Fairport Convention: Now Be Thankful

My apologies, or thanks, or a tip of the hat, to Luminiferous Ether. She posted this for the Summer Solstice and now I can't get it out of my head. I suppose I ought to be cursing her instead thanking her. Most readers of this blog probably have already seen it, but I'm putting it up for anyone who comes here that doesn't read LE's blog (although, if you don't, you might want to check it out; she's a superb writer in more ways than one.)



I realize I'm making the assumption that Fairport Convention requires no introduction. If, perchance, you're not familiar with them, they're pretty well documented on the internets. The song in question, "Now Be Thankful", is an Olde Englishe folke songe, or possibly an original tune written in that style. I can't seem to find any writing credits for it. There is a bit of a religious theme to it, but not in a way that I feel anyone who isn't religious (like me) would find objectionable. Modern conventions of musical structure hadn't been invented yet (nor, apparently, had the guitar solo). The verse and chorus both have 3 lines. In the verse, the first line has 12 beats, the second line has 10 beats and the third line has 15 beats. That's just weird, but it works. The chorus is a little more normal: the first 2 lines have 12 beats each, the third line has 16 beats and there are 16 beats in between the end of each chorus and the beginning of each verse. Dave Swarbrick's vocals on this song are nothing short of superb. Unlike most music one hears on the radio these days, he used no electronic pitch correction. It hadn't been invented yet, either. Okay, now. I've gotten that out of my system. For the time being, anyway.