A Sailor's Life

Fairport Convention, 1969, from Unhalfbricking. Solo by Richard Thompson.

Thompson and Swarbrick's fiddle build an eleven-minute improvisation over a traditional ballad, often credited as the start of British folk rock.

A Sailor's Life takes a traditional ballad and lets it unravel into something no folk club had heard before. After Sandy Denny's measured vocal, Richard Thompson and Dave Swarbrick's fiddle begin to push against the song, and over eleven minutes their improvisation grows louder, stranger and more intense. Thompson's lines are angular and modal, closer to a bagpipe drone or a raga than to blues licks, and he answers the fiddle as an equal rather than a backing player. The track is often credited as the start of British folk rock, and it pointed the way to everything Fairport did next. Listen for the point where the band stops accompanying the ballad and starts arguing with it; the tension never quite resolves.

A Sailor's Life by Fairport Convention is featured in our Folk Rock (#2) list. The solo is played by Richard Thompson and the song was released in 1969.

In our lists

• Beyond the Canon — #6
• The 25 Greatest Folk Rock Guitar Solos — #2
• The Best Fairport Convention Guitar Solos — #3
• The Best Richard Thompson Guitar Solos — #4

Sources