Damn, Sandy Denny could write some lyrics!

[Taverner]

Calling all olive branches and laid-off doves
There is work to do before we say good-bye.
But who can see them turning to the face of love?
Though I hear them pleading with me, Don't let us die,
As I sit, I can see their troubled souls wander by,
And I feel them leaning on my shoulder to cry,
Oh, oh one more chance.

The naked tree of winter seems to stand so proud,
Lording the poor mortal as he goes.
And the tears which well beneath his sombre shroud,
Will they fall with the shame of somebody who knows
He can never be like the thought of a rose
Whose beauty remains even though the bloom goes?
Oh, oh one more chance.

Oh is it too late to change the way we're bound to go?
Is it too late? Then surely one of us must know.

The naked tree of winter seems to stand so proud,
Lording the poor mortal as he goes.
And the tears which well beneath his sombre shroud,
Will they fall with the shame of somebody who knows
He can never be like the thought of a rose
Whose beauty remains even though the bloom goes?
Oh, oh one more chance.

[hifiguy]

1. She could sing a little, too.

I saw them on tour supporting that album, at Minneapolis' Orchestra Hall of all places, in 1975 or 1976. The opener was the English pop-prog band Caravan (one of my long-time favorites), then Fairport with Sandy, who had a bit of a cold. Headlining was Weather Report (!?!?) in their pre-Jaco incarnation.

I first heard Sandy on Led Zep's IV back in 1972, where she was simply credited with Additional Vocals on "The Battle of Evermore." I had not the first clue who she was but immediately began looking for other records with that angelic voice. That led me, of course, to Fairport Convention, and that led me to now owning some 40-50 Fairport/Sandy/related LPs and CDs. What a long strange trip that was.

Still, to this day my favorite female singer. Hell of a songwriter too. I have read she was quite a firecracker back in her early Fairport days. Supposedly she swore like a sailor, whipped all the boys into shape to her musical standards and was quite the taskmaster, all the while being able to drink Richard, Simon and company under the table.

You want abject beauty? Try the Fotheringay album. How anyone at age 22-23 could sing anything the way she sang "Banks of the Nile" on that record beggars the imagination. She sounds both 15 and older than time. Absolutely, and literally, breathtaking.

Oh, "White Dress" on Rising is one of the most impossibly sexy things I have ever heard.

[Taverner]

3. Dude, she could drink BONZO under the table!

Anyone who can outdrink a drummer deserves a medal!

[hifiguy]

4. She must have gotten along with Zep famously.

I know she was Robert and Jimmy's favorite female singer. And Bonzo certainly would have respected both her musical and boozing abilities. She was one tough dame, with the voice of an angel and the lyrical gifts of a pastoral poet. To have been a fly on the wall at those sessions.

[LynneSin]

2. Sandy Denny's biggest claim to fame - she was the female voice in Battle of Evermore

That's her high voice in the song.

[Tom Ripley]

5. Agreed. When Richard Thompson is the second best songwriter in a group

that is something special

[vanlassie]

6. Gone too soon.

[MrScorpio]

7. Fairport Convention ~ Autopsy