TalkAwhile - The Folk Corporation Forum

Has anybody got the full lyrics to Angel Delight (the song)?  I've found it on the net, but it's the same version repeated everywhere with omissions and mistakes.

Jules

Jules

I think I've got the words in one of the FC songbooks - if I can find it, I'll post them later/tomorrow - but I bet someone beats me to it.

Paul

Thanks Paul, I'd appreciate that.

Jules

Sorry Jules - got side-tracked last night (Fiorentina 2 Everton 0  :( , but we'll do 'em at home next week :) ), but will try to find the book over the weekend.

No worries, in your own time.

Jules

Found it, in fact - them.  2 Fairport songbooks, the first (titled Fairport Convention) from 1971, cover price £1.50(!), containing songs & tunes from L&L, FH & AD; the 2nd (titled "Fairport") is from 1976 (£2.50) & contains material from a selection of albums. The same set of words appears in both books, so I guess this is the definitive version...

John the wood went out one day
to view the scene from a different angle.
Stood and watched the child at play
tinkling on an old triangle.
Dave the drum who was passing by,
bought the toy with a coin he'd picked up.
You should have seen the gleam in his eye
as he saw it soon – his, cleaned up, shined up.

La la la la la la la la la la la la la
La la la la la la la la la la la la la

Out in the rain if you want a cup of tea,
Dodge the puddles in the yard.
The lord of the land's coming round to complain
It's hard.

The peacock flew to a very high tree.
He didn't like grass or concrete fairies.
Put me where the action is,
I'd rather be with the next-door hairies.
Simon’s by the bathroom door,
in his hands a herb shampoo.
Waiting for the water’s roar,
So little time, so much to do.

La la la la la la la la la la la la la
La la la la la la la la la la la la la

Stand in a line, take a book along,
there's time for a game of cards.
Now's your turn and the water's all gone
It's cold.

The next to appear was the mighty Glydd,
he needs a rest or at least he says so.
You probably think that he's flipped his lid,
'cos he wears high heels and a snow-white trousseau.
Five foot three, yet he stands so tall,
and on the ground his feet are never.
Friends may come and friends may go,
but the fiddle bill goes on for ever.

La la la la la la la la la la la la la
La la la la la la la la la la la la la

The music room would make you grin,
it's as cold as a freezing pit.
There's a hole in the wall where a lorry came in.
Let's split.

I quite like breast of chicken,
And I'm crazy about aspic and roast quails;
But the sight to make my pulse rate quicken
Is a dozen nice fat snails.
On the other hand, there's Pegg on the bass,
whose tastes in food are very much wider.
You'll see a smile light up his face
at a couple of kippers and a glass of cider.

La la la la la la la la la la la la la
La la la la la la la la la la la la la

Stand on a chair if you want to watch the box,
The fleas can jump a mile.
Peer through the haze watching “Top of The Pops”
And smile.


However, listening to the remastered Angel Delight on the laptop while typing this, I'm almost convinced that the final line, as sung, is NOT "And smile", but "That's vile". Perhaps the chaps could enlighten us?

Incidentally, the song is credited in the 1971 songbook (& on the album) to "Fairport Convention", but in the 1976 songbook to "S.Nicol, D.Swarbrick, D.Pegg, D.Mattacks".

Great memories of AD - the 1st FC LP I ever bought... was it really 37 years ago?

Maybe it was credited differently in the 76 book, as it was a different line up then. Just purely out of interest, do both songbooks contain sheet music?

I've always wondered who was 'John the Wood'?

He was John Wood (probably) the studio engineer from Sound Techniques that Fairport used from their first recordings onwards until ?????

Well of course! Thanks Jude :)  

I guess I was thrown by the 'Dave the Drum' assuming therefore that 'the wood' was a clue to profession or trade.  For consistency (and to help the stupid) it should have been 'John the sound' or 'Dave the Mattacks' ;D ;D

Many thanks Paul!

Jules

 listening to the remastered Angel Delight on the laptop while typing this, I'm almost convinced that the final line, as sung, is NOT "And smile", but "That's vile". Perhaps the chaps could enlighten us?


..And Smile" is the correct answer! (Although the room was actually pretty vile-but we were a lot younger and perhaps less discriminating regarding such things.)

Still using herb shampoo, Simon?

 ;)

Jules

Ollie (BB) - both songbooks have the dots and the words.

Thanks Simon - back in the early 70s, I used to think TOTP was fairly vile, so perhaps the mis-hearing was wishful thinking on my part.

We Merkins need lyric books and friends like you.

I spend a lot of time humming along to FC. Much of the Naked Highwayman is indecipherable to these ears, although I have it on good authority that Simon is singing in English.

And I always thought it was 'The Law of the Land'.

You live and learn.

What's all this "Mighty Glydd" stuff? "Snow white trousseau"?

I was 15 when the album came out. I didn't understand it then, and I don't now.

Ask Swarb on the Talk Awhile Guests forum - he might know.

Jules

The mighty Glydd was Robin Gee Fairports road manager.

yes, yes, we know that, but did he wear high heels and and a snow white trooseau
what is a trooseau?

Trousseau (tr'oo so or  troo so') a woman's possessions such as clothing, lingerie and linens that accompany her into marriage; connubial accoutrement's; the chattel of a bride. The origin of Trousseau is taken from the French trousse, meaning a small bundle.

More http://www.trousseaultd.com/ with pictures

I thought it/ he was a Canadian president/prime minister...  ;D ;)

I thought Trousseau was strictly her garments, and that the not-widely-understood word 'paraphenalia' described the sum total of her possessions taken from her family home into the marital one.

And Robin was not (at least to my knowledge) an active cross-dresser. We liked to pull each others legs, as you can tell from the joshing nature of the rest of the lyric. Not to hard, and in a polite and non-offensive way. Probably be a bit more pointed now if the song was re-written.

Really?  And there was me thinking you were all more gentlemanly now than you were then!

 :o

Jules

Perhaps we should have a TAW version (Corporation Delight?)

For starters:

Col the YABB went out one today...

To view the scene on a new computer
There he saw a child at play
Having fun with a WiFi router...

Excellent, Gub!!

...Cocker Freeman who was sailing by...

thrashed the child with dredgers boathook

LOL!  Actually in the spirit of the original song can we make that "Cock the Free"?

Jules

Angered by the dredging life
and the tax on fags that the government took!

lalalalalala lalalala

(Heh! got the easy line...!)

(sorry to break the song) New Angel Delight piccies - http://www.fairportconvention.com/general_news.php#news1

Wow, some very nice photos. Anyone notice the shot of RT with a les paul?

Isn't one of them the Front Cover of the Album?
Surely that doesn't make it rare as it's quite a popular record. ???