Sandy Denny
Sandy Denny (Alexandra Elene Maclean Denny, 6 January, 1947 – 21 April, 197… Read Full Bio ↴Sandy Denny (Alexandra Elene Maclean Denny, 6 January, 1947 – 21 April, 1978) was an English singer and songwriter, perhaps best known as the lead singer for the folk rock band Fairport Convention. She has been described as "the pre-eminent British folk rock singer".
After briefly working with British folk band the Strawbs, Denny joined Fairport Convention in 1968, remaining with that band until the end of 1969. She formed the short-lived band Fotheringay in 1970, releasing one album with them (another unreleased album surfaced over thirty years later), before focusing on a solo career. Between 1971 and 1977, Denny released four solo albums: The North Star Grassman and the Ravens, Sandy, Like an Old Fashioned Waltz, and Rendezvous. She is also noted as the only guest vocalist on a Led Zeppelin studio album, when she shared a duet with Robert Plant for "The Battle of Evermore" on Led Zeppelin IV (1971).
Music publications Sunday Express, Uncut and Mojo have each called Denny Britain's finest female singer-songwriter. Her composition "Who Knows Where the Time Goes?" has been recorded by many artists as diverse as Judy Collins, Nina Simone, 10,000 Maniacs and Cat Power.
Denny was born on 6 January 1947 at Nelson Hospital, Kingston Road, Merton Park, London. She studied classical piano as a child. Her Scottish grandmother was a singer of traditional songs. At an early age Denny showed an interest in singing, although her strict parents were reluctant to believe there was a living to be made from it. Sandy Denny attended Coombe Girls' School in Kingston upon Thames. After leaving school, she started training as a nurse at the Royal Brompton Hospital.
Her nursing career proved short-lived. In the meantime she had secured a place on a foundation course at Kingston College of Art, which she took up in September 1965, becoming involved with the folk club on campus. Her contemporaries at the college included guitarist and future member of Pentangle, John Renbourn. After her first public appearance at the Barge in Kingston-Upon-Thames Denny started working the folk club circuit in the evenings with an American-influenced repertoire, including songs by Tom Paxton, together with traditional folk songs.
Denny made the first of many appearances for the BBC at Cecil Sharp House on 2 December 1966 on the Folk Song Cellar programme where she accompanied herself on two traditional songs: "Fhir a Bhata" and "Green Grow the Laurels".
Her earliest professional recordings were made a few months later in mid-1967 for the Saga Records label, featuring traditional songs and covers of folk contemporaries including her boyfriend of this period, the American singer-songwriter Jackson C. Frank. They were released on the albums Alex Campbell and his Friends and Sandy and Johnny with Johnny Silvo. These songs were collected on the 1970 album It's Sandy Denny where the tracks from Sandy and Johnny had been re-recorded with more accomplished vocals and guitar playing. The complete Saga studio recordings were issued on the 2005 compilation Where The Time Goes.
By this time she had abandoned her studies at art college and was devoting herself full-time to music. While she was performing at The Troubadour folk club, a member of the Strawbs heard her, and in 1967, she was invited to join the band. She recorded one album with them in Denmark which was released belatedly in 1973 credited to Sandy Denny and the Strawbs: All Our Own Work. The album includes an early solo version of her best-known (and widely recorded) composition, "Who Knows Where the Time Goes". A demo of that song found its way into the hands of American singer Judy Collins, who chose to cover it as the title track of an album of her own, released in November 1968, thus giving Denny international exposure as a songwriter before she had become widely known as a singer.
After making the Saga albums with Alex Campbell and Johnny Silvo, Denny looked for a band that would allow her to stretch herself as a vocalist, reach a wider audience, and have the opportunity to display her songwriting. She said, "I wanted to do something more with my voice." After working briefly with the Strawbs Denny remained unconvinced that they could provide that opportunity, and so she ended her relationship with the band.
Fairport Convention conducted auditions in May 1968 for a replacement singer following the departure of Judy Dyble after their debut album, and Denny became the obvious choice. According to group member Simon Nicol, her evident personality and musicianship made her stand out from the other auditionees "like a clean glass in a sink full of dirty dishes". Beginning with What We Did On Our Holidays, the first of three albums she made with the band in the late sixties, Denny is credited with encouraging Fairport Convention to explore the traditional British folk repertoire, and is thus regarded as a key figure in the development of British folk rock. She brought with her the traditional repertoire she had refined in the clubs, including "A Sailor's Life" featured on their second album together Unhalfbricking. Framing Denny's performance of this song with their own electric improvisations, her bandmates discovered what then proved to be the inspiration for an entire album, the influential Liege & Lief (1969).
Denny left Fairport Convention in December 1969 to develop her own songwriting more fully. To this end, she formed her own band, Fotheringay, which included her future husband, Australian Trevor Lucas, formerly of the group Eclection. They created one self-titled album (a second left unfinished in 1970 was finally released in 2008) which included an eight-minute version of the traditional "Banks of the Nile", and several Denny originals, among them "The Sea" and "Nothing More". (The latter marked her first composition on the piano, which was to become her primary instrument from then on.) The group dissolved when producer Joe Boyd left to take up a job at Warner Brothers in California.
She then turned to recording her first solo album The North Star Grassman and the Ravens. Released in 1971, it is distinguished by its elusive lyrics and unconventional harmonies. Highlights included "Late November", inspired by a dream and the death of Fairport band member Martin Lamble, and "Next Time Around" a cryptogram about Jackson C. Frank, one of her many portraits in song.
