"Lady Eleanor" is a song written by Alan Hull

Alan Hull

Alan Hull was an English singer-songwriter and founding member of the Tyneside folk rock band, Lindisfarne.-Career:...

, featured on the first Lindisfarne

Lindisfarne (band)

Lindisfarne were a British folk/rock group from Newcastle upon Tyne established in 1970 and fronted by singer/songwriter Alan Hull. Their music combined a strong sense of yearning with an even stronger sense of fun...

 album, Nicely out of Tune

Nicely Out of Tune

Nicely Out of Tune is the debut album by Lindisfarne, released in late 1970. It was thus titled as the group considered themselves 'nicely out of tune' with other prevailing musical trends at the time...

. Initially released as a single in 1970, it failed to chart. In 1972, following the success of the band's single "Meet me on the Corner" (which reached #5 in the UK), and the highly successful second album Fog on the Tyne

Fog on the Tyne

Fog On The Tyne is a 1971 album by English rock band Lindisfarne. Bob Johnston produced the album, which was recorded at Trident Studios in the summer of 1971. It was released on Charisma Records in England and Elektra Records in America....

, it was re-released and became their second consecutive hit single, reaching Number 3 in the UK charts. Its B-Side was "Nothing But the Marvellous is Beautiful".

The song features the folk rock

Folk rock

Folk rock is a musical genre combining elements of folk music and rock music. In its earliest and narrowest sense, the term referred to a genre that arose in the United States and the UK around the mid-1960s...

 band Lindisfarne's characteristic combination of mandolin

Mandolin

A mandolin is a musical instrument in the lute family . It descends from the mandore, a soprano member of the lute family. The mandolin soundboard comes in many shapes—but generally round or teardrop-shaped, sometimes with scrolls or other projections. A mandolin may have f-holes, or a single...

 playing and close harmony

Close harmony

Close harmony is an arrangement of the notes of chords within a narrow range. It is different from open harmony or voicing in that it uses each part on the closest harmonizing note , while the open voicing uses a broader pitch array expanding the harmonic range past the octave...

 singing. Its lyrics are inspired by Edgar Allan Poe

Edgar Allan Poe

Edgar Allan Poe was an American author, poet, editor and literary critic, considered part of the American Romantic Movement. Best known for his tales of mystery and the macabre, Poe was one of the earliest American practitioners of the short story and is considered the inventor of the detective...

's 1839

1839 in literature

The year 1839 in literature involved some significant new books.-Events:*Washington Irving begins contributing regularly to The Knickerbocker, and will publish thirty new pieces in the magazine — including "The Creole Village," in which he will coin the phrase "the almighty dollar" — through March...

 short story

Short story

A short story is a work of fiction that is usually written in prose, often in narrative format. This format tends to be more pointed than longer works of fiction, such as novellas and novels. Short story definitions based on length differ somewhat, even among professional writers, in part because...

 "The Fall of the House of Usher

The Fall of the House of Usher

"The Fall of the House of Usher" is a short story by Edgar Allan Poe, first published in September 1839 in Burton's Gentleman's Magazine. It was slightly revised in 1840 for the collection Tales of the Grotesque and Arabesque...

".

Cover versions

The song has been covered by a number of acts, including Caterina Caselli

Caterina Caselli

Caterina Caselli is an Italian record producer and former singer and actress.In 1966 she debuted in the Sanremo Festival with "Nessuno mi può giudicare", a song discarded by Adriano Celentano, scoring a notable success. It sold over one million copies, and was awarded a gold disc...

, American Gypsy and Lemon.