana'.

[fingling8]

Yes, I read that on the L&L booklet. I didn't know The Band's Music from Big Pink was considered the source of the Americana genre, although when I think of the songs, it's the uber-Am. experience--Great Divide and all that. I don't like the term, and would like a subdivision called Canuckiana, as although it's inferring pan-North American (I suppose), it's not obvious. How about "Nova Europa"? Funny too how many songs Dylan and others 'grabbed'--BD's Dream is from a song about Sir J. F.

[dlphcoracl]

One of the purest, most beautiful female voices of all time. And best of all, Richard Thompson's always tasteful, original guitar work in the background weaving in and out of Sandy's vocals.

[fruitman13]

Iagree with you to a point ,because there are others who will always be in the same catagory. Listen to renaissance and hear the power in annie hasslan`s  voice that comes to her with an ease that is she is with out a doubt in the same class as Sandy Denny

[fingling8]

@dlphcoracl Perhaps the dusky, blunt-edged tones of June Tabor are not everyone's cup of tea, but they sure are mine. Her version of No Man's Land/Fields of the Forest is perfect. And her duo LP "A Cut Above" with Martin Simpson on powerful guitar is astonishing, scintillating.

[russinhouse]

@dlphcoracl you stole my thunder, you beast ! ( you "put it" better than i could have done.) brings tears to one's eyes.

[y54tub]

strawberry hill wine, bellbottoms, sunday afternoon, a river, sandy denny

[TheKouzy]

Yes! Best album of all time!!!!

[menschlein64]

I hear this song every day. Sandys voice is so lovely. Thanks to my great love.

[timdalf]

It's so beautiful. Farewell, farewell

[charliebrockett]

Achingly beautiful

RIP Sandy and thanks for the memories

[ulli120252]

you are so right achingly beautiful- heard this song last time as a student 30 years ago- makes me want to cry. ulli from Gernany

[jorgealbertobaron]

CANCION DE 1969

[Steamrollergirl71]

Why has it taken me 38 years to Discover Fairport and Sandy?! Why didn't someone wave these albums in my face and quietly shout 'Listen'!! This song I heard the other week on Radio Scotland whilst camping in the Highlands. It stopped me in my tracks.

[padraigpurseal]

Where have you been for 38 years there is loads more or them you should investigate

[gio73vanna]

Best album of all time!

[wiccawitch3172]

very nice song..very serene!

[LTcrew]

Pure and marvelous.

I think this'll play at my funeral

RIP Sandy

[madhurpole]

Wow... What a beautiful song. Why aren't songs like these made anymore?

[motorheaddude07]

What a beautiful uplifting song

[cupol]

i've always loved this song though I've been a bit dissapointing these days, after discovering it's kind of a ripp-off of the trad. willy o'winsbury....

[heliotropezzz333]

Don't be disappointed. In the folk world it's common and traditional to share old tunes and put different words to them. It's not considered to be a rip-off.

[padraigpurseal]

Where's you show I'd love to catch it.

Been a fan since I first heard Fairport on the radio back in 1967, god who does knowhere the time gos.

God rest her and kep her

[pentangle4444]

I always played Farewell, Farewell as the sign off theme song for my folk radio show at 4:00 am. After listening to Sandy on this song, I would just sit there for several minutes overwhelmed by the beauty of the song and Sandy's voice. I am lucky to have seen her perform this song in concert.

[PatrickSHutchinson]

Beautiful song,such a lovely voice.

[DUCKSONAPOUND]

Pure beauty. No other words to say.

[Isiltiti]

Thank you very much for your choice! (and thank you to Ersilia Lombardi for her help too!)

[nycg12]

This was one of my uncles favorite songs, we played it at his funeral, we were all weeping our eyes out...beautiful song

[wmacisaac]

@nycg12 That is so great. So great. I've thought about it many times. Nobody wants to think about death, but such a beautiful song.....I've already made it known that I want this, not some hymn book baloney.

Cheers, and I hope you and yours are ok.

[59penrod]

@nycg12 I'm sorry that you lost your uncle. I share his taste in music.

[PsychoNinjaFlea]

@nycg12 same with my dad, can barely ever listen to this coz it's just too much

[ekimshield]

Great. Thanks for this beauty.

[Cielamouroux]

Beautiful beyond words.

[Estanhado]

Wher`s the sky, my god. Oh Sandy, your voice: wonderfull...

[mellemelle90]

sandy forever!!

[Jarrahnut]

A truly beautiful song.

Hello nurse Kate in the children's hospital in Perth, Western Australia. I know that those little children are safe in your care ...

Best wishes from Jarrahnut.

[TarantulaArms]

This is my favorite song on liege and lief. I love the way the music trips along with Sandy's sad/sweet singing. I've had the vinyl album 30 some years now

[wormpiano]

great song, but does anyone else hear the striking similarity to "road to ronderlin" by matthew's southern comfort?

[jmharrison51]

I have to listen to this one on my own because, every now and then, not every time, it makes me cry. God knows why, I'm not the depressive type - far from it - and it's the only song, on record anyway, that has that effect on me... Something in the lyrics maybe, or just the melancholy beauty of it all; whatever, it must touch something deep, because it's an emotional response, not an intellectual one.

[longneckshorty]

What is there left to say?

Beautiful voice

R.I.P. Sandy & thanks for the music you left behind

[nirvomind]

yeaaaah tinks for that love this bande !!!

[Estanhado]

wonderful Sandy!

[hgeithus]

There really is something undefinable and magical about this song (and also the entire record).

Thanks for posting this :D