‘Geordie’

I can't remember the first time I heard this song. It seems to have been with me forever – which is roughly the reputation the song itself has. But I only started playing it properly a couple of years ago, and I've only just recorded it.

I'd picked about at it for years. The odd half-arsed attempt at the guitar part would turn up on my Instagram, and I never took it any further than that, because it was Martin Carthy's arrangement. His version is so complete, so definitive, that trying to record my own always felt like turning up to a house that was already lived in.

That changed when I joined the Songs of Martin Carthy tour and had to learn it properly – not pick at it, learn it. Once it was actually under my fingers rather than half-remembered, it started to move on its own. It hasn't gone far from Martin's version – I wouldn't want it to – but there's a jaunt and a swing in mine now that isn't in his, enough that it's stopped feeling like an impression and started feeling like a song I play.

More than anything, I just love playing it. And enough people have asked me where they can hear a recording that I've spent the last few evenings actually making one.

To take it a little further from Martin's version, I've added a Victorian pump organ – formerly owned by Paul Sartin, passed to me by his mum after he died – along with a few production quirks to keep your ears on their toes.

Thanks to Jon Nice and Michael Watts for their careful ears.

My recording of ‘Geordie’ comes out on September 4th. Pre-save on the link below. My paid Patreon subscribers can have it instantly by clicking here.