Tensions between the band grew during the production in 1970 of their first album, Hark! The Village Wait to the point where they never again worked together after its completion, but the music itself shows no signs of these difficulties. While having a rock sensibility there is a greater sense of the authentic folk tradition than even in the best of Fairport, and a particular beauty arising from the two pairs of voices. The Woods being replaced by admired folk stalwart Martin Carthy, with violinist Peter Knight to widen the musical textures, the group late in 1970 recorded their most admired record Please to see the King. Ten Man Mop followed in 1971, more accomplished but generally felt to be less exciting. The expensive gatefold sleeve swallowed the band's royalties, and was referred to as a tombstone, since Hutchings and Carthy then left, to pursue Hutchings' new vision of a specifically English strand of folk rock with The Albion Band, and Steeleye Mk 2 folded.
However the inclusion of the less celebrated and more rock orientated replacements Rick Kemp and Bob Johnson led to the most commercially successful phase in the band's existence, vocalist Maddy Prior becoming the primary focus of the band, and a run of well received albums, from Below the Salt and Now we Are Six, their first with drummer Nigel Pegrum, to their eighth, and most commercially successful, All Around my Hat, in 1975.
Still active, they have a claim to be one of the longest-lived and perhaps the most commercially successful of all the folk rock bands of the era, thanks to their hit singles Gaudete and All Around My Hat, 3 top 40 albums and even a certified "gold" record with All Around My Hat.
Tim Hart died of lung cancer on 24 December 2009, aged 61.
Marrowbones
Steeleye Span Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
She loved her husband dearly but another man twice as well
And sing Folder oh la la la ...
She went down to the doctor to see if she could find
Anything in the whole world to make her old man blind
And sing Folder oh la la la ...
And when he's finished he'll be so blind that he won't see you at all
And sing Folder oh la la la ...
So the doctor he wrote a letter and he sealed it with his hand
And he sent it up to the old man to make him understand
And sing Folder oh la la la ...
But the old man being a crafty bugger, he knew it all before
He ate them up and he says : 'Me dear, I can't see you at all'
And sing Folder oh la la la ...
Says he : 'I'll go to the river and there meself I'll drown'
Says she : 'I'll walk along with you to see that you don't fall down'
And sing Folder oh la la la ...
They walked along together till they come to the river's brim
So gently there she's kissed him and she crept away behind
And sing Folder oh la la la ...
She ran and she ran behind him to try to push him in
But the old man heard and he jumped aside and she went tumbling in
And sing Folder oh la la la ...
So loudly she did holler and loud for mercy call
But the old man says : 'I am so blind, I can't see you at all'
And sing Folder oh la la la ...
She swam and she swam and she swam around till she came to the further brim
But the old man got the barge pole and he pushed her further in
And sing Folder oh la la la ...
Oh it may take sixteen marrowbones to make your old man blind
But if you want to murder him you must creep up close behind
And sing Folder oh la la la ...
The lyrics of Steeleye Span's "Marrowbones" tell the tale of a woman who has fallen out of love with her husband and has instead set her sights on another man. Desperate to be with her lover without her husband's interference, she seeks out a doctor for a solution. The doctor advises her to feed her husband sixteen marrowbones, which he assures her will leave him completely blind. Despite the woman's attempts to manipulate her husband into eating the bones, he is able to see through her scheme and chooses to play along. When the woman accompanies her husband to the river, she tries to push him in and fails, falling in herself. The old man, still feigning blindness, pushes her further into the water with a barge pole until she drowns.
The lyrics of "Marrowbones" paint a grim picture of love and betrayal, of manipulation and murder. The story is a warning against the lengths to which people will go for love and to be with the ones they desire. It is also a cautionary tale about the dangers of attempting to control others, and how that control can quickly spiral out of hand until it becomes deadly.
Line by Line Meaning
There was a woman in our town and in our town did dwell
Once in our town resided a woman
She loved her husband dearly but another man twice as well
She deeply loved her husband, yet loved another man even more
She went down to the doctor to see if she could find Anything in the whole world to make her old man blind
She went to the doctor to inquire for a method to blind her husband
Oh take him sixteen marrowbones and make him eat them all And when he's finished he'll be so blind that he won't see you at all
If you make him eat sixteen marrowbones, he'll be blind and oblivious to you
So the doctor he wrote a letter and he sealed it with his hand And he sent it up to the old man to make him understand
The doctor wrote a letter to the old man to let him know what to consume
But the old man being a crafty bugger, he knew it all before He ate them up and he says : 'Me dear, I can't see you at all'
The old man, being clever, was already aware of the plan, even before receiving the letter. After consuming the bones, he feigned blindness.
Says he : 'I'll go to the river and there meself I'll drown' Says she : 'I'll walk along with you to see that you don't fall down'
The old man proposed a suicide plan, and she decided to accompany him to ensure he is safe.
They walked along together till they come to the river's brim So gently there she's kissed him and she crept away behind
As they approached the river, she gave him a soft kiss and retreated behind him
She ran and she ran behind him to try to push him in But the old man heard and he jumped aside and she went tumbling in
She tried to push him, but he heard her and moved away, causing her to fall in
So loudly she did holler and loud for mercy call But the old man says : 'I am so blind, I can't see you at all'
As she yelled for help, the old man pretended to be blind and unaware of her presence
She swam and she swam and she swam around till she came to the further brim But the old man got the barge pole and he pushed her further in
She swam to the far side of the river, but he used a pole to push her further into the water
Oh it may take sixteen marrowbones to make your old man blind But if you want to murder him you must creep up close behind
You might blind your husband with sixteen marrowbones, but to murder him, you have to sneak up and get in proximity
Contributed by James E. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
Valentina Pshenichkin
Totally underrated. one of their best.
Dman X
An amazing song!!! They such great singers! Good God!:)
sye lee
Fantastic song thanks for the upload!.
Ken I
too good!!! just was driving... & listened to this song for 30 minutes straight....does that make it a great song..or make me totally nuts !! :-)
Krishen Jalali
Both :D
THEfamouspolka
Yes
differous01
"Dear Old Man,
the old woman thinks marrow-bones will make you blind.
Look out,
The Doctor"
differous01
Dear Mr Depp...
niccolò buldrighini
What a lyric!
Cavan Paul Mulvihill
All the words of Jesus are eternal and infallible truth.