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The Hen’s March Medley

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Martin Carthy and Dave Swarbrick played the tunes The Hen’s March Through the Midden and The Four-Poster Bed in 1966 live at the Folkus Folk Club. This recording was released in 2000 on the CD Both Ears and the Tail. Another 1967 archive recording of this medley, enhanced by the tunes Swallowtail, Tail Toddle, Villafjord, and Rakish Paddy, is included in the 2003 Dave Swarbrick anthology Swarb!. They also recorded The Hen’s March Through the Midden, Villafjord / The Four-Poster Bed, and Swallowtail (as part of the set Bottom of the Punchbowl / The Swallow Tail / Marquis of Tullybardine) with Diz Disley on three tracks of their album Rags, Reels & Airs.

In 1973, Dave Swarbrick recorded The Hen’s March Through the Midden / The Four-Poster Bed with Fairport Convention (then Swarb, Jerry Donahue, Trevor Lucas, Dave Mattacks and Dave Pegg) for their album Rosie. The 2004 CD re-release of this album contains a live recording of this song from the Howff, London, on 23 April 1973. Another live version of May 1974 at Ebbets Field, Denver, Colorado, was released in 2002 on Before the Moon.

A Fairport Convention live recording from December 1972 at Kingston-upon-Thames Polytechnic was included in the first “official bootleg cassette” The Airing Cupboard Tapes in 1981 and reissued on CD in 2002. Another live recording from Cropredy 1983 was released on the double cassette The Boot in 1984 and reissued on the 4 CD set A.T. 2 / The Boot in 2000.

A further live recording by Whippersnapper live in 1987 at the Tønder Festival in Denmark and a 1967 version of The Hen’s March Medley with Martin Carthy and Dave Swarbrick are included in the Dave Swarbrick anthology Swarb!.