Over the Lancashire Hills

[RichardH]

I've never heard this. I came across it in Maart's songbook, read it and played it and thought it was quite good. (a) Is there anywhere it is available to hear (apart from SN's apparently unavailable solo album)?  (b) What is it about? (musical appreciation in a working community....)

[PaulT]

Fell racing or witches, I reckon.  

I also love the tune - I must give it a listen this evening to try & work out the subject matter.

[Ruud Verschoor]

I'll send it to you if you like Just give youy email

[Anne T]

(b) What is it about?

Someone who wanted to be a musician, but never made it on the big stage. In the few reviews there are, the reviewer even spells the name wrong and now the piano keys are gathering dust. But it's not all sad, because the people who were moved by the music still remember it...

[Jan_]

Kathleen Ferrier, I think.  (Although she performed on some pretty big stages as well as many small ones.)

[RichardH]

My parents had some 78's of Kathleen Ferrier. Is there a story of someone getting her name wrong? This gets more interesting and I'm glad I posted!

[Jan_]

I'm currently reading Letters and Diaries of Kathleen Ferrier by Christopher Fifield (ed).  So far there has been one reference to her name being misspelt but she didn't make much of it - just a passing remark.

[Simon Care]

Indeed, it is about Kathleen Ferrier. It was written by a chap called Stuart Marson. He was a regular on my local scene for many years. He also wrote Close to the wind.
Last saw him in 2002 somewhere in North Wales.
A superb songwriter

cheers
simon

[DavidG]

I'm currently reading Letters and Diaries of Kathleen Ferrier by Christopher Fifield (ed).  So far there has been one reference to her name being misspelt but she didn't make much of it - just a passing remark.

Very intriguing to me that Simon should have recorded this ('They even spelt the name wrong') as so many CDs have misspelt Simon's surname as Nichol over the years ... even some of the major labels such as the original Island CD release of 'Unhalfbricking' and Hannibal's CD of Richard Thompson's 'Hand of Kindness'.

I always thought that there was a sense of irony or perhaps even angst in that line when Simon sang it!  

[Jan_]

I'm pretty sure that this song touches Simon personally at a deeper level than people getting his name wrong, otherwise he wouldn't be able to sing it as he does.  Kathleen Ferrier's story is a moving one.

[DavidG]

I'm pretty sure that this song touches Simon personally at a deeper level than people getting his name wrong, otherwise he wouldn't be able to sing it as he does.

Oh, absolutely! It's a wonderful song and lovely performance, leading off, as it does, a treat of an album.

Still, I smile when I hear that line...

[Jan_]

I love the imagery in the words of this song.  Mind you, I struggled at first with damp crowded buses go silently by because in my experience they are not at all silent. Then someone pointed out that the line refers to trolley buses. (Trolley buses were before MY time!)  Whoever plays the bass on the Before Your Time version also adds to the imagery as the notes run up and over and down the hill.  That bit always makes me smile.

[Staffan]

  Whoever plays the bass on the Before Your Time version also adds to the imagery as the notes run up and over and down the hill.  That bit always makes me smile.

According to the liner notes, the bass player is Peggy!
This discussion has made me play the LP, bought at Cropredy 1987, frequently over the last few days. Apart from getting a new knowledge of this songs meaning, I find the overall material on "Before Your Time" superb. No wonder a couple of more tracks from this solo outing has made its way into the Fairport repertoire ( and a bloody fine track onto a Linda Thompson Greatest Hits CD!)
Can I just hope for a FAC version of "Over The Lancashire Hills" can be heard by me in some form some time!

[RichardH]

I started this thread not having heard it. And, coincidence or what, I now have. And I assumed immediately that the bass player was  Mr Pegg, or someone doing a great impression of him.  Kathleen Ferrier makes an interesting diversion.

[Dr Clive]

This lovely song was included in the recent FAC tour, and when Simon introduced it at Eastbourne (and elsewhere) he indicated that a sub-text relates to Stuart Marson's own "failure" to give up the day job (teaching) and become a full-time musician (I think this has already been related in another thread, possibly by Katy's Mum?).

This song and Close to the Wind (also by SM) are two of our favourites to play.

DC

[jonmuse]

This song was included in an Acoustic Trio gig I saw in Pittsburgh. Not sure if it was this year or 2006, but it was a very pleasant surprise.

[RichardH]

November, the wind and the rain,
The post office workers complain...



Nothing much changes then....

[Bob Barrows]

They played it at the gig I attended last summer.

[Jan_]

There's a very different version of it on the In The Club CD - different arrangement, different guitar, different words and ... a different voice!

It might also be where the 'notes running over the hills' idea originated