Saturday 23 August 2008

"Sir Patrick Spens" a traditional ballad by Fairport Convention

If I will not go down the Chaucer route this year for A2 English the alternative is pre 17th century poetry from the second half the Edexcel Anthologies. And I think it would make a refreshing change to do that this year. I need a change from "The Merchant's Tale".

This author of this ancient Scottish ballad like all medieval balladeers was anonymous. Fairport Convention were a popular folk band who played it in gigs in the early 70s. It can also be found on some of their albums. Here's a decent rendition of it from a Fairport gig in 1970, in the days of Flower Power when many young people did not give a hoot about worldly things and conventional representations of power. Ahhhhhh!

Still, Fairport's version of the ballad is slightly different to other versions. However that is to be expected as the ballad form allowed itself to be contracted, elongated and altered through time

Sit back and enjoy a lost classic that's now "far out"!

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About Me

I teach Film, Media and English Lit.