The Five Seasons of Fairport Convention Quiz

Answer: Betsy

Sometimes referred to as "broken token" songs, these are a particular variety of traditional ballads with a common plot.
Mostly along the lines of:
Boy goes away for long period of time. Usually to war but anywhere far away seems to suffice.
On return he recognises his lover, but she doesn't recognise him, so he pretends to be someone else.
Then he tests her to see if she has remained true to him.
The usual climax is the production of the broken lover's token, such as a broken coin, showing that he is the missing lover returned.

Other versions seem to lose the token bit of the story, but all have the man recognising the woman, the woman failing to recognise the man. I have never come across a version set the other way around.

Usually, the parting has been for several years but here they have only been apart for six months, so I feel that the failure of Betsy to recognise Johnny implies that she wasn't that bothered.

Back to the question, the answer is found in the last verse where the voice of the song, the sailor back from the war," states:

"I fell into her arms, crying, 'Betsy, I'm that man
I am your faithful young man, whom once you thought was slain""

The alternative names are also found in various songs of the same nature.

Answer: Cheating

This song reads more like a Country and Western song than anything else. The relevant line at the end of each verse is:
"All your beauty's on the outside, and all your cheatin's in"
The plot is simply of a man whose partner shows a pleasant demeanour in company and a total change in personality when they are alone. As the lyrics describe the woman, "you're the devil's next of kin".

The song is credited to the names Barry Lowe, Martin White and Solent Music. Trying to discover more about these for further information, the name Solent Music suggests an organisation connected with the south coast of England. The name Martin White generates several people via your favourite search engine, any or none of them could be responsible. The name Barry Lowe also returns several people, one of whom is described as a writer of Country & Western songs living in East Boldre. Which just happens to be a village in Hampshire near to the Solent. This is almost certainly the right person and supports the identification of this as a Country & Western style song.

Answer: Miss Monahan's

"Miss Monahan's" is a traditional reel, this version arranged by Martin Alcock. The other two tunes in the set are listed as being written by the same. Martin is also listed as Maartin; at some point in his time with Fairport he changed the spelling of his first name.

"Shuffle the Pack" is another instrumental on this album which is played at the end of "The Card Song".

"Matty Groves" and "Meet on the Ledge" are two songs not appearing on this album, but which are played at almost every Fairport concert. (Except the one I went to during the writing of this quiz.)

Answer: Lowliest of metals

The chorus of this song provides the answer, as well as a bit of philosophy.

"It's the lowliest of metals, too soft for serious use
Pretty, of course, warm to the touch
But no longer alluring when you've handled so much
The lowliest of metals"

A song of simple love where the prospector and his lady realise that they are rich in each other regardless of the lack of gold.

Answer: Knave

A song about the pleasure of drinking in good company.
The verses generally run along the lines of:

"The King can take the queen but the queen can take the knave
And since we're in good company more liquor let us have"

Ending with the verse;

"The trey can take the deuce but the ace can take them all
But since we're in good company we'll not go home at all"

This is a version of a traditional song, possibly a military drinking song. In most versions the chorus starts with "Here's to you Tom Brown" however in this version each chorus refers to different person, none of which I can recognise. but maybe the names used mean something to the band members.

Answer: Tam Lin

"Tam Lin" is a traditional ballad concerning the escape of Tam Lin from the Queen of Fairies. It has been recorded by both Fairport Convention (on the album "Liege & Lief") and Steeleye Span on various occasions. Although an instrumental version could be played this is not the case here.

Answer: Dave Whetstone

Although Fairport have recorded songs written by all of these writers, the answer here is Dave Whetstone. On this album the song "Sock in it" is also credited to Dave Whetstone.

Other songs by the same writer and recorded by Fairport include "Head in a Sack" on the album "Gladys' Leap" and "Set Me Up" on the album "Red & Gold".
The song itself concerns the various patterns that occur in the greater cycles of time, whether day by day, season by season or year by year.

Answer: Equation

Although "cheating" and "money" appear, the first few lines of the chorus are:
"You've been cheating all day with my money
You've been staying out late in the night
Something's gone wrong with this equation
My perspective is blown out of sight."

The answer to the question is "equation", which coincidentally was the name of a late 20th century folk band initially comprising the three Lakeman brothers (Sam, Seth & Sean) along with Kathryn Roberts and Kate Rusby.

Another song from the pen of Dave Whetstone, this is the story of a man falling in love and then finding that true love doesn't run smooth. As "no matter what you do she's two stops ahead each time".

The other option of "One way Donkey Ride" is the title of a song by the late Sandy Denny who was a member of Fairport Convention in the late 1960s.

Answer: Jig

At the party, Ginnie sits with a far away look in her eyes, but "if the music is right, and the rhythm is light, Ginnie will dance the jig tonight".

This song was written by Huw Williams, a Welsh singer-songwriter (and clog dancer) who also wrote the songs "The Summer Before the War" and "Travelling by Steam", recorded by Fairport Convention on the albums "Red & Gold" and "Jewel in the Crown" respectively.

All of these songs seem to hark back to the past, songs of nostalgia.

Answer: The sailors

This is purely sung from the point of view of the sailors. This is an historical song, from the time whaling was a noble and risky enterprise. According to the informative site, "Mostly Norfolk", two versions of this song were recorded by the American E Gale Huntington and published in his book of whaling songs in the 1960s.

The song is also to be found in the Roud Folk Song Index which, the compilation of which began in the 1970s. The two versions listed by E Gale Huntington have subsequently been combined into one song and this is the basis for the song on this album.

A song from the perspective of the whale would be "The Last of the Great Whales", which has been recorded by (amongst others) the Dubliners.