My Lady d'Arbanville

Cat Stevens

My Lady d'Arbanville, why do you sleep so still?
I'll wake you tomorrow
and you will be my fill, yes, you will be my fill.

My Lady d'Arbanville why does it grieve me so?
But your heart seems so silent.
Why do you breathe so low, why do you breathe so low,

My Lady d'Arbanville why do you sleep so still?
I'll wake you tomorrow
and you will be my fill, yes, you will be my fill.

My Lady d'Arbanville, you look so cold tonight.
Your lips feel like winter,
your skin has turned to white, your skin has turned to white.

My Lady d'Arbanville, why do you sleep so still?
I'll wake you tomorrow
and you will be my fill, yes, you will be my fill.

La la la la la....

My Lady d'Arbanville why does it grieve me so?
But your heart seems so silent.
Why do you breathe so low, why do you breathe so low,

I loved you my lady, though in your grave you lie,
I'll always be with you
This rose will never die, this rose will never die.

I loved you my lady, though in your grave you lie,
I'll always be with you
This rose will never die, this rose will never die.

"Lady D'Arbanville" is a song written and recorded by Cat Stevens, and released in April, 1970. Already a successful songwriter, this was his first single released upon signing a contract with Island Records, with the encouragement of his new producer, Paul Samwell-Smith, fostering a folk rock direction for the young composer. "Lady D'Arbanville" has a madrigal sound, and was written about Stevens' former girlfriend, Patti D'Arbanville, metaphorically laying her to rest.

Lady D'Arbanville was the first single released from Stevens' third album, Mona Bone Jakon, which took off in a completely different direction from the songs of his previous two albums. Although Stevens' debut album had charted, and while both albums he'd recorded had successful single releases in the British pop music charts, he chafed against the "Carnaby Street musical jangle" and "heavy handed orchestration" that his producer, Mike Hurst, of Deram Records favoured.[1] Just at the completion of his second album with Hurst, Stevens contracted tuberculosis and a collapsed lung,[2] requiring hospitalisation and rest for a year. During this time, he spent his empty hours writing over 40 songs, and upon a clean bill of health successfully negotiated out of his Deram contract, and settled on Island Records' Paul Samwell-Smith as his new producer, who encouraged Stevens' inclinations towards an emerging folk rock genre.

As Stevens was nearing the end of his period of recuperation, he attended a party that boasted a gathering of musicians in London; including Jimmy Page, Steve Winwood, Ginger Baker, Eric Clapton, and others in attendance. Among the party-goers was a very young American woman who was pursuing a modeling career, (by her own account about 14 years old at the time[3]) named Patti D'Arbanville.[4] [5] The two began dating over a period of more than a year. D'Arbanville stayed with him whenever she was in London, but often found her career taking her to Paris, and New York City. Unfortunately, after over a year with her, Stevens was willing to invest more in a serious relationship than his young, ambitious girlfriend. It was on such a foray to New York that she heard his song about her on the airwaves. Her reaction was one of sadness. She said, "I just have to be by myself for awhile to do what I want to do. It's good to be alone sometimes. Look, Steven wrote that song [Lady D'Arbanville by Cat Stevens] when I left for New York. I left for a month, it wasn't the end of the world was it? But he wrote this whole song about 'Lady D'Arbanville, why do you sleep so still.' It's about me dead. So while I was in New York, for him it was like I was lying in a coffin... he wrote that because he missed me, because he was down... It's a sad song."[6] D'Arbanville continues, "I cried when I heard it, because that's when I knew it was over for good."[4]