"Lady Eleanor" is a song written by Alan Hull, featured on the first

Lindisfarne Lindisfarne, also known as Holy Island, is a tidal island off the northeast coast of England, which constitutes the civil parishes in England, civil parish of Holy Island in Northumberland. Holy Island has a recorded history from the 6th centu ...

album, '' Nicely Out of Tune''. Initially released as a single in May 1971, it failed to chart. In 1972, following the success of the band's single "Meet me on the Corner" (which reached No. 5 in the UK), and the highly successful second album '' Fog on the Tyne'', it was re-released and became their second consecutive hit single, reaching Number 3 in the UK charts. Its B-Side was "Nothing But the Marvellous is Beautiful". The song features the

folk rock Folk rock is a fusion genre of rock music with heavy influences from pop, English and American folk music. It arose in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom in the mid-1960s. In the U.S., folk rock emerged from the folk music re ...

band Lindisfarne's characteristic combination of

mandolin A mandolin (, ; literally "small mandola") is a Chordophone, stringed musical instrument in the lute family and is generally Plucked string instrument, plucked with a plectrum, pick. It most commonly has four Course (music), courses of doubled St ...

playing (by Ray Jackson) and close harmony singing. Its lyrics are inspired by

Edgar Allan Poe Edgar Allan Poe (; January 19, 1809 – October 7, 1849) was an American writer, poet, editor, and literary critic who is best known for his poetry and short stories, particularly his tales involving mystery and the macabre. He is widely re ...

's short stories " Eleonora" and " The Fall of the House of Usher". The verse is in the key of B minor, while the chorus is in the

relative key In music, 'relative keys' are the major and minor scales that have the same key signatures ( enharmonically equivalent), meaning that they share all of the same notes but are arranged in a different order of whole steps and half steps. A pair ...

D major D major is a major scale based on D (musical note), D, consisting of the pitches D, E (musical note), E, F♯ (musical note), F, G (musical note), G, A (musical note), A, B (musical note), B, and C♯ (musical note), C. Its key signature has two S ...

. Simon Cowe's lead guitar work betrays the influence of Peter Green, while the song's instrumental coda - like Green's hit composition " Man of the World" - ends on a D major sixth chord.

Charts

Cover versions

The song has been covered by a number of acts, including Caterina Caselli, American Gypsy and Lemon.Lindisfarne songs covered by other artists
''lindisfarne.co.uk''

References

1972 singles Lindisfarne (band) songs Music based on works by Edgar Allan Poe Charisma Records singles Philips Records singles Elektra Records singles Works based on The Fall of the House of Usher {{1970s-single-stub