Two bands of the same decade separated only by an ocean and a few letters of the alphabet. How could they turn out so different? I guess it’s one of those mysteries of life.
Steely Dan, Josie, from Aja (1977)
Steeleye Span, The Weaver and the Factory Maid, from Parcel of Rogues (1973)
Actually, there is some thematic consistency between the two songs. Gurls! Anyway, according to my painstaking research (a couple of Google searches) I am not the only person who got a little confused by the similarity in the names. When I first heard about Steely Dan in the mid ’70s my first thought was, “You mean Steeleye Span?” A friend had introduced me to the latter a few years before. Steeleye Span is apparently still active. It’s not my genre of choice, but they certainly do what they do really well. It’s been decades since I listened to their stuff. The album I remember is Please to See the King.
Note It was really hard to figure out the meter of The Weaver and the Factory Maid from about 1:00 (when the tempo kicks in), but I think I finally did. Every verse of the song has 45 beats, divided like this: 10/8, 10/8, 10/8, 10/8, 5/8. It’s a pretty complex rhythm for a folk song!
What Do You Do for an Encore? 
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Steely dan stole the name
Thanks for the comment! Is it a light quip or a genuine assertion?
Interesting either way! I’d like to know the story on that.
Remember that Steeleye span came from several groups includeing The Woods Band ( indeed a VERY early album has one of the Woods in the group ( prior to Maddy ( pun partly intended )) . It all came from the partucularly eurpoean ( mostly but not entirely british twist of __electric folk__ ( see also Planksty ( that ain’t the right spelling) for even more GREAT stuff ( Yeah I was a steeleye junkie ( almost in love with maddy.. for her INcredable voice!)
Thanks for the background! If you have any electric folk gems to recommend, please do! I’m trying to expand my range around here.
I remember a few years ago, when I went to see Steeleye Span performing live in concert. The music before the show was all Steely Dan (English had lot of humour!)
Lol. Thanks for sharing that!
Is Steeley Span still performing? That itself is pretty amazing.
The next step is they could do Steeleye Span versions of Steely Dan songs! The title “Deacon Blues” sounds vaguely like a Steeleye Span song already . . .
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