Meet on the Ledge

Background

The song was taken from the album What We Did on Our Holidays. The band had performed the song on the 1969 launch of From the Roundhouse, a short-lived BBC television youth and arts programme about the London "underground scene". The vocals were performed by Sandy Denny and Iain Matthews.

The song's title came from a large, low-hanging tree limb on which Richard Thompson used to play as a child, and which he and his friends had dubbed "The Ledge".

Reception

Thompson has acknowledged that some people interpret "the ledge" as some sort of code for the afterlife and that it is popular at funerals.{{cite journal

The song has become Fairport Convention's unofficial anthem. At their concerts, including the ongoing Cropredy Festival, it is often performed as the last song and a signal to fans that there will be no more encores.

A 2004 listeners poll for BBC Radio 2 placed the song at number 17 in the station's Sold On Song Top 100 songs.

Cover versions

Thompson re-recorded the song as a bonus track on his solo album Small Town Romance. Fairport Convention re-recorded the song in 1987, releasing it as a track on the album In Real Time: Live '87 and as a single to tie in with the band's 20th anniversary. The title has been used for a compilation album by Fairport Convention and a book about them. It is the first track on the 1972 compilation The History of Fairport Convention.

The song was covered by British band Trapeze when they made an appearance on the British TV show Colour Me Pop on BBC2 in 1969.

'Meet on the Ledge' was covered by New Zealand rock band Tom Thumb as the B-side to their 1969 single 'Witchi Tai To (Indian Love Chant)'.

In 2012, American rock band Counting Crows recorded a version of the song for their covers album, Underwater Sunshine (or What We Did on Our Summer Vacation).

In 2017, American rock band Greta Van Fleet recorded a version of the song for their second EP, From the Fires.

References

References

1. "Meet on the Ledge".
2. Humphries, Patrick. (1982). "Meet on the Ledge: A History of Fairport Convention". Eel Pie Publishing.
3. (7 November 2002). "Review of ''The Best of Fairport Convention (20th Century Masters: the Millennium Collection)''". PopMatters.
4. Zierke, Reinhard. "Meet on the Ledge". mainlynorfolk.info.
5. (June 2004). "17 | Meet On The Ledge". [[BBC Radio 2]].
6. (1969). "Tom Thumb - Witchi Tai To (Indian Love Chant)".
7. "Counting Crows {{!}} Discography {{!}} Underwater Sunshine (Or What We Did On Our Summer Vacation) - Meet on the Ledge".