Martin Turner wrote the lyrics for “Lady Jay”. He based it on local legends of Kitty Jay’s grave, which is located on a remote moorland area in Dartmoor, Devon.
Local folklore suggests that it is the grave of a young woman (Kitty Jay) who tragically died around the end of the 18th century. At that time, suicide was considered to be a sin and they would not allow Kitty Jay to be buried in the consecrated grounds of any local churchyards. Local superstition was that burial at a crossroads would confuse any tormented spirit. It would remain there, totally confused about what direction to take.
According to the legend, Kitty Jay was an orphan child who worked on a local farm where a relationship developed with the farmer’s son. As a result of this relationship, she fell pregnant. The boy denied having anything to do with it. Kitty Jay was forced to leave the farm and fell into destitution. With her life was in ruins, with no chance of finding work locally, she hung herself in a barn at the farm, and was subsequently buried in a remote area of the moor.
So the story goes !!!!!!!!
ReviewThis was the first album by the mark 2 line up, where Laurie Wisefield replaced Ted Turner on lead guitar, alongside Andy Powell to get that distinctive twin lead guitar sound. Argus is considered to be their outstanding album, rightly so but I think this runs it a close second as every track is excellent. The outstanding tracks on it are --- Persephone, which has some fantastic melodic lead guitar work by Andy & Laurie. Lady Jay is another excellent track with some neat guitar work. The instrumental track F.U.B.B. ( reportedly F***** Up Beyond Belief) is still a concert favourite. All other tracks help to make this an excellent album. My CD version gets a regular spin