The song was printed in eighteenth-century broadsides and collected by W. Percy Merrick in 1899 from Henry Hills of Lodsworth, Sussex.
[2] It is probably from one of these sources that the song was learnt by Sandy Denny who sang it in her solo career and then brought it to the band Fairport Convention, where with Swarbrick guesting on violin and Richard Thompson on guitar, it was released on the band's 1969 Unhalfbricking album.
The eleven-minute version, regarded as a pivotal step in the development of British folk rock, was recorded in one take.
[5] It was a recording which marked the beginning of the genre, leading to the seminal album Liege & Lief later that year.
[6] British music website Uncut describes the track as: "11 minutes of seething cymbal washes on a Celtic drone chord sequence, erupting into a middle section where squalling crosswinds are traded between Richard Thompson and guest fiddler Dave Swarbrick.