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about

Slaves
(words: William S. Villiers Sankey; music: Benji Kirkpatrick)

Sankey’s poems, ‘Ode’ and ‘To Working Men of Every Clime’ are parodies of Percy Bysshe Shelley‘s ‘Song to the Men of England’, but it was common in Victorian literature, as tribute rather than satire. Shelley’s radical and progressive work was greatly admired by, and had a lasting influence on the Chartist movement, of which Sankey was an influential leader in Scotland. The texts were published in leading Chartist newspaper The Northern Star on 29th February and 28th November, 1840, then again in 1956 Y. V. Kovalev‘s An Anthology of Chartist Literature in Soviet Union-era Moscow.

lyrics

Slaves

Men of England you are slaves,
Though you quell the roaring waves.
Though you boast by land and sea,
That Britons everywhere are free.

Men of England you are slaves,
Bought by tyrants, sold by knaves.
Yours the toil, the sweat and pain,
Theirs the profit, the ease and gain.

Men of England you are slaves,
Beaten by the policeman’s staves.
If their force you dare repel,
Yours shall be the prison cell.

Men of England you are slaves,
Even the House of Commons craves,
From the crown on bended knee.
That its motions may be free.

Men of England you are slaves,
Hark the stormy tempest raves.
Tis the nation’s voice I hear,
Shouting, “Liberty is near”.

Europe’s people one and all,
Rise up at your brethren’s call.
Shouting loud from sea to sea,
“Ours shall be the Victory”.

credits

from Cotton Lords - Songs of the Lancashire Cotton Famine, released April 26, 2018
Recorded by Matt Williams at The Lights, Andover/ Hampshire,
Mixed & mastered by Matt Williams

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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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