FC History help please?

[Mix (Mic)]

On the Album, "The History of Fairport Convention", Track 10, "Walkawhile". Please could someone tell me who sings the line, "One hand in your mouth and your finger in your eye, undertakers bow their heads when you go walking by."
I've listened and listened, even with headphones on I just can't decide whose voice it is

Help please
Mic

[Jim]

Simon

[Mix (Mic)]

Thank you Jim
That was my initial thought, but... it just didn't sound deep enough, I forgot how much deeper and richer Simon's voice had become over the years.

Cheers... This would be a good place for 'bears of very little brain' like me, to ask questions about Fairport and their history wouldn't it?  I certainly still have a lot of catch up learning to do

Mic

[Jim]

thats ok
 if you never ask you'll never know
and thats why we are here isnt it

[Keith E Rice]

The change in Simon's singing from the 70s to 'Gladys' Leap' is phenomenal.

I know people will lynch me (if they can find me!) but his *lead singing in the 70s was little short of painful.

*As a harmony singer, he's always been excellent - just listen to the chorus on the 'Full House' 'Sloth'! No wonder Art Garfunkel hired him as backing singer.

But as a lead. Far too thin and nasal. When I first heard 'Sir William Gower', I actually fell about laughing. Great song, great arrangement...but Simon's singing?!? I still wince at the 'Tippler's Tales' version of 'John Barleycorn Must Die'!

Simon's singing was one of the reasons I drifted away from 70s Fairport - apart from the Lucas-Donahue(-Denny) era.

Then 'Gladys' Leap' and it's a totally different ball game. Still that's transitional. By 'The Five Seasons' we had the fully mature Nicol.

Clearly, it's technique. He must have taken singing lessons right through the 80s. (He still sounds pretty naff on the 'Moat On The Ledge' 'Walk Awhile'!!)

Occasionally, he still lapses into that horrible nasal whine - but he's almost always spot on. His control, his pitch and his phrasing are almost classical - giving us one of the finest singers working in the folk-rock(-ish) idiom.

He's clearly worked incredibly hard to develop that technique and to make so much of it. Well done, that man. I applaud you!

[Paul]

He certainly has excellent singing technique nowadays, I am sure he must have been taking lessons. It is the difference between singing with your chest or your head. His diaphragm control is good too.

I used to like the "who can hold the note longest" game he used to play on John Barleycorn. Simon invariably won. Only once did I reckon he was using a delay loop.

Paul

[Maart]

Only once was a delay loop used and that was at Cropredy one year, but it was Peggy's vocal, not Simon's. Simon actually held the note...

[Jan_]

I read in an old Cropredy programme (early 90's) that when asked, Simon said that he had not taken singing lessons.  If I remember correctly, I think he said that with the help of the sound man he had listened carefully to his own voice and experimented and modified it to produce the sound he wanted.  I agree that his voice has improved a lot since the early days.  I love it!

[Mix (Mic)]

Simon has a beautiful voice doesn't he? it's hard to believe that he was ever reluctant to assume lead singing duty... at least, I think I read that somewhere... fact or fiction please?

Mic

[Speleologist (Robin)]

I seem to remember that in the early days none of them wanted to do lead vocals, and it was a case of who drew the short straw. Can't remember now where I picked that up from, probably Patrick Humphries' book, but I won't get a chance to check until the weekend.

[Anna]

The 2005 wintour was great for that first moment of the gig - first song "Over the Next Hill".  Band onstage, no intro, nothing said, just straight into the song...


"FOR ever, for ever, the road goes on forever..."  Marvellous!


What-If's and If-Only's aside, we're here now, and what we've got is magic.

Anyhoo, yellow card!!!

[jude]

I seem to remember that in the early days none of them wanted to do lead vocals,

Yup that is more or less right, that's why they asked me......

Jude

[Will S]

And it was a good thing they did, too! 

Will

[Keith E Rice]

Seconded. A pity there's not more Dyble-Fairport collaboration than the occasional Cropredy!