Sandy with a cover photograph by David Bailey followed in 1972 and was the first of her albums to be produced by Trevor Lucas. As well as introducing eight new original compositions, the album also marked her last recording of a traditional song, "The Quiet Joys of Brotherhood" (words by Richard Fariña), with Denny's ambitious multi-tracked vocal arrangement inspired by the Ensemble of the Bulgarian Republic.
Melody Maker readers twice voted her the "Best British Female Singer" in 1970 and 1971 and, together with contemporaries including Richard Thompson and Ashley Hutchings, she participated in a one-off project called The Bunch to record a collection of rock and roll era standards released under the title of Rock On. During this period, Denny also appeared in a brief cameo on Lou Reizner's version of The Who's rock opera, Tommy, and duetted with Robert Plant on "The Battle of Evermore" from Led Zeppelin's 1971 album (Led Zeppelin IV), becoming the only guest vocalist ever to appear on a Led Zeppelin album.
In 1973, she married long term boyfriend and producer Trevor Lucas and recorded a third solo album, Like an Old Fashioned Waltz. The songs continued to detail many of her personal preoccupations: loss, loneliness, fear of the dark, the passing of time and the changing seasons. The album contained one of her best loved compositions, "Solo", and featured a cover image by Gered Mankowitz.
In 1974, she returned to Fairport Convention (of which her husband was by then a member) for a world tour (captured on the 1974 album Fairport Live Convention) and a studio album, Rising for the Moon in 1975. Although her development as a soloist and songwriter had taken her further away from the folk roots direction that the band had pursued since Liege & Lief, seven of the eleven tracks on Rising for the Moon were either written or co-written by her.
Denny and Lucas left Fairport Convention at the end of 1975 and embarked on what was to become her final album Rendezvous. Released in 1977, the album sold poorly and Denny was subsequently dropped by Island Records. Having relocated to the village of Byfield in Northamptonshire in the mid-seventies, Denny gave birth to her only child, a daughter named Georgia in July 1977.
A UK tour to promote Rendezvous in the autumn of 1977 marked her final public appearances. The closing night at the Royalty Theatre in London on 27 November 1977 was recorded for a live album, Gold Dust, which, because of technical problems in the recording of the electric guitar, was belatedly released in 1998 after most of the guitars had been re-recorded by Jerry Donahue.
Denny had apparently suffered from substance abuse problems for some time, and by 1977 her addictions were obvious to others. During her pregnancy, she drank and took cocaine. Linda Thompson told The Guardian that shortly after her daughter Georgia's birth, Denny "was crashing the car and leaving the baby in the pub and all sorts of stuff." Thompson also noted that the child was born prematurely, yet Denny seemed to have little concern for her new baby.
In late March 1978, while Denny's husband Trevor Lucas was on one of his "disappearing acts", on holiday with her parents and baby Georgia in Cornwall, Denny was injured when she fell down a staircase and hit her head on concrete. Following the incident, Denny suffered from intense headaches; a doctor prescribed her the painkiller Distalgesic, a drug known to have fatal side effects when mixed with alcohol. On 1 April, several days after the fall, Denny performed a charity concert at Byfield. On 13 April, concerned with his wife's erratic behaviour and fearing for his daughter's safety, Trevor Lucas left the UK and returned to his native Australia with their child, leaving Sandy without telling her.
On 17 April, Denny collapsed and fell into a coma while at friend Miranda Ward's home. Four days later, she died at Atkinson Morley Hospital in Wimbledon. Her death was ruled to be the result of a traumatic mid-brain haemorrhage and blunt force trauma to her head.
The funeral took place on 27 April 1978 at Putney Vale Cemetery. After the vicar had read Denny's favourite psalm - Psalm 23 (The Lord is my Shepherd) - a piper played "The Flowers of the Forest", a traditional song commemorating the fallen of Flodden Field. The inscription on her headstone reads, "'The Lady' Alexandra Elene MacLean Lucas (Sandy Denny) 6.1.47 - 21.4.78."
Although Denny had a devoted cult following in her lifetime, she did not achieve mass market success. In the years since her death, her reputation has grown. A four-album box set entitled Who Knows Where the Time Goes? (1985) was produced by her widower Trevor Lucas and Joe Boyd and included many rare and previously unreleased tracks. This was the first public indication that a large cache of unreleased material existed. In 1991, Joe Boyd issued a new version of Denny's All Our Own Work album with the Strawbs called Sandy Denny and the Strawbs on his Hannibal Records label. The album had strings added to some tracks including "Who Knows Where the Time Goes?" and further tracks with Denny on lead vocal.
The Australian label Raven Records issued a CD in 1995 called Sandy Denny, Trevor Lucas and Friends: The Attic Tracks 1972-1984 that included 12 previously unreleased Denny songs including the original piano version of "No End", demos recorded at home in Byfield, Rendezvous album session outtakes (including her final studio recording, a cover of Bryn Haworth's "Moments") and three songs from the final concert at the Royalty Theatre.
A one-disc compilation of Denny's solo BBC recordings was released on Strange Fruit Records as The BBC Sessions 1971-1973 in 1997 that due to rights issues was withdrawn on the day of release, thereby creating a highly collectible disc (up until the release of the comprehensive Live at the BBC box set in 2007). This release was quickly followed in 1998 when Denny's final performance at the Royalty Theatre, entitled Gold Dust, was issued on CD.
In 2005, remastered versions of all her solo albums came out with bonus tracks. Prior to their release, in 2004 a second comprehensive five-CD box set was released on the Fledg'ling record label called A Boxful of Treasures that included many unreleased recordings, in particular a whole disc of acoustic demos, many recorded at her home in Byfield that was highly prized amongst fans and critics alike, who had long asserted that her solo performances showed her work in its best light, revealing the true quality of her vocal style and compositions. When the Live at the BBC box set came out in September 2007 it was rapturously praised by The Sun newspaper.
