"Autopsy"

[gower flower (Shirl)]

One of my favourite tracks from Unhalfbricking. Just been listening to it again as part of the White Bicycles CD.

Can anyone tell me if this song has been performed/covered by any other artiste?

I love the Sandy and Fairport version of course, but was just wondering.

[Barry]

You'll find a wonderful version on the "No Grey Faith" album "Secrets All Told (The Songs Of Sandy Denny)" ..... always assuming that you can find this rare release.

It's an Iain Matthews project.

[Boatgirl]

It has also been sampled by Groove Armada on a track called Remember, which is on the Lovebox album. It has additional vocals that give it a gospel feel. Well worth a listen (if you pop by this weekend I'll play it for you) 

[Philip W]

The Dutch singer Linde Nijland did a version on her Sandy tribute album in 2003. Sound sample at http://home.planet.nl/~ygdrassil/sandydenny.htm.  Like most covers of her songs it just has the effect of sending me back to the original to discover anew why Sandy was so far ahead of the pack.   

[Jack O Diamonds]

God only knows who else has done it.... Sandy's version is superb.... lovely playing by all concerned particularly a swing-beat Martin Lamble... So sad.... was a fine, fine drummer... But at least we got DM.... a bit like losing Pele and getting Maradona...

Autopsy also one of the last vestiges of that fantastic early FC eclecticism...

Anyway nothing's happened since 1971...    )

[Philip W]

While we're on the subject of Fairport/Sandy covers... The new issue of The Word mag has a big spread about a combo called Susanna and The Magical Orchestra (no, I hadn't heard of them either). Apparently they've done a new version of "Fotheringay".

[Edthefolkie]

Oh blimey Pete - it had better be good.......

How's Heloise by the way? 

[gower flower (Shirl)]

Oh blimey Pete - it had better be good.......

How's Heloise by the way? 

Oh, very droll, Ed....

Oops! topic drift....

[Philip W]

Last night I was listening to this wonderful song again in several of the original versions. The Unhalfbricking one is incredible, not least for Martin’s negotiation of the shifting time signature. As for Sandy’s demo with her thunderous 12-string (on Boxful of Treasures) – it’s hard to believe that was recorded 40 years ago, it leaps out at you with such immediacy.

It’s a typically evasive lyric. Has anyone got anywhere with interpreting it? We have Neil Denny’s comment that it was about “a girl that was always telling her troubles”, which sounds like the Lady herself. The title suggests the anatomising of a relationship that’s over. My hunch is that it was inspired by her affair with married man Danny Thompson, but perhaps it’s futile (or nosy) to speculate?  

[Staffan]

While we're on the subject of Fairport/Sandy covers... The new issue of The Word mag has a big spread about a combo called Susanna and The Magical Orchestra (no, I hadn't heard of them either). Apparently they've done a new version of "Fotheringay".

It is rather good. Slow with church-organ-like backing.
http://www.amazon.com/Melody-Mountain-Susanna-Magical-Orchestra/dp/B000GUJYVU

Or is this topic drift?  

[Jan_]

Has anyone got anywhere with interpreting it?

My interpretation is that it is about a boy who tends to over-analyse relationships to the point of spoiling them and the girl is suggesting that if he could have just let go and enjoyed what they had, they would have both been much happier and maybe things would have worked out - a message to let your heart rule your head, in this case.  

I've never really thought of it as strictly autobiographical and since I subscribe to the Reader Response Theory school of thought, believe the correct interpretation is the one that makes sense to you.

Beautiful song though, both musically and lyrically, if a little sad, for what might have been ...

[MikeB (Mike)]

a message to let your heart rule your head, in this case.  

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[Dan O.]

The Groove Armada song which samples Autopsy is good fun. I believe the allegation that Autopsy is about Sandy and Danny Thompson's affair is made in the Clinton Heylin biography "No Sad Refrains"

[Edthefolkie]

OK here's a very belated thought about "Autopsy" - will prob make no sense because it's nearly 3 am, couldn't sleep so turned the netbook on!

In Kingsley Amis's novel "Take a Girl Like You" a primary female character says that she likes a chap but "he's the sort who TELLS you about things" i.e. explains how things work, how good a record is and why, etc. etc., passing swiftly on to personal revelations. This (in the novel) is a surefire sign that said chap is head over heels with female and thinks that this sort of thing will impress her/make her fall into his arms. WRONG.

Now although this is cynical Amis speaking I reckon there's a grain of truth there. I'm sure Sandy Denny must have been afflicted with this sort of thing from eager young lads, I recognise the symptoms!  

I just cannot get my head round Heylin's concept of Danny Thompson being the "target" of the song but he maybe could be right - after all it was the 1960's man!

Told you it might not make sense!!

[Jan_]

All of that makes sense to me, Ed.  

It amuses me to think that by discussing this song, we might be doing exactly what it warns against!

[Philip W]

Well, of course, Clive James thought that Sandy’s innate musicality was running ahead of her and the lyrics don’t amount to a hill of beans. He wrote:

"Autopsy" shows Denny's capacity for melisma taking control of her talent for the lyric and weakening it seriously.

       You must philosophise
       But why must you bore me to tears?

These are the first two lines of the song, and "philosophise" is the first word you can hear — the previous two are swallowed, and one picks them up in a repetition later on. Most of her attention seems to be spent on the long, virtuoso melismatic surge with which she delivers the long "i" in "philosophise", and in general the linguistic points of the song are undistinguished going on feeble, most notably in the distressing transitional pun from "in tears" to "into years". (If I have mis-heard this last effect, it's because the singer hasn't striven to make it clear.) The song is sung in a continuous blur of vowels: abstract prettiness is the enemy and already rearing its gorgeous empty head.
http://www.peteatkin.com/sandy.htm

Interesting to hear other people's interpretations. Thanks, folks. I do revert, though, to what her dad said: that it's about "a girl that was always telling her troubles". Not a bloke.

[Jack O Diamonds]

Clive James makes some telling points. I love her work on WWDOOH and Unhalfbricking... L&L is a "Trad Arr" tour de force... maybe her best vocal performances? Fotheringay has great band sound and some nice songs (although it's the interpretations of others' songs where they score - particularly The Way I Feel - and the superb "Banks of the Nile"). North Star always disappointed me from the moment it came out. partly the terminally bleak and too-similar arrangements, but also in that the quality of much of the material was not of the very highest order - with the possible exception of John the Gun (previously played in concert by Fotheringay)... although even here I felt back then - still do - that this song - lauded at the time I recall - was a tad overrated. Sandy was a curious album... again I felt it was a poor reflection of her talent and seemed to be trying too hard to address a broader audience (the Bailey cover etc). Muddy sound... The later albums followed a meandering course which always left one wondering what might have happened if she had "got her act together" after 1977... I'd have to say that her overall output was disappointing when compared with her undoubted talent... All is forgiven, however, for "She Moves Through The Fair", "I'll Keep It With Mine", "Tam Lin", "Eastern Rain", "A Sailor's Life", "The Banks of The Nile" and "The Quiet Joys of Brotherhood"... with maybe only "WKWTTG" and "Fotheringay" from her own material...