''Babbacombe'' Lee
# ''Babbacombe'' Lee

"Babbacombe" Lee è un album discografico dei Fairport Convention, pubblicato dall'etichetta discografica Island Records nel novembre del 1971.

Concept album ispirato ad un fatto realmente accaduto durante l'Inghilterra vittoriana, quello di un uomo (John Babbacombe Lee) accusato dell'omicidio della propria padrona di casa (Emma Ann Whitehead Keyse), che sopravvisse per ben tre volte all'impiccagione.

L'edizione statunitense (e canadese) del disco ha una normale suddivisione delle tracce rispetto alla versione originale britannica.

## Tracce

### Lato A

* John's Reflection on His Boyhood, His Introduction to Miss Keyes and the Glen, His Restlessness, and His Struggles with His Family, Finally Successful, to Join the Navy. This Was the Happiest Period in His Life. All Locked Set for a Career Until He Was Stricken with Sickness and Invalided Out of His Chosen Niche in Life. Reluctantly and Unhappily He Turned to a Number of Menial Occupations and Finally Returned to the Services of Miss Keyes. Tragedy Now Strikes Hard. The World's Imagination Is Caught by the Brutal Senseless of the Apparent Criminal Who Stays His Kind Old Mistress. (Fairport Convention, eccetto The Sailor's Alphabet di Bert Lloyd)

### Lato B

* John Was Hardly More Than a Bewildered at His Own Trial, Not Being Allowed to Say More Than a Few Words. The Tides of Fate Wash Him to the Condemned Cell Where He Waits Three Sad Weeks for His Last Night on Earth. When It Comes, He Cannot Sleep, But When He Does, a Strange, Prophetic Dream Comes to Him, and Helps Him to Bear the Strain of His Next Day's Ordeal as Scaffold and Its Crew Try in Vain Three Times to Take His Life. (Fairport Convention)

### Lato A

* John's Reflection on His Boyhood, His Introduction to Miss Keyes and the Glen, His Restlessness, And His Struggles with His Family, Finally Succesful, To Join the Navy – 6:19 – (1-5)
* This Was the Happiest Period in His Life, All Locked Set Fair for a Career Until He Was Stricken with Sickness and Invalided Out of His Chosen in Life. Recluctantly and Unhappily He Turned to a Number of Menial Occupations and Finally Returned to the Services of Miss Keyes – 10:12 – (6-8)
* Tragedy Now Strikes Hard. The World's Imagination Is Caught by the Brutal Senseless of the Apparent Criminal Who Slays His Kind Old Mistress – 3:57 – (9-10)

### Lato B

* John Was Hardly More Than a Bewildered Observer at His Own Trial, Not Being to Say More Than a Few Words. The Tides of Fate Wash Him to the Condemned Cell Where He Waits Three Sad Weeks for His Last Night on Earth – 7:32 – (11-12)
* When It Comes, He Cannot Sleep, but When He Does, a Strange, Prophetic Dream Comes to Him, and Helps Him to Bear the Strain of His Next Day's Ordeal as Scaffold and Its Crew Try in Vain Three Times to Take His Life – 13:20 – (13-15)

### Edizione LP del 1971, pubblicato dalla A&M Records (SP-4333)

Brani composti dai Fairport Convention, eccetto dove indicato.

### Lato A

* Little Did I Think – 2:20
* I Was Sixteen/John My Son – 4:41
* The Sailors Alphabet – 5:52 (Bert Lloyd)
* John Lee – 3:01
* Breakfast in Mayfair – 3:10

### Lato B

* Trail Song – 3:55
* Cell Song – 3:32
* The Time Is Near – 2:32
* Dream Song – 5:23
* Wake Up John – 5:36

### Edizione CD rimasterizzato del 2004, pubblicato dalla Island Records (982 150-1)

* The Verdict – 0:28 – Narratore: Philip Sterling-Wall
* Little Did I Think – 2:19
* I Was Sixteen (Part 1) – 1:29
* John My Son – 0:44
* I Was Sixteen (Part 2) – 1:17
* St. Ninian's Isle/Trumpet Hornpipe – 1:14
* Sailors Alphabet – 5:50 (Bert Lloyd)
* John Lee – 3:04
* Newspaper Reading – 0:46 – Narratore: A.L. Lloyd
* Breakfast in Mayfair – 3:09
* Trial Song – 3:55
* Cell Song – 3:35
* The Time Is Near – 2:31
* Dream Song – 5:24
* Wake Up John (Hanging Song) – 5:25
* Farewell to a Poor Man's Son – 4:55 – Bonus Track - 1975 BBC TV Programme
* Breakfast in Mayfair – 3:59 – Bonus Track - 1975 BBC TV Programme

## Musicisti

* Dave Swarbrick - fiddle, mandolino
* Simon Nicol - chitarra, dulcimer
* Dave Pegg - basso, mandolino
* Dave Mattacks - batteria, pianoforte elettrico
* Philip Sterling-Wall - narratore (brano: The Verdict)
* A.L. Lloyd - narratore (brano: Newspaper Reading)
* Sandy Denny - voce (solo brano bonus CD #17: Breakfast in Myfair)
* Jerry Donahue - chitarra (solo brano bonus CD #16 e #17: Farewell to a Poor Man's Son e Breakfast in Myfair)

## Classifica

Album

| Anno | Classifica | Posizione raggiunta |
| - | - | - |
| 1972 | Billboard 200 | 195 |