In 2008, Jerry Donahue completed the unfinished second Fotheringay album begun in the autumn of 1970. It was released to general acclaim as Fotheringay 2 and contained some notable Denny performances, in particular earlier versions of two Denny compositions "Late November" and "John the Gun", and performances of the traditional songs "Gypsy Davey" and "Wild Mountain Thyme".
In 2010, a complete retrospective box set, simply titled Sandy Denny, was released by Universal/Island Records in a limited edition of 3000. It contained Denny's entire catalogue of studio recordings, including her work with the Strawbs, Fairport Convention, Fotheringay, and as a solo artist. The comprehensive 19-CD release also included a large number of outtakes, demos, live recordings, radio sessions and interviews. The box set was released to good reviews, including a 5-star review in Uncut and a 4-star review in The Guardian amongst others.
Further recordings were released in 2011 including a German recording of Fotheringay in concert released as Essen 1970 on the Garden of Delights label. The performance was re-mastered by original band member Jerry Donahue. This release was followed by 19 Rupert Street, a home recording of a rehearsal featuring Sandy and Alex Campbell recorded at his flat in August 1967. This release is notable for the fact that Sandy performs a number of tracks that are not available in any other versions, including a cover of "Fairytale Lullaby" by John Martyn. This CD was put out by Sandy’s former Strawbs band-mate Dave Cousins on his Witchwood label.
In late 2010, Thea Gilmore was commissioned by Sandy's estate, in conjunction with Island Records, to write melodies to unrecorded lyrics found in Sandy's paperwork. The resulting album Don't Stop Singing was released in November 2011 to generally good notices, including 4-star reviews in The Independent and The Guardian among others. On 21 April 2012 the single "London" was released as an exclusive Record Store Day 7″ single.
After relocating to Australia and remarrying, Trevor Lucas died of a heart attack in 1989. Denny's estate is now managed by Lucas' widow, Elizabeth Hurtt-Lucas.
Sandy Denny's daughter, Georgia, has never spoken about her mother in a public forum and in the mid-2000s turned down an invitation to write the liner notes for Sandy Denny Live at the BBC. However, she flew to Britain from Australia in 2006 to accept, on behalf of her mother, the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards award for Most Influential Folk Album Of All Time, which was given for Fairport Convention's Liege and Lief. Georgia gave birth to twin daughters on 29 April 1997, and a tribute album, Georgia On Our Mind, featuring many of Sandy Denny's former band mates and friends, was compiled in the children's honour.
Since her death, many tributes have been made to Denny, both in music and elsewhere. Dave Pegg of Fairport Convention recorded the tribute "Song for Sandy" on his 1983 solo album The Cocktail Cowboy Goes It Alone. Dave Cousins of Strawbs wrote "Ringing Down the Years" in memory of Sandy Denny shortly after her death. Songs more specific to the death were Bert Jansch's "Where Did My Life Go" and Richard Thompson's "Did She Jump or Was She Pushed?". Fellow Brit folk pioneers Spriguns changed the title of their 1978 album to Magic Lady after hearing of Denny's death while recording. In 1998, a variety of Daylily was named after her.
Denny's songs have been covered by numerous artists in the years since her death. Some of the notable acts to have covered her music include Yo La Tengo, former Marillion frontman Fish, Cat Power, Judy Collins and Nina Simone. Kate Bush named Denny in the lyric of "Blow Away (For Bill)", a track on her 1980 album Never for Ever.
Several radio specials have been produced about Denny's life and music, including BBC Radio 2's The Sandy Denny Story: Who Knows Where the Time Goes. In 2007, Denny's song "Who Knows Where the Time Goes?" also received BBC Radio 2's 2007 Folk Award for "Favourite Folk Track of All Time." In 2010, she was recognized by NPR in their 50 Great Voices special series.
In April 2008, a tribute concert was held at The Troubadour in London, to mark the thirtieth anniversary of Denny's death. Those taking part included Martin Carthy, Linda Thompson and Joe Boyd. A more extensive tribute was given later that year in December at the Southbank in the Queen Elizabeth Hall called The Lady: A Tribute to Sandy Denny with a band composed of members of Bellowhead, the evening featured a mix of young folk acts like Jim Moray and Lisa Knapp alongside those that had known and worked with Denny such as Dave Swarbrick and Jerry Donahue. These acts were joined by performers from outside the world of folk like PP Arnold and Marc Almond. The concert – which primarily featured songs written by Denny – received a four-star review in The Guardian. In May 2012 the Southbank concert was expanded into an eight date UK tour called The Lady: A Homage to Sandy Denny. The tour showcased Sandy's entire songbook taking in her work with Fairport Convention, Fotheringay, her solo career and the new songs completed by Thea Gilmore on her album ‘Don’t Stop Singing’. The band was once more composed of members of Bellowhead. Acts performing included the aforementioned Thea Gilmore, up and coming folk acts Lavinia Blackwall of Trembling Bells, Blair Dunlop and Sam Carter, alongside more established folk stars Maddy Prior, Dave Swarbrick and Jerry Donahue. The line-up was completed with performers not normally associated with the folk scene; Green Gartside, Joan Wasser aka Joan As Police Woman and PP Arnold. The tour was well received, getting a four-star review in the Times. and the London concert at the Barbican was filmed for BBC4, and broadcast in a 90 minute programme called 'The Songs of Sandy Denny' on 9 November 2012 at 10.05pm.
