Spriguns started life playing Friday and Saturday nights at the Anchor pub in Silver Street, Cambridge. Their 1974 privately released cassette was sold to students at live performances and less than 50 copies were produced. The cassette format has ensured that their value has not reached the epic proportions of the vinyl follow-up Jack With A Feather, which boasted better sound quality and duplicated some material from the earlier cassette. The playing on the album was good and almost all the material was traditional.
Abbreviating their name to Spriguns, they went on to record a couple of further albums for Decca which are also very rare now. By now the band was almost totally the vehicle of talented vocalist Mandy Morton who went on to form the Mandy Morton Band and record for Banshee and Polydor. In the eighties she toured with a rock band and became a presenter on BBC Radio Cambridge.
Of the other members: Mike Morton sadly died. Rick Thomas is married and now lives in Italy. Tom Ling plays in an excellent Cambridge based band call Usual Suspects and Chris Russon has returned to the local Cambridge music scene.
After the first Mandy Morton Band album "Sea Of Storms" (Polydor 2382 101), drummer Alex Cooper, Tom Ling and American guitarist Mark Boettcher left the group. Consequently Boettcher introduced Alex Cooper to some American musicians who then, together with ex-Soft Boy Kimberley Rew, formed Katrina and The Waves (who later made a big splash with their hit I'm Walking On Sunshine).
Outlandish Knight
Spriguns Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
And go along with me
I'll take you to the north Scotland
And a-married we will be
Go bring me a bag of your father's gold
Likewise your mother's fee
And the two best horses out of the stall
Where they stand thirty and three"
She's mounted upon the nimble going brown
And him on the dappled grey
And when they came to the north Scotland
'Twas three hours before it was day
"Light down, light down my pretty Polly
Light down I say unto thee
For six King's daughters here have I drowned
And you the seventh shall be
Oh pull off, pull off those fine gay clothes
And hang them on the yonder tree
For they're to fine and they cost too much
For to rot in the salt lake sea"
"Go get those sickles for to cut those nettles
That grow so close to the brim
For they may tangle me long yellow hair
And tear me snowy white skin"
So he's got those sickless for to cut those nettles
That grow so close to the brim
So skilfully she's picked him up
And she's thrown false William in
"Lie there, lie there you false William
Lie there in the place of me
For six King's daughters there have you drowned
And you the seventh shall be"
So she's mounted upon her nimble going brown
And she led the dappled grey
And when she came to her father's gate
'Twas three hours before it was day
Outlandish Knight tells the story of a young maiden named Polly who is approached by a handsome Knight. He persuades her to leave with him to be married in the north of Scotland. However, when they reach there, the Knight reveals his dark intentions of drowning Polly, making her the seventh King's daughter he had drowned in the lake. In a sudden turn of events, Polly uses her wit to trick the Knight into drowning himself instead. She then takes his dappled grey horse and rides back to her father's house before dawn.
The song has a narrative structure commonly found in ballads, with a clear storyline and a moral message. The theme of the song revolves around female empowerment and the danger of trusting strangers. Polly, the singer of the song, shows strength and intelligence in outsmarting the Knight and saving her life.
Line by Line Meaning
Rise up, rise up my pretty Polly
Get up and get ready to go with me, my beautiful Polly
And go along with me
Come with me for an adventure
I'll take you to the north Scotland
Let me show you the beauty of the Scottish North
And a-married we will be
We will get married there
Go bring me a bag of your father's gold
Bring me some of your father's money
Likewise your mother's fee
Also, bring me some of your mother's money
And the two best horses out of the stall
And two of the finest horses from your father's stable
Where they stand thirty and three
There are thirty-three horses in the stall, but we only need two
She's mounted upon the nimble going brown
Polly is riding the agile brown horse
And him on the dappled grey
The knight is riding the spotted grey horse
And when they came to the north Scotland
As they arrived at the Scottish North
'Twas three hours before it was day
It was still three hours before sunrise
Light down, light down my pretty Polly
Get down, get down, my beautiful Polly
Light down I say unto thee
I command you to get down
For six King's daughters here have I drowned
I have killed six princesses here before you
And you the seventh shall be
You will be the seventh victim
Oh pull off, pull off those fine gay clothes
Strip off those costly clothes
And hang them on the yonder tree
And hang them on that tree over there
For they're to fine and they cost too much
Those clothes are too expensive to get wet in the salt lake sea
For to rot in the salt lake sea
They will just rot if they get wet in the salt lake sea
Go get those sickles for to cut those nettles
Bring me those sickles to cut the nettles
That grow so close to the brim
Growing at the edge of the water
For they may tangle me long yellow hair
The nettles might tangle her long blonde hair
And tear me snowy white skin
And tear her pure white skin
So he's got those sickles for to cut those nettles
So he brought those sickles to cut the nettles
That grow so close to the brim
That grow at the water's edge
So skilfully she's picked him up
Polly skillfully lifted him up
And she's thrown false William in
And she threw the deceiver (William) in
Lie there, lie there you false William
Stay there, stay there, you liar William
Lie there in the place of me
Stay there in my place
So she's mounted upon her nimble going brown
So Polly rode her agile brown horse
And she led the dappled grey
And she led the spotted grey horse
And when she came to her father's gate
And when she arrived at her father's gate
'Twas three hours before it was day
It was still three hours before sunrise
Contributed by Adeline V. Suggest a correction in the comments below.