Seekers, The - The Leaving Of Liverpool Lyrics

Excellently put together, there's no better version...

Sensational sound from a brilliant band. None better. They way music today is gong they will never be bettered.

Who voted this down, and why?

some Dem , they hate everything that true and beautiful .....

Brilliant mouthwatering harmonies. No one ever did it better. What wonderful clarity in their voices. Been a fan from 1st till last.

GOOSEBUMPS!

Super group! I think this version is a bit slow in my mind for this folk song. I've heard nicer tempos but never nicer voices. Judith, of course, has one of those unique voices. Only a handful of those !

Judith the best female singer with the best modern day singer Elizabeth Fraser

i love this song

Definitivamente Qué hermosa voz de Judith!! Angelical!!

There are so many talented and beautiful female singers. Judith Durham to me you have the best voice of all.

Jkdm76. I think Bruce Woodley probably played the mandolin o Leaving of Liverpool. I know he played it on many of their other songs. Aren't they so good!! Tim in Midland, Texas

Who played the mandolin on this one?

Bruce Woodley, most probably.

same song but totally different to the version from the Dubliners...both versions are superp on their own style.

I never thought anyone could beat the Ennis Sister's version of this song but the Seekers did it.

The Seekers, i miss you!

I like the lush vocal harmony and the catchy pop-ish chord changes in this arrangement, but the Clancy Brothers's straighter version seems to me to have more cultural depth and resonance. Notice that the Seekers, unlike "Bob Dylan" (that is, Bobby Zimmerman), didn't assume that having made their own arrangement gave them the right to claim authorship of the song. Let's compare the real first verse and chorus with Zimmerman's slightly altered version:

Real: "Farewell to you, my own true love, I am going far away/I am bound for Californ-i-ay, and I know that I'll return some day/So fare the well, my own true love, and when I return united we will be/It's not the leaving of Liverpool that grieves me but my darling when I think of thee."

Zimmerman: "Oh, it's fare thee well, my darling true, I'm leavin' in the first hour of the morn/I'm bound, uh, for the bay of Mexico or maybe the coast of Californ'/So it's fare thee well, my own true love, we'll meet another day, another time/It ain't the leavin' that's grievin' me but my darlin' who's bound to say behind."

What Zimmerman has done here, aside from putting his name on someone else's music and lyric, is to take a perfectly fine song and make it slightly nonsensical. "We'll meet another day, another time"? Another day IS another time. Since "the leavin' '" in this version is vague, it sounds as if he means the leaving of his girlfriend, but if it grieves him to leave her then why does he? It doesn't quite make sense. The real version makes it clear that the protagonist is specifically leaving LIVERPOOL, the city, not intentionally his girlfriend (or boyfriend). Zimmerman felt he had to take out the reference to Liverpool, however, to cover his tracks (for why would this thoroughly American singer be writing songs about the British Isles?), and the result hurts the song. Oh, what a tangled web we weave when first we practice to deceive.

If there's a better voice and more precise harmony from a group---I haven't heard it!

Judith's voice stands out. The harmony is so subtle. And that makes it wonderful.

Judith, i love you.

Oh no you don't... I love her first

Yes she is wonderful but the magic is her and the guys together. That sound cannot be duplicated.

Dear, dear angel Judith Durham!

Thanks Again.    Judith is always Wonderful.    

First heard sung by local Liverpool emigrants bound for America in the 1800s. Includes many local street names. Mostly sung by the Spinners, probably the most commonly sung song in Scouseland.

+footscorn Many of the emigrants from Liverpool headed South..to Australia.

+hetrodoxly No, sorry to disagree. The first , and I mean the very first time this song was heard was on an American ship bound for the New World. It was being sung by emigrants and was taken down word for word. The street names would only be known to natives of that city and as a native of that city I know they were accurate, Doubtless it was a favourite of sailors as well, my ancestors who were merchant seamen sang it constantly but it's origins are not in doubt.

This song was sung well befote Burgess which were not part of the original lyrics..As I stated before it is not a sailors song or at least it wasnt originally. As I said it was first heard sung by emigrants. The ship and captain is documented and not in dispute. Surely you would have done research yourself ? and found this to be so...

Simple, they didnt. Indeed why would a sailor sing about going to California.? The original version was written in the 1840s about an emigrant bound for the Californian goldrush. There is no mention of Burgess or the Crocket. How could there be given that Crocket had yet to be built. The first we hear of Burgess is when Captain Maitland hears it being sung on board the Knox, takes it down and passers it on to Doeflinger who incidently is petson who acquired the earlier version

Judith Durham.My era.She has had her ups and alot of downs.I was lucky enough to  be in Australia when she was performing.Brilliant.I have also got tickets for b,ham 3 rows from the front 2014.Velvet voice.

David, you are so lucky. Enjoy.

Judith: Voice of an Angel.

Thanks for Posting.

I should probably visit there too at some point, due to the whole family history thing. I had to look up conurbation. I learned a new word. Nice communicating with you. Take care.

Actually, it's Stoco, a small hamlet named after Lake Stoco. Lake Stoco is near the town of Tweed. Tweed is slightly north of Toronto. I would not have heard of any of it except that it is part of my family history. I was in Hoten once with my grandmother and my parents over 40 years ago, but otherwise, I have never been to the UP. My parents visited Stoco and Tweed once, but I have never been there.

One of my grandfathers was from Canada, a small town called Stocco, just north of Toronto. As a young man he worked as a lumberjack in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan (more macho than anything I've ever done). That was in the late 1800s. That's where he met my grandmother, from Hoten, Michigan. They married and settled in Chicago.

Well, I guess it's a tradoff. The weather is probably nicer in California than it is in Chicago, where I am, and in most of Canada, but Canada probably has less crime and financial problems.

A quick online search says the song dates back to the late 1800s. Perhaps it goes as far back as the California gold rush of 1849. Liverpool was an embarcation point for many people leaving Britain and Ireland.

Where did he end up?

I wonder if this song dates back to the California gold rush, when people from all over the world went there?

Yes, but first collected in the 1940's from a retired sailor who heard it in the 1880's. The survival of culture sometimes hangs by such a fine thread.

Judith Durham what a voice

you leave liverpool liverpool never leaves you

A one of voice thats lasted though the last 4 decades -not to surpassed by any female singer anywhere , but then again I,m biased as she was my favorite singer in the sixties besides mary hopkin.JP

BEAUTIFUL - wonderful memories of the greatest Aussie group ever.

Saskia

I just hope i do'nt wear this track out on here,I seem to play it all the time , Thanks Darren

OMG my dad and i use to sing this song with me on mandolin aswell as when we played in the band. thankyou for posting this it brings back some wonderful memories i have tears in my eyes.

My only complaint though is they are doing it a little slow but her voice makes up for it about 100 fold.

This is such a wonderful song! Thanks for uploading it !!

This is a great song. I have only heard it from the Dubliners so far.

Great version. Thanks for uploading this.

thanks for adding this mate, awesome,cheers

Judith sings this so well and I'm probably biased but I don't think anything tops the haunting sadness and beauty of this version.