In the 2012 Irish film "Silence" (Harvest Films & South Wind Blows) ‘Who Knows Where the Time Goes’ by Sandy Denny is used in the final credits and also during the film.
After briefly working with British folk band the Strawbs, Denny joined Fairport Convention in 1968, remaining with that band until the end of 1969. She formed the short-lived band Fotheringay in 1970, releasing one album with them (another unreleased album surfaced over thirty years later), before focusing on a solo career. Between 1971 and 1977, Denny released four solo albums: The North Star Grassman and the Ravens, Sandy, Like an Old Fashioned Waltz, and Rendezvous. She is also noted as the only guest vocalist on a Led Zeppelin studio album, when she shared a duet with Robert Plant for "The Battle of Evermore" on Led Zeppelin IV (1971).
Music publications Sunday Express, Uncut and Mojo have each called Denny Britain's finest female singer-songwriter. Her composition "Who Knows Where the Time Goes?" has been recorded by many artists as diverse as Judy Collins, Nina Simone, 10,000 Maniacs and Cat Power.
Denny was born on 6 January 1947 at Nelson Hospital, Kingston Road, Merton Park, London. She studied classical piano as a child. Her Scottish grandmother was a singer of traditional songs. At an early age Denny showed an interest in singing, although her strict parents were reluctant to believe there was a living to be made from it. Sandy Denny attended Coombe Girls' School in Kingston upon Thames. After leaving school, she started training as a nurse at the Royal Brompton Hospital.
Her nursing career proved short-lived. In the meantime she had secured a place on a foundation course at Kingston College of Art, which she took up in September 1965, becoming involved with the folk club on campus. Her contemporaries at the college included guitarist and future member of Pentangle, John Renbourn. After her first public appearance at the Barge in Kingston-Upon-Thames Denny started working the folk club circuit in the evenings with an American-influenced repertoire, including songs by Tom Paxton, together with traditional folk songs.
Denny made the first of many appearances for the BBC at Cecil Sharp House on 2 December 1966 on the Folk Song Cellar programme where she accompanied herself on two traditional songs: "Fhir a Bhata" and "Green Grow the Laurels".
Her earliest professional recordings were made a few months later in mid-1967 for the Saga Records label, featuring traditional songs and covers of folk contemporaries including her boyfriend of this period, the American singer-songwriter Jackson C. Frank. They were released on the albums Alex Campbell and his Friends and Sandy and Johnny with Johnny Silvo. These songs were collected on the 1970 album It's Sandy Denny where the tracks from Sandy and Johnny had been re-recorded with more accomplished vocals and guitar playing. The complete Saga studio recordings were issued on the 2005 compilation Where The Time Goes.
By this time she had abandoned her studies at art college and was devoting herself full-time to music. While she was performing at The Troubadour folk club, a member of the Strawbs heard her, and in 1967, she was invited to join the band. She recorded one album with them in Denmark which was released belatedly in 1973 credited to Sandy Denny and the Strawbs: All Our Own Work. The album includes an early solo version of her best-known (and widely recorded) composition, "Who Knows Where the Time Goes". A demo of that song found its way into the hands of American singer Judy Collins, who chose to cover it as the title track of an album of her own, released in November 1968, thus giving Denny international exposure as a songwriter before she had become widely known as a singer.
After making the Saga albums with Alex Campbell and Johnny Silvo, Denny looked for a band that would allow her to stretch herself as a vocalist, reach a wider audience, and have the opportunity to display her songwriting. She said, "I wanted to do something more with my voice." After working briefly with the Strawbs Denny remained unconvinced that they could provide that opportunity, and so she ended her relationship with the band.
Fairport Convention conducted auditions in May 1968 for a replacement singer following the departure of Judy Dyble after their debut album, and Denny became the obvious choice. According to group member Simon Nicol, her evident personality and musicianship made her stand out from the other auditionees "like a clean glass in a sink full of dirty dishes". Beginning with What We Did On Our Holidays, the first of three albums she made with the band in the late sixties, Denny is credited with encouraging Fairport Convention to explore the traditional British folk repertoire, and is thus regarded as a key figure in the development of British folk rock. She brought with her the traditional repertoire she had refined in the clubs, including "A Sailor's Life" featured on their second album together Unhalfbricking. Framing Denny's performance of this song with their own electric improvisations, her bandmates discovered what then proved to be the inspiration for an entire album, the influential Liege & Lief (1969).
Denny left Fairport Convention in December 1969 to develop her own songwriting more fully. To this end, she formed her own band, Fotheringay, which included her future husband, Australian Trevor Lucas, formerly of the group Eclection. They created one self-titled album (a second left unfinished in 1970 was finally released in 2008) which included an eight-minute version of the traditional "Banks of the Nile", and several Denny originals, among them "The Sea" and "Nothing More". (The latter marked her first composition on the piano, which was to become her primary instrument from then on.) The group dissolved when producer Joe Boyd left to take up a job at Warner Brothers in California.
She then turned to recording her first solo album The North Star Grassman and the Ravens. Released in 1971, it is distinguished by its elusive lyrics and unconventional harmonies. Highlights included "Late November", inspired by a dream and the death of Fairport band member Martin Lamble, and "Next Time Around" a cryptogram about Jackson C. Frank, one of her many portraits in song.
Sandy with a cover photograph by David Bailey followed in 1972 and was the first of her albums to be produced by Trevor Lucas. As well as introducing eight new original compositions, the album also marked her last recording of a traditional song, "The Quiet Joys of Brotherhood" (words by Richard Fariña), with Denny's ambitious multi-tracked vocal arrangement inspired by the Ensemble of the Bulgarian Republic.
