Posts

Cindy Kallet 1989

Chorus:
Come on, get your oars and row, my darling
Come on, get your oars and row
We’ve got tide and the river rising
Come on, get your oars and row

Come up on your feet and walk, my baby
Rise up on your feet and walk
We’ve got arms reaching out to catch you
Haul up on those feet and walk

In the morning call my name, my darling
In the morning call my name
We grow old, young; we birth, we die
And somehow rearrange

Some live and change the world with grace
And a vision and a strength of mind
Some rise from trouble, some lend a hand
And some keep trying to find

Watch that little boy go a-walking, my lover
And watch him as he learns to run
Watch him as he rounds the corner out of sight
Then tumbling back in our arms he comes

When it’s time to say goodbye, my darling
When it’s time to say goodbye
We’ll live on in the old and the young ones
Dreaming down a quiet line 

Nancy Kerr 2017

A celebration of the women, including her mother, who participated in the Greenham Common Women's Peace Camp where as many as 70,000 women protested the siting of U.S. nuclear missiles at the British air base in 1981-87. Written for protest song collaboration "Shake the Chains".

Chorus:
Farewell the fire, likewise the freeze
Farewell the ash upon the breeze
That carrion day we’ll chase away
When peace comes marching through the trees

As a child I always knew that on the wind some poison blew
That gathering clouds would be our shroud for a falling fire was coming
Upon barbed wire around the base our mothers twined our baby lace
They linked their arms like lovers’ charms to bind all life in common

Now tyrants stir our fear for greed and even fair men pay no heed
Behind the trees and below the seas, our rulers hoard their weapons
And it is no curse to now begin to see the bones beneath the skin
Don’t turn away from judgment day for another storm does threaten

Upon barbed wire around the base our mothers twined our baby lace
They linked their arms like lovers’ charms to bind all life in common
Now see them fly upon the air, my baby’s clothes, my lover’s hair
That carrion day I’ll bear away with the strength of many women 

trad 

George 'Pop' Maynard recorded in 1956 and that recording says the song is probably a stage remake of a song which appeared in Ravenscroft's Deuteromelia of 1609. The Watersons recorded in 1965 for which Bert Lloyd wrote "Versions of this old nursery song are spread from Scotland to Sussex, and it has even cropped up as a ritual piece in one or two sword-dance plays. It's hard to say how old it is, but it seems to have first appeared in print in Gammer Gurton's Garland at the end of the eighteenth century, though doubtless it has been on the go long before then."

In good King Arthur’s day when we lived under the King,
Three roguish chaps fell into mishaps because they could not sing

Chorus (from last line of each verse)
Because they could not sing, because they could not sing,
Three roguish chaps fell into mishaps because they could not sing.

The first one was a miller, the second one was a weaver,
And the third he was a little tailor, three roguish chaps together.

The miller he stole corn. The weaver he stole yarn.
And the little tailor he stole broadcloth, to keep the three rogues warm.

The miller he drowned in his dam, and the weaver got hung in his yarn,
And the devil put his claw on the little tailor with the broadcloth under his arm.

The miller still drowns in his dam, and the weaver still hangs in his yarn,
And the little tailor he skips through hell with the broadcloth under his arm. 

trad 

Copper Family recorded in 1952; A.L. Lloyd wrote in 1971 that it was written by a Samuel Arnold around 1800

The time passes over most cheerful and gay
Since we’ve learned a new act to drive sorrows away

Chorus:
Sorrows away (3x)
Since we’ve learned a new act to drive sorrows away

Bright Phoebe awakes so high up in the sky
With her red rosy cheeks and sparkling eye

If you ask for my credit you’ll find I have none
With my bottle and friends you will find me at home

Although I’m not rich and although I’m not poor
I’m as happy as those that’s got thousands or more 

Tom Chapin 1988

Part 1: This pretty planet, spinning through space: your garden, your harbor, your holy place

Part 2: Golden sun going down, gentle blue giant spin us around

Part 3: All through the night, safe ’til the morning light. 

