Song Of The Week: “Let No Man Steal Your Thyme” by The Pentangle

By Houston Roby

Let’s go old-school. How old? I don’t know, 400 years or so? Doesn’t get much more old-school than that.

And we have a sharp-eared music teacher and a gardener with a song in his heart to thank for getting this one into the 20th century so that a 1960s folk-jazz band could discover and record it for their debut album.

History and music together? That’s amore.

Cecil Sharp made his living as a composer, teacher, and part-time principal of a conservatory in London. In 1903, while visiting a friend in Somerset, he overheard the man’s gardener quietly singing a tune to himself while working on the lawn. Enchanted by what he heard, he asked the gardener to sing it again while he wrote down the words and notated the melody. Having already developed an interest in English folk music a few years prior, Sharp was theoretically familiar, but had never heard this music out in the wild, so to speak, among the actual folk. It sparked something in his heart, and set him on course to collect over 4,000 songs from England and the Southern Appalachian region of the US over the next 20 years, one of the most important acts of folklore preservation in music history.

And what tune was the gardener singing that sunny day? A little ditty titled The Seeds Of Love, which dated back to the late 1600s, itself a variation of an older, sadder song called The Sprig Of Thyme, later known as Let No Man Steal Your Thyme.

Now let’s jump forward from Edwardian London to Swingin’ London.

In the mid-1960s, folk music underwent the same sort of boundary-pushing changes rock music was going through — a wave of younger musicians wanted to break free from the strict traditions, to incorporate their love of rock, jazz, and Indian music into the English folk music they also held dear. Enter The Pentangle.

Virtuoso guitarists Bert Jansch and John Renbourn were already recording together as a duo when they met vocalist Jacqui McShee, who had been running her own small folk club. The idea of forming a band began to percolate and eventually they added the rhythm section of Danny Thompson and Terry Cox, both formerly of Alexis Korner’s Blues Band. They signed with Transatlantic Records and recorded their debut album with super-producer Shel Talmy (renowned for his work with The Who and The Kinks).

Released in 1968, The Pentangle introduced the world to the eclectic tastes and progressive folk-jazz of the five-headed band. “Let No Man Steal Your Thyme” opened the proceedings with the haunting vocals of McShee, the interweaving guitars of Jansch and Renbourn, and many layers of mystery, metaphor, and entendre. The group continued to play on the genre’s cutting edge until their split five years later, and in helping to break tradition along the way, they also helped to keep it alive.

So beware, beware, keep your garden fair …. with The Pentangle.

12 thoughts on “Song Of The Week: “Let No Man Steal Your Thyme” by The Pentangle”

  2. Well, it’s official. I am now following your blog!
    I just finished telling Misky how I saw Pentangle 1,000 years ago at the Fillmore East in NY. We saw many big name groups there before they became superstars.
    Thanks for a great post!

    • I’m so happy you’re here! And I’m always jealous when people tell me about hanging out at places like the Fillmore East. It must have been an amazing time. And I certainly didn’t expect to hear from anyone who had actually seen Pentangle!

      • Haha! That’s because I am a relic; there aren’t too many of us around …. or at least who admit to the fact!
        The late 60s/early 70s was a great time for music, unsurpassed for many reasons, IMO. Every generation says theirs is the best; for Boomers I, it truly was!

        • As a child of Boomers, I was indoctrinated early into the music and culture of your generation through (among other things) ever-present radio, and my parents’ collection of Doonesbury comics. I read, watched, and listened to everything I could find about the 50s through the 70s, and wholeheartedly agree that the music is unsurpassed!

          • Ah, the sweet smell of validation on a Wednesday morning in New York!
            My sons were indoctrinated into the Boomers Cult much the same way you were and, I’m proud to say, still prefer the music of the 60s and 70s over the music of today. In fact, my 12-year-old grandson requested a Black Sabbath T shirt for Christmas …. which he is getting! My job is done! 😂

  3. Fellow child of Boomers, here. I remember being maybe five years old and listening to my dad’s music on the car tape deck (Heart, Dire Straits, Zeppelin, Queen). Fond memories that certainly influenced my taste in music. I also believe that the music of the ’60s and ’70s is unsurpassed.

    What a story, too! You really brought Cecil Sharp to life. Hadn’t heard of him before, so it was neat to learn about his contribution to music preservation.

    • My experience was similar except my mother listened to 60s pop and 70s soft rock. Tons of Neil Diamond. I had to discover Zeppelin and Queen on my own!
      I’d never heard of Cecil before either. The most famous folklorist is a guy named Francis Child — I didn’t even know there was someone else!

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