Melody Maker readers twice voted her the "Best British Female Singer" in 1970 and 1971 and, together with contemporaries including Richard Thompson and Ashley Hutchings, she participated in a one-off project called The Bunch to record a collection of rock and roll era standards released under the title of Rock On. During this period, Denny also appeared in a brief cameo on Lou Reizner's version of The Who's rock opera, Tommy, and duetted with Robert Plant on "The Battle of Evermore" from Led Zeppelin's 1971 album (Led Zeppelin IV), becoming the only guest vocalist ever to appear on a Led Zeppelin album.
In 1973, she married long term boyfriend and producer Trevor Lucas and recorded a third solo album, Like an Old Fashioned Waltz. The songs continued to detail many of her personal preoccupations: loss, loneliness, fear of the dark, the passing of time and the changing seasons. The album contained one of her best loved compositions, "Solo", and featured a cover image by Gered Mankowitz.
In 1974, she returned to Fairport Convention (of which her husband was by then a member) for a world tour (captured on the 1974 album Fairport Live Convention) and a studio album, Rising for the Moon in 1975. Although her development as a soloist and songwriter had taken her further away from the folk roots direction that the band had pursued since Liege & Lief, seven of the eleven tracks on Rising for the Moon were either written or co-written by her.
Denny and Lucas left Fairport Convention at the end of 1975 and embarked on what was to become her final album Rendezvous. Released in 1977, the album sold poorly and Denny was subsequently dropped by Island Records. Having relocated to the village of Byfield in Northamptonshire in the mid-seventies, Denny gave birth to her only child, a daughter named Georgia in July 1977.
A UK tour to promote Rendezvous in the autumn of 1977 marked her final public appearances. The closing night at the Royalty Theatre in London on 27 November 1977 was recorded for a live album, Gold Dust, which, because of technical problems in the recording of the electric guitar, was belatedly released in 1998 after most of the guitars had been re-recorded by Jerry Donahue.
Denny had apparently suffered from substance abuse problems for some time, and by 1977 her addictions were obvious to others. During her pregnancy, she drank and took cocaine. Linda Thompson told The Guardian that shortly after her daughter Georgia's birth, Denny "was crashing the car and leaving the baby in the pub and all sorts of stuff." Thompson also noted that the child was born prematurely, yet Denny seemed to have little concern for her new baby.
In late March 1978, while Denny's husband Trevor Lucas was on one of his "disappearing acts", on holiday with her parents and baby Georgia in Cornwall, Denny was injured when she fell down a staircase and hit her head on concrete. Following the incident, Denny suffered from intense headaches; a doctor prescribed her the painkiller Distalgesic, a drug known to have fatal side effects when mixed with alcohol. On 1 April, several days after the fall, Denny performed a charity concert at Byfield. On 13 April, concerned with his wife's erratic behaviour and fearing for his daughter's safety, Trevor Lucas left the UK and returned to his native Australia with their child, leaving Sandy without telling her.
On 17 April, Denny collapsed and fell into a coma while at friend Miranda Ward's home. Four days later, she died at Atkinson Morley Hospital in Wimbledon. Her death was ruled to be the result of a traumatic mid-brain haemorrhage and blunt force trauma to her head.
The funeral took place on 27 April 1978 at Putney Vale Cemetery. After the vicar had read Denny's favourite psalm - Psalm 23 (The Lord is my Shepherd) - a piper played "The Flowers of the Forest", a traditional song commemorating the fallen of Flodden Field. The inscription on her headstone reads, "'The Lady' Alexandra Elene MacLean Lucas (Sandy Denny) 6.1.47 - 21.4.78."
Although Denny had a devoted cult following in her lifetime, she did not achieve mass market success. In the years since her death, her reputation has grown. A four-album box set entitled Who Knows Where the Time Goes? (1985) was produced by her widower Trevor Lucas and Joe Boyd and included many rare and previously unreleased tracks. This was the first public indication that a large cache of unreleased material existed. In 1991, Joe Boyd issued a new version of Denny's All Our Own Work album with the Strawbs called Sandy Denny and the Strawbs on his Hannibal Records label. The album had strings added to some tracks including "Who Knows Where the Time Goes?" and further tracks with Denny on lead vocal.
The Australian label Raven Records issued a CD in 1995 called Sandy Denny, Trevor Lucas and Friends: The Attic Tracks 1972-1984 that included 12 previously unreleased Denny songs including the original piano version of "No End", demos recorded at home in Byfield, Rendezvous album session outtakes (including her final studio recording, a cover of Bryn Haworth's "Moments") and three songs from the final concert at the Royalty Theatre.
A one-disc compilation of Denny's solo BBC recordings was released on Strange Fruit Records as The BBC Sessions 1971-1973 in 1997 that due to rights issues was withdrawn on the day of release, thereby creating a highly collectible disc (up until the release of the comprehensive Live at the BBC box set in 2007). This release was quickly followed in 1998 when Denny's final performance at the Royalty Theatre, entitled Gold Dust, was issued on CD.
In 2005, remastered versions of all her solo albums came out with bonus tracks. Prior to their release, in 2004 a second comprehensive five-CD box set was released on the Fledg'ling record label called A Boxful of Treasures that included many unreleased recordings, in particular a whole disc of acoustic demos, many recorded at her home in Byfield that was highly prized amongst fans and critics alike, who had long asserted that her solo performances showed her work in its best light, revealing the true quality of her vocal style and compositions. When the Live at the BBC box set came out in September 2007 it was rapturously praised by The Sun newspaper.
