Fairport Convention: Who Knows Where the Time Goes?


Fairport Convention: Who Knows Where the Time Goes?

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A one, two, three...

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Folk-rock legends Fairport Convention

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are a national institution.

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In the late '60s they spearheaded a musical revolution,

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which turned the rock'n'roll generation onto folk music.

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# ..ocean wave

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# Each rise and fall... #

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The band's been on the road for 44 years.

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Today they stop off at music lover, John Earl's shed in

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deepest Somerset, to record a couple of tunes for his website.

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The roll call of past and present members

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reads like a Who's Who of English folk aristocracy.

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Sandy Denny, Dave Swarbrick,

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Richard Thompson, Simon Nichol, Ashley Hutchings, the list goes on.

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Fairport have seen numerous line-up changes,

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but the current vintage has been together for the last 15 years.

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# And mountain waves, like avalanches crashed upon the deck

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# And a screaming wind split ropes and spars

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# And tried to have us wrecked

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# But she rose and fell through storm and the swell

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# Sails all ripped and torn

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# Eight thousand tons tossed like a cork

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# She made it all the way around Cape Horn

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# Well, she had us kind of hypnotised

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# No time to catch our breath

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# Now you want to love your life well, you have to flirt with death

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# Sail close to the harnessed wind treat all risks with scorn

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# A farm boy and un-yoked team,

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# Made it all around the wild Cape Horn

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# A farm boy and un-yoked team

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# Made its way around the wild Cape Horn. #

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Fairport Convention, a collection of brilliant musicians,

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who blurred the lines between folk and rock.

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The way that they made folk music sound, it just changed everything.

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The band who launched a whole new movement - British folk rock.

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Nobody had ever heard anything like that before.

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A distinctive sound that changed the face of folk for ever.

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-Iconic.

-Seminal, legendary band.

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You know, you can use all of those words to describe them.

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Wonderful songs and a legacy of music that means

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so much to so many people.

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Hugely talented musicians.

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After leaving John's shed, the current line-up

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head for the next gig on their 27-date tour.

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Next year's the 45th anniversary.

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You find that hard to believe, to understand it,

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that it's only 45 years!

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Founding member Simon Nichol and band veteran Dave Pegg

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are at the very heart of the Fairport story.

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This is actually the longest unbroken line-up that Fairport's ever had.

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Although we still obviously refer to the new boys!

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And the current line-up, keep them on their toes.

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But, you know, the history of the band isn't really what

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the band's about, it's there if people want to go and examine it,

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but it's all really about tonight's gig.

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These battle-scarred old warhorses still follow a gruelling schedule,

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regularly recording new material as well as touring twice a year.

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In the late '80s we actually did a tour with 42 nights,

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but they were consecutive nights, so we called it

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The 42 Nights In The Wilderness Tour, I think was what it was called.

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And that's quite going some, you know.

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Now we're a few years older, we give ourselves a night off a week

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if we can, but we've still got the better part of two weeks

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without a break on this tour, so we like working.

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I think we like to think of the band as always ongoing,

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and we're not ever going to sit on our laurels.

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Chris and Rick are always writing,

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so we have a songwriting source within the band,

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and that keeps us on our toes.

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We've always got something new to achieve.

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# We set a course for old Cape Horn

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# And out across the ocean Go down... #

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We're basically enjoying the process of making music,

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and I think that's probably part of the secret of Fairport's

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longevity, is the connection the band's always had with the audience.

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That's where it connects its music out to the world, I think,

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it's on the road, live.

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Whether we're playing for the camera crew,

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and a few onlookers from the shed,

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or in the much larger arena of Cropredy Festival.

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CHEERING

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Showtime. Welcome your wonderful hosts,

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Fairport Convention!

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Not many bands can boast their very own festival,

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but the annual Cropredy get-together

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has been at the heart of Fairport's life for the past three decades.

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Here we go, and welcome.

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20,000 Fairport faithful turn up

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every year for a celebration of the band and their music.

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It provides a tremendous amount of energy.

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It recharges everybody's batteries, and reinforces your faith

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in what you're doing.

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Cropredy is the engine that propels us for the rest of the year.

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# A holiday, a holiday, and the first one of the year

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# Lord Donald's wife came into the church

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# And the gospel she did hear

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# And when the meeting it was done she cast her eyes about

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# And there she spied little Matty Groves

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# Walking through the crowd

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# Come home with me, little Matty Groves, come home with me tonight

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# Come home with me little Matty Groves

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# And sleep with me till light... #

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With a vast back catalogue to choose from,

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the band is constantly revisiting and breathing new life

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into old favourites, like the classic, Matty Groves.

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We've kind of developed musically since Chris has joined the band.

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It became a different sound, and it's one that we're kind of happy with.

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What I like about the band is that it has that incredible,

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almost undefinable thing.

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When people join they bring their strengths,

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and that changes the direction a bit.

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Fairport's never tried to replace like with like, it's always

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gone for a different musician that will fit in the line-up.

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And so, Fairport's never remained static as a sound.

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You can't really pigeonhole Fairport.

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This line-up is definitely less rocky than some of the previous ones.

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We're just playing to our natural strengths.

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Very proud of the line-ups that have gone before,

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and the music they've left behind.

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Proud of that history, but not prisoner to it.

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It is about the next album.

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Same time, paying heed and respect to the music that's gone before.

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Fairport was formed during the summer of '67,

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by a close-knit group of friends from north London.

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# My mind keeps on telling me that this is no good... #

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All in their late teens and early 20s,

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the band was brought together by bass player Ashley Hutchings.

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I was known as a bandleader in my little area of north London.

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Initially I'd been bandleader of a couple of jazz bands

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and a blues band, and Simon Nichol, for example,

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was a young teenager when I first met him.

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He was a fantastic guitarist.

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Ashley Hutchings had the little black book,

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with everybody's phone numbers in.

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I was one of those people in his book,

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and I had next to my name - "12-string guitar."

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It's just a certain edge, because I was one of the few people

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who had one of those in our part of the world.

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Vocals were provided by Iain Matthews,

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and on lead guitar, an 18-year-old Richard Thompson.

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When the band started out, we were a pale, spotty,

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north London, suburban intellectuals, really.

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We really thought about the music, and we really rejected

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what was around, and we really wanted to not be like other bands.

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Completing Fairport's first settled line-up was

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Martin Lamble on drums, and singer, Judy Dyble.

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When they wanted to form a band, before they'd even thought up

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the name, they said to me, would I like to sing with them?

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I was there at the beginning It was just an amazing time.

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The band's early rehearsals took place at Simon Nichol's

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family home in Muswell Hill - Fairport.

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It was very important to have Fairport house in Muswell Hill,

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because you could set the drums up, and the amps, and leave them there,

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practise in a big room, make a bit of noise, but also be together.

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In those days, people tended to very often live together in houses

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or communes, or whatever, and make music together in that way.

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And I think that helped to speed the process up of melding

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the band together, the Fairport group.

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The experimental musical landscape in the London of '67 exposed

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the young pretenders to an eclectic mix of sounds.

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'Soho, vividly cosmopolitan, a place of the most unlikely contrasts.'

