Solo

[Sandy Denny]

“A song which depicts, I think, that knowledge we all have inside, which is, that nobody can live your life for you. But at the same time, let’s try to help one another, all the same.”

There are a lot of Sandy Denny recordings of her song Solo. Sandy plays piano on most versions, and seems to mock herself in the lines “I’ve always kept a unicorn and I never sing out of tune”:

The original studio recording of May 1973 at A&M Studios, Los Angeles with Sandy, piano; Richard Thompson, guitar; Pat Donaldson, bass; Dave Mattacks, drums, appeared in June 1974 on Like an Old Fashioned Waltz and was later reissued on the Sandy Denny anthologies The Best of Sandy Denny, No More Sad Refrains, and A Boxful of Treasures.
A solo live studio recording from 11 September 1973 for the BBC Radio 1 show “Sounds of the Seventies”, hosted by John Peel, was broadcast on 25 September 1973. It was first published in 2007 on the 3CD+DVD set Live at the BBC.
A live studio recording with Hughie Burns on electric guitar from 14 November 1973 for the BBC Radio 1 show “Sounds of the Seventies”, hosted by Bob Harris, was broadcast on 17 December 1973. It was first published on the cassette The Attic Tracks Vol. 4: Together Again and later included both on The BBC Sessions 1971-73 and on the 3CD+DVD set Live at the BBC.
The live performance on the Who Knows Where the Time Goes? box set was performed by Fairport Convention at the Troubadour, Los Angeles in February 1974 (with Donahue / Lucas / Mattacks / Pegg / Swarbrick).
Two more live versions of May 1974 at Ebbets Field, Denver, Colorado were published in 2002 on the 2CD set Before the Moon..
The sixth version appears in the It All Comes ’Round Again video, where Sandy plays the song with Fairport Convention. This version was filmed at Birmingham University in 1974, and is very murky, both in sound and in vision. This was for a long time the only known video of Sandy Denny. In 2006, this performance was also included in the DVD Sandy Denny: Under Review, together with short video footage of Like an Old Fashioned Waltz.
The last, and also live, recording appears on The Attic Tracks Vol. 3 and Gold Dust - Live at the Royalty and features Donaldson / Hendry / Lucas / Mattacks / Palmer / Willsher. This was recorded at the Royalty Theatre, London on 27 November 1977.

Cover Versions

Title track of Sue Glover’s LP Solo (1976)
Carin Kjellman’s Swedish translation on her solo LP Carin Kjellman (1985)
Fish on his records Songs From the Mirror (1993) and Yin (1996)
Lynni Treekrem with her Norwegian translation Aleine on her album Tusenfryd (1994)
Fairport Convention with Cathy LeSurf live at Cropredy 1997 on their 3 CD set The Cropredy Box (1998)
Iain Matthews with No Grey Faith on their album Secrets All Told (2000)
Keiko Walker on her album Both Sides Now (2004)
2Duos on their album Until the Cows Come Home (2009)
Annie Grace on her album The Bell (2011)
Kathryn Roberts & Sean Lakeman on their album Personae (March 2018)
The Julie July Band on their CD Who Knows Where the Time Goes? (July 2018)

Lyrics

Sandy Denny sings Solo

Good morning, good afternoon,
And what have you got to say?
Well I’m waiting, but I can’t stay long,
It’s such a lovely day.
There’s a time to be talking
And a time when it’s no use.
Right now I think the things you say
Are liable to confuse.

I’ve just gone solo.
Do you play solo?
Ain’t life a solo?

What a wonderful way to live,
She’s travelling all over the world.
Why, the fame and all the golden
Opportunities unfurled.
No time for the gent with the Mulliner Bentley
And heaven knows what else.
Why, he wouldn’t even stand a chance
With all his oil-wells.

She just went solo.
Do you play solo?
Ain’t life a solo?

I’ve always lived in a mansion
On the other side of the moon.
I’ve always kept a unicorn
And I never sing out of tune.
I could tell you that the grass is really greener
On the other side of the hill,
But I can’t communicate with you
And I guess I never will.

We’ve all gone solo.
We all play solo.
Ain’t life a solo?

Carin Kjellman’s Swedish translation of Solo

God morgon! Hur mår du? Det är bara jag
Och jag stannar men inte länge
Det är en sån härlig dag!
Allt har sin tid. Ibland kan man prata
men nu ska vi låta bli
För det känns som det du säger
inte finns nån sannig i

Så jag går - Solo
Brukar du nånsin spela - Solo
Kanske är livet bara - ett Solo

Vilker underbart sätt att leva
Hon får resa runt halva vår jord -
Men dom gyllne möjligheterna blir bara tomma ord
Och berömmelsen inte hjälper den mig
att se in i en människas själ
För när föreställningen är slut
är det bara Tack och Farväl

Och man går - Solo
Stod nyss och spelade - Solo
Kanske är livet bara - ett Solo

Jag har alltid levt i en fästning
På den fjärran planeten Höst
Haft en sagofé under min säng
Och en vacker klockren röst
Ja gräset är alltid grönare
På andra sidan ån
Men det finns ingen bro till ditt hjärta
det kommer jag aldrig ifrån

Så jag går - Solo
Brukar du nånsin spela - Solo
Kanske är livet bara - ett Solo

Lynni Treekrem’s Norwegian version Aleine

Et møte her e æ
e det nåkka du vil forklar
Æ kan’kje bli så længe
Æ trur’kje vi finn nån svar
Ein gang va ord som ein gave
Medisin for sjæl og sinn
Men alle ordan dæm e oppbrukt
Å no trænge dæm’kje længer inn.

Så no fær æ aleine
Så levve du livet ditt aleine
I livet aleine

Sjølstendig og modig
Hos mæ va det det du så
Sjæla mi træng nærhet
Men det kunn’æ visst ikkje få
Frihet e’kje avstand
Det va det æ prøvd å si
Vi må tora vis oss naken
Før å ha nokka sant å gi

Så no fær æ aleine
Så levve du livet ditt aleine
I livet aleine

Æ har nissa og troll inni sjæla
Og nån rare fabeldyr
Innerst inni mæ bor ei prinsesse
Og no vil ho ut på eventyr
Æ kunn ha sagt at gresset e grønt og friskt
Om vi kløyv over bakka å fjell
Men æ når jo aldri inn te dæ
og no orke æ’kje held på hell

Så no fær æ aleine
Så levve du livet ditt aleine
I livet aleine

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