A non-Beatles song I have been trying to track down for YEARS | Fab Forum | The Beatles Bible

mja6758 said
there was an American asking if anyone could identify a Fairport Convention track that mentioned “rabbit stew” and was played on US radio during the ’70s on another site in 2008.

That could well have been me.  I forgot where I would have done that.  And now I do remember Fairport Convention as a potential candidate.  I combed through their discography from Wikipedia, then sampled every song title that might have been it — to no avail.

mja6758 said
Looking at it closer, got the date well wrong, much earlier than I thought, the question was asked by metaxy, 31 July 2005, and the site was, Spencer: The Politically Incorrect Guide to Islam (and the Crusades). It becomes a running conversation through the comments, so there may be an eventual answer in there somewhere.

Ah right, I remember that now, that was me.  I recall some woman in the comments said she was from England and knew about Fairport Convention, but she couldn’t help me with my question.  Wow, I’ve been searching for this song longer than I thought.  I have a hazy recollection that I first heard it on the radio approximately in the late 1980s, perhaps once or twice.  Then never heard it again.

mja6758 said
Mmmm… I’ll think further on it. Being late-80s that you heard it, opens up a whole new slew of possibilities. There was a movement going on over here (UK) at that time known as Crusty – a kind of folk-punk, and lots of those bands could often sound like British folk bands from an earlier era, when people like Fairport were first bringing in rock influences. I know a lot of those involved, some of them – like The Levellers – personally. I will wrack my brains. I’m assuming we’re talking male vocalist? Prefer Funny Paper to metaxy as a name.

Thanks.  Now that I think of it, most of the lines of the song were sung by at least two male voices, if not more, possibly harmonizing (but not sure).

I also think there may have been references to “going up a hill” or being out in the country in some way.

Thanks Egroeg, but I’m fairly familiar with Jethro Tull, and I would have recognized their sound.  I doubt it was them.

If you’ve never heard the most famous Jethro Tull song, it’s pretty cool — one of the only rock-pop songs in 5/4 time, by the way:

Another distinction for a “rock” band: the leader, Ian Anderson, played the flute (often rather jazzily).