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If you think about being in central London

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on any given night between 1967 and '69, you could go to the UFO Club,

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see Pink Floyd and Soft Machine, these kind of bands.

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# Arnold Layne, Arnold Layne... #

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You could walk a few hundred metres up the road,

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and you could be in a folk club like Bungees or Les Cousins,

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things were quite mixed up then.

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Richard, Judy, Simon and Ashley would have all gone to folk clubs.

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There was just a rich tapestry of influences already at work in 1967.

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Although we'd all been exposed to it as children growing up,

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and going to clubs, as well as blues clubs and jazz clubs,

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the early days of Fairport, we were very much influenced by singer-songwriters,

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and most of those were coming out of America's West Coast.

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People like Dylan and Phil Oakes, Richard Farina,

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we had all their records.

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# Hey, Mr Tambourine Man, play a song for me... #

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The Byrds took Dylan's songs particularly,

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and turned them into three-minute pop wonders.

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The irony of Fairport is that they started out wanting to play

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American roots music,

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with a little touch of the West Coast thrown in.

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I think at the heart of it all was a love for the rural,

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jug band music of America,

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which found its electric voice with The Lovin' Spoonful, I suppose.

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# Blues in the bottle blues in the bottle

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# Where do you think you are at pretty mama... #

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Fairport's early repertoire was dominated by

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cover versions of American songs.

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# Jack of diamonds one-eyed knave... #

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And after just playing a handful of local gigs,

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they were catapulted into London's thriving psychedelic scene.

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Fairport played a lot of clubs in London during the first year -

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Blazes, Happening 44, Speakeasy.

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# And it's guaranteed to brighten up your day... #

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We joined groups like The Crazy World Of Arthur Brown,

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The Blossom Toads, weird groups, psychedelic groups.

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It was very diverse, and people would listen to everything.

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There was no, "Oh, you can't do that, because you're not folk.

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"You can't do that because you're not R&B."

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Anybody could do anything, it was a really free and easy time.

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# If I were rich enough to make you need me as much as I need you... #

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Everything was OK at that point, you know, in 1967,

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you could have any style, and be broadly

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accepted by the audience, for some reason,

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maybe it was just that people were stoned

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and just accepted everything, I don't really know.

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It was a devil may care, hedonistic period.

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You could really let your hair down, musically, as well as physically.

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We did do some strange things, I have to say!

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We were part of that scene, very strangely, but we loved it.

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# Woke up, it was a Chelsea morning And the first thing that I saw

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# Was the sun through yellow curtains

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# And a rainbow on my wall... #

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What marked them out at that point was not just the material,

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but the way they were playing the material,

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with intelligence, with light touches.

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There was something about them, they were fresh,

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and their naivete, in a way, was part of the appeal,

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the fact that these were these very young kids, playing stuff that

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I knew very well, and I was fascinated to hear it refracted...

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..via Muswell Hill.

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And so I just figured, "what the hell, let's put them on,"

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so I invited them to open for Pink Floyd, actually, at UFO.

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# It's a long, long way down to Reno, Nevada

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# It's a long, long way to your home

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# And the change in your pocket is beginning to grumble

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# And you reap just about what you sow... #

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Having gambled by giving the young bucks a gig at his influential

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UFO Club, record producer Joe Boyd,

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was now even more convinced of their potential.

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# You can work day and night take a chance on promotion

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# You can fall through A hole in the ground... #

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What happened that made me think,

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"Oh, I've got to make a record with these guys,"

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was hearing Richard play.

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Listening closely to what was going on with the lead guitar,

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I thought, "This is a talent."

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Richard was hugely gifted.

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All this music he'd been listening to for years,

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it had all somehow or another seeped into his body

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and was coming out through his fingers.

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Ashley was the core, in a way. He was older than the rest.

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He was the guy that you talked to on the phone about things.

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But when a real musical issue came up, "What does Richard think?" You know.

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Richard was quiet, but everybody had huge respect for him.

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The band released their self-titled debut album in 1968,

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but with so many styles to explore,

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Fairport's game of musical chairs was about to begin.

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The singing was kind of slightly less important to us in the early days.

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It was more the choice of songs and how we arranged them.

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After a short while,

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it became obvious that we needed really good singers.

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# Missed the morning too didn't rise before noon

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# She's a lazy lady today. #

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As the band searched for a new lead vocalist, one voice stood out.

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Playing the English folk circuit

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was a singer well known to the band's producer, Sandy Denny.

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# You're a crazy lady, I'd say. #

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Somebody with a guitar and that big a voice singing her own songs,

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singing Jackson C Frank songs, was jarring to me.

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But then I met her. And she was hilarious. She was a real character.

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Kind of outrageous and sort of very big personality

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and effing and blinding and drinking a lot

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and smoking a lot and at the time,

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the Fairport guys were wee timorous beasties,

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who I felt wouldn't really know what to do with Sandy.

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But then got a phone call saying Judy's out, Sandy Denny's in.

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Wow!

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# And she went away from me

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# And moved too fast. #

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Sandy was a very rare beast.

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She was someone who was equally at home with folk music and rock music.

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She could just move from one voice to another.

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From a whisper, gentle whisper,

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right through to belting out something. She was a great singer.

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# And then she went onward. #

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I think Sandy Denny's voice sounds like heartbreak, I genuinely do.

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She had this incredible mix of absolute clarity in her voice

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but real kind of grit and pathos.

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I defy anybody not to fall in love with her.

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She was genuinely timeless, continues to be genuinely timeless.

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Sandy joining the band changed everything.

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Not only did you have this powerful singer, but she was writing songs.

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# How often she has gazed from castle windows

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# And watched the daylight passing within her captive wall... #

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She did shake things up, she changed the dynamic

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and brought so much music with her to the feast that we were having.

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Everybody's tastes and palates changed a little bit

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because of that mixture.

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# The evening hour is fading within the dwindling sun... #

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It really focused us much more and we really felt,

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"Gosh, now we are a real band. Now we can take this seriously."

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# We used to say that come the day

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# We'd all be making songs... #

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Richard may have written a couple and dabbled in a few things,

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but I think in a way Sandy's arrival triggered his start

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of being a serious songwriter and placed the bar quite high.

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And you can hear that Richard is raising his game to keep pace with Sandy.

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# The air is growing thin... #

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Released in early 1969, Fairport's second album,

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What We Did On Our Holidays,

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featured some of the band's most memorable songs,

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penned by Sandy and Richard.

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# Meet on the ledge we're gonna meet on the ledge

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# When my time is up I'm gonna see all my friends

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# Meet on the ledge... #

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Joining Fairport was also a liberating experience for Sandy.

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She could go up to the microphone and she could just relax and sing.

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And it was just like being born again for her.

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She was sort of just like a pig in shit.

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And then we were in business, we had a great singer,

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singing these wonderful songs.

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And that's when Fairport really became Fairport.

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# Who knows where the time goes?

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# Who knows where the time

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# Goes? #

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Sandy's Who Knows Where The Time Goes

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is and will for ever be an absolutely perfect song, I think.

