''Commoners Crown'' is the seventh

studio album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...

British folk rock British folk rock is a form of folk rock which developed in the United Kingdom from the mid 1960s, and was at its most significant in the 1970s. Though the merging of folk and rock music came from several sources, it is widely regarded that the ...

band

Steeleye Span Steeleye Span are a British folk rock band formed in 1969 in England by Fairport Convention bass player Ashley Hutchings and established London folk club duo Tim Hart and Maddy Prior. The band were part of the 1970s British folk revival, and we ...

, released in 1975 by

Chrysalis Records Chrysalis Records () is a British record label that was founded in 1968. The name is both a reference to the pupal stage of a butterfly and a combination of its founders' names, Chris Wright and Terry Ellis. It started as the Ellis-Wright Ag ...

. It was their second album with the band's most commercially successful line-up. The album reached number 21 in the UK album charts. The album's title refers to a sculpture produced by Shirtsleeves Studio, which appears on the cover of the album. The sculpture is composed of hundreds of tiny human figures assembled to form a crown. The tiny figures also decorate the liner notes.

Description

By this point, the band had evolved into a full-fledged rock sound, comparable to Jethro Tull during its folk rock phase. Several of the tracks feature strong rock drumming and heavy guitar riffs, but the material remains almost entirely traditional folk music, with the exception of 'Bach Goes to Limerick', a surprising attempt to interweave a classical Bach violin piece with a traditional Irish fiddle piece. The lead track, 'Little Sir Hugh' is based on a medieval song about

Little Saint Hugh of Lincoln Hugh of Lincoln (1246 – 27 August 1255) was an English boy whose death in Lincoln was falsely attributed to Jews. He is sometimes known as Little Saint Hugh or Little Sir Hugh to distinguish him from the adult saint, Hugh of Lincoln (died 12 ...

, a 13th-century boy supposedly murdered by Jews. The original song's lyrics are sharply and purposely

anti-Semitic Antisemitism (also spelled anti-semitism or anti-Semitism) is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who holds such positions is called an antisemite. Antisemitism is considered to be a form of racism. Antis ...

, but the band removed all the anti-Semitic elements. In addition to 'Little Sir Hugh', the album includes 'Long Lankin', the band's longest song to date and something of a fan favourite, and 'Demon Lover'.

'New York Girls'

The band continued the whimsical streak demonstrated on ''

Now We Are Six ''Now We Are Six'' is a book of thirty-five children's verses by A. A. Milne, with illustrations by E. H. Shepard. It was first published in 1927 including poems such as "King John's Christmas", "Binker" and "Pinkle Purr". Eleven of the poem ...

'' by inviting comedian and actor Peter Sellers to play the

ukulele The ukulele ( ; from haw, ukulele , approximately ), also called Uke, is a member of the lute family of instruments of Portuguese origin and popularized in Hawaii. It generally employs four nylon strings. The tone and volume of the instrumen ...

on the closing track, '

New York Girls New York Girls", also known as "Can't You Dance the Polka," is a traditional sea shanty. It has a Roud Folk Song Index number of 486. Lyrics The lyrics have many variations, but almost all versions contain this chorus, sung after each verse: ...

'. The band decided that it wanted a ukulele on the song, but no one in the band knew anyone who played the instrument. Finally someone remarked that Sellers was known to play it competently, and they decided to approach him to appear on the song, even though none of them knew him at all. To their surprise, he agreed, and the song became one of only two recordings he made with a rock band. The other was 'After the Fox', recorded with

The Hollies The Hollies are a British pop rock band, formed in 1962. One of the leading British groups of the 1960s and into the mid-1970s, they are known for their distinctive three-part vocal harmony style. Allan Clarke (singer), Allan Clarke and Graham ...

in 1966 for the film of the same title. Sellers also contributed some vocals spoken in character as

Henry Crun and Minnie Bannister Henry Crun and Minnie Bannister are two characters from the 1950s United Kingdom radio comedy series ''The Goon Show''. Crun and Min were performed by Peter Sellers and Spike Milligan respectively. They are both elderly and often play significan ...

