"Liege & Lief" from Fairport Convention Quiz

Answer: Spirit of the air

This rousing song is introducing a band of players, wandering minstrels possibly, in the historical sense. But the song isn't traditional, being written by Ashley Hutchings and Sandy Denny. The song could be describing the band.

The relevant lyrics for the question are:

"Possessor of the magic touch, but no magician, he
Will play for you some magic notes, instead as you will see.
So come all ye rolling minstrels, and together we will try,
To rouse the spirit of the air, and move the rolling sky."

Answer: Shining teeth

Another traditional song that has changed in detail over the years. The older versions are about a seductive bandit or gypsy. Other songs, such as "The Gypsy Davey" follow this line. At some point in time a variant theme has appeared where the seductor is a handsome gentleman with distinct vulpine attributes, that is, a fox.
This fits with the name Reynardine, since renard is the French word for a fox,or renarde for a vixen and Reynard the fox is a character from stories dating back to the twelfth century.
Another possible interpretation of the story is that we might have someone who can transform from human to fox, a werefox. Or this could all be symbolic referring to something else entirely.

The relevant lyrics describing the lady of the song are:
"Her hair was black, her eyes were blue,
Her lips as red as wine,
And he smiled to gaze upon her,
Did that sly, bold Reynardine."

Later on we get:
"Sun and dark she followed him,
His teeth did brightly shine,
And he led her up a-the mountains,
Did that sly, bold Reynardine."

Showing that the bright teeth belong to Reynardine himself.

Answer: Benjamin Britten

The folk song collectors found many versions of "Matty Groves" in the British Isles and North America. It appears to be English in origin, but it is also frequently found in Scottish sources suggesting to me a probable source in the north east of England; this could be totally spurious conjecture.

Written sources of the song go back as far as the first decade of the seventeenth century. Plausibly the oral history goes even further back.

Sources such as Mainly Norfolk and Wikipedia state that the song is referenced in the 1613 play "The Knight of the Burning Pestle" which was produced in London, if so, the song must have been known across the country by then.

With such a history, it should be no surprise that the names of the people and the song title has varied over the many versions. The consistent plot is the Lady of the estate goes to church, selects a lover. A servant runs to find the Lord who is working on another part of his lands. He comes back catches the lovers in bed and kills them.

This indicates that neither the Lord nor his Lady are particularly devout. She seems to have missed the seventh commandment, "thou shalt not commit adultery" and he didn't even bother to go to church for the service, let alone abide by the sixth commandment concerning murder.
The song "Matty Groves" is a now a staple of any Fairport concert.

Answer: The cold north wind

The opening verse (which is also repeated at the end) runs:
"Farewell, farewell to you who would hear
You lonely travellers all
The cold north wind will blow again
The winding road does call"

Maybe more notably is that words for this song were written by Richard Thompson subsequent to the van crash which killed Martin Lamble and Jeannie Franklyn. The former being the drummer with Fairport Convention and the latter the girlfriend of Richard.

Possibly the song is a written as a farewell to one or both of these people.
The folk music site Mainly Norfolk informs me that the tune used for this song was the traditional song "Fause Foodrage".

The song "Fause Foodrage" in turn is a traditional song noted by various folk song collectors. The general plot is of three kings competing for the hand of a fair maiden and one of the losers getting upset and plotting murder, which is where the titular character, Fause (or False) Foudrage comes in. Further internet searching shows that three different tunes were collected with the various versions of this song, naturally Richard Thompson only used one of them.

Answer: Ratcliffe Highway

This is the tale of a soldier who walks along Ratcliffe Highway, meets a recruiting party and afterwards deserts, not once but twice. After the second desertion and recapture, he is being prepared for execution when Prince Albert rides up and commutes his sentence saying that he will make a good soldier. Although presumably the reprieve is conditional on serving his country in the army.

The reference to Prince Albert suggest this version is from the Victorian era but the song itself goes back further, possibly back to the late eighteenth century.

To confuse things: this song, sometimes called Ratcliffe Highway should not be confused with another song called Ratcliffe Highway which is about a sailor who manages to steal from a prostitute who is attempting to steal from him. A version of this latter song was recorded by Bellowhead as "London Town".

Ratcliffe Highway was the name of a road in the east end of London. The road still exists but now forms part of the A1203.

Answer: Gladys' Leap

The missing tune is "The Lark in the Morning", which comes from a song of the same name, extolling the virtues of country life as opposed to the urban squalor. But maybe not that virtuous, as one of the popular versions has the ploughboy getting a young lady pregnant after a roll in the hay.

"Gladys' Leap" is the title of an album released in 1985; it is also a tune on that album. That name is taken from a news story of a postwoman named Gladys, who used to leap a stream to avoid a long detour on foot. Eventually, after her retirement the Ordnance Survey recorded the place on their maps as Gladys' Leap. Nearly 30 years after that a bridge was built at the spot.

Answer: Tree

Another song about a mystical handsome rogue who gets a young lady pregnant. In this song he turns out to be a former "earthly knight" but now an "elfin grey" who is subject to the Queen of Fairies.
Here Janet is advised how to save him from being sent to hell by the Queen.
"Oh, they will turn me in your arms to a newt or a snake. But hold me tight and fear not, I am your baby's father.
And they will turn me in your arms into a lion bold. But hold me tight and fear not and you will love your child"

By this Janet saves her lover from his grisly fate at which point the Fairy Queen gets a little irate.
The relevant lyrics are:

"Then up spoke the Fairy Queen, an angry queen was she.
Woe betide her ill-far'd face, an ill death may she die.
'Oh, had I known, Tam Lin,' she said, 'what this night I did see.
I'd have looked him in the eyes and turned him to a tree'"

Other recordings of this song have different transformations, including a wolf, swan and toad.
The history of this song goes back a long way; I have found references claiming it to have been printed on broadsides in the mid-sixteenth century and it is believed to have been well known prior to that. Folklorist Bert Lloyd noted that similar tales can be found as far back as Greek mythology, such as the tale of Peleus and Thetis.

Much more analysis of this song can be found on the tam-lin website.

Answer: Raven

To summarise the story, Michael goes walking, gets talking to a raven (as you do) that predicts that Michael will be responsible for the death of his own true love. In fury Michael kills the raven.

"Oh, where is the raven that I struck down dead, that here did lie on the ground-o?
I see but my true love with a wound so red, where her lover's heart it did pound-o."
So the prophecy is fulfilled.

This is very similar to the song "Molly Bond" (other names for the same basic song abound) where someone shoots what he thinks is a swan but turns out to be his love with a billowing apron. It has been suggested that those songs relate back to women shape-changing into swans.
This concept of people changing into swans and back can be found in Irish and Russian traditions. "The Children of Lir" and the ballet of "Swan Lake" are examples from these respectively.

Answer: Battlefield Band

When Ashley Hutchings left Fairport, his next band was Steeleye Span. Then he left and formed the Albion Band, which had a varying array of performers and versions of the name over many years. In addition, he started the Etchingham Steam Band. This last band was short lived and as far as can be told no recordings exist.

The Battlefield Band was a Scottish folk band active from the late sixties until 2017.

Answer: "Rising for the Moon" (1975)

If you were aware that Sandy had died young, in the seventies (1978) then you might have had a handy hint as to which of these it was.

"Rising for the Moon" featured no traditional songs, but it does contain seven where Sandy Denny is credited as writer or co-writer.