The Hangman's Beautiful Daughter was the third album by The Incredible String Band, released in March 1968. It is regarded by many critics as a quintessential example of hippie culture, with its promotion of ideas such as communal living, eastern mysticism and pantheism.
Commercial success
The album was a major commercial success in the UK, staying in the charts for 27 weeks with a peak of #5. It has sold 800,000 copies in the UK to date. In the U.S., the ISB always remained underground and the album struggled to #161 on the Billboard 200. However, it was nominated for a Grammy in the folk music category.
Content of album
The album featured a series of vividly dreamlike Robin Williamson songs, such as "The Minotaur's Song", a surreal music-hall parody told from the point of view of the mythical beast, and its centrepiece was Mike Heron's "A Very Cellular Song", a 13-minute reflection on life, love and amoebas; its complex structure incorporated a Bahamian spiritual ("I Bid You Goodnight", originally recorded by the Pinder Family [1][2]) and an adaptation of a Sikh hymn ("May the pure light within you"). It had a layered production, using multi-track recording techniques[3] and a very wide array of instruments from all corners of the world, including sitar, gimbri, shenai, oud, harpsichord, panpipes and kazoo.
Cover art
The album's cover art - which on original LP issues was the back cover, as the front showed just Williamson and Heron - consists of a photograph taken on Christmas Day 1967. It shows both musicians, their girlfriends Licorice McKechnie and Rose Simpson, friends Roger Marshall and Nicky Walton, several children of their friend Mary Stewart, and Robin's dog Leaf.[4]
Title of album
Regarding the title, Mike Heron said at the time:- "The hangman is death and the beautiful daughter is what comes after. Or you might say that the hangman is the past twenty years of our life and the beautiful daughter is now, what we are able to do after all these years. Or you can make up your own meaning - your interpretation is probably just as good as ours." [4]
Track listing
- "Koeeoaddi There" (Williamson) – 4:49
- "The Minotaur's Song" (Williamson) – 3:22
- "Witches Hat" (Williamson) – 2:33
- "A Very Cellular Song" (Heron) – 13:09
- "Mercy I Cry City" (Heron) – 2:46
- "Waltz of the New Moon" (Williamson) – 5:10
- "The Water Song" (Williamson) – 2:50
- "Three Is a Green Crown" (Williamson) – 7:46
- "Swift as the Wind" (Heron) – 4:53
- "Nightfall" (Williamson) – 2:33
Personnel
- Robin Williamson - vocals, guitar, gimbri, penny whistle, percussion, pan pipe, piano, oud, mandolin, Jew's harp, chahanai, water harp, harmonica
- Mike Heron - vocals, sitar, Hammond organ, guitar, hammered dulcimer, harpsichord
- Dolly Collins - flute organ, piano
- David Snell - harp
- Licorice McKechnie - vocals, finger cymbals
- Richard Thompson - vocals on "The Minotaur's Song" [5]
Influence and additional cultural references
The Hangman's Beautiful Daughter has been widely acclaimed by many critics.
For instance, it was #88 in Joe S. Harrington's Top 100 Albums[6] and was listed by Keenan in The Best Albums Ever...Honest[7].
Robert Plant of Led Zeppelin said his group found their way by playing Hangman's and following the instructions.
The artwork has been referenced on the cover to David Keenan's book England's Hidden Reverse, Current 93's album cover to their LP Earth Covers Earth, Devendra Banhart's Cripple Crow LP, and Feathers' eponymous debut.
Electronic music duo Boards of Canada may have referenced it on the cover of their album Music Has the Right to Children, as the band has openly stated their appreciation for the Incredible String Band.
A sample character in the role-playing game Promethean: The Created is named "The Hangman's Beautiful Daughter," as is one personality of schizophrenic DC comic book character Crazy Jane.
The Hangman's Beautiful Daughter is the name of a character in Simon R. Green's second Nightside novel, The Nightingale's Lament in which she is the living embodiment of The Dark.
The title has also been referenced in the song European Oils by Destroyer.
A 1980s sixties-revival group named themselves The Hangman's Beautiful Daughters after the title of this album.
References
