1. |
The Jesus of Lubeck
04:47
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JESUS OF LUBECK
On the good ship Jesus we left shore from Plymouth 1564
John Hawkins was our captain then, and 80 Christian Devon men
I’m proud to work an honest day for an honest man for an honest pay
Up on deck we’re sailors free endorsed by God and loyalty
Bless this day Lord, lead the way Lord, let us pray
This ship of 700 tons, its crew cut down by three to one
Our voyage blessed by the English throne, we sailed to Sierra Leone
Our course set for the Spanish Main, our sea dog captain’s plan explained
To replace each missing English man with twice as many African
Bless this day Lord, lead the way Lord, let us pray
We are the Queen’s own sailors on the Jesus of Lubeck
We fly the flag of England and we keep a holy deck
God help the Spanish privateer should he ever sail our way
Let us pray boys, let us pray boys, let us pray
And so I watched good Christian men turn to their god then turn again
As the captain’s mission held them sway bound by duty bound by pay
This is the Jesus of Lubeck and her Majesty each man expects
To bring the native by your sword or some deceit or Holy word
Bless this day Lord, lead the way Lord, let us pray
We are the Queen’s own sailors on the Jesus of Lubeck
We fly the flag of England and we keep a holy deck
God help the Spanish privateer should he ever sail our way
Let us pray boys, let us pray boys, let us pray
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2. |
The Way of Cain
04:30
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The Way of Cain
To own and control another man requires unusual skills
To be prepared to go beyond to be prepared to kill
To brutalise dehumanise to rule with fear and pain
To own and control another man you must know the way of Cain
The way of Cain the way of Cain
To own and control another man you must know the way of Cain
To work a man like John Henry takes a heart as hard as steel
With the fear of the rod and the fear of God
You must break that man on your wheel
No Christian man should own a man
Yet the laws of this country are plain
You can own them abroad by the gun and the sword
If you know the way of Cain
The way of Cain the way of Cain
You can own them abroad by the gun and the sword
If you know the way of Cain
You can chain a man like an animal but you can’t put the iron on his soul
So the fear of the lord and the lash and the sword
Must turn him around to your goal
To the minds of you good Christian women and men
Such brutal extremes must seem strange
With your fortunes at stake for his spirit to break
You must know the way of Cain
The way of Cain the way of Cain
With your fortunes at stake for his spirit to break
you must know the way of Cain
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3. |
England No More
03:11
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4. |
Good Morning Mr Colston
04:56
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Good Morning Mr Colston
Good morning Mr Colston I see your ship’s come in
Will you pay a hundred dollars for my torn and ragged skin?
Cos the master needs his coffee and the master needs his rum
And the missus needs her sugar to make her sugar plum
Good morning Mr Colston when will your kingdom come?
They tell me Mr Colston you’re a God fearing man
Did the lord give you permission to take me from my land?
Though we’re equal in construction did he render you the best?
Do you hold a sacred licence to burn letters in my chest?
Good morning Mr Colston when will your soul be blessed?
Am I not a brother and a man with a right to breathe the Bristol air
And walk this pleasant land? Am I not a brother and a man?
Good morning Mr Colston bless your generosity
It’s thanks to you there’s hospitals and poor-folk property
It’s thanks to you a 100 thousand souls were sold as slaves
And a quarter died in transit and the ocean was their graves
Good morning Mr Colston when will your soul be saved?
Good morning Mr Colston I see you on the strand
Beneath your arm The Manifest your Bible in your hand
Your sugar from Barbados your coffee from Brazil
For each white child you educate another black child killed
Good morning Mr Colston when will your cup be filled?
Am I not a sister on this earth? and black or white each child agrees
On every mother’s worth am I not a sister on this earth?
Instrumental verse concertina
Good morning Mr Colston your philanthropy is plain
There’s hardly hall or street or school that doesn’t bear your name
It’s a golden chain that binds you to a poison legacy
No statue or memorial can hide your history
Good morning Mr Colston when will your soul be free?
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5. |
Stolen From God
04:44
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Stolen from God
God made these hands to hold and caress
He made these hands to worship and bless
He made these hands to hold my own child
God made these hands to be mild
God made these hands to pray and to praise
He made these hands to touch my mother’s face
He made these hands to hold on to you
God made these hands to be true
All the believers that you have betrayed
Your debt to humanity must be repaid
This is your legacy written in blood, everything stolen from God
God made these hands to cook and to sew
He made these hands to plough and to grow
To work for my family all the day long
God made these hands to be strong
God made these hands to be gentle and kind
To speak to the deaf and a guide to the blind
To reach for the sky to his heaven above
God made these hands for love
These are the words should be carved on your grave
The price of your fortune was 3 million slaves
This is your history written in blood, everything stolen from God
You made these hands to blister and bleed
To slave for the white man and bend to his greed
To cut coffee for gentlemen cane for their wives
At the cost of my family’s lives
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6. |
Stole Away
05:01
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Stole Away
The last time I knew kindness I was lying in my bed
With my Mother’s arms around me and her soft voice in my head
Outside the cattle murmured and the wind blew through the palms
The last time I knew kindness I was in my Mother’s arms
My Father always told me boy don’t go beyond the wood
There are bad man and they’re waiting and they’d take you if they could
You may recognise their and you might recognise their tongue
But they mean to steal your freedom and they mean to sell you on
I’d never seen a white man and I’d never seen the sea
A good man can’t conceive the evil things they’ve done to me
They stripped me and they whipped me and they threw me in the hold
Where your pain means you’re alive and your salvation to be sold
Stole away, stole away, stole away
They packed us in so tightly in the darkness and our dirt
The crying of my sisters - brothers dying from the hurt
The ship pulled into Bridge Town where they brought us up on deck
Chained together by our hands and feet or shackled by the neck