In 2008, Jerry Donahue completed the unfinished second Fotheringay album begun in the autumn of 1970. It was released to general acclaim as Fotheringay 2 and contained some notable Denny performances, in particular earlier versions of two Denny compositions "Late November" and "John the Gun", and performances of the traditional songs "Gypsy Davey" and "Wild Mountain Thyme".
In 2010, a complete retrospective box set, simply titled Sandy Denny, was released by Universal/Island Records in a limited edition of 3000. It contained Denny's entire catalogue of studio recordings, including her work with the Strawbs, Fairport Convention, Fotheringay, and as a solo artist. The comprehensive 19-CD release also included a large number of outtakes, demos, live recordings, radio sessions and interviews. The box set was released to good reviews, including a 5-star review in Uncut and a 4-star review in The Guardian amongst others.
Further recordings were released in 2011 including a German recording of Fotheringay in concert released as Essen 1970 on the Garden of Delights label. The performance was re-mastered by original band member Jerry Donahue. This release was followed by 19 Rupert Street, a home recording of a rehearsal featuring Sandy and Alex Campbell recorded at his flat in August 1967. This release is notable for the fact that Sandy performs a number of tracks that are not available in any other versions, including a cover of "Fairytale Lullaby" by John Martyn. This CD was put out by Sandy’s former Strawbs band-mate Dave Cousins on his Witchwood label.
In late 2010, Thea Gilmore was commissioned by Sandy's estate, in conjunction with Island Records, to write melodies to unrecorded lyrics found in Sandy's paperwork. The resulting album Don't Stop Singing was released in November 2011 to generally good notices, including 4-star reviews in The Independent and The Guardian among others. On 21 April 2012 the single "London" was released as an exclusive Record Store Day 7″ single.
After relocating to Australia and remarrying, Trevor Lucas died of a heart attack in 1989. Denny's estate is now managed by Lucas' widow, Elizabeth Hurtt-Lucas.
Sandy Denny's daughter, Georgia, has never spoken about her mother in a public forum and in the mid-2000s turned down an invitation to write the liner notes for Sandy Denny Live at the BBC. However, she flew to Britain from Australia in 2006 to accept, on behalf of her mother, the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards award for Most Influential Folk Album Of All Time, which was given for Fairport Convention's Liege and Lief. Georgia gave birth to twin daughters on 29 April 1997, and a tribute album, Georgia On Our Mind, featuring many of Sandy Denny's former band mates and friends, was compiled in the children's honour.
Since her death, many tributes have been made to Denny, both in music and elsewhere. Dave Pegg of Fairport Convention recorded the tribute "Song for Sandy" on his 1983 solo album The Cocktail Cowboy Goes It Alone. Dave Cousins of Strawbs wrote "Ringing Down the Years" in memory of Sandy Denny shortly after her death. Songs more specific to the death were Bert Jansch's "Where Did My Life Go" and Richard Thompson's "Did She Jump or Was She Pushed?". Fellow Brit folk pioneers Spriguns changed the title of their 1978 album to Magic Lady after hearing of Denny's death while recording. In 1998, a variety of Daylily was named after her.
Denny's songs have been covered by numerous artists in the years since her death. Some of the notable acts to have covered her music include Yo La Tengo, former Marillion frontman Fish, Cat Power, Judy Collins and Nina Simone. Kate Bush named Denny in the lyric of "Blow Away (For Bill)", a track on her 1980 album Never for Ever.
Several radio specials have been produced about Denny's life and music, including BBC Radio 2's The Sandy Denny Story: Who Knows Where the Time Goes. In 2007, Denny's song "Who Knows Where the Time Goes?" also received BBC Radio 2's 2007 Folk Award for "Favourite Folk Track of All Time." In 2010, she was recognized by NPR in their 50 Great Voices special series.
In April 2008, a tribute concert was held at The Troubadour in London, to mark the thirtieth anniversary of Denny's death. Those taking part included Martin Carthy, Linda Thompson and Joe Boyd. A more extensive tribute was given later that year in December at the Southbank in the Queen Elizabeth Hall called The Lady: A Tribute to Sandy Denny with a band composed of members of Bellowhead, the evening featured a mix of young folk acts like Jim Moray and Lisa Knapp alongside those that had known and worked with Denny such as Dave Swarbrick and Jerry Donahue. These acts were joined by performers from outside the world of folk like PP Arnold and Marc Almond. The concert – which primarily featured songs written by Denny – received a four-star review in The Guardian. In May 2012 the Southbank concert was expanded into an eight date UK tour called The Lady: A Homage to Sandy Denny. The tour showcased Sandy's entire songbook taking in her work with Fairport Convention, Fotheringay, her solo career and the new songs completed by Thea Gilmore on her album ‘Don’t Stop Singing’. The band was once more composed of members of Bellowhead. Acts performing included the aforementioned Thea Gilmore, up and coming folk acts Lavinia Blackwall of Trembling Bells, Blair Dunlop and Sam Carter, alongside more established folk stars Maddy Prior, Dave Swarbrick and Jerry Donahue. The line-up was completed with performers not normally associated with the folk scene; Green Gartside, Joan Wasser aka Joan As Police Woman and PP Arnold. The tour was well received, getting a four-star review in the Times. and the London concert at the Barbican was filmed for BBC4, and broadcast in a 90 minute programme called 'The Songs of Sandy Denny' on 9 November 2012 at 10.05pm.
In the 2012 Irish film "Silence" (Harvest Films & South Wind Blows) ‘Who Knows Where the Time Goes’ by Sandy Denny is used in the final credits and also during the film.
