The Calvary Cross by Richard Thompson
I was under the Calvary Cross
The pale-faced lady she said to me
I’ve watched you with my one green eye
And I’ll hurt you ‘till you need me
You scuff your heels and you spit on your shoes
You do nothing with reason
One day you catch a train
Never leaves the station
Everything you do
Everything you do
You do for me
Now you can make believe on your tin whistle
And you can be my broom-boy
Scrub me ‘till I shine in the dark
I’ll be your light ‘till doomsday
Oh it’s a black cat cross your path
And why don't you follow
My claw’s in you and my light's in you
This is your first day of sorrow
Everything you do
Everything you do
You do for me...
I quote the (famously obscure) lyrics because they're, well, famously obscure; but I do know that this week the intro's the thing. To persuade you of its wonderfulness I'm offering three versions - one on RR, one in the box, and this one which is in fact Richard and Linda, from their concert at Oxford Poly in November 1975, with John Kirkpatrick (accordian), Dave Pegg (bass) and Dave Mattacks (drums).
I really thought I had a shoo-in last week with Silver Spoon, but hey...and I don't think this one is, since PaulMac doesn't seem to care for RT at all. So it goes, my friends.
The Calvary Cross - Richard and Linda Thompson
7 comments:
I'm trying to get Christmas cards written and early-ish nights this week, so no playing out on RR. You'll have to settle for my appreciation here TFD.
Our guru has to be subjective, there can't be much time for weighing up and consulting experts when writing the A-list. Perhaps he's just not seen RT live, because for me that's when one really appreciates him - not just the music and the technique, but the warmth of the man too. You should e-mail Robin Denselow at The Guardian and persuade him to drag Paul Mac to the next gig ?
Funnily enough I just had a pre-Christmas clearout and found a letter from Robin Denselow from many moons ago...
I wonder if it's Richard's voice. It can sound a bit like there's been a finger stuck in it too often.
Can't be anything else, can it? Lyrics, music, technique, imagination, all excellent...
The 'it' I referred to that has been too often probed by finger, in that comment made before falling into bed, was, of course, his ear not his voice.
Does that make slightly more sense?
Ah, now I get it.
Chris, I've often thought 'finger in the ear' about many English folk singers (Ewan MacColl for one), but not Richard Thompson I have to say. But I suppose there could be a bit of Marmitey-ness about his singing ?
um - I think RT needs all his fingers to play his guitar with.
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