Salut! Live

Some people are altogether too clever. Others just paid attention at school.

Those paying attention at Salut! Live will have seen my reference to the delicious Sandy Denny/Fotheringay anecdote from the Manchester gig where, in response to repeated demands Banks of the Nile, the band appeared to relent - only to bash out Memphis Tennessee.

As I departed Abu Dhabi for a holiday on the Nile, a Salut! Live reader writing as Private Beach added this comment:

I wonder if Sandy remembered that Memphis Tennessee takes its name from Memphis in Egypt - which is indeed on the banks of the Nile?

I will not say it was the highlight of an enthralling holiday. But to Memphis, ancient capital of Egypt, I duly went. There was not a great deal to explore - most of what remains of the old city is at the museum where the main picture was taken - but it had to be seen.

Private Beach's theory seemed so compelling that I abandoned my assumption that the band intended no more than a gag. Of course, I told myself, one or more of them must have known precisely what they were doing.

I promised to check, and this I have done. With this surprising - to me - response from Jerry Donahue, the Fotheringay guitarist behind the project to salvage, complete and issue the band's second album 38 years after work first started on it:

We have always loved a rocker and I do remember doing Memphis Tennessee at times but never knew
that the origin of the city name was from Egypt! If Sandy knew she didn't mention it in my presence and
I suspect that it is just a coincidence. However I will run that one by Pat and Gerry to see what they may
know.

Keep watching this space. If Jerry's own inquiries shed more light, it will be reflected here....