Your favourite Richard Thompson song? Choose from more than 70
February 18, 2025
Was I mad, asks Colin Randall, to suppose the songwriting genius of Richard Thompson could be distilled into a poll inviting votes for the best of his songs?
Maybe not mad, certainly naive.
I set the ball rolling with five choices of my own: Beeswing, Dimming of the Day, 1952 Vincent Black Lightning, From Galway to Graceland and Meet on the Ledge. From such a gigantic songbook, I expected several other songs to be nominated. I did not expect at least 70 to collect one vote or more.
But that is the tally, barely 12 hours after I published my invitation here and spread the word at the Salut! Live, UK & Irish Folk and Acoustic 60s-80s, Richard Thompson and Fairporters Facebook groups. I am overwhelmed by the response but should have known better than to expect less.
As Louisa Mallett asked it at the RT group, "how do you sum up a +50 year career this simply?".
She went on: "Not denigrating the aim, but some of us will love rock, some folk, some acoustic, some ballad, some (positive/negative) emotion. Some guitar over lyrics; some vice versa. We'll have emotional connections with songs, love them each for different reasons."
The response is all the more striking because hoops had to be negotiated along the way.
The “free” polling tool I found online turned out to be free only for the first 25 votes, a limit I quickly reached. The polling form then simply disappeared from the Salut! Live post introducing it.
So I alerted fellow subscribers of those Facebook groups to this and resorted to a simple count of the items they cast there.
Image of the Mirror Blue album on which Beeswing appears: www.richardthompson-music.com
And the results?
My count may well be imperfect and, as I write, responses are still trickling in. But the pattern is clear and to no great surprise, Beeswing was the comfortable winner, with 20+ votes, followed by Dimming of the Day on 13 and 1952 Vincent Black Lightning and Wall of Death on eight. ""Your list is my list," said Mandy Dale at Fairporters.
Restricting myself to songs that attracted at least three votes, try this for a parade of excellence.
Seven: Meet on the Ledge
Six: From Galway to Graceland, How Will I Ever Be Simple Again?
Five: Waltzing's for Dreamers
Four: Tear-stained Letter, The Great Valerio, Persuasion (three specifying with RT's son Teddy)
Three: Down Where the Drunkards Roll, I Want to see the Bright Lights, The Calvary Cross, Walking on a Wire, Jet Plane in a Rocking Chair, Now Be Thankful
That leaves dozens picking up one or two votes. Some chose only one song, many two or three and a few many more (I had set no limit).
Echoing Louisa's point (above) about the near-impossibility of narrowing it down, my transatlantic electronic friend Steve Peck wrote: "The Great Valerio and The Woods at Darner and about two dozen others."
There you have it. My thanks to so many fellow RT fans, many if not most far more knowledgeable than I, who took part in the vote or commented on it. Together they made the exercise seem worthwhile if, as I admitted at the outset, it was unscientific and just for fun.
And we’ve made a Salut! Live Spotify playlist of the 17 songs that made the list above, if you want a quick fix of the songs.
Your response helped an old man cope with the bitter disappointment of seeing his team, Sunderland, succumb to a late Leeds winner.
There is still a small stream of votes coming in.
I’ve seen nothing to alter the essential outcome but thanks again to all who have contributed .
Posted by: Colin Randall | February 18, 2025 at 11:01 AM