I should have said - the ballad is joined with the much shorter one of Robin Hood and the Old Beggar. The shift from one tune to the other is magic, it feels like entering a new chapter in a book; very smoothly done.

Ken Langsbury was responsible for the Songwainers' wonderful arrangements, breaking rules about polyphonic music as often as following them. Amazingly evocative discords, which Regal Slip tried in part to emulate later, but in a much more conservative manner.

I could go on for days. The Songwainers are part of the reason I followed folk music.