Pharaoh

[Richard Thompson]

Richard Thompson sang his own song on his albums Amnesia (1988) and Celtschmerz (1998, solo, live in New York).

June Tabor sang Pharaoh together with Swedish group Filarfolket live at Bridport Arts Centre on 10 August 1989. This recording was included in 2005 on the June Tabor anthology Always. In 1999, she finally recorded Pharaoh “officially” for her CD A Quiet Eye. In a concert promoting the CD on 11 September 1998 at the Kreissparkasse Syke, Germany she introduced the song with:

The American writer Gore Vidal tells of being present at a Republican Party meeting during the election of an American president not so long ago. And the candidate spoke, and then he asked for questions from the floor: “Would you like to ask me questions?” And a woman put a hand up and said: “Senator, I have two questions. My first question is, how do we fight communism? And my second question is, what is communism?” Which is worrying, if you think that now the President of the United States is the most powerful man in the world on his own. Here’s a song by Richard Thompson.

(The Syke concert was recorded and broadcast on Radio Bremen. Another track from the concert, Mediation, found its way on June Tabor’s anthology Always.)

The House Band sang Pharaoh on the 1993 Richard Thompson charity tribute CD, The World Is a Wonderful Place. In 2002, this track was included on the anthology The Acoustic Folk Box.

Lyrics

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