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And the version they did on Unhalfbricking was just so eloquent.

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# And I'm not alone

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# While my love is near me... #

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So eloquent in fact that it was voted favourite folk track

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of all time by listeners of BBC Radio 2 in 2007.

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But as well as expanding Fairport's original repertoire,

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Sandy was a key figure in the band's decision

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to look closer to home for inspiration.

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She also forced them to listen to ballads.

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She could sing tons of them. And she did. In the bus. Going to gigs.

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And I think it slowly began to alter their, you know, thinking about it.

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And then she sang them A Sailor's Life.

0:21:540:21:56

# A sailor's life

0:21:560:21:59

# It is a merry life... #

0:21:590:22:04

We were in the dressing room in Southampton

0:22:040:22:06

and we started to just play along with her.

0:22:060:22:09

It was just something that we really improvised.

0:22:090:22:12

I'm not sure we had a clear plan of what we were doing.

0:22:120:22:15

We kind of slid in around her arrangement.

0:22:150:22:18

# Leaving them behind... #

0:22:180:22:22

At the end of it, we said, "That sounded good, let's go and do it."

0:22:220:22:27

And if you have to put your finger on the beginning of British folk rock, that was the beginning.

0:22:270:22:32

A Sailor's Life is a really crucial moment.

0:22:350:22:37

You can hear there the gears shifting in some ways,

0:22:370:22:41

in terms of thinking about what to do with English folk.

0:22:410:22:45

It's the first time a full rock drum kit played with sticks

0:22:450:22:50

was ever actually used on a traditional English folk song.

0:22:500:22:54

Although this was a radical departure for English folk,

0:22:590:23:03

Fairport's American contemporaries

0:23:030:23:05

had already been blazing the folk-rock trail.

0:23:050:23:09

There were two key albums, The Byrds, Sweetheart Of The Rodeo,

0:23:090:23:12

and The Band's first album.

0:23:120:23:16

Both of them were reinventing American roots music.

0:23:160:23:20

So the hop towards thinking, we could do that with British music,

0:23:200:23:25

wasn't that big a one.

0:23:250:23:28

We thought that we shouldn't be so derivative in our music, that we shouldn't be looking to America,

0:23:280:23:33

we should be putting more of our own culture into the music. That's where the balance changed.

0:23:330:23:39

If there hadn't been such a powerful influence from overseas

0:23:390:23:43

on British popular music, perhaps we would have been playing

0:23:430:23:46

something closer to our tradition all along.

0:23:460:23:49

The recording of their third album, Unhalfbricking,

0:23:490:23:53

in early 1969, was a key moment in the band's development.

0:23:530:23:57

Unhappy with this new musical direction, Iain Matthews parted company with Fairport,

0:23:570:24:02

going on to form his own band, Matthews' Southern Comfort,

0:24:020:24:06

the first of many new outfits formed by departing Fairport members.

0:24:060:24:11

In their search for a more authentic British folk sound,

0:24:110:24:14

the band invited the acclaimed traditional fiddle player

0:24:140:24:17

Dave Swarbrick to join them in the studio.

0:24:170:24:20

I'd never heard of them. I vaguely knew Sandy, but that was it.

0:24:200:24:24

# Come all you colliers far and near... #

0:24:240:24:26

Swarbrick played with the Ian Campbell Folk Group,

0:24:260:24:28

the leading folk group of their day.

0:24:280:24:30

But he was now one half of an exciting duo

0:24:300:24:34

with another rising star of the folk revival, guitarist Martin Carthy.

0:24:340:24:39

I remember his reaction was, "I don't want to play with these blokes.

0:24:390:24:42

"You know me, I don't know anything about rock'n'roll. What do I want to do that for?

0:24:420:24:46

"Oh, Christ! I suppose I've got to go and do it." Grumble, grumble.

0:24:460:24:49

And he went off and did it.

0:24:490:24:51

We did Sailor's Life and a couple of other things.

0:24:510:24:55

I was intrigued by them.

0:24:550:24:57

He came back the next day and he said, "Don't misunderstand me,

0:25:020:25:07

"but I think I just met the guitar player I've wanted to play with all my life.

0:25:070:25:12

"Don't misunderstand it." I said, "Who is this person?"

0:25:120:25:17

"He's called Richard Thompson. He is fantastic."

0:25:170:25:21

He was absolutely blown away by Richard's playing

0:25:210:25:24

and the whole attitude of the band.

0:25:240:25:27

Just as much as a child today

0:25:270:25:29

has absolutely no fear of doing anything with a piece of modern technology,

0:25:290:25:34

we had that same musical attitude to the instruments

0:25:340:25:38

and to the musical doors

0:25:380:25:41

that we were sort of easing past, kicking open, in some cases.

0:25:410:25:45

# Mais si tu dois partir... #

0:25:450:25:47

One of the songs Swarbs recorded with the band,

0:25:470:25:51

a French translation of the Bob Dylan song, If You Gotta Go, Go Now,

0:25:510:25:54

was released as a single and reached number 21 in the charts,

0:25:540:25:58

earning the band their only appearance on Top Of The Pops.

0:25:580:26:02

To me, this Fairport that had made Unhalfbricking

0:26:020:26:06

was the same as the original group that I'd found, but they'd blossomed

0:26:060:26:10

and become this huge thing that had such potential and such power.

0:26:100:26:14

And it was partly the power was the mixture.

0:26:140:26:19

They'd do British traditional folk, they'd do mock Cajun,

0:26:190:26:23

they'd do Richard's songs, Sandy's songs, Dylan's songs.

0:26:230:26:27

It was unique.

0:26:270:26:29

We were a happy-go-lucky bunch of friends

0:26:290:26:33

and we were doing very, very well and then we had the crash, of course.

0:26:330:26:37

During the early hours of May 12th 1969, on the way home

0:26:370:26:41

from a gig in Birmingham, the van carrying the band crashed on the M1.

0:26:410:26:46

Richard's girlfriend, Jeanie Franklin, and drummer Martin Lamble

0:26:460:26:49

were killed.

0:26:490:26:51

We all went into our own private shells.

0:26:510:26:53

Very few of us survived without some physical scarring,

0:26:530:26:57

but the worst thing, I suppose, because the body will heal,

0:26:570:27:01

the worst thing is the psychological and mental scars of being

0:27:010:27:07

smitten so hard by this terrible...

0:27:070:27:13

tragedy, you know.

0:27:130:27:14

Two young lives just lost for no good reason.

0:27:140:27:19

Because we were all pursuing something

0:27:190:27:22

that was our raison d'etre.

0:27:220:27:24

# Farewell, farewell to you who would hear

0:27:260:27:30

# You lonely travellers all... #

0:27:300:27:34

It was a really difficult time.

0:27:340:27:37

I think it was almost a full-stop for the band.

0:27:370:27:40

I'm not sure we knew what we were going to do after that.

0:27:400:27:43

Do we owe it to Martin and Jeanie to rebuild the band?

0:27:440:27:50

To come out bloodied but unbowed?

