archie fisher, '‘witch of the west-mer-lands”
from: the man with a rhyme, 1976
Archie Fisher is now an 84 year-old singer, songwriter from Scotland, who has had a horse farm in southern Scotland for many years said this about Witch of the West Mer Lands,
“I have borrowed, for this song, the form of the narrative ballad. The ingredients are a mixture of legend, superstition, and ballad themes brought into focus by the work of the Lakeland painter, Joni Turner. As far as I know, the female centaur is not a creature of mythology, and this role of witch disguise was suggested by the tales of antlered women with bodies of deer seen wading in the shallows of the lakes in the moonlight. There are many pleasant and hospitable inns in the Lake District”. - Archie Fisher-
-Alan West-