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The Curious Visions of Old Reynard

by Whipstaff

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1.
Closer to the Sun 04:35
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2.
It'll Be the Death of Me 05:12
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3.
The Swimmer 03:03
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4.
Stone 06:08
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5.
Jack and Jill 05:15
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6.
Beggars' Litany 03:46
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7.
The Knight 04:48
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8.
Oh Where Is My Bonny William Tonight? 04:18
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9.
Two Seagulls 03:01
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In fishing communities along the East Yorkshire coast there used to be the belief that the souls of fishermen lost at sea became seagulls. Here a Flamborough girl whose sweetheart has been lost in the Great Storm of 1874 chooses to join her love as a gull.
10.
Reynardine 10:01
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about

Mostly original songs written and performed by Pete and Jools Thompson about the life, legends and history of our native East Riding of Yorkshire, plus an old chestnut. It was all recorded at home on a 4-track, so don't expect studio quality.


THE CURIOUS VISIONS OF OLD REYNARD.

"Reynard is the name I go by, though some call me other things. When I was young, my wits and teeth were sharp, my senses keen and unfailing. On sweet, balmy summer nights I would roam abroad, free and unchallenged, the moon my only mistress, the stars my guides across the landscape.

Through wood and spinney I would go, across open meadows and fields of ripening wheat and barley, along the banks of streams and past the ancient mysteries built by men in times beyond memory.

In winter, too, I limped across the frozen land – wandering, always wandering; unable to be still; never at peace; returning exhausted to my home as the frosty dawn crept out of the sea away to the east and a pallid sun rose over the edge of the world.

Now I am old. My eyes grow dim, my senses fail me. I would as soon curl up before a good fire as go roving. Yet whenever I close my eyes, strange visions unfold inside my head. Swirling images of the world I knew and the places I have seen unveil themselves to me in weird and unruly guises, bringing haunting stories of the earth I have trodden. And those who lie beneath it rise up to tell their tales – the pleasure and the horror – and I must listen, enwrapped, until the spirits that I once called friends free me from their grasp and retire into the twilight to wait quietly for the time when they will claim me as one of them.

These, then, are the stories I will recount to you now in my rough, untutored way, just as they were given to me. Sometimes their meaning is clear; sometimes hidden by time and circumstance - arcane, elusive, dark – but ready always to be deciphered by those whose wits are sharper than mine are now. Do not ask me for the meaning; I do not know it. I am only the story teller.

So, here are The Curious Visions of Old Reynard. Make of them what you will."

credits

released November 11, 2011

Pete Thompson: vocals, guitar, cittern
Jools Thompson: vocals

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Whipstaff Yorkshire, UK

WHIPSTAFF is an amateur folk-based acoustic duo comprising husband and wife, Pete and Jools Thompson. Based in the tiny, historic village of Wressle, in the East Riding of Yorkshire, we perform our own arrangements of traditional material and original self-penned songs. We call what we do 'ruffian music'. Listen and you'll see why. ... more

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