Album: There's the Rub (1974)

License This Song 

• Hear me when I cry,
  Listen to my song
  Of Jay, my lovely lady,
  To the earth she did belong.
  I, a country Sir
  Loved her all my life,
  But the manor lady's bright young son
  Couldn’t take her for his wife.
  
  Under forest branches
  She came to me,
  Until the day she cried aloud
  A father I should be.
  That was the last time that we met,
  I never saw her again,
  For she took her life on Princetown Moor
  To save my worthy name.
  
  She found Death's open arms
  And lay in their embrace
  I watched as icy fingers
  Clawed her lovely face
  Now I stumble through the mist
  To where they laid her in her grave,
  And daily I'll remember
  With flowers for my Jay.
  
  Far beyond this land
  I will take your hand,
  The spirit of our love will live forever.
  Far beyond the clouds
  We will laugh aloud,
  The spirit of our love will live again Writer/s: ANDY POWELL, LAURIE WISEFIELD, MARTIN TURNER, STEVEN UPTON
  Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Comments: 5

• Alan from Wiltshire"But the manor lady's bright young son COULDN'T take her for his wife." It's the whole point of the song. And it is Princetown Moor, not Princeton Wharf. If you lived in the west of England and were knowledgable about Dartmoor you would know this.
• Rick Shultz from Chattanooga,tnI am simply going to stop trying to correct these lyrics, because people who can't HEAR worth a damn keep changing them back to what they THINK they are hearing and I'm just tired of trying to get them right on this page. Nobody gives a healthy damn whether they are right or not so to hell with it.
• Rick from Chattanooga,tnGuys, I hate to tell you but somebody has been messing with lyrics to "Lady Jay" a song b7y Wishbone Ash. Again. They have put the wrong words in the second of these two lines ""She found death's open arms. And lay in them in grace." Wrong words in second couplet. It SHOULD BE: "And lay in their embrace"! She laid in the embrace of the open arms of death. I HAD these lyrics RIGHT at one time. PLEASE correct this!
• Rick from Chattanooga,tnThank you for posting the CORRECT Lyrics to "Lady Jay" I am a devoted Wishbone Ash fan and could not STAND seeing Martin Turner's beautiful Lyric slaughtered. KUDOS to SongFacts!! Good Job guys!!
• Lester from New York City, NyGreat group, great album. TWIN BARRELS BURNING!!!!

More Songfacts:

Maggie MayRod Stewart

Rod Stewart wrote "Maggie May" about the woman who deflowered him when he was 16.

Second ChanceShinedown

Shinedown lead singer Brent Smith had a band before Shinedown that was dropped by Atlantic Records, but the label offered him a development deal - that was his "Second Chance."

Baby Got BackSir Mix-A-Lot

"Baby Got Back" isn't just a booty song. According to Sir Mix-A-Lot, it's about "lack of acceptance by Hollywood of the African-American body."

Black Hole SunSoundgarden

It has long been speculated that the Soundgarden song "Black Hole Sun" came from the name of a sculpture in Seattle, but according to their frontman Chris Cornell the title came from a phrase he misheard on the news. The band's name did come from a sculpture.

GloryJay-Z

Jay-Z's 2012 "Glory" features his daughter Blue Ivy Carter's cries and coos. At less than two days old, she became the youngest ever credited artist to feature on a Billboard chart when the song debuted on R&B/Hip-Hop Songs at #74.

Coming HomeDiddy - Dirty Money

"Coming Home" by Diddy - Dirty Money was written for for T.I., who was getting out of prison at the time.

Editor's Picks

Is That Song Public Domain?Fact or Fiction

Are classic songs like "Over The Rainbow" and "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" in the public domain?

Richard MarxSongwriter Interviews

Richard explains how Joe Walsh kickstarted his career, and why he chose Hazard, Nebraska for a hit.

Mark Arm of MudhoneySongwriter Interviews

When he was asked to write a song for the Singles soundtrack, Mark thought the Seattle grunge scene was already overblown, so that's what he wrote about.

Early Days of MTVFact or Fiction

If you can recall the days when MTV played videos, you know that there are lots of stories to tell. See if you can spot the real ones.

Charlotte Caffey of The Go-Go'sSongwriter Interviews

Charlotte was established in the LA punk scene when a freaky girl named Belinda approached her wearing a garbage bag.

Ian Anderson: "The delight in making music is that you don't have a formula"Songwriter Interviews

Ian talks about his 3 or 4 blatant attempts to write a pop song, and also the ones he most connected with, including "Locomotive Breath."