> Sandy Denny > Songs > Autopsy

Autopsy

[Sandy Denny]

Sandy Denny’s song Autopsy is a most unusual song, changing time signature from 5/4 to 4/4 to 5/4 (by way of a few bars of 6/8). Fairport Convention recorded this with Richard Thompson playing dulcimer and lead guitar for their 1969 album Unhalfbricking. It can also to be found on Sandy Denny’s 1986 Who Knows Where the Time Goes? box set. A demo by Sandy Denny singing and playing 12-string guitar, recorded at Sound Techniques on 30 December 1968, was published in 2004 on her 5 CD Fledg’ling anthology A Boxful of Treasures.

Autopsy was performed live by Fairport Convention on 18 March 1969 in The Playhouse Theatre, Northumberland Avenue, for the Top Gear / John Peel radio show and broadcast on 6 April 1969 with a repeat on 4 May 1969. On this version there is of course no overdubbed dulcimer, and Sandy’s vocals have been treated to a heavy dose of echo. Otherwise, the version is very similar. This track can be found on the 1991 Richard Thompson fan club cassette Doom and Gloom Vol 2 and on the 1995 bootleg A Chronicle of Sorts. It was finally officially released in 2002 (and in much better quality!) on the Island CD re-release of Heyday and on the Fairport unConventioNal 4 CD set (The track on that album is not an Unhalfbricking out-take as noted in the sleeve notes).

Another BBC radion version from the “Night Ride” programme on 25 November 1968 is not available.

Cover Versions

  1. Iain Matthews with No Grey Faith on their album Secrets All Told (2000)
  2. Groove Armada sampled this in the song Remember on their album Lovebox (2002)
  3. Linde Nijland on her album Linde Nijland sings Sandy Denny (2003)
  4. The Sandy Denny Project on their album SDP Vol Two (2024)

Lyrics

Sandy Denny sings Autopsy

You must philosophise,
But why must you bore me to tears?
You’re red around the eyes,
You tell me things no one else hears.
You spend all your time crying,
Crying the hours into years,
Crying the hours into years.

Come, lend your time to me,
And you will know that you are free.
And when you look at me,
Don’t think you’re owning what you see,
For remember that you’re free,
And that’s what you want to be,
So just lend your time to me.

(repeat first verse)

Sorry, I can't show the lyrics here as I don't have the copyright owners' permission to publish them. But please feel free and ask me to send you the song's lyrics.