Hark! The Village Wait
Hark! The Village Wait was the 1970 debut album by the electric folk band Steeleye Span. The album is the only one to feature the original lineup of the band, as they broke up and reformed with an altered membership immediately after its release, without having ever performed live. Hence it is one of only two Steeleye Span studio albums to feature two female vocalists (Maddy Prior and Gay Woods), the other being Time (1996). A similar sound was exhibited years later when Prior teamed up with June Tabor to form Silly Sisters. Overall, the album's sound is essentially folk music with rock drumming and bass guitar added to some of the songs. The banjo features prominently on several tracks, including "The Blackleg Miner", "Lowlands of Holland" and "One Night as I Lay on My Bed".
The album's title refers to not the act of waiting, but to a "Wait". Waits were a small body of wind instrumentalists employed by a town at public charge from Tudor times until the early 19th century. A village, however, would likely be too small to employ such a troupe, so the Wait referred to here was more probably the later Christmas Waits, as mentioned in the novels of Thomas Hardy.
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by Steeleye Span
Hark! the Village Wait
by: Steeleye SpanOne night as I lay on my bed,
I dreamed about a pretty maid.
I was so oppressed,
I could take no rest;
Love did torment me so.
So away to my true love I did go.
And when I came to my love's window,
I boldly called her by her name,
“For your sweet sake
I'm come here this late,
Through this bitter frost and snow,
So open your window, my love, do.”
“My mam and dad they are both awake,
And they will sure for to hear us speak.
There'll be no excuse
Then but sore abuse,
Many a bitter word and blow.
So begone from my window, my love, do.”
“Your mam and dad they are both asleep,
And they are sure not to hear us speak,
They're sleeping sound
On their bed of down,
And they draw they breath so low.
So open the window, my love, do.”
My lover rose and she opened the door,
And just like an angel she stood on the floor.
Her eyes shone bright
Like the stars at night,
No diamonds could shine so.
So in with my true love I did go.