The Fame and Glory of Fairport Convention Quiz

Answer: Avalon

This is Arthurian legend. Avalon, sometimes the Isle of Avalon, is where King Arthur is allegedly buried, or lies awaiting the call of his country once more. Each of the short verses of this song end with a line about Avalon. For example, "Take heed as you go. There's many a danger, fiend and foe. Waiting for us on the road to Avalon."

Answer: Golden dragon

I think that the title of this track translates as the Quest of Gawain. Regardless, the opening line talks about King Arthur and Excalibur, "One king, one country and a sword". It then moves on to smiting the heathen, though what the heathen has done to deserve being smitten, other than existing, isn't made clear.

This is where we find the earth-shaking action.
"Filled with the fire of God we rose
To smite and slay the pagan earth
A golden dragon shook the earth
And sent them reeling overthrown"

Steeleye Span recorded the song Longbone about a giant on their album "Sails of Silver". Several references in traditional folk songs mention elven queens, notably "Thomas the Rhymer". I can't recall a song about the Kraken but Scandinavian folksongs might prove a good starting point.

Answer: Mandrake flower

A shorter list than that of the witches in "Macbeth", here we simply have the two ingredients. Possibly by the time of Shakespeare's "MacBeth", spells were suffering from the same bloat as much modern-day software.

Here we have;
"Serpent skin and mandrake flower
I'll craft to wield my power
Sorceress I am, Morgane le Fay"

Morgane le Fay features in most of the versions of the legends of King Arthur and Camelot. So her appearance in a rock-opera named "Excalibur" is hardly surprising.

Answer: Silvery moon

The character Lugh appears in the second of the three "Excalibur" operas. The phrase "and the silver moon shines in your eyes" is the relevant lyric. The song itself appears to be sung to Lugh as a child.

This second opera in the cycle relates the history of Anwynn, a combination of Britain and Ireland, in the time before Arthur. Further into the song lyrics we have the "But all is not well with the world and the garden on Anwynn will fall."

Lugh is best known as the name of an Irish god, but the Irish mythology is part of the Celtic traditions. Brittany is another of the Celtic regions with much shared heritage and culture. This ties in as the composer Alan Simon is a Breton.

Answer: Yesterday

I think that this song is about Lancelot and his falling in love with Guinevere. That is just an assumption though, based on it being set in an opera related to King Arthur and reading the lyrics. Sadly, the album only contains the songs from the operas that were performed by Fairport Convention, so it is difficult to place the song in context.

The second verse starts "Tomorrow grows from the seed of yesterday. So the story's told and a legend awakes."

Tomorrow grows from yesterday; this seems a logical statement. Another way of wording this could be that the future (tomorrow) grows from the past (yesterday). Or as George Orwell wrote: "He who controls the past controls the future" which has much the same reasoning.

Answer: The quest

All of these are noble ideals, but the only one listed in this song is the quest.

The third (and sixth) verse read:
"But listen to your heart of hearts
Fear not the path of noble deed
Never to forget the Quest
Have faith and faith shall lead"

The theme is a soldier considering the options of staying at home and doing nothing much or following fame and glory across the sea on a quest.

Answer: Land of harmony

The lines of the song contain the refrain:

"But in the wake of warrior kings
This land of harmony dies
In the wake of the warrior kings
Behold, man thrives."

Where is this land? Possibly it is the land referred to in conventional English mythology of Arthurian legend as Avalon. Other Celtic regions, such as Brittany, have similar places with different names. Notably Lugh, about whom a song has already been noted, who in Irish mythology lives in (amongst other named places) Tír Tairngire, the Land of Promise.

Any of these would fit the Celtic heroes, powerful warriors, who have passed from this earth and now it is the time of man. One can also see Tolkien following this concept, with the time of Middle Earth passing and the age of Man beginning.

An argument could also be made for the land being Anwynn, from the song "Lugh". "But all is not well with the world and the garden on Anwynn will fall."

Of the other options, "the land of our fathers" is taken from the Welsh song used as an unofficial national anthem. The phrase "barren and broken" is taken from the Show of Hands song "Cousin Jack", written about Cornwall and the Cornish. Two good Celtic regions there.

The phrase land of milk and honey is taken from the Bible, referring to Israel, also referred to as the promised land. Which brings us back to Tír Tairngire mentioned above.

Answer: Ship

We have now moved from the "Excalibur" rock-opera cycle to "Anne de Bretagne". Anne de Bretagne (Anne of Brittany) was a real person who lived in the late fifteenth and early sixteenth century. This song relates the story of the Battle of Saint-Mathieu.

This was a naval battle in War of the League of Cambrai, itself part of the Italian wars. These were originally wars within the Italian peninsula but as is usual in such things they dragged in participants across Europe.

The synopsis of the battle is that the English fleet surprised and defeated the combined Breton and French fleet. Believed to have been the first naval battle with onboard cannon it still came down to the biggest ships on each side grappling and fighting boarding actions. These being the titular "Marie la Cordeliere" and the HMS Regent.

According to tradition, and this song, the captain of the Mariela Cordeliere decided that the best (or only) way to resolve the battle was to blow up both ships. To achieve this he took a lighted flame into the powder store of his own ship and successfully destroyed both. Or as the final stanza of the song puts it:

"Across the heaving deck he ran, in each hand a blazing brand he bore
Into the powder store and he blew her high, he fired the powder store"

As a side note, one of the other English ships in this battle was the Marie Rose later sunk off Portsmouth and subsequently raised in the late twentieth century.

Answer: King of France

The historical setting of "Anne de Bretagne" is during the War of the League of Cambrai. At this time the Duchy of Brittany was not part of the Kingdom of France although it was frequently allied with the big powerful neighbour. When the ruling family of Brittany ran out of male heirs, Anne became duchess. She subsequently became queen of France as the wife of two different kings (at different times).

Although Duchess Anne was married to French monarchs, she still successfully managed to maintain the independence of her Duchy. On her death the formal union (read annexation) of the two realms, France and Brittany, was enacted.

All of the options were the leaders of powers involved in the various wars related to the War of the League of Cambrai. However, the lyrics are very clear that:
"Together we must stand to defy the King of France".

Answer: Soldier

The only song here as opposed to an instrumental is "Soldier". This is from the epilogue of "Anne de Bretagne". The lyrics tell the tale of a war weary soldier, longing for a day of peace.

Of the others, "Le Guerre Folle" is also from "Anne de Bretagne", it translates as "The Mad War". This was a late fifteenth century conflict where the French monarchy attempted to invade the Duchy of Brittany. Being Europe of this time, lots of other powers of the time got involved to stop this.