Fairport Convention Trivia

1. In the song "Pilgrims", where are the pilgrims heading?

From Quiz The Fame and Glory of Fairport Convention

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."

From Quiz Fairport Convention play in Red and Gold

Answer: Set Me Up

The song "Set Me Up" is about a failing relationship, a common theme for songwriters. The chorus "There's no logic can be used to explain. How we made this situation. No answers, is it only a game. I'm choking on the seeds of doubt.", gives a fair taste of the theme of the song. Apart from "On Morecambe Bay", the songs are all products of songwriter Dave Whetstone and all have been recorded by Fairport Convention. "Set Me Up" is obviously on this album, "Sock in It" is on "The Five Seasons" and "Head in a Sack" is to be found on the album "Gladys' Leap". The song "On Morecambe Bay" was written by Kevin Littlewood and is about the tragedy in 2004 when twenty one (possibly more) Chinese cockle pickers were drowned by the incoming tide. This also means it has to have been written long after this album was recorded.

From Quiz Fairport Convention

Answer: Fairport Convention

The name of the group was taken from the name of the house where two of the members were living.

From Quiz The Fame and Glory of Fairport Convention

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.

From Quiz Fairport Convention play in Red and Gold

Answer: Hedge Cutting

The song is about the Battle of Cropredy Bridge in 1644, part of what is referred to as "The" English Civil War. I think we have had several more over the years, none of them particularly civil. This one was about whether the king should be in charge just because his father was. He lost, Oliver Cromwell took charge, and appointed his son as successor, no hypocrisy there. In the song William is busy going about his work, cuts his hand and faints. When he comes to, he sees the battle raging a few fields away. The song describes the battle from his point of view.

From Quiz Fairport Convention

Answer: were written by Richard Thompson and Dave Swarbrick

Although Dave Swarbrick and Richard Thompson claimed that they had little in common, for a time they spent many hours working together on writing and found that together they produced some of the band's most enduring songs.

From Quiz Fairport Convention play in Red and Gold

Answer: Green & Brown

The relevant line is "Red and gold are royal colours, peasant colours are green and brown". This starts the refrain that opens the song and then appears at various points during the song. The lyrics also note that despite the different colours, "the blood they spilled was coloured just the same". The song was written by Ralph McTell about the Battle of Cropredy, in 1644. Cropredy is also the site of the annual Fairport Reunion festival. In the lyrics booklet Ralph states that he conceived the song whilst in the festival audience "...watching the sun go down and the colours in the fields changing from green and brown to red and gold." Of the other options, there is a song "The Scarlet and the Blue ", part of the soundtrack to the play Warhorse. Having listened to the song, to me it seems to be a reworking of the traditional Irish song "Off to Dublin in the Green".

From Quiz The Fame and Glory of Fairport Convention

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.

From Quiz Fairport Convention play in Red and Gold

Answer: Beggar

The title of the song tells all, "The Beggar's Song". Comparing the benefits of being free of all responsibility with those of being subjected to the duties of a monarch. Although Fairport are classified as folk rock, for a more rocked up version I recommend seeking out the Bellowhead interpretation of the same song. Bellowhead did have the advantage of 11 musicians instead of five and included a brass section as part of their line-up.

From Quiz Fairport Convention

Answer: Hank Marvin and the Shadows.

This collection of Shadows favourites consists of "Shazam", "Pipeline", "Apache" and "Peter Gunn". Two of Fairport's best lead guitarists, Richard Thompson and Jerry Donahue, return to make a guest appearance on this medley.

From Quiz The Fame and Glory of Fairport Convention

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.

From Quiz Fairport Convention play in Red and Gold

Answer: The Winter Turning

The song starts with the lines; "Deep & dark are my true love's eyes. Blacker still is the winter turning." The phrase "the winter turning" I believe refers to the longest nights of the year, when most of the time is dark and dismal. The rest of the lyrics indicate that it is a song of love and remembrance, of sorrow at parting from one's love. The song itself is a translation of an old Gaelic song. No record of the original tune was known but the translators' mother apparently agreed that the tune used was close to the version she remembered.

