Fairport Convention
Nottamun Town (What we did on our holydays)
By Marcel Veltman
Strange lyrics, apparently based on Jeronymus Bosch's painting 'The last ordeal'. Run a
search on the web, and you'll land on a homepage of paganists, who consider it a sacred
text. You will also find that their version is longer. It is dead simple, just strum Dm
all the way through. This if you have a band around. Doing it on my own, I keep a drone
going by lightly striking a bass of A, and ad some spice pulling off and hammering on the
A note on the third string on alternating measures. I rest three measures while singing a
capella between ( and ), do the intro, the in betweens and the outro with a Dsus4, Dm,
Dsus2 to Dm sequence and finish the song off with the Dm bent high for an eerie effect.
If this not raises the spirits of the earth, find someone familiar with DADGAD tuning for
some soloing.
Dm, Dsus4, Dm, Dsus2, Dm, Dm/A
Dm
In Nottamun town not a soul would look up
Not a soul would look up, not a soul would look down
Not a soul would look up, not a soul would look down
( )Dm
To show me the way to fair Nottamun town
And the king and the queen and the company more
Came walking behind and a riding before
Come a stark naked drummer beating a drum
With his hand on his bosom came riding along
Sat down on a hard hot cold frozen stone
Ten thousand stood round me but I was alone
Took my heart in my hand to keep myself warm
Ten thousand was drowned that never was born
(Instrumental part)
(Repeat first verse)