THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD
1,770) Vashti Bunyan — “Rose Hip November”
From the now and justly legendary Vashti (see #204), “one of the most unique and soothing voices in folk” (David Hopper, https://360degreesound.com/10-great-november-songs/), here is “a gentle nature meditation” (Kitty Empire, https://www.theguardian.com/music/2014/oct/12/vashti-bunyan-review-st-pancras-old-church-london) that “[o]f all her very beautiful songs . . . is my total favourite”. (mickigoe, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uZ2l65tB_Us) Well, it’s one of my favorites.
Sarah Lillard muses:
The words of “Rose Hip November” fill me to overflowing and I sing. Vashti’s voice, made of the stuff of earth, sings over me. . . . Some might describe her tender soprano as ethereal or angelic, but that does not do her justice. Think of the tinkling of an ice cold stream tumbling over smoothed rocks. Think of wind sweeping water droplets off lush green leaves. Think of a hummingbird finally coming to rest on a delicate branch, hunger satiated for a moment. Those things are Vashti’s voice to me. Her particular brand of folk music is traditional in theme, but unique in performance, using the standard guitar picking and fiddles/strings, but also organ, horns, and glockenspiel. The arrangements are anything but sparse and her voice glides over top of rich instrumentation to create peace-filled music. . . . “Rose Hip November[]” . . . beautifully exemplifies this magical combination. Vashti’s words paint pastoral landscapes for her hearers and each instrument lays a jewel-tone thread in an expertly woven tapestry. Listening is like pulling layers of soft blankets up to your chin on an icy morning. You will discover something new upon each listen and you will be better for it. Whether you are mourning the passing of warm weather, or you live the whole year waiting for fall, you will surely appreciate this graceful autumnal anthem.
https://medium.com/memoir-mixtapes/sarah-recommends-rose-hip-november-by-vashti-bunyan-ed9523a21bd9
Songfacts tells us that:
Bunyan and her boyfriend were making their way to the Isle of Skye when they met Mac and Iris MacFarlane, a couple who were also bound for Scotland. They offered their former home in northwest England’s Lake District as a respite for the travelers during the chilly autumn months of 1968. . . . The song title was inspired by Bunyan’s walks to Hawkshead, an English village where she bought food while she stayed at the MacFarlanes’ house. On her way back one November day, she noticed the hedgerows were full of rose hips, which are the seed pods of rose plants. Welsh fingerstyle guitarist John James performs on the track, but not with his typical instrument. He plays the dulcitone, a Scottish keyboard-style instrument that uses tuning forks in place of strings to produce sound. James went to art school with Robert Lewis, Bunyan’s boyfriend and traveling companion . . . . Robin Williamson of The Incredible String Band plays the fiddle, whistle, and Irish harp on this track. . . . [It] is a product of Bunyan’s introspective songwriting, capturing the melancholic beauty of the British countryside in late autumn. “It was when I was really grateful about being given a house to live in after being on the road and freezing cold,” Bunyan told Uncut magazine. “I was also still quite romantic about farming life. ‘Gold landing at our door…’ When I was a child, if you were to catch an autumn leaf you would be lucky. So, ‘catch one leaf and fortune will surround you ever more.'”
https://www.songfacts.com/facts/vashti-bunyan/rose-hip-november
Jason Ankeny tells us Vashti’s story:
Vashti Bunyan is an English singer/songwriter whose 1970 debut album Just Another Diamond Day was an overlooked gem in its time that later grew to be a defining classic of acid folk. Sluggish record saless discouraged Bunyan enough to give up music entirely shortly after its release, but as the years went on, more new fans grew enamored with the album’s hushed but surreal beauty. . . . Bunyan . . . first took up the guitar while a student at the Ruskin School of Fine Art and Drawing. She was ultimately expelled at age 18 for spending too much time writing songs and not enough time painting. A bit of a free spirit even then, she took a trip to New York and, while there, fell under the spell of Bob Dylan’s music . . . . Once back in London, Bunyan was committed to a career in music, and through theatrical agent Monte Mackay she soon met Rolling Stones manager/ producer Andrew Loog Oldham. . . . [H]e signed her to Decca Records and for her debut single brought her the Mick Jagger/Keith Richards-penned “Some Things Just Stick in Your Mind.” The record earned little attention, and Bunyan moved to Columbia for the follow-up, “Train Song,” [see #204] released in May of 1966. She moved into the orbit of Oldham’s Immediate Records after its founding that year and recorded a brace of sides, mostly of her own music, none of which was issued commercially. She also cut one side with the Twice as Much (Immediate’s answer to Simin & Garfunkel) entitled “The Coldest Night of the Year.” The latter, with its Phil Spector-like production and beautiful harmonizing, showed off her singing at its most pop-oriented and commercial. Sometime after that, she left London in a horse-drawn wagon on a two-year journey into communal living in the Hebrides, with the ultimate goal of meeting folk icon Donovan [see #908, 1,036, 1,064] on the Isle of Skye. She later chanced to cross paths with American producer Joe Boyd, who had made his name in London recording acts such as Pink Floyd [see # 13, 38, 260] and Fairport Convention [see #1,199]. Throughout her travels Bunyan had continued writing songs, and in 1969 she teamed with Boyd to record her debut LP, the lovely Just Another Diamond Day, which included some assistance from such British folk notables as Simon Nicol and Dave Swarbrick from Fairport Convention and the Incredible String Band’s Robin Williamson. After completing the album she left for Ireland, dropping out of music to raise a family.
Here is Vashti live in ‘11:
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