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Sandy Denny Lyrics
3.10 To Yuma There is a lonely train called the 3.10 to Yuma And…
3:10 to Yuma There is a lonely train called the 3.10 to Yuma And…
A Sailor's Life A sailor's life, it is a merry life. He robs…
After Halloween Red and gold, and Halloween have passed us by, The charcoal…
All I Need Is You Love is a mist that's turning everything red to white Like…
All Our Days We search for everything Keeping what we would win Orchids o…
Always On My Mind It's a lesson too late for the learning Made of sand,…
And You Need Me I wish I knew you were to stay I know too…
At The End Of The Day Oh, babe, you are the one I love, You are the…
Autopsy You must philosophize, But why must you bore me to tears? Yo…
Banks Of The Nile Oh hark! the drums do beat, my love, no longer…
Been On The Road So Long I've been on the road, so long Been tired and broke,…
Bird on a Wire Like a bird on a wire Like a drunk in a…
Blackwaterside One evening fair I took the air Down by Blackwaterside 'Twas…
Blue Tattoo Travelin' down that coaltown road, Listen to my rubber tire…
Blues Run The Game Lyrics (sandy denny version) Catch a boat to england baby M…
Book Song If she knew what I see while I'm watching Would…
Bruton Town In Bruton Town there lived a noble man He had two…
Bushes And Briars I can't believe that it's so cold And there ain't been…
By the Time It Gets Dark Baby, every cloud has a silver lining Baby every dog really…
Cajun Woman Baby that preacher gave you spring In the window with…
Candle In The Wind Goodbye Norma Jean Though I never knew you at all You had…
Carnival The Summertime's escaping, and the carnival's away, And the …
Come All Ye Come all ye rolling minstrels And together, we will try To r…
Cradle Song O my deir hert, young Jesus sweit, Prepare thy creddil…
Crazy Lady Blues Missed the morning too, didn't rise before noon. She's a laz…
Crazy Man Michael Within the fire and out upon the sea, Crazy Man Michael…
Dark The Night Love, oh don't we know how can the river flow Without…
Dawn (Sandy Denny, Jerry Donahue) Morning shone among the shadow…
Down In The Flood Crash on the levee, mama, Water's gonna overflow, Swamp's go…
East Virginia I was born in east Virginia, North Carolina I did go. Ther…
Easy To Slip It's so easy to slip It's so easy to fall…
Ecoute Ecoute The young man rose his pretty face All for to feel…
Eppy Moray Four-and-twenty Highland men Come from the Carron side To …
False Bride I once loved a lass and I loved her so…
Farewell Farewell, farewell to you who would hear You lonely traveler…
For Nobody To Hear Although the flames they are so dim, I can see them…
For Shame Of Doing Wrong It seems like a lifetime since I saw you Lover lover…
Fotheringay How often she has gazed from castle windows o'er, And watche…
Friends I've watched you rise up and I've watched you fall…
Full Moon Everybody else has gone, But you're still here with me. All …
Genesis Hall My father he rides with your sheriffs And I know he…
Geordie As I walked under london bridge One misty morning early, I…
Gold Dust If your eyes are blue you know the rest Champagne if…
Green Grow the Laurels Green grow the laurels, soft as the dew Sad I was,…
Gypsy Davey There was a gypsy came over the land, He sang so…
Here In Silence Summer skies are gone for ever Nothing left but to remember…
I It seems like a lifetime since I saw you Lover lover…
I Don't Know Where I Stand Funny day, looking for laughter and finding it there Sunny d…
I need You Love is a mist that's turning everything red to white Like…
I Wish I Was A Fool For You It seems like a lifetime since I saw you Lover lover…
I'am a Dreamer You make me nervous when I see you. I can't imagine…
I'll Keep It With Mine Dylan You may search at any cost But how long can you…
I'm A Dreamer You make me nervous when I see you. I can't imagine…
I've Been My Own Worst Friend At the gate you will wait And hesitate and you will…
If You Saw Thro' My Eyes Lord above us hear my song Tell me if I'm doing…
In Memory I hear the sighing of the wind Like a murmur of…
It Nurse: It's a boy Mrs. Walker it's a boy. It's a boy…
It Ain't Me Babe Go 'way from my window, Leave at your own chosen speed. I'…
It Ain’t Me Babe Go 'way from my window, Leave at your own chosen speed. I'm…
It Suites Me Well My name is Jan the gypsy I travel the land. There are…
It'll Take A Long Time Oh it's like a storm at sea And everything is lost, And…
It's A Boy Nurse: It's a boy Mrs. Walker it's a boy. It's a boy…
Itll Take A Long Time Oh it's like a storm at sea And everything is lost, And…
It’ll Take a Long Time Oh it's like a storm at sea And everything is lost, And…
I’m A Dreamer You make me nervous when I see you. I can't imagine…
John The Gun "My shadow follows me Wherever I should chance to go", John …
King And Queen Of England Bring back the king to his throne, And the smile may…
knockin Mama, take this badge off of me I can't use it…
Late November The wine it was drunk, the ship it was sunk, The…
Learning The Game Hearts that are broken A love that's untrue These go with…
Let Well, come-a little baby Let's jump the broomstick Come o…
Let No Man Steal Your Thyme Come all you fair and tender girls That flourish in your…
Let's Jump The Broomstick Well, come-a little baby Let's jump the broomstick Come on …
Like An Old Fashioned Waltz Roses are red, and violets are blue, Primroses pale on a…
Listen The young man rose his pretty face, All for to feel…
Losing Game I love you darlin' but you don't love me Might as…
Make Me a Pallet on the Floor Make me a pallet on your floor Make me a pallet…
Makes Me Think Of You No use knocking at my door, I don't think I live…
Man Of Iron Where are you riding to Sir Knight Alone and armed for…
