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.
The Wife Of Ushers Well
Steeleye Span Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
There lived a wife in Usher's Well
A wealthy wife was she
She had three stout and stalwart sons
And sent them o'er the sea
They had not been from Usher's Well
A week but barely one
That her three sons were gone
I wish the wind may never cease
Nor flashes in the flood
Till my three sons return to me
In earthly flesh and blood
It fell about the Martinmas
The nights were long and dark
Three sons came home to Usher's Well
Their hats were made of bark
That neither grew in forest green
Nor on any wooded rise
But from the north side of the tree
That grows in Paradise
Blow up the fire my merry merry maidens
Bring water from the well
For all my house shall feed this night
Since my three sons are well
Then up and crowed the blood red cock
And up and crowed the grey
The oldest to the youngest said
It's time we were away
For the cock does crow and the day doth show
And the channerin worm doth chide
And we must go from Usher's Well
To the gates of Paradise
I wish the wind may never cease
Nor flashes in the flood
Till my three sons return to me
In earthly flesh and blood
The Wife of Ushers Well is a traditional Scottish folk ballad that tells the story of a wealthy woman who sends her three sons off to sea. As they had not been gone long, the woman hears word that her three sons are lost and she wishes for them to come back to her in earthly flesh and blood. To her surprise, they do return at Martinmas, but their hats are "made of bark that neither grew in forest green nor on any wooded rise, but from the north side of the tree that grows in Paradise." The sons explain that they have been dead and are only able to return home for one night before they must return to the gates of paradise.
The lyrics of this song are a powerful representation of a mother's love for her children and the pain of losing them. The woman's strong desire to be reunited with her sons shows that love transcends even death. The fact that the sons can only return for one night before they must go back to the gates of Paradise is a reminder that death is not reversible, but it also shows that there is a greater power beyond our world.
Line by Line Meaning
There lived a wife in Usher's Well
In Usher's Well, there was a wife who lived.
A wealthy wife was she
This wife was wealthy.
She had three stout and stalwart sons
The wife had three strong and brave sons.
And sent them o'er the sea
She sent them across the sea.
They had not been from Usher's Well
Not long after leaving Usher's Well,
A week but barely one
Only about a week had passed,
When word came to this carlin wife
The carlin wife received a message that
That her three sons were gone
her three sons were missing.
I wish the wind may never cease
The wife expressed a wish that the wind and floods never stop until
Nor flashes in the flood
the floods no longer flash,
Till my three sons return to me
her three sons return to her
In earthly flesh and blood
alive and well
It fell about the Martinmas
On Martinmas Day,
The nights were long and dark
the nights were long and dark,
Three sons came home to Usher's Well
the three sons returned home to Usher's Well.
Their hats were made of bark
They wore hats made of bark,
That neither grew in forest green
which did not grow in the forest,
Nor on any wooded rise
nor on any wooded hill,
But from the north side of the tree
but from the north side of the tree
That grows in Paradise
that grows in Paradise.
Blow up the fire my merry merry maidens
The wife commanded her maidens to make a large fire,
Bring water from the well
and bring water from the well,
For all my house shall feed this night
They would prepare a feast for the entire household that night,
Since my three sons are well
because her three sons had returned safely.
Then up and crowed the blood red cock
Suddenly, the blood-red cock crowed,
And up and crowed the grey
followed by the grey (cock),
The oldest to the youngest said
The three sons started talking among themselves,
It's time we were away
commenting that it was time for them to leave.
For the cock does crow and the day doth show
They were reminded that the cock's crow signaled the beginning of the day,
And the channerin worm doth chide
and the channerin (mourning) worm would be upset if they did not leave soon,
And we must go from Usher's Well
Therefore, they must leave Usher's Well,
To the gates of Paradise
And go to the gates of Paradise.
I wish the wind may never cease
The wife expressed her wish again that the wind and flood would never cease,
Nor flashes in the flood
and the flood wouldn't flash,
Till my three sons return to me
until her three sons return to her
In earthly flesh and blood
alive and well
Contributed by Andrew V. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
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.