1. |
Angola Farm (Zulu)
02:31
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Down in Louisiana, shackles on his arms
They sent the Zulu to Angola Farm
Ninety-nine years he got, and he never did no harm
They sent the Zulu to Angola farm
Where the Mississippi heads for the sea
Twenty-three hours a day he’s left in solitary
But he keeps his dignity
And underneath his prison shirt he wears his African charm
They won’t break the Zulu in Angola Farm
And everybody knows, he weren’t the man
Just another poor boy, carrying the can
For the murder of a Ku Klux Clan
Down in Louisiana, sirens and alarms
Convoy from Baton Rouge to Angola Farm
Ninety-nine years he got, and he never did no harm
Release the Zulu from Angola farm!
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2. |
Sanctioned Again
02:59
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I signed on the line, eleven twenty-nine
Oh baby, I’m sanctioned again
A quarter hour late, though it was no fault of mine
Oh baby, I’m sanctioned again
I turned a job away, couldn’t live on the pay
Oh baby, I’m sanctioned again
I turned another down, it was so far out of town
Oh baby, I’m sanctioned again
They said – Volunteer in a shop on the arcade
Oh baby, I’m sanctioned again
I said – I ain’t doing nothing if I ain’t getting paid
Oh baby, I’m sanctioned again
They said – you didn’t seek quite enough jobs in the week
Oh baby, I’m sanctioned again
And with a click of a key they took my dole away from me
Oh baby, I’m sanctioned again
I’m singing a song about the Workfare Scheme
Oh baby, I’m sanctioned again
The one that made monsters of the Benefits team
Oh baby, I’m sanctioned again
They stop you fifty pounds, a happy manager comes round
Oh baby, I’m sanctioned again
They stop you fifty more, someone gets a double score
Oh baby, I’m sanctioned again
I asked at the desk – Where does my money go?
Oh baby, when I’m sanctioned again
She said – Your sanctions help the economy to grow
Oh baby, I’m sanctioned again
And it grows like a flower on low pay and zero hours
Oh baby, I’m sanctioned again
And when it’s good and tall, the investors take it all
Oh baby, I’m sanctioned again
So if they stop your money and you can’t keep warm
Oh baby, co you’re sanctioned again
You can wrap your body up in Sanction forms
Oh baby, oh baby, oh baby, I’m sanctioned again.
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3. |
Wisconsin, We're Solid
03:20
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You got a man and he’s full of hate
Making trouble in the Badger State
So stand together now
And he says he’s budget slashing
But he means he’s union bashing
So stand together now
Wisconsin, we’re solid, and we’ll fight to the end
Cos in the union, you’ve got a friend
We took him on in the ice and snow
With the flags and the old banjo
So stand together now
We took him on in the Capitol Hall
With the banners all round the wall
So stand together now
Wisconsin, we’re solid, and we’ll fight to the end
Cos in the union, you’ve got a friend
This state is up and rising, this state is organising
So stand together now
This state won’t turn its heels, on its hard-won working deals
So stand together now
Wisconsin, we’re solid, and we’ll fight to the end
Cos in the union, you’ve got a friend
And when the bad guys are coming for you
When the bad guys are out to floor you
You gotta stand together now
Cos he ain’t gonna shut the gate
On the people in the Badger State
When we stand together now
Wisconsin, we’re solid, and we’ll fight to the end
Cos in the union, you’ve got a friend
Wisconsin, we’re solid, and we’ll fight to the end
Cos in the union, women and men, you’ve got a friend.
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4. |
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They say it used to leak, a million gallons every week
And so they had the cheek, to go and fill it in
We say dig it out, turn its fortunes right about
All you campaigners shout, and all you singers sing
Bring the Wendover back again, bring the Wendover back again
Hey, and we’ll be up and down like in the days of old
They say it had its day, but they couldn’t make it pay
And so they turned away, to use lorries, vans and trains
We say turn again, say Hi to a long lost friend
Dig around the Little Tring bend, the reservoir and the country lane
And bring the Wendover back again, bring the Wendover back again
Hey, and we’ll be up and down like in the days of old
And when I close my eyes, I see the boats go by
Underneath that Chiltern sky, under the A41
And they’re all heading down, into old Wendover town
Celebrations all around, on the day that the work is done
To bring the Wendover back again, bring the Wendover back again
Hey, and we’ll be up and down like in the days of old
Like in the days of old.