We feared we might be eaten by these wicked ugly men
As they pinched our skin and studied us and studied us again
They will brutalise and beat you and your life and soul they’ll waste
But the whites will never eat you not in keeping with their taste
Stole away, stole away, stole away
Stole away, stole away, stole away
They threw us back below the deck our terror was so great
That the whites called on the elders to assure us of our fate
‘Not even your own death is yours they’ll save you from yourself
From this day on your life is just to supplement their wealth
They sold us off in parcels disregarding family ties
They tore brothers from their brothers
They stole husbands from their wives
They stole mothers from their children love and friendship ripped apart
They broke wills and they broke bodies
They broke souls and they broke hearts
Stole away, stole away, stole away
Stole away, stole away, stole away
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7. |
The Breath of England
05:03
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The Breath of England
Stewart took me out of Boston in 1769
Brought me here to England to work on the factory line
The food I ate was dirty and I never got no pay
I worked til I was sick and then one night I stole away
Stewart took me out of Boston in 1769
I had no work nor money no place to settle down
And soon enough they locked me in a ship Jamaica bound
But with the mark of God upon me from when I was baptised
Three advocates spoke for me my rights to exercise
Cos I had no work no money and no place to settle down
Swing Low Boys Let it go boys - Swing Low Boys Let it go
Bull Davy was a Devon man and he stepped up to the plate
You may be a slave in America or in Barbados meet that fate
But to chain a man in England for the colour of his skin
Is to sin against mankind and cast all England in that sin
Bull Davy was a Devon man and he stepped up to the plate
To breathe the air of England at first you must be free
For no kind of law for rich or poor has sanctioned slavery
But the slaves are 15,000 and to free them makes no sense
But the judge said just let justice be whatever the consequence
To breathe the air of England at first you must be free
The breath of England’s pure the breath of England’s sweet
Look to some foreign shore Jerusalem’s defeat
My name it is James Somerset and I am a free man
Though taken from my family and taken from my land
Taken from the ones I loved where love was shown to me
To live just like an animal like stolen property
My name it is James Somerset and I am a free man
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8. |
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I Bought Myself An African
My father always told me son be smart
Buy yourself an African to pull that heavy cart
My father always said son use your brain
Buy yourself an African to cut your sugar cane
My father was a Bristol man in trade
In sugar and molasses there were fortunes to be made
To gain a place in high society
A man must grow his interest in this golden industry
We headed for the coast of Senegal
With copper cloth and gunpowder pretty beads and wool
Then southward to the port of Calabar
Where the smell of death hangs heavy & tobacco smoke & tar
And I found myself in Africa
We bartered with the Barbary Corsair
His dagger on his waist and on his face the blackest hair
The captain said ‘The devil’s in that man’
But god was on our side and we’d be guided by his hand
And I bought myself an African
If Satan owned the cursed barbarian
And God’s with us then who stands with the wretched African
Abandoned by all saints and gods he seemed
And cast into some nightmare some forsaken spirit dreamed
And I bought myself an African Queen
And so the day went on and by the end
I’d bought 200 women folk and girls and boys and men
The captain said ‘These bodies that you see
Think on them as chattels like some cheap commodities’
And I bought another Africans three
Their purpose is to labour for your need
Sanctioned by his holiness by royalty decreed
And it’s the right of every Englishman
To keep by your protection and to govern by your hand
So I bought myself an African
I bought myself an African
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9. |
Bridgwater
05:01
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Bridgwater
There’s a man with a paper going ‘round
Taking names from the people of this town
To challenge by petition a deplorable condition
There’s a man with a paper going ‘round
There’s a Bridgwater man taking names
To reach out to their brothers held in chains
And to plead there’s no excuse not to turn those brothers loose
There’s a Bridgwater man taking names
Oh brother oh brother oh brother
There’s a Bridgwater man taking names
Reverend Chubb Mr Tuckett Mr White
Call on every Christian soul to join the fight
To stand up as a nation ‘gainst this wicked violation
Though it might be bad for trade you know it’s right
Oh brother oh brother oh brother
There’s a Bridgwater man taking names
Annie Poulett & Alexander Hood
Stand where soldiers for justice have stood
And bring the first petition to plead for abolition
First the tide must turn before the flood
The lords say on the table let it lay
There’s far too much at stake to rule today
Almost every fortune made has been built upon the trade
And we need to get our compensation pay
for the merchant compensation must be made
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10. |
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Stranger in a Strange Land
I’m a stranger in a strange land I’m a stranger in a strange land
Far from my family and far from my friends.
I’m a stranger in a strange land
They sent me to a western town
Got a pretty little suit got a side-drum and a flute
In England all brothers are free In England all sisters are free
To go just where you please and be who you wanna be
If I’m a free brother let me fly
They tell me all souls fly to the good lord when they die
Quit the army to work on the land
Didn’t take too long til I made myself some friends
I fell in love with a girl in this town a girl from this little Dartmoor town
All the country folk around say get wed and settle down
I fell in love with a girl from this town
I’m old now I wanna go home
I’m missing my old people I don’t wanna die alone
But I guess I’ll be buried in this town
We’re the same colour skin when we’re lying underground
I’m a stranger in a strange land I’m a stranger in a strange land
Far from my family and far from my friends.
I’m a stranger in a strange land
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Reg Meuross England, UK
The breadth and depth of Reg Meuross’s material is unparalleled in contemporary folk: songs about forgotten heroes, famous names, folk legends, the climate emergency, tales from the kitchen sink and news from the world stage; if something needs to be sung about then Reg Meuross has a song for it. ... more
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