fairport convention, “genesis hall”
from: unhalfbricking, 1969
“My father he rides with your sheriffs
And I know he would never mean harm,
But to see both sides of a quarrel
Is to judge without haste or alarm
Chorus:
Oh, oh, helpless and slow,
And you don’t have anywhere to go
You take away homes from the homeless
And leave them to die in the cold
The gypsy who begged for your presents
He will laugh in your face when you’re old
(Chorus)
Well, one man he drinks up his whiskey
Another he drinks up his wine
And they’ll drink till their eyes are red with hate
For those of a different kind
(Chorus)
When the rivers run quicker than trouble
I’ll be there at your side in the flood
It was all I could do to keep myself
From taking revenge on your blood
(2x Chorus)
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Various personnel lineups of Fairport Convention exist even to this day, but to me, few match the hem of the garments of their second and third records, “What We Did On Our Holidays,” and “Unhalfbricking.” You would do well to sit with them both in their entirety. In 1969, “Genesis Hall” was one of Richard Thompson’s first songwriting efforts, full of the questioning that populate his astounding career. The marvel of Sandy Denny’s softly delirious delivery helps realize this lament. Fairport was easily the best electric folk band of our time. And Simon Nichol provides beautifully pendulous dulcimer work. Incidentally “Genesis Hall” references life in a squatter’s hotel during 1960’s London.
The American issue cover of Fairport Convention’s “Unhalfbricking,” 1969
““[W]here, say some, is the King of America?” Thomas Paine wrote in Common Sense, the 1776 pamphlet that convinced British colonists in North America to cut ties with their king and start a new nation. “[I]n America the law is king. For as in absolute governments the King is law, so in free countries the law ought to be king; and there ought to be no other.”
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