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"Who Knows Where The Time Goes"
Fairport Convention
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Although she only spent 18 months with the band Sandy Denny remains, for many, the abiding voice of Fairport Convention. During 1969 alone, Sandy and Fairport released three extraordinarily accomplished albums and the second of these 鈥淯halfbricking鈥 showcased the definitive version of Sandy鈥檚 finest song.
Alexandra Elene Maclean Denny wrote 鈥淲ho Knows Where The Time Goes鈥 in her pre-Fairport days. She was just 20 years old, but already building her reputation as a singer around the network of folk clubs that peppered London during the mid-1960s. Her repertoire at the time drew mainly on the folk tradition and the work of newly emerging singer-songwriters like Bob Dylan and Tom Paxton, but Sandy was also tentatively starting to write her own material.
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"she was very funny raucous humour, liked a drink." |
Using the title 鈥淏allad of Time鈥 she began her best-known work sometime during 1967 renamed 鈥淲ho Knows Where The Time Goes鈥 it became only the second song Sandy had ever completed. It was in 1968 during her brief six month stint with the Strawbs that Sandy first recorded the song. This version 鈥 slower and looser than the more familiar Fairport take 鈥 has Sandy accompanying herself on guitar and the familiar opening line to 鈥淎cross the purple sky...鈥
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"We just stood there with our mouths open thinking 'God that's a good song'" |
Later that year, just after Sandy joined Fairport, 鈥淲ho Knows Where The Time Goes鈥 reached its widest audience when Judy Collins chose the song as title track to her eighth album. Released before either of Sandy鈥檚 versions, the Judy Collins cover was also heard on the soundtrack of the 1968 Martin Sheen film, The Subject Was Roses.
However it is Sandy鈥檚 own recording with Fairport that remains definitive. There is a lacy delicacy to her reading making it a song of autumn and fireside intimacy: a sad reflection on love found, time lost and ache of parting鈥ll infused with the poignant perfection of Sandy鈥檚 vocal, and underpinned by Richard Thompson鈥檚 glorious spider鈥檚 web guitar.
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"I heard recordings of the Strawbs with Sandy singing and I thought they were terrific" |
Proud as Sandy was of 鈥淲ho Knows Where The Time Goes鈥 it became 鈥 like so many classic songs 鈥 a bit of a millstone for its composer. 鈥淚 just wish people would listen to some of the other songs" Sandy reflected in the mid 70s, when she was struggling to build a solo career.
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"I communicate to a lot of people, but it's not enough yet.." |
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Nanci Griffith, Kate Bush, Beth Orton, The Bangles, Pete Townsend and Robert Plant all count themselves fans. Indeed, in 1971, Plant invited Sandy to duet with him on Led Zeppelin鈥檚 fourth album, earning her the accolade of being the only guest vocalist ever to feature on a Zeppelin album. |
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Before her untimely death in 1978, aged only 31, Sandy formed the short-lived Fotheringay and made four acclaimed solo albums but it is her work with Fairport Convention that has really stood the test of time. It was a brief but blazing musical union. Looking back on her audition for the band, Fairport鈥檚 Simon Nicol reflected: 鈥渋t was a one horse race really...she stood out like a clean glass in a sink full of dirty dishes鈥.
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