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.
Sails of Silver
Steeleye Span Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
I am as a tall sailing ship out on the sea,
Where only long breezes reach out to me.
Chorus: And I'll set my sails of silver,
And I'll steer towards the sun,
And you, false love, will weep for me
When I'm gone, when I'm gone, when I'm gone.
The maid in a garden, how can it be?
A mast of the tall rowan tree, ropes of fine silk,
Decks holystoned shining whiter than milk.
Chorus: (2x)
[Key change] Chorus 3x and fade
In the opening verse of Steeleye Span's "Sails of Silver," the singer wonders why the woman he loves is weeping and mourning. He is, metaphorically, a ship out on the sea - free and unmoored, where only the wind can reach him. Despite the fact that the woman he loves is false, he intends to set his sails of silver and forge ahead, steering towards the sun. He is confident that she will regret her decision to let him go when he is gone, and he repeats the phrase "when I'm gone" to emphasize the finality of the separation.
The second verse describes a maiden in a garden, staring out to sea. She sees the mast of a tall ship, made of rowan wood and ropes of fine silk. The decks of the ship are immaculately clean and shining, white as milk. The imagery suggests that the woman is longing for someone who is out at sea, perhaps the singer. The poem is about love and loss, and the idea that sometimes the only way to move on from a painful relationship is to set sail and leave it all behind.
Line by Line Meaning
What is it makes her to weep and to moan?
What is causing her to feel so much sadness and pain?
I am as a tall sailing ship out on the sea,
I feel like a ship sailing alone on the vast ocean,
Where only long breezes reach out to me.
Only gentle, long winds can touch and embrace me.
Chorus: And I'll set my sails of silver,
I will raise my shining silver sails up high,
And I'll steer towards the sun,
And I will navigate towards the bright sun,
And you, false love, will weep for me
And you, my deceitful lover, will cry tears for me
When I'm gone, when I'm gone, when I'm gone.
Once I have departed and left this world.
The maid in a garden, how can it be?
Who is this lady in the garden, and how can she be here?
I'm staring seaward but what does she see?
As I gaze towards the sea, what is it that she observes?
A mast of the tall rowan tree, ropes of fine silk,
The mast of the tall rowan tree, and the ropes made of soft, exquisite silk,
Decks holystoned shining whiter than milk.
The polished decks, shining brighter than milk.
Chorus: (2x)
Repeat chorus twice more.
[Key change] Chorus 3x and fade
A change in pitch/key, followed by three repetitions of the chorus, and then fading out.
Lyrics © Peermusic Publishing
Written by: TIM HART
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Ben - Moderator
on Bonny Moorhen
Hi Stuart, We have corrected the description above.
Stuart Tartan
on Bonny Moorhen
This description of the song completely misses the point in every way. It IS NOT about a bird.
It is an allegorical Jacobite-era song about Bonny Prince Charlie (the bonny moorhen). The colours mentioned, for instance, are the colours of the Clan Stuart tartan.