Dougie MacLean 1985

It’s a thin line that leads us and keeps a man from shame
And dark clouds quickly gather along the way he came
There’s fear out on the mountain and death out on the plain
There’s heartbreak and heart-ache in the shadow of the flame

Chorus:
This love will carry This love will carry me
I know this love will carry me

The strongest web will tangle, the sweetest bloom will fall
And somewhere in the distance we try and catch it all
Success lasts for a moment and failure’s always near
And you look down at your blistered hands as turns another year

These days are golden, they must not waste away
Our time is like that flower and soon it will decay
And though by storms we’re weakened, uncertainty is sure
And like the coming of the dawn it’s ours for evermore 

The Amidons

Part 1: This longest night your candle’s light

Part 2: Keep watch over all the earth

Part 3: Welcome hope and cheer as dawn draws near

Part 4: And rejoice rejoice in the sun’s rebirth

 

 

Woody Guthrie 1940

Chorus:
This land is your land, this land is my land
From California to the New York island,
From the redwood forest to the Gulf Stream waters;
This land was made for you and me.

As I was walking that ribbon of highway
I saw above me that endless skyway;
I saw below me that golden valley;
This land was made for you and me.

I’ve roamed and rambled and I followed my footsteps
To the sparkling sands of her diamond deserts;
And all around me a voice was sounding;
This land was made for you and me.

When the sun came shining, and I was strolling,
And the wheat fields waving and the dust clouds rolling,
As the fog was lifting a voice was chanting:
This land was made for you and me.

As I went walking I saw a sign there,
And on the sign it said “No Trespassing.”
But on the other side it didn’t say nothing.
That side was made for you and me.

In the shadow of the steeple I saw my people,
By the relief office I seen my people;
As they stood there hungry, I stood there asking
Is this land made for you and me?

Nobody living can ever stop me,
As I go walking that freedom highway;
Nobody living can ever make me turn back
This land was made for you and me. 

Dougie MacLean 1999

Scattered like gold from Dunkeld to Aberfeldy
Seasons unfold, oh that’s the things we love.
Walk through the field in the frost of a winter morning;
Nature revealed, that’s the things we love

Chorus:
No, don’t ask us to take what we can give her,
She lives inside us and we know her well.
There’s no right reason to fear or to forgive her;
It’s so easy, it’s just the things we love.

Standing alone on top of the Ben A Caly;
Great rocking stone, that’s the things we love.
Catching the eye of the owl in the early morning,
Great buzzards cry ‘that’s the things we love’. 

Ian Robb 1990

"They're Taking it Away was first penned in protest at a Canadian federal budget brought down in February 1990, which showed the way for many subsequent attacks on social programs by our various levels of government of all political stripes. It's the same the 'ole world over." 3rd and 4th verses tweaked by Alex Ellis.

Ian Robb: https://ianrobb1.bandcamp.com/track/theyre-taking-it-away

Chorus:
Oh, they’re taking it away, yes they’re taking it away
They are taking all the good things you can hear the people say
And they’ll take it all tomorrow if they don’t take it today
From the poor and sick and helpless, they are taking it away.

Oh our government’s elected in the democratic way
A-whining at the cost of all the things they have to pay
And the bully-boys on Wall Street, you can hear the bastards say,
“To hell with paying taxes, pull the safety-net away!”

If you’re down upon your luck and need to keep the wolf at bay
Just don’t rely on welfare or the dole to pay your way
For the rich, they have decided not another cent to pay
You can whistle for your supper for they’ve taken it away

If you’re native, black, or Asian, if you’re feminist or gay
If you’re pregnant or an immigrant or if you’re hair’s gone gray
If you want to make your point or if you want to have your way
You can spit into the wind for they have taken it away

If you fled domestic violence and you need a place to stay
You’d best get down upon your knees and quickly learn to pray
For the victims’ service agency was shut down yesterday
And there’s no-one left to talk to, now they’ve taken it away

If it’s ever your misfortune in a hospital to stay
You’d best not be impatient for a bed on which to lay
For your health ain’t worth the taxes that the healthy have to pay
And the beds were too expensive, so they’ve taken them away

Oh there’s those that have and those that don’t and those that are okay
And there’s those who understand that fairness is the only way
But there’s those that are so comfortable they look the other way
And they vote for all the villains who would take it all away