Let Your Hair Hang Down
Ostensibly a carefree song, "Let Your Hair Hang Down" glides buoyantly across its melody, but the lyric reveals an uneasy relationship at its core. Nevertheless, the song is playful, as exemplified by Martin Carthy's percussive guitar work (as rendered on Love Loneliness Laundry) and Leon's repeated use of the word 'turn' in all its myriad contexts. (The word would often be turned about in Leon's works, for example with dual meaning in the last verse of "Brass Band Music", or in lines such as "eyes that turn to watch me turn my body into stone", from "In The Park", on the same LP as "Let Your Hair Hang Down".)
"Let Your Hair Hang Down" is another period piece which would gain long-standing popularity. In 2005, Leon's (grown) daughter Daniela contributed a version to the CD, And They All Sang Rosselsongs.
"Let Your Hair Hang Down" is another period piece which would gain long-standing popularity. In 2005, Leon's (grown) daughter Daniela contributed a version to the CD, And They All Sang Rosselsongs.
“Odd to realise how many of my songs turn on the word ‘turn’... To avoid the clichés of the love song, I was aware that I had to think in terms of writing about relationships rather than about the fuzzy emotions of love, which meant focusing on a particular relationship between particular people and making the observations and descriptions specific. This is not, of course, the approach taken by pop songs.” - LR (sleevenotes to The World Turned Upside Down (CD box set), p27)
Recordings
Version 1 (1977)
Cover version (2005) By Daniela Rosselson
- Love Loneliness Laundry
- Rosselsongs
- What You Do With What You've Got Roy Bailey album, featuring the original recording
- The World Turned Upside Down
Cover version (2005) By Daniela Rosselson