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Farewell, Farewell

[ Roud - ; Mudcat 94728 , 98554 ; Richard Thompson]

Richard Thompson wrote Farewell, Farewell after the crash of Fairport Convention’s van late at night on 12 May 1969 on the wqy back home from a gig which killed their drumemr Martin Lamble and Richard’s girlfriend Jeannie Franklyn (Jeannie the Tailor). For the tune he used the traditional song Fause Foodrage.

This quiet song was recorded by Fairport Convention at the Sound Techniques Studios in summer 1969. It was first released in 1969 on their album Liege and Lief. It was later collected on the double CD compilation Meet on the Ledge: The Classic Years 1967-1975 and on the Sandy Denny anthologies Who Knows Where the Time Goes?, The Best of Sandy Denny, No More Sad Refrains, and A Boxful of Treasures. An alternative mix (not alternative recording!) of this track was released in 2002 on the Fairport unConventioNal 4CD set.

A live recording from Cropredy 1983 was released on the cassette The Boot - 1983 Fairport Reunion.

In 1987, Mary Black recorded another version of this song for her album By the Time It Gets Dark, the title track of this album being a Sandy Denny composition.

A Martin Carthy, voice and guitar, version of Farewell, Farewell to a different tune can be found on his 4 CD anthology The Carthy Chronicles. This recording was overdubbed with Maddy Prior, vocals, David Hidalgo, electric guitar and Robert Lloyd, hammond organ, and then included in the Richard Thompson tribute CD Beat the Retreat, together with the song The Great Valerio performed by Maddy Prior and Martin Carthy.

Marsden Blant & Squire recorded Farewell, Farewell in 2003 for their album Trio and Ruth Notman in 2007 for her CD Threads.

The Sandy Denny Project sang Farewell, Farewell on their 2024 CD SDP Vol Two.

Lyrics

Please find the lyrics for this song at Richard Thompson’s website.