
Back in 2022, I wrote an article in the Essentials series on Ten Richard Thompson Albums for americana fans. Now, personally, I still consider the great Richard Thompson to be a singer-songwriter firmly fixed in the Anglo-Scottish folk tradition, but it can’t be denied that he certainly resonates with many an americana fan, both in the UK and in his adopted USA. A number of his songs have been covered by American roots musicians, probably the best-known example being Del McCoury’s bluegrass version of ‘Vincent Black Lightning’, lyrically identical to Thompson’s original, except for the swapping of “Knoxville” for “Box Hill”, it sounds so authentic that many listeners assume it’s a McCoury original; including the band Red Molly, who took their name from the song and didn’t realise Thompson wrote it until several years after they’d started performing under the name.
But I’m going to write about another song with a distinct americana tinge to it and one that I think is among Richard Thompson’s finest compositions, and that’s no mean claim, given the quantity of great songs that have flowed from his pen over the years. ‘When The Spell Is Broken’ is an absolute gem of a break-up song that documents the breakdown of a relationship with some wickedly caustic lines, including “love letters you wrote, are pushed back down your throat, and leave you choking. When the spell is broken”. There’s little doubt that the song reflects the breakdown of Thompson’s marriage to Linda Peters and was probably written around the time of the infamous Tour From Hell, the American Richard & Linda Thompson tour to promote the album “Shoot Out The Lights“, where Linda would sometimes attack Richard on stage, in their final appearances as a duo.
The song first appears on “Across A Crowded Room”, Thompson’s 1985 release and the last of his albums to be fully recorded in the UK and the last to be produced by Joe Boyd, who Thompson had worked with since his Fairport Convention days. It has been a favourite album since I first heard it, and it’s packed with great songs, but ‘When The Spell Is Broken’ is the standout piece. The recording includes old Fairport colleagues Simon Nicol (rhythm guitar) and Dave Mattacks (drums), along with Clive Gregson and Christine Collister on backing vocals.
Thompson’s own version of the song has a bitter, ragged edge that you can imagine reflects the way he felt when writing the song and his guitar solo, superb as always, has a choppiness and slight dissonance that, in turn, mirrors that bitter tone. But ten years after his recording, on an album dedicated to Richard Thompson songs but recorded by other artists, “Beat The Retreat”, Bonnie Raitt would add to the americana credibility of the song by offering up her own, more regretful interpretation. Marked by her signature slide guitar and with backing vocals from gospel supremos, The Blind Boys of Alabama, the song takes on a haunting, almost repentful tone that works just as well as the original interpretation and shows how good Thompson’s writing is and the different dimensions his songs can occupy. Perhaps unsurprisingly, this is one of my favourite interpretations of one of his songs.
‘When the Spell is Broken’ is, quite simply, an outstanding song, regardless of who is singing it or how it is being sung.