Maddy Prior
『Year』
CD: Park Records
PRKCD20 (1993)
YEAR
[This is a series of seasonal songs. All have been written separately and often with years in between but I was stumped for a summer song and so I chose one of the best crafted and most evocative songs I could find.
I'm indebted to Andy Watts and Nick Holland for the linking of the songs, and in case you miss it, the four seasons are connected by instrumental bridges that echo the chimes of a clock, in that they gather an extra phrase each quarter.]
Spring
1. Snowdrops / Birth (M. Prior)
Summer
2. Swimming Song (Loudon Wainwright III)
Autumn
3. Marigold (M. Prior) / Harvest Home (Elvey/Alford)
Winter
4. Red & Green (M. Prior)
5. Long Shadows (M. Prior)
6. Somewhere along the road (R. Kemp)
[This is one of Rick Kemp's songs with its eery landscape and haunting melody.]
7. What had you for supper (Trad/arr: M. Prior/R. Kemp)
[I've altered the lyrics of this attractive Irish version of Lord Randall to give it an extra kick of relevance.]
[I heard this version of Lord Randall from the singing of Paddy Reilly and he called it 'Buried in Kilkenny".]
8. Saucy Sailor (Trad/arr: M. Prior/N. Holland)
[Saucy Sailor is a wonderful song to sing and I've sung it for many years with Steeleye and it is delightfully comfortable. Its cynical and spiteful lyrics simply trip trip of the tongue.]
9. THE FABLED HARE
[I've always recognized that hares are different from rabbits, but it was only when I was invited to write some music for a television wild life programme about them, that I realized their true individuality and rangey wildness.]
[The hare has deep mythological significance and is known in Chinese, American Indian as well as European stories. It was the symbol of Aestre, the pagan goddess of rebirth, before Christianity became prevalent in these islands, and as the old religion was overturned so its gods and symbols became associated with the devil and hares were thought to be witches "familiars". This piece of music opens with a spell reputed to be used by Scottish witches to change into hares to travel undetected.]
a. I sall goe intil a Hare (M. Prior)
b. Ruled by the Moon (M. Prior)
c. Scent of Dog (M. Prior)
d. Winter Wakeneth (M. Kiszko)
e. The Hare Said (M. Prior)
f. I shall run and run (M. Prior)
10. Deep in the darkest night (R. Kemp)
11. Boys of Bedlam (Nick Jones/Dave Moran)
[Bedlam was the popular name give to Bethlehem Hospital for the Insane. This lyric, set to music by Nic Jones and Dave Moran, has a certain Brechtian quality and is certainly one of the most grotesque and alarming images of madness that I know.]
12. Twa Corbies (Trad/arr: M. Prior/N. Holland)
[Reflection on death in its physical reality is known to the Buddhists and Hindus, but in the West only in medieval times was it dealt with directly and evoked by skeletons carved on graves and gruesome images of Death the Reaper. ( . . . ) This song dates from earlier times and is for me a brilliant examination of decay.]
[Ray Fisher set the stark old Scottish words to this moody Breton tune and we have amplified its gothic atmosphere.]
Nick Holland: piano, keyboards, Hammond, backing vocals
Richard Lee: double bass
Rick Kemp: electric bass on What had you for supper
Mick Dyche: acoustic guitars
Martin Loveday: cello
Liam Genocky: percussion on Year
Andy Watts: shawms on Swimming Song, recorder on Red and Green
John Dochary: bass, backing vocals
Engineered by Chris Baylis and Al Hodgson at VM Oxford
Mixed by Chris Baylis, Nick Holland and Maddy Prior
Mastered at Porkys by Dennis Blackham
Photo: Keith Morris
◆本CDについて◆
ブックレット（全12頁）にクレジット、楽曲コメント＆歌詞、トラックリスト。
スティーライ・スパンのマディ・プライアのソロ第5作（リック・ケンプと連名の『Happy Families』を入れると第6作）。1993年リリース。
1978年のソロ・デビュー作以来、自作曲＆夫リック・ケンプの曲を中心に演奏するようになって（1978年に一旦解散したスティーライ・スパンの1980年の復帰アルバムもメンバーの自作曲中心でした）、トラッド離れしていたマディでしたが、1987年からはクリスマス限定のカーニヴァル・バンド（The Carnival Band）を率いて古楽器で古楽（中世・ルネサンスのキャロル）を演奏するようになり、1988年にはジューン・テイバーとの「シリー・シスターズ（Silly Sisters）のセカンドで再びトラッドを取り上げ、本作では自作曲がメインではあるものの、「Year」と「The Fabled Hare」の二つのソング・サイクルを中心に、スティーライ・スパンのレパートリーだった#8、11、12や、著名なバラッド「ロード・ランダル」のアイリッシュ・ヴァージョン#7など、トラッド曲を交えつつ、「死と再生」のテーマを浮かび上がらせています。
「Years」では（トラックリストには記されていませんが）「冬」の後に再び「春」の「Snowdrops」が歌われていて、死（冬）と再生（春）を暗示しています。
BBCのイースター・バニー（「復活祭」のウサギ）についてのドキュメンタリー番組のための音楽「The Fabled Hare」（野兎伝説）は、豊穣のシンボルとしての野ウサギの死と再生です（「I've been thrown into the fire / but I do not fear it / It purifies and resurrects / and I can bear it」「I'm a symbol of endurance / running through the mists of time」）。
野ウサギのトリックスター性は#11「Boys of Bedlam」の狂気（周縁的知）に通じ、#12「Twa Corbies」では、冬景色の中に死が点景されて、死体がカラスに食い荒らされる、日本でいえば「九相図」ですが、冬のあとには春が来るように、死のあとには「復活」がある、そういうことだと思います。
★★★★★
The Fabled Hare
Boys Of Bedlam
