Fairport Convention - The Hiring Fair

[cadillacslim73]

I love this song, really evokes a beautiful beautiful thing ...

[operalover67]

is the girl therein nastassja kinski?

[operalover67]

bellissima...dolcissima...bell­issima nastassja kinski...è lei?

[cherrybombsingsong]

beautiful song. am-a-zing fiddle playing. beautiful video. thankyou for uploading.

[ailsacewri]

nie but not as nice as it was at cropredy this year

[utopiah7]

saw ralph at cropredy this year i was amazed they played both of my favourites crazy man michael as well as this, best festival on the planet keep it going guys.........

[sanjuancb]

I love this but what I wouldn't do to have the Garnet Rogers version on Youtube! It is really sublime.

[Tornfreedom]

They did an Exquisite version of this for the BBC in '86 or '87 which was broadcast with added crowd noises to make it seem Live.. I've not heard a better version than that. Actually I quite like the strange picture effects; I have a feeling it appears only on motion and it's origin lies in the conversion of 60Hz USA film or TV to European 50Hz standards, possibly using an early convertor box. Digital TV tries to miss out the bits that don't move, because it is redundant information...

[Teddyb1939]

Beautiful video, so varied & works so well with this lovely R/T song.

[williammorris1]

i get shivers all over!

[allaboutWeybridge]

Love this video -The Girl From The Hiring Fair is one of Ralph McTell's best - always great played live by him

[williammorris1]

this is beautiful...very...haunting...­.

[rocktenniscat]

Gorgeous always. Did Ralph McTell write this, or is it traditional? Fairport and Ralph both play it beautifully.

[Bjowolf2]

@rocktenniscat

Ralph wrote it for FC, but he also plays a beautiful version at his concerts.

There used to be an awesome version with Ralph up on YT - will reupload it soon ;-)

[rocktenniscat]

@Bjowolf2 - thanks, I'll go check it out. I thought maybe there was some copyright thing involved and that's why it disappeared...I wonder if Mr. McTell will come over to Canada sometime?

[Bjowolf2]

@rocktenniscat

You wil be happy to learn that I have just reuploaded it. I had nat. forgotten all about my

earlier promise, so your reply & reminder really paid off ;-)

Well, you can always hope, but I don't think he tours very much abroad any longer -

it's been several years (4 ?) since he was last in Denmark next door, where

he used to play often. I have seen him perform 10 times in all over the years -

every time a most memorable experience. He has also been to Can. sev. times, I

think.

[Bjowolf2]

@Bjowolf2

watch?v=A5x3z-spn6M

Please let me know, if it works well at your end - there were some sound problems

here, but think it's my browser that needs a repair or an update ;-)

[rocktenniscat]

@Bjowolf2 - Thanks very much!

[rocktenniscat]

Gorgeous, Gorgeous. Thanks for this.

[KingsleyAimless]

This was possibly the first song to turn me on to Trad. Folk music when I was a kid (although I'm not sure that a song written in the 60s/70s can be called Trad).

I've always loved the Fairport version that you have used here and your Thomas Hardy inspired video fits it so beautifully.

I was lucky enough to see Ralph McTell at the Cambridge Folk Festival a few years ago and this song, along with From Clare To Here, were undoubtedly the highlights of his set.

Thank You.

[nargargole]

I wanted this beautiful song for Beltane, but really it is more for Lughnasadh - still a love song for May Eve. I adore this song! Thanks for uploading.

[rocktenniscat]

Seems the version with Ralph playing live (begins with him explaining what the song is about) has disappeared from Youtube. Anybody know what happened to it? By the way, this version is gorgeous too....thanks !

[Bjowolf2]

@rocktenniscat

Ha, my old account was closed for other reasons :o)

Will reupload the lovely Ralph version soon.

[banduraplayer]

Best ever video clips to song...just perfect.

[Ermengarde11]

Imagine a time in this world where there was such simplicity, and little to do but live, work and love. Frolicking in the fields, compared to pasttimes we have today.  The music of earlier times is all about war, life and love, as there was little else!

[seanreillyireland]

I've often thought this. But sadly it was only the case if you belonged to the upper classes. I'm no leftie really, but I do appreciate many of the things that in Europe at least the social welfare state has brought. I lost my job through this recession over a year ago, and I perish to think where I'd be if this was 'in the old days'.

ps: Richard Thompson wrote some great songs, you are so right.

[scflyer55]

Seanny-

In the 'old days' we had droughts and world war that brought economic stress, not to mention unbridled market manipulation.

Now economic hijacking/blackmail is being perfomed purposely to increase the moocher class and thereby creating a voting demand base for the liberal left socialists/Marxist that only relish the power, pomp and circumstance of their positions and to all else be damned.

[scflyer55]

Today businesses do not know what to expect, so they are contracting and waiting for definite conditions, government control-wise, before they make further plans. X-POTUS Carter pretty well f'd up the economy when his sorry ass got in office, and Obama and company makes him look like a hobbyist.

[SlightlySusan]

scflyer -- Obviously, you have never had a course in political science, philosophy or economics and your grasp of history is a little weak.

