The theme of this collection of songs is "the idea of true love as a power outside society's control", as Shirley writes on the liner notes.

If the first track sounds slightly like "Eleanor Rigby", this is because Bram Taylor plays cello on both of them.

Three of the songs on this collection had previously been recorded on False True Lovers (1960) – "Just as the Tide Was Flowing", "Richie Story" and "The Unquiet Grave".

Dolly Collins puts her stamp on "Richie Story" in her pipe organ accompaniment, a stately march as the couple in the song progress through the street to church to marry.

On this album, there is a vaguely Indian flavour to "Seven Yellow Gipsies" with Robin Williamson's complicated clapping, and his chanter playing on the song "The Maydens Came".