(originally portrayed by Sellers and

Spike Milligan Terence Alan "Spike" Milligan (16 April 1918 – 27 February 2002) was an Irish actor, comedian, writer, musician, poet, and playwright. The son of an English mother and Irish father, he was born in British Raj, British Colonial India, where h ...

in the BBC radio comedy programme, ''

The Goon Show ''The Goon Show'' is a British radio comedy programme, originally produced and broadcast by the BBC Home Service from 1951 to 1960, with occasional repeats on the BBC Light Programme. The first series, broadcast from 28 May to 20 September 19 ...

''). Many fans of the band found this distracting. On the original vinyl release, the song ended with Sellers saying "I say, are you a matelot? Careful what you say, sir – we're on board ship here." Subsequent CD releases omitted the quip, until 2009 when the 3-disc EMI box set ''

A Parcel of Steeleye Span ''A Parcel of Steeleye Span'', full title ''A Parcel of Steeleye Span: Their First Five Chrysalis Albums 1972–1975'', is a 2009 remastered box set of Steeleye Span's first five Chrysalis albums: ''Below the Salt, Parcel of Rogues, Now We Are ...

'' reinstated it. The song is also unusual in that all the male band members (except Nigel Pegrum) take lead vocals on two verses each (Rick Kemp singing verses 1 and 5, Tim Hart 2 and 6, Peter Knight 3 and 7 and Bob Johnson 4 and 8). Maddy Prior sings the chorus. Despite this odd note, 'Commoner's Crown' is often cited as one of the band's best efforts.

Track listing

#" Little Sir Hugh" (''Traditional'') – 4:44 #"Bach Goes To Limerick" ('' Hart,

Johnson Johnson is a surname of Anglo-Norman origin meaning "Son of John". It is the second most common in the United States and 154th most common in the world. As a common family name in Scotland, Johnson is occasionally a variation of ''Johnston'', a ...

Kemp Kemp may refer to: Places * Kemp, Illinois * Kemp, Ohio * Kemp, Oklahoma * Kemp, Texas * Kemp Land and Kemp Coast, Antarctica * Kemp Town, a 19th-century estate in East Sussex, England * Kemps Corner, place in India People * Kemp (surname) * Ke ...

Knight A knight is a person granted an honorary title of knighthood by a head of state (including the Pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church or the country, especially in a military capacity. Knighthood finds origins in the Gr ...

, Pegrum,

Prior Prior (or prioress) is an ecclesiastical title for a superior in some religious orders. The word is derived from the Latin for "earlier" or "first". Its earlier generic usage referred to any monastic superior. In abbeys, a prior would be l ...

'') – 3:41 #" Long Lankin" (''Traditional'') – 8:40 #"Dogs and Ferrets" (''Traditional'') – 2:43 #"Galtee Farmer" (''Traditional'') – 3:47 #" Demon Lover" (''Traditional'') – 5:54 #"Elf Call" (''Traditional'') – 3:54 #"Weary Cutters" (''Traditional'') – 2:04 #"

" (''Traditional'') – 3:12

Personnel

;Steeleye Span *

Maddy Prior Madelaine Edith Prior MBE (born 14 August 1947) is an English folk singer, best known as the lead vocalist of Steeleye Span. She was born in Blackpool and moved to St Albans in her teens. Her father, Allan Prior, was co-creator of the police dr ...

- vocals * Tim Hart - vocals,

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

, appalachian dulcimer * Bob Johnson - vocals,

* Rick Kemp -

bass guitar The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and ...

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

* Peter Knight -

violin The violin, sometimes known as a ''fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone (string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in the family in regular ...

* Nigel Pegrum -

flute The flute is a family of classical music instrument in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, meaning they make sound by vibrating a column of air. However, unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is a reedless ...

;Guest musician * Peter Sellers -

on "New York Girls" {{Authority control 1975 albums Chrysalis Records albums Steeleye Span albums Albums recorded at Morgan Sound Studios