Fairport Convention > Records > “Babbacombe” Lee
“Babbacombe” Lee
![]() |
“Babbacombe” Lee Island ILPS 9176 (LP, UK, November 1971) |
Recorded at Sound Techniques Studio;
Produced by John Wood and Simon Nicol;
Engineered by John Wood;
Design: Roberta Nicol
Musicians
Simon Nicol, guitar, dulcimer;
Dave Mattacks, drums, electric piano;
Dave Swarbrick, fiddle, mandolin;
Dave Pegg, bass, mandolin
with
Philip Sterling-Wall, A.L. Lloyd, reading
Tracks
LP / 1992 CD
The LP and the first CD reissue have only five tracks with narrative description instead of titles:
Side 1 | Side 2 |
---|---|
|
|
All compositions by Fairport Convention except
The Sailor's Alphabet for which, thanks to Bert Lloyd
2004 CD
- The Verdict (read by Philip Sterling-Wall) (0.28)
- Little Did I Think (2.19)
- I Was Sixteen (Part 1) (1.30)
- John My Son (0.44)
- I Was Sixteen (Part 2) (1.18)
- St Ninian's Isle / Trumpet Hornpipe (1.14)
- Sailor's Alphabet (Roud 21100) (5.50)
- John Lee (3.05)
- Newspaper Reading (read by A.L. Lloyd) (0.46)
- Breakfast in Mayfair (3.10)
- Trial Song (3.55)
- Cell Song (3.36)
- The Time Is Near (2.32)
- Dream Song (5.24)
- Wake Up John (Hanging Song) (5.25)
Bonus tracks taken from the 1975 BBC TV programme The Man They Couldn't Hang (recorded 24 September 1974, broadcast 1 February 1975). The recordings include Jerry Donahue (track 16 and 17) and Sandy Denny (track 17 only):
- Farewell to a Poor Man's Son (4.45)
- Newspaper Reading / Breakfast in Mayfair (3.59)
Fairport Convention > Records > BBC TV: The Man They Couldn't Hang
BBC TV: The Man They Couldn't Hang
![]() |
The Man They Couldn't Hang BBC (TV, UK, 1975) |
In 1975, the BBC produced a version of Fairport's “Babbacombe” Lee for television, entitling it The Man They Couldn't Hang. It was recorded on 24 September 1974 and broadcast on 1 February 1975. This featured narration by Melvin Bragg, broadsides by Martin Carthy, most of the songs from the record by an unusual Fairport line-up (Donahue / Nicol / Mattacks / Pegg / Swarbrick), and one song, sung by Sandy Denny (three verses) and Simon Nicol (last verse). Although the original record of “Babbacombe” Lee has no song titles, Breakfast in Mayfair was the working title for this song. It appeared as this on The History of Fairport Convention and in 2002 on the Fairport unConventioNal 4CD set and was added as bonus track to the 2004 CD reissue of “Babbacombe” Lee.
In 1992, the BBC released The Man They Couldn't Hang as a video-cassette, making this the second video appearance of Sandy Denny (the first was Solo on It All Comes 'Round Again).