Matty Groves A holiday, a holiday, and the first one of the…
Meet On The Ledge We used to say that come the day We'd all be…
Memphis Long distance information, give me Memphis Tennessee Help m…
Milk and Honey Gold and silver is the autumn Soft and gentle are her…
Million Dollar Bash Well, that big dumb blonde with Gorgeous George And Turtle, …
Moments These are the moments that we love so well Precious moments…
Moments ) These are the moments that we love so well Precious moments…
Motherless Children Motherless children have a hard time when mother's gone Mot…
Mr. Lacey Please mr lacey, let me work your lovely machine Please mr…
My Ramblin He was a man and a friend always We rambled on…
Next Time Around Then came the question and it was about time. The answer…
No End They said that it was snowing in astounded tones upon…
No More Sad Refrains Here comes the morning how it pleases It always brings me…
North Star Grassman and the Ravens They stood upon the deck As the ship went out to…
Nothing Else Will Do My gate is swinging open My fence is broken down My window's…
Nothing More My friend I know you've suffered, Although you are still you…
Nottamun Town In Nottamun Town not a soul would look up, Not a…
Now and Then They've passed me by, many years, And I did turn well…
On My Way Empty glasses on the table Rows of bottles without labels No…
One More Chance Calling all olive branches and laid-off doves There is work …
One Way Donkey Ride There you may stand in your splendour and jewels Swaying me…
Peace In The End Come on mary, mary or you, john, To which religion do…
Percy's Song Bad news, bad news, Come to me where I sleep, Turn, turn,…
Poor Jimmy Wilson Jimmy Wilson had a glass eye, I could see it And…
Pretty Polly Polly, pretty Polly, come go along with me Polly, pretty Pol…
Quiet Joys Of Brotherhood As gentle tides go rolling by, Along the salt sea strand The…
Reynardine One evening as I rambled Among the leaves so green, …
Rising for the Moon I travel over the sea and ride the rolling sky, For…
Sail Away to the Sea The hands on the clock keep turning round They point to…
She Moves Through the Fair My young love said to me "My mother won't mind And…
Si Tu Dois Partir see'est pas que je te demande De faire que tu…
Silver Threads And Golden Needles I don't want your lonely mansion With a tear in every…
Sir Patrick Spens The King sits in Dunfirmline town, Drinking of the blood-r…
Soho Come walk the streets of crime And colour bright the corner…
Solo Good morning, good afternoon, And what have you got to say? …
Stay Awhile With Me It seems that loving is a game that I can't…
Stranger To Himself He was a stranger to himself, A spy in his own…
Sweet Rosemary My young man, oh he is so fine, Sweet Rosemary did…
Take Away The Load I sit and wonder at the thought That someday you'll be…
Take Me Away Such sweet love is so hard to find Look around, these…
Tam Lin "I forbid you maidens all that wear gold in your…
Tell Me What You See In Me My ship sails in On a cloud of broken promises It's just…
The Ballad Of Easy Rider The river flows, it flows to the sea Wherever that river…
The Ballad Of Ned Kelly Eighteen hundred and eighty five Is a year I remember so…
The Banks of the Nile Oh hark! the drums do beat, my love, no longer…
The Battle of Evermore Queen of Light took her bow And then she turned to…
The Deserter As I was a-walking along Radcliffe Highway A recruiting par…
The End Of The Day Oh, babe, you are the one I love, You are the…
The False Bride I once loved a lass and I loved her so…
The King And Queen Of England Bring back the king to his throne, And the smile may…
The Lady The lady she had a silver tongue. For to sing she…
The Last Thing On My Mind It's a lesson too late for the learning Made of sand,…
The Music Weaver I'm a long way from you, I'm a long way from…
The North Star Grassman They stood upon the deck As the ship went out to…
The Optimist The steps he took were nice and easy. He never knew…
The Pond And The Stream Annie wanders on the land. She loves the freedom of the…
The Quiet Joys Of Brotherhood As gentle tides go rolling by, Along the salt sea strand T…
The Sea Do I ever wonder? You don't know. You'll never follow, and…
The Sea Captain To cross the wide sea I deserted, From the shore I…
The Way I Feel The way I feel is like a robin, Whoses birds have…
This Train This train don't carry no gamblers, this train, This train d…
Throwaway Street Puzzle Come on now mister Step right inside and see the…
Tomorrow Is A Long Time If today was not an endless highway, If tonight was not…
Too Much Of Nothing Well, too much of nothing Can make a man fell ill…
Two Weeks Last Summer The dancing plants grow low Burning embers start to glow The…
Until The Real Thing Comes Along I'd work for you, I'd even slave for you I'd be…
Walking The Floor Over You You left me and you went away, You said that you'd…
What Is True Silver tongues are speaking long and hard into the night, I…
When Will I Be Loved I've been cheated, Been mistreated When will I be loved? I'…
Whispering Grass Why do you whisper, green grass, Why tell the trees what…
White Dress Feel how the wind blows, December despair Bring me a ribbon…
Who Knows Where The Time Goes Across the evening sky, all the birds are leaving But how…
Who Knows Where the Times Goes? Across the purple sky, all the birds are leaving But how…
Wild Mountain Thyme Oh, the summer's in it's prime And the leaves are sweetly…
Willie and the Hand Jive I know a cat named way out Willie He got a…
Winter Winds Winter winds they do blow cold, The time of year, it…
Wretched Wilbur The summer was the reason Why it took so long to…
You Never Wanted Me Wondering and waiting, my back agaist the wall Not a word…