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The text as you see (and hear) it here is possibly incomplete because it was actually published not in the poetry column, as were the vast majority of the poems recovered for the project, but in an editorial! The piece was titled ‘Dealing with Rejected Correspondents’, and these stanzas were presented interspersed with some rather high-handed criticism and inappropriately jovial descriptions of editorial office life. This is, in fact, an example of what the Blackburn Times would not publish, but in presenting this the newspaper has furnished us with a relatively rare example of explicitly political, indeed confrontational, Cotton Famine poetry which is intensely class conscious. The direct address to the ‘Cotton Lords’ is one of the few we have to the textile industrialists whose varied response to the crisis had such a direct effect on the fortunes of so many ordinary Lancastrians.
The process by which Faustus chose Cotton Famine songs to set was quite organic, so the fact that this poem was chosen by the group has pleased the academics associated with this project very much. As indicated on Faustus’s website I send the group poems in bulk and they sift through them trying them for musical possibility and lyrical appropriateness. The group was clearly inspired by the passion in this piece and the title ‘Food or Work’ has been changed to the more iconic ‘Cotton Lords’ for the song title (with that first stanza acting as a refrain). We are delighted for this anonymous, probably working-class, Victorian poet that a century and a half after they read of their rejection in their local newspaper their words are being sung by Faustus, read by the public, and studied by academics across the world.
(Simon Rennie)

lyrics

Cotton Lords
(words. trad; music: Paul Sartin)

Cotton Lords, Lords of Creation,
Feeds the slaves which made your wealth,
Is this not a Christian nation?
Work’s conducive to their health.

Though you shut your factory gates,
Sell your cotton, stop each loom,
Though war is raging in the States,
The cotton tree twice yearly blooms.

Cotton Lords, Lords of Creation,
Feeds the slaves which made your wealth,
Is this not a Christian nation?
Work’s conducive to their health.

Time will come when you will buy
Cotton for to work each slave,
Food or work, for they will die,
Keep them from an early grave.

Cotton Lords, Lords of Creation,
Feeds the slaves which made your wealth,
Is this not a Christian nation?
Work’s conducive to their health.

Save the English maidens’ beauty,
Keep them from immoral crime,
Those that has, it is their duty
For to help at such a time.

credits

from Cotton Lords - Songs of the Lancashire Cotton Famine, released April 26, 2018

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Faustus England, UK

‘’One of Britain's outstanding folk bands.’ - **** The Guardian
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‘The concept? To rescue contemporary folk from the curse of feyness…
Bloke-folk!... Fans of Led Zep III should take a thoughtful interest.’ **** Independent on Sunday ... more

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