History Trivia / SteeleyeSpan

* RarelyPerformedSong: The band no longer performs the old English folk song "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u8qXkBoR80k Little Sir Hugh]]," despite the fact it is thought of as one of their best. It was pointed out to them that although the song in its various forms has been around for at least six centuries, it isn't ''just'' a medieval ditty about cruel child murder. The ballad, about a woman dressed in green who slaughters a little boy to collect his blood in a bucket, is about "blood libel", an antisemitic conspiracy theory accusing Jews of kidnapping children for HumanSacrifice, which was used to justify numerous pogroms against Jewish communities since the middle ages (including the expulsion of England's Jewish population in the late 1100s). The band accepted the ballad is extremely antisemitic and dropped it from their performances.

* RarelyPerformedSong: The band no longer performs the old English folk song "Little Sir Hugh", despite the fact it is thought of as one of their best. It was pointed out to them that although the song in its various forms has been around for at least six centuries, it isn't just a medieval ditty about cruel child murder. The ballad, about a woman dressed in green who slaughters a little boy to collect his blood in a bucket, is about "blood libel", the invented reason for expelling all Jews from England in the late 1100s. The band accepted the ballad is extremely anti-semitic and dropped it from their performances.

* BlackSheepHit: When people think of Steeleye, they think of an electric folk/folk-rock band with a repertoire drawn from the British Isles' folk tradition. However, their first UK hit, in 1972 was an a capella Christmas song, "Gaudete," sung in Latin.