0:27:500:27:54

The rebuilding process began

0:27:540:27:56

with Dave Swarbrick becoming a full-time member of the band,

0:27:560:27:59

swiftly followed by an unknown drummer from the world of ballroom dancing, Dave Mattacks.

0:27:590:28:06

They took a chance on an extremely green, somewhat precocious young drummer.

0:28:060:28:11

They were all obviously great players, but they were so friendly. All of them.

0:28:110:28:16

And Ashley is bringing these songs and Richard's writing with Swarbrick,

0:28:160:28:20

and we've got this tune and there's this fantastic singer. We're going to go in and make a record.

0:28:200:28:26

Just a few months after the crash,

0:28:280:28:30

the new line-up retreated to the country to record their next album.

0:28:300:28:34

We moved into a house in Farley Chamberlayne, in the countryside,

0:28:340:28:39

in Hampshire.

0:28:390:28:40

And we had a real rebirth.

0:28:400:28:44

We had a project to work on, to get our teeth into.

0:28:440:28:48

Liege & Lief was not just a significant musical record,

0:28:480:28:51

it was a watershed for us to rebuild the band.

0:28:510:28:55

Fairport's experiments with folk music gathered momentum

0:28:550:28:59

as Ashley Hutchings went in search of new material.

0:28:590:29:02

I love coming here to the library in Cecil Sharp House

0:29:020:29:06

and beavering away in the books, trying to find folk songs.

0:29:060:29:11

Comb the shelves, the fantastic shelves full of treasures.

0:29:110:29:16

And from being a rocker in the psychedelic scene,

0:29:160:29:20

to embracing all this, it was great fun to do.

0:29:200:29:23

What we have here are the massive collection of ballads

0:29:230:29:28

of Francis James Child.

0:29:280:29:31

Fantastic songs that go back centuries and centuries.

0:29:310:29:34

And each one tells a story, very often a powerful story.

0:29:340:29:40

And I think the stories grabbed us.

0:29:400:29:42

The fact is we had to intellectually step back

0:29:420:29:45

and say here's the tradition, here's popular music now.

0:29:450:29:48

Let's reconnect the two and it should sound something like this.

0:29:480:29:53

# Lord Donald he jumped up and loudly he did bawl

0:29:530:29:57

# He struck his wife right through the heart

0:29:570:30:00

# And pinned her against the wall... #

0:30:000:30:02

They were dark songs.

0:30:020:30:05

Songs of death and betrayal and loss.

0:30:050:30:08

It was just the music that came naturally to us.

0:30:080:30:12

It just made perfect sense.

0:30:120:30:14

Making the ballads and the powerful tunes...

0:30:140:30:18

MORE powerful with the instruments we had.

0:30:180:30:21

It was an experiment, but we must've been doing something right

0:30:220:30:26

for people still to be discussing it this far down the track.

0:30:260:30:29

And certain songs from that record just refuse to lie down and die.

0:30:290:30:34

GUITAR INTRO TO TAM LIN

0:30:340:30:37

# I forbid you, maidens all

0:30:400:30:43

# That wear gold in your hair

0:30:430:30:46

# To travel to Carterhaugh

0:30:460:30:49

# For young Tam Lin is there...#

0:30:490:30:52

Tam Lin, I think, is one of the most successful tracks on Liege & Lief,

0:30:520:30:56

just because it pushes the envelope furthest.

0:30:560:30:59

The song they're singing describes magical transformations,

0:30:590:31:03

and the music somehow seems to do that, as well.

0:31:030:31:06

It feels like the group's performing on full capacity at that point.

0:31:060:31:10

# Janet tied her kirtle green...#

0:31:100:31:14

On the back of the '60s folk revival,

0:31:140:31:15

many musicians were interested in breaking down the barriers

0:31:150:31:19

between folk and rock.

0:31:190:31:20

But with the release of Liege & Lief in December, 1969,

0:31:200:31:24

Fairport raised the bar again.

0:31:240:31:26

Their radical approach divided opinion even within

0:31:260:31:29

bands on a similar quest.

0:31:290:31:32

As Steeleye Span's Martin Carthy recalls.

0:31:320:31:35

We were rehearsing with Steeleye

0:31:350:31:37

and Tim Hart had Liege & Lief when it first came out.

0:31:370:31:41

And he didn't like Tam Lin.

0:31:410:31:43

Said, "It's very weird. Far too weird." And he played me Tam Lin.

0:31:430:31:46

And I said "You're crazy. This is fabulous!

0:31:460:31:50

"It's absolutely just... mind-boggling!"

0:31:500:31:54

Liege & Lief took traditional songs and turned them all inside out

0:31:550:31:59

and shook up the folk scene.

0:31:590:32:01

The old finger-in-the-ear style

0:32:050:32:08

was still prevalent, and might have gone on

0:32:080:32:11

for several more years after that, had not Fairport done what they did.

0:32:110:32:16

# As I was a-walking... #

0:32:160:32:20

Some of course threw their hands up in horror and veered away,

0:32:200:32:24

and went back muttering in their tankards

0:32:240:32:27

in small pubs all over the country.

0:32:270:32:29

We had opposition and a few frowns from the folk establishment,

0:32:290:32:36

but, also, Bert Lloyd, Britain's greatest folklorist,

0:32:360:32:39

was someone who was open-minded,

0:32:390:32:41

and was very happy to see us doing those experiments

0:32:410:32:44

because he saw the importance of that reconnection.

0:32:440:32:49

Liege & Lief was a REAL statement.

0:32:490:32:53

The third of three albums released by Fairport in 1969,

0:32:530:32:58

Liege & Lief reached number 20 in the UK album charts.

0:32:580:33:01

But its influence has far out-stripped

0:33:010:33:03

its limited commercial success.

0:33:030:33:06

In 2006, the album was voted

0:33:060:33:08

the most influential folk album of all time by Radio 2 listeners,

0:33:080:33:13

and a year later the original Liege & Lief line-up, minus Sandy Denny,

0:33:130:33:17

accepted a gold disc from Island Records at the Cropredy festival.

0:33:170:33:22

With a ground-breaking album under their belts,

0:33:220:33:24

the dawn of a new decade should have seen Fairport

0:33:240:33:26

take their unique brand of English folk rock to a mainstream audience.

0:33:260:33:30

But the very success of the band had become an issue for Sandy.

0:33:300:33:35

She felt so proud of the record,

0:33:350:33:37

and then all these offers were coming in.

0:33:370:33:40

People wanted them to go out on the road

0:33:400:33:42

and play Tam Lin and Matty Groves every night.

0:33:420:33:45

How do you fit Who Knows Where the Time Goes into that?

0:33:450:33:47

Or the new songs she's starting to write?

0:33:470:33:50

So she just said, "I'm outta here."

0:33:500:33:52

Sandy left to form her own band, Fotheringay.

0:33:520:33:56

She released one album with them before resuming her solo career.

0:33:560:34:00

And then almost immediately afterwards Ashley...

0:34:010:34:05

found he hadn't really adjusted, and threw the towel in, too.

0:34:050:34:09

Emotionally, it was a very difficult time,

0:34:090:34:11

because we were getting over the crash,

0:34:110:34:13

getting over the loss of two people,

0:34:130:34:15

and I kind of cracked up.

