The Saint

Compared to the gravitas of some of the songs on Leon's debut LP ("Dead Men Never Die", "Once When I Was Young"), "The Saint" is a make-weight. Nevertheless, Leon liked it enough to revive it some 20 years later for inclusion on one of his most successful albums, Bringing the News From Nowhere. The song lyric concerns a righteous puritan who eventually finds his afterlife, but despite being set to an airy tune, lacks any real humour. (In 1959, Leon had played guitar on a recording of "The Saint" by Dominic Behan. The song is of course different - but it is possible the title was recalled by Leon.)

"In a dirty world, is the important thing to keep one's own hands clean? For saint you could read intellectual or idealist or... The song is an attempt (though not, I'm afraid, a very successful one) to express a question that seems, to me at least, valid."  -  LR (Songs For City Suqares and Sceptical Circles (songbook), 1966)

"A very early song - to do with keeping one's hands clean in a dirty world, I suspect."  -  LR (sleevenotes to Perspectives, 1997)


Recordings

Version 1 (1966)   

Version 2 (1970)  

Version 3 (1986)  


Sheet music