DB--

She does seem to like writing her own melodies for fairly well-known songs. Sometimes I really like her version, sometimes I prefer the original. Her "Matt Hyland" (on the album Little Lights) is beautiful, a very interesting melody, but still doesn't surpass the haunting, melancholy beauty of the original (which I have heard sung mainly by Andy M. Stewart on "Donegal Rain".

Also, I grant that she's not as edgy as Eliza Carthy, but she definitely has a flair for some sensuality (and even bawd, er, bawdiness?) in her lyrics. (Nose-rings aren't for everyone, you know. ;)) I love "Cowsong"--

O, when this young man he awoke
Both girl and cow were gone O,
And also were the shoes he wore
And the trousers he had on...
Come all you young men near and far
Never heed a maiden's calling,
Never trust a girl with your mother's cow,
Never let your trousers go...

And if you've seen "Live From Leeds", her performance of "The Yorkshire Couple" is as nudge-nudge-wink-wink as you could desire. What many people see as blandness, I see as subtlety. *grin*

Molly