Fairport Convention go Unhalfbricking Quiz

Answer: Sheriffs

The opening verse of this Richard Thompson song is:

"My father he rides with your sheriffs,
and I know he would never mean harm,
But to see both sides of a quarrel,
Is to judge without hate or alarm."

Sources claim that Richard Thompson's father was a police officer involved with the clearing of squatters in the late sixties. Genesis Hall is also stated to have been a reference to the Bell Hotel in Drury Lane which was used as a site for squatting.

"The 77th Mounted Lancers" forms part of the title of an instrumental recorded by Fairport. Probably the longest title of any piece recorded by them; the full title being "Sir B. McKenzie's Daughter's Lament for the 77th Mounted Lancers' Retreat from the Straights of Loch Knombe on the Occasion of the Announcement of her Marriage to the Laird of Kinleakie".

Answer: Bore me to tears

The theme of the song is sadness, an ever-popular subject for songwriters. Websites who know about these things claim it changes time signature several times during the song.

Apparently, it also features the dulcimer being played by Richard Thompson although my album cover doesn't specify such details.

I do agree though that listening to other people philosophise can bore one to tears.

Answer: William

The Roud index of Folk Songs includes several alternative titles for this song including "Sweet William" and "Willie the Bold Sailor Boy". But although the name William does not appear in the title here it does appear in the lyrics.

The tale is about a woman whose loved one is in the navy and hasn't returned to shore. So she sails off to stop every ship she can find to ask if her "Sweet William" is amongst the crew. Sadly she gets told that he has drowned.

The alternative answers are the first names of supporting musicians on the album.

Answer: Bible

The relevant lines of this Richard Thompson composition are "He grew up in the bayou with a bible 'round his neck".

It is not clear to me who the "he" refers to.
Consider that the opening verse is:

"The baby that preacher gave you in Spring,
In the winter was his finger,
In the undertaker's wing."

This suggests to me that "he" could be the preacher or the baby, or someone else.

Answer: If You Gotta Go, Go Now

The translation isn't exact, "Google translate" suggests the given title becomes "If you have to go". The original song, as written by Bob Dylan has a subtitle "Or Else You Got to Stay All Night". Bob Dylan wrote the English language version of the song in the mid 1960s.

According to the folk music site Mainly Norfolk, the French language version was written by volunteers from the audience at a gig. The band thought "it would be amusing to do Dylan's song in French Cajun style". The result though "ended up not very Cajun, French or Dylan".

Answer: Manslaughter

Another Bob Dylan song here, the relevant lyrics being; "Joliet prison, and ninety-nine years" and then, "Manslaughter in, the highest degree". More details being the fiend was driving a car that crashed and four people were killed.

The theme of the song, a stern judge, harks back to a song in the traditional collections named Geordie or Georgie. In these older songs, the sentence is death, for deer poaching.

Answer: Turtle

Early in the lyrics of this Bob Dylan song we have the line: "And Turtle, a friend of theirs, with his cheques all forged."

Later on we get the names Gorgeous George and Silly Nelly. Bobby doesn't appear in the song but refers to the song's writer, Bob Dylan did.

Of incidental and useless knowledge, of all three of the songs on this album that were written by Bob Dylan, Fairport released them in both the UK and the USA long before Dylan himself did. The song "If You've Gotta Go, Go Now", was released by Dylan in the Netherlands in 1967 but not otherwise until 1991.

"Percy's Song" was first released by Dylan on "Biograph" in 1985." Million Dollar Bash" was released on "The Basement Tapes" in 1975 and apart from the single in the Netherlands, the first album release of "If You Gotta Go, Go Now" was on the 1991 album "The Bootleg Series Volumes 1-3 (Rare & Unreleased) 1961-1991". Additionally Manfred Mann recorded the song in 1965.

Answer: Dave Swarbrick

Dave Swarbrick became a member of Fairport in 1969 and remained as such for the next ten years. In 1979 Fairport disbanded apart from occasional reunions. In 1985 three of the members at time of disbanding reformed the band although Dave Swarbrick was not one of them.

Of the other options Ric Sanders became part of Fairport when they reformed and Chris Leslie joined in 1996. Both of these fiddle players were still part of the band in 2024.

Peter Knight was never a member of Fairport, instead he played fiddle for Steeleye Span, one of the bands set up by Ashley Hutchings after leaving Fairport in 1969.

Answer: Evening

Songs evolve, especially when the songwriter is the singer and can choose to tweak their own work. Looking through the recordings of this song that I have, the majority use the word evening.

The version recorded on the album "Sandy Denny and The Strawbs: All Our Own Work" is one of those which uses "purple" instead of "evening". At least one recording by Sandy Denny uses the word "morning" (although as has been pointed out this could be mourning). But here on "Unhalfbricking" it is clearly the evening sky.

Answer: Tia det ma ta

Kari Bremnes recorded the album "11 ubesvarte anrop (11 unanswered calls)" with all the songs in Norwegian. She also recorded exactly the same album with the songs sung in English under the name "You'd Have to Be Here".

The only problem is that when the song title is run through online translation sites it does not return the expected English language words. "Tia det må ta" translates as "ten it must take". I have found a site showing a Norwegian's translation of the lyrics back to English where the phrase comes back as "time it must take". I will take this as more likely than the online tool.

Regardless of the translation, it is the correct title of the song on the album and having listened to the song of that name by Kari Bremnes on YouTube, it is undoubtedly "Who Knows Where the Time Goes".

The wrong answers are lyrics from the same song but put through an online translator into Czech.
Pres vecerni oblohu - Across the evening sky
Smutny, opusteny breh - Sad, deserted shore
A nejsem sam, kdyz je moje laska nablizku - And I am not alone while my love is near me

The list of singers who have covered this song is long and varied; a quick glance shows that this includes Nina Simone, 10,000 Maniacs, Barbara Dickson, Eddie Reader and Nana Mouskouri.