0:34:150:34:18

Just after I left the band.

0:34:180:34:20

And had possibly a delayed reaction.

0:34:200:34:24

Ashley went on to play a key part in the English folk scene,

0:34:240:34:29

both as a musician and a producer.

0:34:290:34:31

Most memorably, as a member of the newly formed Steeleye Span.

0:34:310:34:34

And later forming The Albion Band.

0:34:340:34:36

With the loss of two key members,

0:34:360:34:39

it once again felt as if the heart of the band had been ripped out.

0:34:390:34:45

It was challenging, yeah, deeply challenging,

0:34:450:34:47

For those of us that remained.

0:34:470:34:50

But, no, I didn't think for a minute we should give up hope.

0:34:500:34:54

Swarbrick's fellow Brummy, the charismatic and hairy Dave Pegg,

0:34:540:34:59

came in on bass.

0:34:590:35:01

But one major decision remained - how to replace Sandy.

0:35:010:35:04

We had to reconsider ourselves as an all-boy band suddenly.

0:35:040:35:08

# She's a runaway, she's a runaway...#

0:35:080:35:12

We were all reluctant vocalists.

0:35:120:35:15

It's hard to step out from behind someone like Sandy

0:35:150:35:18

and reveal yourself, you know, as a mediocre singer.

0:35:180:35:21

So I sang a bit, Simon sang a bit, Swarb sang a bit,

0:35:210:35:24

and we just about got away with it.

0:35:240:35:25

# Just a roll on your drum...#.

0:35:280:35:34

In 1970, in an effort to regroup,

0:35:340:35:36

the new line-up moved with their families

0:35:360:35:39

into The Angel, an old pub in the village of Little Hadham.

0:35:390:35:43

The local paper a couple of weeks after we moved in -

0:35:450:35:47

Hippies Invade Little Hadham was the headline,

0:35:470:35:50

and a picture of The Angel. And us lot.

0:35:500:35:54

It was cold. It wasn't particularly clean.

0:35:560:36:00

But we rubbed along very well.

0:36:000:36:02

Yeah, we had very good times.

0:36:040:36:05

Youngbloods together, you know. Good fun.

0:36:050:36:08

It was a good job it wasn't a pub any more - it used to be -

0:36:080:36:11

or God knows the state we'd have been in.

0:36:110:36:13

It was very boyish.

0:36:130:36:15

A far more irresponsible personnel came into the band at that point.

0:36:150:36:20

We kind of all bonded. And we got to know each other incredibly well,

0:36:200:36:26

because there were 16 of us living in The Angel.

0:36:260:36:30

And only one toilet.

0:36:300:36:32

And the hot water didn't last very long.

0:36:320:36:34

There was a lot of hair that needed washing.

0:36:340:36:37

And it was always a fight to get into the toilet.

0:36:370:36:41

You'd have to get up really early in the morning.

0:36:410:36:44

It was such pleasure to see that band play.

0:36:440:36:46

Richard and Swarb soloing.

0:36:460:36:49

Competing.

0:36:490:36:51

You can hear us kind of exploring each others' music.

0:36:550:36:59

Very interesting. Swapping phrases and seeing what would happen.

0:36:590:37:03

Rub off each other and spark.

0:37:070:37:10

Hear what's being thrown to you and throw something back.

0:37:100:37:13

Swarb is obviously an established virtuoso on the traditional music

0:37:130:37:21

and Richard was playing catch-up,

0:37:210:37:23

developing guitar techniques, which nobody else had ever done.

0:37:230:37:29

Playing unison lines with a fiddle on an electric guitar

0:37:290:37:31

was pretty strange back then.

0:37:310:37:33

For me it was an instrumental challenge. It still is!

0:37:380:37:41

To play fairly fast dance music on the guitar -

0:37:410:37:45

an instrument that is tuned all wrong to do it, really.

0:37:450:37:49

The Swarb-Thompson partnership

0:37:490:37:51

was at the heart of Fairport's Full House.

0:37:510:37:53

The 1970 album also featured the first outing

0:37:530:37:57

of the celebrated rhythm section of Pegg and Mattacks.

0:37:570:38:00

The Full House line-up...

0:38:030:38:05

Extraordinary collection of talents. You know? Simon...

0:38:050:38:08

..he's absolutely at the heart of what makes those things work.

0:38:110:38:14

So that even the people who aren't who you think of

0:38:150:38:18

when you think of the big personalities, you know...

0:38:180:38:22

are monsters!

0:38:220:38:24

With a dynamic new line-up, the band's future looked bright.

0:38:240:38:28

The Angel Inn was a hot-bed of ideas and inspiration.

0:38:280:38:31

But Fairport's world was turned upside down again,

0:38:310:38:34

when a lorry drove through Dave Swarbrick's bedroom,

0:38:340:38:37

killing the driver and shaking the maverick fiddler.

0:38:370:38:40

Richard had the room above me, but he was away for the weekend.

0:38:420:38:45

And all of his room - the contents, the floor, the ceiling, everything -

0:38:450:38:52

just came down into my room.

0:38:520:38:54

And the lorry went up it.

0:38:540:38:56

So the bottom of the front wheel of the lorry was level with my head.

0:38:560:39:00

Actually, a few days before I'd bought a beautiful brass bed.

0:39:000:39:04

But the bed didn't fit where I normally I slept - by the window.

0:39:040:39:08

And the lorry came in through the window.

0:39:080:39:12

So if I had not gone out and spent my money on antiques,

0:39:120:39:16

I wouldn't be here.

0:39:160:39:18

Richard's absence from The Angel that night

0:39:180:39:19

was due to his growing commitments outside the band.

0:39:190:39:22

And in January, 1971, he announced he was leaving.

0:39:220:39:26

I just felt I needed time to do something else, you know.

0:39:270:39:30

I wanted to write, and I was writing this sort of eccentric stuff,

0:39:300:39:34

and I thought, "Well, what am I gonna do with these songs?

0:39:340:39:37

"Erm... Who's ever gonna sing these?"

0:39:370:39:40

And I thought, somehow I'm gonna have to sing these songs.

0:39:400:39:42

And it'll have to be on a different kind of record than a Fairport one.

0:39:420:39:47

So, I was very sad to leave.

0:39:490:39:51

That was a big blow for the band. Certainly for me.

0:40:010:40:04

I'd only been there for one album, and I thought, ""Oh, Rich has left.

0:40:040:40:10

And Richard was always considered by the rest of us,

0:40:100:40:12

although we wouldn't admit it at the time...

0:40:120:40:15

Richard was our leader.

0:40:150:40:17

Richard was not a pushy kind of person,

0:40:170:40:19

but whatever he wanted to do, we'd go along with.

0:40:190:40:25

And when he left, the band without him

0:40:250:40:28

had to then find a method of carrying on.

0:40:280:40:31

You can't replace a Richard Thompson.

0:40:310:40:34

Still only 21, Richard left the band he'd help found four years earlier,

0:40:340:40:38

to launch a solo career that would see him hailed

0:40:380:40:41

as one of the world's great guitarists.

