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Stole Away

from Stolen From God by Reg Meuross

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about

There are several surviving accounts by the enslaved. One of the most eloquent is: ‘The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavas Vassa, the African. Written by Himself in 1789’

Equiano bought his freedom from his Quaker owner at the age of 20, for today’s equivalent of £5,500. He travelled extensively, finally settling in London. He married an English woman and became a leading activist in the abolition movement for which his written account became a powerful weapon. He died in 1797 aged 52, Ten years before the slave trade ended, and is buried at Whitefield’s Tabernacle in London.

This song is written from Equiano’s account of his capture and transportation.

lyrics

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

credits

from Stolen From God, released April 7, 2023
Reg: Vocal / Guitar / Chains
Jali Fily Cissokho : Kora
Cohen Braithwaite-Kilcoyne: Concertina
Roy Dodds: Percussion
Tom Jobling: Bass / Percussion
Reg / Cohen / Jaz Gayle / Katie Whitehouse: BVox

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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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