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5. |
Anchor House
02:20
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I was going nowhere, shames me now to think
A youngster full of promise
Turned to vagrancy and drink
Living on the brink
Sleeping on a sofa, sleeping on a floor
Picking pockets, picking fights
Picked up by the law
Not wanted any more
And then I saw a sign, it was burning like a flame
A place that made you welcome
Where you didn’t feel ashamed
And to Anchor House I came
They sat me down and listened, they gave me books and pens
Gave me a bed and then they said –
Take hold of your life again
They gave me a friend
Now there’s ships that have good steering, that somehow miss the bay
There’s ships that have good captains
And still they go astray
Drifting far away
And sometimes in the dark of night, I dream that I’m the same
Then the sun shines through the window
And I remember that burning flame
When to Anchor House I came.
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6. |
Minnie Lansbury
03:14
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At New Year the crowds come here, waiting for the ring of the bell
And raise a glass to battles past, campaigns of the future as well
And if you don’t break the resolutions you make
Then you’ll be in good company
Cos I won’t take long but I’ll sing a song
A song of Minnie Lansbury
She was an East End Suffragette, who fought for the rights of the women she met
And when she took her council seat
She said – My people are poor but they will never be beat
Day and night, she led the fight to raise the workers’ pay
Fought her duels with the vicious fools who took the benefits away
And they refused to raise the rates to be paid
Which marked them out in history
So I won’t take long but I’ll sing a song
A song of Minnie Lansbury
They were up before the law, seems it’s a crime every time you defend the poor
And they were asked – How do you plead?
They said – We’re guilty and we’re proud of it, and may we succeed!
The press railed, the landlords wailed – This Council has to go!
But Minnie and her elected comrades fought them, toe to toe
And when the black van came and she heard her name
She walked out with dignity
So I won’t take long but I’ll sing a song
A song of Minnie Lansbury
They locked her up in jail, where her heart was strong but her body was frail
And in those cold. cold Holloway nights
A sickness brought her to her final fight
At New Year they wept to hear, that Minnie was no more
But on they fought, and one day in court they overturned that law
And if your morning brings the same old failings
And inspiration’s hard to see
Then I won’t take long but I’ll sing a song
A song of Minnie Lansbury
So keep fighting, it’s what she’d want to see.
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7. |
The Stormcock's Song
03:34
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My song today is the storm-cock’s song
When the cold winds blow, and the driving snow
Hides the tree tops, only his song rings out
In the lulls in the storm. So let mine go!
On the topmost twig of a leafless ash
He sits bolt upright against the sky
Surveying the white fields and the leafless woods
And distant red in the East with his buoyant eye.
Surely he has little enough cause to sing
When even the hedgerow berries are already pulped by the frost
Or eaten by other birds - yet alone and aloft
To another hungry day his greeting is tossed
Blessed are those who have songs to sing
When others are silent; poor song though it be,
Just a message to the silence that somebody still
Is alive and glad, though on a naked tree
What if it is only a few churning notes
Flung out in a loud and artless way?
His ‘Will I do it? do it I will!’ is worth a lot
When the rest have nothing at all to say.
(Hugh MacDiarmid)
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8. |
Blacklist
04:05
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There’s a blacklist
Locked behind an office door, at the bottom of a drawer
There’s a blacklist
Going round from firm to firm, each one adding names in turn
Three thousand names I saw, and every day there’s more
Going on the blacklist
There’s a blacklist
Of those who back their unions’ fights, prepared to stick up for their rights
There’s a blacklist
Of guys whose skills could fill a page, never more to be engaged
Three thousand names I saw, and every day there’s more
Going on the blacklist
There are unions, with honest rank and file support
Always getting done in court
And there are unions, secret unions of employers
Backed by all the laws and lawyers
And they won’t let us up in their cranes
But still we’ll lift up all the drains
Hiding these blacklists
There’s a blacklist, yeah there’s a blacklist
But we’ll fight, till there’s a blacklist no more
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9. |
Limehouse Reach
02:36
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I fell in love with a Limehouse lass,
But she has proved untrue;
She looked as fresh as a figurehead
That’s just been painted new;
But she’s took and married a lighterman,
So it’s time for me to go:
But I would have loved you so, my dear,
I would have loved you so!
Oh a shake of the foresheet pays for all
A sailor leaves behind
For an alehouse shot, and a friend forgot,
And a sweetheart false or kind;
And the bloomin’ mudhook’s off the ground,
So it’s time for us to go:
But I would have loved you so, my dear
I would have loved you so!
So a long good-bye to Limehouse Reach,
And a last good-bye to you;
A fellow’s a fool to die for love,
Which I don’t mean to do;
There are girls as smart in every port
From here to Callao -
But I would have loved you so, my dear,
I would have loved you so!
(Cicely Fox-Smith)
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Chris Tymkow London, UK
Born and raised in London, Chris writes songs that reflect the world around him, and sets the odd poem or two to music. He lives on a narrowboat and occasionally sings at folk clubs and festivals. Stormcock is his first CD.
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