From Quiz Fairport Convention

Answer: Richard Thompson

Richard Thompson's solo albums continue to mix folk and rock styles, and his songs often include a rather dry wit.

From Quiz The Fame and Glory of Fairport Convention

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.

From Quiz Fairport Convention

Answer: released their first album

By the time that "Full House" was recorded, none of the original members was left in the line-up. The original line-up is rather more involved with experimenting with new types of pop music, and yet does perform some music with a folk style as well.

From Quiz Fairport Convention play in Red and Gold

Answer: Hartzover

The song is written by and about being a merchant seaman. The lyric, "I signed for a while on the old Hartzover" is the only point a ship is named. The story is set in the early to mid-twentieth century, "Signed to my master in the 1930's" and includes a visit to the West Indies where we are informed that the rum mucked up the singer's kidneys.

From Quiz Fairport Convention

Answer: Babbacombe Lee

The "opera" takes the whole of one album, and tells the story of a man controversially accused of murder. It ends with the executioner making three unsuccesful attempts to hang John "Babbacombe" Lee.

From Quiz The Fame and Glory of Fairport Convention

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.

From Quiz Fairport Convention play in Red and Gold

Answer: 3 (You and your lady and me)

All revealed at the start of the song; "All on a Saturday, bright as a bell. Early and just for the ride. We took a trip cycling down to the sea. You and your lady and I". A song of idyllic peace, the lull before the storm that became World War 2. Of the other options, solo is a reference to Sandy Denny's song "Solo". Sandy sang with Fairport Convention on several albums in the 1960s and 70s. The charabanc is a reference to Ralph McTell's song "Maginot Waltz" which is set just prior to World war 1, while the line of 6 names starting with Pugh, comes from the BBC children's programme, Trumpton.

From Quiz The Fame and Glory of Fairport Convention

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".

From Quiz Fairport Convention play in Red and Gold

Answer: Whitsun

If we consider summer to be the months of June, July and August then only one of these ever falls in summer and that is Whitsun. The first line establishes it as a Saturday and combined with the last two lines of the first verse "One day at Whitsun, the sea and the shore. The summer before the war." It can be seen that this is the Saturday of the Whitsun weekend. Whitsun is the seventh Sunday after Easter and in the Gregorian calendar the range of dates for Easter is 22nd March to 25th April. Hence Whitsun is between the 10th May and 13th June. Prior to the start of World War 2 the Saturday of Whitsun weekend fell on the 27th May 1939 and 4th of June 1938. So if the song is meant to reflect a particular year it must be 1938. On the other hand it could just be convenience of the songwriter to regard the end of May as summer. The songwriter responsible for this, Huw Williams, also wrote the song Ginny, which Fairport recorded on their album "The Five Seasons" and "Travelling by Steam" which appears on the Fairport album "Jewel in the Crown".

From Quiz Fairport Convention

Answer: Dave

The band then consisted of Simon Nicol, Dave Mattacks, Dave Swarbrick and Dave Pegg.

From Quiz The Fame and Glory of Fairport Convention

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.

From Quiz Fairport Convention

Answer: Drums

Dave Mattacks has played on and off in the band for many years. In recent years the band has sometimes performed accoustic concerts without a drummer.

From Quiz Fairport Convention

Answer: In all these ways

"Matty Groves" was recorded when Sandy Denny was the lead singer. Some later concert albums include the song with a male vocal.

From Quiz Fairport Convention

Answer: Ralph McTell

Ralph McTell has also performed with Fairport Convention on their albums and at their reunions.

From Quiz Fairport Convention

Answer: Liege and Leif

Around the time that this album was being recorded, members of the group spent much time searching the archives for old songs to revive, and Sandy Denny already had a wide knowledge of English folk music.

From Quiz Fairport Convention

Answer: Rick Sanders

Rick Sanders says that it was listening to Dave Swarbrick which made him interested in learning the violin. His style differs from Dave Swarbrick because of having jazz in his background.

From Quiz Fairport Convention

Answer: Jethro Tull

Actually, I made up the name "The Chelsea Slugs"---still, it wouldn't surprise me to find out that there was such a group.

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Last Updated Mar 22 2025 5:52 AM

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