0:40:410:40:44

Not only had Fairport lost their lead guitarist,

0:40:460:40:48

but also one of their main songwriters.

0:40:480:40:51

Rather than trying to replace Richard,

0:40:510:40:53

the band looked within its line-up for ideas on how to drive their music forward.

0:40:530:40:57

Swarb was definitely the driving force after Richard left.

0:40:580:41:02

Swarb had incredible energy.

0:41:020:41:05

Especially around the time of Babbacombe Lee.

0:41:050:41:07

# Little did I think

0:41:070:41:08

# When the judge first spoke

0:41:080:41:11

# Those awful words to me...#

0:41:110:41:14

Fairport's 1971 concept album,

0:41:140:41:18

Babbacombe Lee, is based on the true story of John Lee.

0:41:180:41:21

In 1885, Lee was found guilty of the brutal killing of his employer,

0:41:210:41:26

Emma Keyes, and sentenced to life by hanging.

0:41:260:41:28

Three times Lee stared death in the face,

0:41:280:41:31

but each time the trapdoor failed to open.

0:41:310:41:35

Almost 100 years later,

0:41:350:41:38

antique enthusiast Dave Swarbrick stumbled across the story.

0:41:380:41:41

I was walking down this village in Hertfordshire.

0:41:430:41:46

I came across a junk shop.

0:41:460:41:48

Went in. And they had this series of newspapers, Lloyds Weekly News 1907.

0:41:480:41:53

I was fascinated by this John Lee of Babbacombe -

0:41:530:41:56

"the man they could not hang."

0:41:560:41:58

So I took it home and read it.

0:41:580:42:00

Decided to write a song about the man who was hanged three times.

0:42:000:42:03

But then I found that it was impossible to speak

0:42:030:42:06

the agony of John Lee in one song.

0:42:060:42:08

The man went through too much.

0:42:080:42:10

So it turned out there was about ten songs.

0:42:100:42:13

# John Lee, your chances are good,

0:42:130:42:14

# You better touch wood, We think things must get better...#.

0:42:140:42:18

It became something that we could all get involved with

0:42:180:42:20

and attempt to write an album.

0:42:200:42:24

And it was the first time that certainly Simon and myself

0:42:240:42:27

had ever had a crack at songwriting.

0:42:270:42:29

Luckily all the material was there.

0:42:290:42:33

We were putting the music together in a very equal-handed way.

0:42:360:42:41

You know, the piano parts...

0:42:410:42:44

Mattacks would suddenly just come up with them and there they'd be.

0:42:440:42:47

And we'd incorporate them.

0:42:470:42:49

It wasn't a matter of Swarb saying,

0:42:490:42:51

"Right, I've written this song and it goes like this.

0:42:510:42:53

"I want you to play this, I want you to play that."

0:42:530:42:56

It was very much a cooperative thing.

0:42:560:42:59

To celebrate the 40th anniversary of the album,

0:42:590:43:01

the current line-up gave the first-ever complete live performance

0:43:010:43:06

of Babbacombe Lee in 2011.

0:43:060:43:08

# My life was spared that morning but it wasn't theirs to take

0:43:080:43:12

# Three's the most the law requires A man should feel the stake...#

0:43:120:43:16

As Fairport's always done it's looked to the back catalogue

0:43:170:43:20

to think what it can bring forward again into the current line-up.

0:43:200:43:23

And Peggy said, "What do you think?

0:43:230:43:25

Should we have a go at doing the whole album?"

0:43:250:43:29

I was a bit worried that you could fall between two stools -

0:43:290:43:32

either make them too similar to the originals - not be creative -

0:43:320:43:36

or you could make them too different

0:43:360:43:38

in which case people wouldn't like 'em.

0:43:380:43:40

I hope we found a route down the middle.

0:43:400:43:44

CHEERING

0:43:480:43:52

Babbacombe Lee's release in 1971 marked the end of an era.

0:43:520:43:57

Just four years after Fairport had formed, Simon Nicol,

0:43:570:44:00

the last of the original line-up, decided to call it a day.

0:44:000:44:04

I was still only 20 at the time.

0:44:040:44:07

I just thought,

0:44:070:44:08

I'm not sure I wouldn't rather do something different.

0:44:080:44:12

I got a truck driving licence,

0:44:120:44:14

and I did a lot of record production and engineering.

0:44:140:44:18

After that the band went through various stages of disarray

0:44:180:44:23

with various people coming and going.

0:44:230:44:25

There was only Dave Swarbrick

0:44:250:44:27

and myself that were trying to keep it together.

0:44:270:44:30

The next few years were dubbed "Fairport Confusion",

0:44:300:44:33

as a bewildering number of members came and went.

0:44:330:44:36

Fairport's revolving door saw Dave Mattacks leave

0:44:360:44:40

to join The Albion Band, only to later returned.

0:44:400:44:43

Sandy Denny herself rejoined the band for a brief period in 1974

0:44:430:44:48

before her tragic death in April 1978.

0:44:480:44:51

By the time Simon Nicol rejoined the group in 1976,

0:44:510:44:55

Fairport were struggling to find their niche

0:44:550:44:57

in a changing musical landscape.

0:44:570:44:59

# I am an antichrist

0:44:590:45:02

# I am an anarchist... #

0:45:020:45:06

There was a period during the '70s

0:45:060:45:09

where folk music was really kind of looked down upon.

0:45:090:45:11

The punk thing was happening.

0:45:110:45:14

You wouldn't have a girlfriend if you were walking along

0:45:140:45:17

the street carrying an accordion or a violin.

0:45:170:45:19

# Anarchy... #

0:45:190:45:23

The band had signed a new album deal with Vertigo Records,

0:45:230:45:26

but by 1978, it seemed there was little appetite for fork.

0:45:260:45:31

We delivered two albums to them.

0:45:310:45:34

Tipplers Tales and The Bonny Bunch Of Roses.

0:45:340:45:37

They put them out and then we got a phone call from them

0:45:370:45:41

saying, "We don't want any more albums."

0:45:410:45:44

"Thanks, but you're not going to be on our label any more."

0:45:440:45:48

And we said, or rather I said,

0:45:480:45:50

"But we've signed a deal for six albums.

0:45:500:45:53

"We're going to deliver the next four in a couple of weeks' time.

0:45:530:45:57

"You'll have to pay us off." And they did pay us off.

0:45:570:46:01

They paid us half of what we would have got

0:46:010:46:04

for the subsequent four albums

0:46:040:46:06

and it was the first time we ever made money

0:46:060:46:09

out of the music business. It really was.

0:46:090:46:12

When his share of the money, Pegg moved to the same small

0:46:120:46:14

Oxfordshire village in which Dave Swarbrick had settled,

0:46:140:46:18

a community that was to play a huge part

0:46:180:46:20

in the Fairport story - Cropredy.

0:46:200:46:25

# Through Cropredy in Oxfordshire the Cherwell takes its course

0:46:250:46:29

# And the willows weep into its waters clear... #

0:46:290:46:33

Fairport's Cropredy Festival,

0:46:330:46:35

that now draws thousands of people every year,

0:46:350:46:38

grew from much humbler beginnings.