OBAMA AND HIS GOVERNMENT ARE ABOUT AS FAR RIGHT AS YOU CAN GET.

BUSINESS IS IN CONTROL.

THE TRUTH OF THE MATTER IS MOST AMERICANS WANT SINGLE PAYER BUT AS RAHM EMMANUEL IS FIRMLY IN THE BACK POCKET OF THE INSURANCE INDUSTRY, SIMPLETONS WERE HIRED TO DEMONSTRATE AGAINST WHAT THEY WERE TOLD WAS SOCIALISM. SIMPLETONS LKE THE TEABAGGERS.

[Ermengarde11]

Beautiful! What a crisp guitar too.  I missed out on Fairport Convention somewhere along the line, and need to catch up. Only started being interested a few years ago after hearing Richard Thompson for the first time, gosh he's awesome.

[Ezekial25]

Awesome! My favourite Fairport song, reminds me of all my childhood summers.

[Bjovolf]

Thanks for posting this great video and audio of FC this amazing Ralph McTell song.

[8onus8oy]

Wow! A superb interpretation of the lyrics, thanks. Brought a tear to my eye as it's one of my favourite FC songs.

[Onlydreamin1959]

How could this not be more beautiful? The strings....the lyrics..... purely perect music.

[MITCHWILD]

@Onlydreamin1959 Not heard this in a while......so good.

[MITCHWILD]

I've got a lump in my throat now.......one of my favorite FC songs, young romance, nothing quite like it.

[ak47doubletap]

Ditto and "Who knows where the time goes?"

[postcardsoflife]

You have a great knack for combining music and film. Thanks.

[SlightlySusan]

Terrific editing. I always thought this song was a great movie, waiting to be filmed.

[giogiove]

pezzo strepitosamente dolce

gianni

[regenbogen987]

Brilliant. Completeing the circle. In the film Far from the Madding Crowd, the fiddler in the barn was Dave Swarbrick.

[About2Rain]

First heard this song the year I bought my 1850's farmhouse. A big full moon was shining through my open window and I was looking at some very old photos of the the folks who use to live in this house, when the most hauntingly beautiful song came on the radio. It captivated me and swept me away....It was, of course, The Hiring Fair.

Whenever I play this song...I close my eyes, and the images that come to my mind are exactly what you have created in this most beautiful and magical video.

[imafishgod]

True destiny. Such a loving person as yourself truly belongs in that 1850's farmhouse. This video is so enchanting.Such beauty radiates from this fine piece as from you!

[richardd2063]

Jees how cool is that. I heard it first when i lived in sheffield in the 80s. It touched me then the same as now. I went to see them last year and they were great of course. My brother borrowed it from me 20 years ago and it became one of his favourite songs, and now he is dead i always think about him when i hear it. Love to all.

Richard

[Ermengarde11]

RIP to you brother. This is very beautiful. As a Yank, I managed to be mostly unaware of FC, but discovered Richard Thompson a few years back, awesome!

[richardd2063]

Thank you for that, how strange i woke up this morn thinking about Ian my brother. I am trying to learn it on the guitar but am scared to kill the song. I am still amazed when i hear songs like this that the same minds that create war and destroy the earth can create such beauty as music like this. Festive wishes. Richard

[curlewatblacktoft]

Beautiful

[Lukepauljackson]

had never heard of Ralf McTell until we a did a 70's concert at school and my dad suggested Streets of London. See Video Response. I know my mum loves this song and has seen Fairport loads of times.

[chitlika]

Thank you for this it brought tears to my eye a really lovely combining of story and song

[sparebone]

Natasha Kinski has wonderful lips. And a beautiful Tess that is true. what is wrong with the video at moments - it goes into lsd wobbly mode at times. This would be perfect to see on Brighton Beach as something prepared for the film festival for a peaceful moment watching the sun go down.

[1northcountrygirl]

Sorry about the wobbly bits. Interestingly, they all come from the Madding Crowd although not all the Madding Crowd clips are like that. I don't know how to fix it - not a teccy, you see.

[Tornfreedom]

@1northcountrygirl I am a teccy but video is not my speciality. It is to do with the picture lines, possibly an effect which was used on the Madding Crowd in places, and you may have picked up on it. Probably if you re-filmed it (by pointing a video camera at the screen showing the film) it might disappear/not occur.

[19davo66]

@1northcountrygirl - amazing. When I first heard this, Far From thr Madding Crowd came to my thoughts. I had happy days then.

[n0bby]

Thank you so much for taking one of my favourite songs and applying such beautiful footage to it.

Nstassia Kinski was a perfect Tess, and a perfect girl for the hiring fair.

[jamesiegang]

Excellent production!

[elpelly2]

superb

[thirdfloorit]

Nice one well done!

[olimandolin]

Great video. It would be fantastic to see this on the big screen at Cropredy next year whilst FC play the Hiring Fair.

[fonzleclay]

Agreed

[Lone123Wolf]

My m8 was on the screen at cropredy it landed on him he had an afro style it was mental