Fairport Convention - Tam Lin Lyrics

"Liege" means loyal. "Lief" means ready. This great album is now 50 years old in 2019. Cheers!

i listen to tam lin every halloween very autumunal. just like the incredible string bands hangmans beautiful daughter

halloween song oct 31 2019

That's why I'm here--"tonight is Halloween and the fairy folk ride"

I have sandy Denny’s autograph that she signed for me when I was 5 months old in Edinburgh in 1975. It says whispered with love xx . My parents got it at a fairport Convention gig at the usher hall in Edinburgh. I treasure it and her music

Brings memories. I once heard a girl on the street with only a fiddle do this song and she sounded just as good as Sandy. She would sing acapella and fiddle on the breaks. And all for just coins. She didn't stay long. A week later she was gone.

Pat Downs maybe she went to Carter Hall.

@Chilliam13 Shurley "Carterhaugh"? -ed

I love British Isles folk. Fairport Convention is amazing.

Que melodia virtuosa, suave e doce. Qualidade atemporal, essa obra poderia perfeitamente ter sido realizada em 2019. E já completa 50 anos.

Sandy signed her autogaph to me as a baby in Edinburgh 1975!! Whispered with love xx!! My parents met sandy at the Usher Hall in Edinburgh in november 1975!!!!

RIP Sandy Denny, you'll never be forgotten

Still magnificent.

this is one heavy tune

I forbid you maidens all that wear gold in your hair
To travel to Carterhaugh for young Tam Lin is there

None that go by Carterhaugh but they leave him a pledge
Either their mantles of green or else their maidenhead

Janet tied her kirtle green a bit above her knee
And she's gone to Carterhaugh as fast as go can she

She'd not pulled a double rose, a rose but only two
When up then came young Tam Lin, says "Lady, pull no more"

"And why come you to Carterhaugh without command from me?"
"I'll come and go," young Janet said, "and ask no leave of thee"

Janet tied her kirtle green a bit above her knee
And she's gone to her father as fast as go can she

Well, up then spoke her father dear and he spoke meek and mild
"Oh, and alas, Janet," he said, "I think you go with child"

"Well, if that be so," Janet said, "myself shall bear the blame
There's not a knight in all your hall shall get the baby's name"

For if my love were an earthly knight as he is an elfin grey
I'd not change my own true love for any knight you have"

Janet tied her kirtle green a bit above her knee
And she's gone to Carterhaugh as fast as go can she

"Oh, tell to me, Tam Lin," she said, "why came you here to dwell?"
"The Queen of Faeries caught me when from my horse I fell

And at the end of seven years she pays a tithe to Hell
I so fair and full of flesh and feared it be myself

But tonight is Hallowe'en and the faerie folk ride
Those that would their true love win at Miles Cross they must bide

First let past the horses black and then let past the brown
Quickly run to the white steed and pull the rider down

For I'll ride on the white steed, the nearest to the town
For I was an earthly knight, they give me that renown

Oh, they will turn me in your arms to a newt or a snake
But hold me tight and fear not, I am your baby's father

And they will turn me in your arms into a lion bold
But hold me tight and fear not and you will love your child

And they will turn me in your arms into a naked knight
But cloak me in your mantle and keep me out of sight"

In the middle of the night she heard the bridle ring
She heeded what he did say and young Tam Lin did win

Then up spoke the Faerie Queen, an angry queen was she
Woe betide her ill-fard face, an ill death may she die

"Oh, had I known, Tam Lin," she said, "what this night I did see
I'd have looked him in the eyes and turned him to a tree"

awesome,thanks for sharing the lyrics,I already knew them,thanks to my English hippy parents,but hopefully you will inspire a new generation to realise Mother Earth is all we have,and we have to payback the life she gives us,hippies were not fake,they were a movement that understood the reality that later gererations would face

One of the most powerful version of Tam Lin .

I agree!! I have heard many versions of this song and this is, by far, my favorite. Sandy Denny's vocals! One of my favorite bands ever.

No - THE!

Carterhaugh.

"I forbid you maidens all that wear gold in your hair
To travel to Carter Hall for young Tam Lin is there

None that go by Carter Hall but they leave him a pledge
Either their mantles of green or else their maidenhead"

Janet tied her kirtle green a bit above her knee
And she's gone to Carter Hall as fast as go can she

She'd not pulled a double rose, a rose but only two
When up there came young Tam Lin says "Lady, pull no more"

"And why come you to Carter Hall without command from me?"
"I'll come and go", young Janet said, "and ask no leave of thee"

Janet tied her kirtle green a bit above her knee
And she's gone to her father as fast as go can she

Well, up then spoke her father dear and he spoke meek and mild
"Oh, and alas, Janet," he said, "I think you go with child"

"Well, if that be so," Janet said, "myself shall bear the blame
There's not a knight in all your hall shall get the baby's name

For if my love were an earthly knight as he is an elfin grey
I'd not change my own true love for any knight you have"

Janet tied her kirtle green a bit above her knee
And she's gone to Carter Hall as fast as go can she

"Oh, tell to me, Tam Lin," she said, "why came you here to dwell?"
"The Queen of Faeries caught me when from my horse I fell

And at the end of seven years she pays a tithe to hell
I so fair and full of flesh and feared it be myself

But tonight is Hallowe'en and the faery folk ride
Those that would their true love win at Miles Cross they must buy

So first let past the horses black and then let past the brown
Quickly run to the white steed and pull the rider down

For I'll ride on the white steed, the nearest to the town
For I was an earthly knight, they give me that renown

Oh, they will turn me in your arms to a newt or a snake
But hold me tight and fear not, I am your baby's father

And they will turn me in your arms into a lion bold
But hold me tight and fear not and you will love your child

And they will turn me in your arms into a naked knight
But cloak me in your mantle and keep me out of sight"

In the middle of the night she heard the bridle ring
She heeded what he did say and young Tam Lin did win

Then up spoke the Faery Queen, an angry queen was she
Woe betide her ?ill-fought? face, an ill death may she die

"Oh, had I known, Tam Lin," she said, "what this knight I did see
I have looked him in the eyes and turned him to a tree"

Carterhaugh is a wood and farm near the confluence of the Yarrow Water and the Ettrick Water near Selkirk in the Scottish Borders. This real location is the fictional setting for the meeting between Tam Lin and Janet (sometimes Margaret) in the ballad "Tam Lin".

Some researchers of the Tam Lin ballad equate Carterhaugh with Carter Bar in the Cheviot Hills on the border of Scotland and England.

eurydicejones I'm so glad to find this music again. Years later it's as great as ever.

"at Miles Cross they must bide"