0:46:380:46:40

We went to a little farm out on the Daventry Road

0:46:400:46:43

and we had a one-off concert there.

0:46:430:46:46

That was a great success.

0:46:460:46:48

Then the village asked us to play at the village fete,

0:46:480:46:51

which was held at Prescott Manor.

0:46:510:46:53

By the third year, there were 1,800 people there.

0:46:530:46:57

The success of these annual shows couldn't hide the fact

0:46:570:47:01

that Fairport was without a record deal and this,

0:47:010:47:04

together with Dave Swarbrick's worsening hearing problems,

0:47:040:47:08

led to the band announcing that they would play

0:47:080:47:11

their last ever concert at Cropredy in 1979.

0:47:110:47:14

That was it, that was the end of the band as far as we were concerned.

0:47:140:47:18

I went on to join Jethro Tull and was suddenly earning money.

0:47:180:47:22

I was able to move house and set up the record label, Woodworm Records.

0:47:220:47:26

# 40 miles off Aberdeen

0:47:260:47:28

# The water's 50 fathoms deep... #

0:47:280:47:31

The first album released on Pegg's Woodworm Records

0:47:310:47:34

was a live recording of Fairport's Farewell, Farewell tour.

0:47:340:47:38

Ironically, the success of that tour and the Cropredy farewell gig

0:47:380:47:42

persuaded the band to hold a reunion the following year.

0:47:420:47:45

Another followed a year later and with that,

0:47:450:47:48

the Cropredy Festival was born.

0:47:480:47:52

There was something that clicked into gear based around Cropredy,

0:47:520:47:55

that gave them a focal point for the whole year.

0:47:550:47:58

There was a need to reconvene,

0:47:580:48:01

to keep something of the spirit.

0:48:010:48:04

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

0:48:040:48:07

These days, Fairport fans young and old make the annual pilgrimage

0:48:090:48:14

to Cropredy for a three-day extravaganza of real ale and music.

0:48:140:48:17

Featuring the band itself, former members

0:48:200:48:24

and musical collaborators, the festival also provides

0:48:240:48:28

a showcase for the rising stars of the folk scene.

0:48:280:48:30

A combination of people who are known

0:48:300:48:33

and would have their own following

0:48:330:48:36

and some brand new stuff.

0:48:360:48:38

Bands who are breaking through.

0:48:380:48:41

With the likes of Mumford & Sons and Laura Marling

0:48:410:48:44

enjoying huge critical and commercial success,

0:48:440:48:46

folk music is on a high. Cropredy has always given a stage

0:48:460:48:50

to the younger generation

0:48:500:48:51

and the 2011 Festival starred the winners

0:48:510:48:54

of the BBC Radio Two Young Folk Award, Moore, Moss and Rutter.

0:48:540:48:58

It was really nice to be given the opportunity

0:49:010:49:03

as Young Folk winners to come and play.

0:49:030:49:04

It's nice to have lots of different young bands coming up.

0:49:040:49:09

They book other people who they have seen at different festivals

0:49:090:49:12

and they take a chance on people, which really works.

0:49:120:49:16

It's surprising how much of a following these bands have.

0:49:160:49:19

You look at how many young people are here

0:49:190:49:21

and what's happening in England today

0:49:210:49:23

is that it's not unfashionable now

0:49:230:49:26

to be a folkie or play the accordion or the violin.

0:49:260:49:29

It's great.

0:49:290:49:31

For this new generation of folk acts,

0:49:310:49:33

sharing the stage with Fairport is a huge boost.

0:49:330:49:35

# I work till late each night I wake up with the light

0:49:370:49:43

# My eyes too tired to fight no rest for the wicked... #

0:49:430:49:48

Very beneficial for us, definitely.

0:49:480:49:49

It has really raised our profile The fact that they have the power

0:49:490:49:54

to give that opportunity to a band or a duo

0:49:540:49:57

is just fantastic.

0:49:570:49:59

All the musicians receive a warm welcome from the Cropredy crowd.

0:49:590:50:02

But the most anticipated appearance of the weekend

0:50:020:50:05

is the closing set by Fairport themselves,

0:50:050:50:09

usually joined by a special guest.

0:50:090:50:11

Would you please make him very welcome, the author and giver

0:50:110:50:14

of this next good thing, Mr Ralph McTell.

0:50:140:50:16

CHEERING

0:50:160:50:17

The boys have recorded one of my songs,

0:50:170:50:19

called Around The Wild Cape Horn.

0:50:190:50:22

They said would I like to come and do it with them.

0:50:220:50:24

Well, of course I would. The trouble is I have to unlearn my version.

0:50:240:50:27

So it's going to be a seat of the pants job, but I'm sure we'll

0:50:270:50:30

be forgiven, we'll all get through it and it will be a bit of fun.

0:50:300:50:33

# For 17 days we were becalmed then Friday 13th

0:50:330:50:40

# 68 great ships were lost in the storm of the century

0:50:400:50:45

# But we blew into the Atlantic on a sun-lit sparkling morn

0:50:450:50:51

# But the turkey got sick so we ate him quick

0:50:510:50:54

# On the way around the wild Cape Horn... #

0:50:540:50:57

Ralph McTell's links with Fairport stretch back over 40 years,

0:50:570:51:01

just one of the many musicians who have contributed

0:51:010:51:04

to the band's remarkable legacy.

0:51:040:51:08

The Fairport family embraces all of these people

0:51:080:51:12

who at some time in the past have been touched by Fairport,

0:51:120:51:16

and who now show that by coming here

0:51:160:51:19

from wherever it is that they spend the rest of the year,

0:51:190:51:23

all sharing something.

0:51:230:51:26

A lot of people have been to every one and then they bring

0:51:260:51:29

their kids, and then the kids have grown up

0:51:290:51:32

and brought their kids.

0:51:320:51:35

Cropredy isn't one thing.

0:51:350:51:37

It's a mixture of new and old people discovering it

0:51:370:51:40

and telling other people who will listen,

0:51:400:51:42

"You should come here." You know, it's nice.

0:51:420:51:44

Because so many lives are wrapped up in this music,

0:51:480:51:52

it's quite spiritual. I mean, it really is.

0:51:520:51:54

I don't want to sound too hippie about it,

0:51:540:51:56

but this particular field and this particular band

0:51:560:51:59

and this occasion means so much to so many people.

0:51:590:52:02

We acknowledge that when we come here, that we are all part of it

0:52:020:52:06

and we're lucky to be here

0:52:060:52:07

and having a great weekend's worth of music.

0:52:070:52:11

For the first five years after the festival was established,

0:52:230:52:26

this annual event was the only time the band came together.

0:52:260:52:30

It was bassist Dave Pegg who persuaded Fairport

0:52:300:52:33

to go back into the studio.

0:52:330:52:34

Recorded in 1985 at his newly opened Woodworm Studios,

0:52:340:52:39

Gladys' Leap featured Simon Nicol, Dave Mattacks and Pegg himself.

0:52:390:52:43

But no Swarb, who had finally left the band

0:52:430:52:46

after 15 years and 11 albums.

0:52:460:52:48

We invited Swarb, but he declined

0:52:500:52:52

because he had his group Whippersnapper.

0:52:520:52:54

So then we asked Ric Sanders to join

0:52:540:52:57

and subsequently Martin Allcock.

0:52:570:53:00

From that moment on, Fairport really kind of got together again.

0:53:000:53:05

I wasn't replacing Swarb, because I couldn't have done.

0:53:050:53:09

You know, I don't sing and I can't play the fiddle like Swarb. I can't.

0:53:090:53:13

So I have to do my own thing, which is a bit more jazzy.

0:53:130:53:16

Sometimes I might have gone a bit over the top

0:53:160:53:19

in the freaking out department, you know.

0:53:190:53:22

One of Fairport's strengths

0:53:250:53:27

though its line-up changes throughout its history

0:53:270:53:31

is it has never tried to hang onto a sound

0:53:310:53:34

for hanging onto a sound's sake.

0:53:340:53:36

When people join, they bring their strengths.

0:53:360:53:39

Fairport has never tried to replace like with like.

0:53:390:53:42

# Tomorrow, it's off up to Banbury A lodging time for me... #

0:53:420:53:46

Simon is a big continuity. I know he has been

0:53:460:53:48

out of the band for a few years,

0:53:480:53:50

for good behaviour you would say.

0:53:500:53:52

But that thing, his sound

0:53:520:53:54

has been there a long time.

0:53:540:53:57

However you play, it does filter out to the people around you.

0:53:570:54:02

After the rollercoaster of the Fairport confusion years,

0:54:020:54:05

things had finally started to settle.

0:54:050:54:08

Since I joined in 1985, it has been pretty stable.

0:54:100:54:13

We had the line up with Martin Allcock and of course Dave Mattacks.

0:54:130:54:16

That lasted for 11 years.

0:54:160:54:18

Then Chris Leslie joined and Gerry Conway

0:54:180:54:20

and we have been together longer than that now.

0:54:200:54:23

Drummer Gerry Conway was a natural choice to replace Dave Mattacks,

0:54:230:54:28

who finally parted ways with Fairport in 1998

0:54:280:54:31

and moved to the USA.

0:54:310:54:33

Gerry was well-known to the other band members,

0:54:330:54:36

having played with Sandy Denny's Fotheringay, as well as Jethro Tull

0:54:360:54:39

and Steeleye Span.

0:54:390:54:41

I started my first professional band when I was about 17

0:54:410:54:45

and people would say,

0:54:450:54:47

"It's not a long-lasting job, you know."

0:54:470:54:50

"You'll be finished by the time you're 25."

0:54:500:54:55

So I'm amazed to be here doing it.

0:54:550:54:58

15 years on, Gerry is part of Fairport longest continuous line-up

0:54:590:55:04

as they celebrate the band's 45th anniversary

0:55:040:55:06

at the Union Chapel in north London,

0:55:060:55:08

just a few miles from Simon's childhood home,

0:55:080:55:11

Fairport House, where it all began way back in 1967.

0:55:110:55:15

We'd like to show you how much our finger's on the pulse

0:55:170:55:20

of the nation's thoughts.

0:55:200:55:23

The talk of every Islington dinner table at the moment

0:55:230:55:26

is surely Scottish independence.

0:55:260:55:29

So here's a song about it.

0:55:290:55:30

It's a multiple marriage really, when you're in harness

0:55:300:55:34

with people musically and you spend so much time together socially.

0:55:340:55:38

This feels very musically comfortable.

0:55:380:55:41

I never feel as if I have to compromise a new idea that comes in.

0:55:410:55:46

If I do, if any of us push the music in a certain direction,

0:55:460:55:49

it seems to be a very flexible and elastic performing relationship.

0:55:490:55:53

# The King sits in Dunfermline town drinking of the blood red wine

0:55:530:55:58

# Where can I get a steely skipper

0:55:580:56:01

# To sail this mighty boat of mine... #

0:56:010:56:05

We have kind of developed musically

0:56:050:56:09

since the two violin line-up with Chris and Ric.

0:56:090:56:12

It became a different sound and it's one we're happy with.

0:56:120:56:17

Chris is actually a brilliant folk musician. He's the real deal.

0:56:240:56:28

I can play Morris dance tunes. He can play them better than me

0:56:280:56:32

and do the dances.

0:56:320:56:33

We have a great exchange, Chris and I.

0:56:330:56:37

I have brought a more acoustic element to the current line-up.

0:56:370:56:40

It's what my sensibilities are and it's what I love.

0:56:400:56:44

Fairport has always had that pushing and pulling

0:56:440:56:49

between acoustic music and the rock element.

0:56:490:56:52

But I think there's always that beautiful coming together

0:56:520:56:56

in the current line-up.

0:56:560:56:57

In addition to his knowledge of traditional music,

0:56:580:57:01

Chris Leslie has provided Fairport with a source of original songs,

0:57:010:57:05

which has given the band a new lease of life.

0:57:050:57:08

He's developed a new and rich vein of songwriting.

0:57:090:57:13

His biographical adventures.

0:57:130:57:17

I think that's a brilliant thing, that he's able to tap into now.

0:57:170:57:21

# We set a course for old Cape Horn and out across the ocean

0:57:210:57:26

# Go down... #

0:57:260:57:28

Simon sent me this e-mail and said,

0:57:280:57:31

"Have you seen they've found this ship in the Mercy Bay?"

0:57:310:57:35

It was one of the ships that went out to look for Lord Franklin

0:57:350:57:38

and his expedition to try and find the north-west passage,

0:57:380:57:41

when they fell off the face of the earth.

0:57:410:57:43

That feeling came. I thought, "Oh, there's a song there, definitely."

0:57:430:57:46

And Mercy Bay, what a great gift to a songwriter.

0:57:460:57:49

# In April 1853, the Resolute sailed

0:57:490:57:55

# Go down, go down

0:57:550:58:00

# At Melvin Isle they found a note

0:58:000:58:02

# That told of our pleas and our plight

0:58:020:58:06

# We left that ship in the frozen cold

0:58:060:58:10

# We buried the poor men who died... #

0:58:100:58:16

Still writing new material and still exploring the folk tradition,

0:58:160:58:20

after 45 years on the road, Fairport Convention aren't quite ready

0:58:200:58:23

to take their final bows just yet.

0:58:230:58:27

I think we're all continuing to improve as musicians.

0:58:270:58:29

I don't feel my powers are dropping off yet.

0:58:290:58:32

And as long as that continues,

0:58:320:58:34

I'm happy to continue moving forward with the band.

0:58:340:58:38

Somehow they've managed to retain the spirit of Fairport.

0:58:400:58:44

It's a certain camaraderie and certain way of working.

0:58:440:58:49

And still, you know, creating, not just doing all the old songs.

0:58:490:58:54

I suppose part of me is surprised they're still doing it.

0:58:540:58:57

On the other hand, there is a Fairport vibe that perpetuates.

0:58:570:59:01

Why not keep the band going? They're great musicians.

0:59:010:59:04

# Go down. #

0:59:090:59:14

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