All this harking back to a "Golden Age" that never existed. England's past is very dodgy indeed. It is a damn good thing it has gone. A nasty skin has been shedded. It should be celebrated, not mourned like in this song. No wonder I left the country.

England is still a mess and probably always will be. Got a lot of payback to deal with. But still, at least getting rid of it's arrogance and pomposity is a start.

Got to be a 1 for getting it wrong so politically in the lyrics. Good tune, though. Put some decent words in and it might well get a good score.

New to me and I'm really liking it. Have to look into Show of Hands.

Personally I really love the way this band has taken a traditional sea chantey and modernized it. I love stuff like this. My husband, who is ill with a bad cold and had already gone to bed, came running out to see who this was because he liked it so much. Great choice, Bill! Music good enough to make a sick man rise!

This song is about lamenting the loss of a way of life, oriented around roots music and the pub setting.

Take your geo-political rants and shove them. Enjoy the song for what it is. A powerful statement from someone who has sincere emotions they are trying to express.

This is a great song.

MojoJojo wrote:

Well I took your advice and tried but I can't get past the idea that the whole feel of this song reminds me of someone trying to take a nursery song and make it sound like a serious musical venture. Maybe next time.

miahfost wrote:
This famous quote is not about patriotism, but rather scoundrels, and how to not be taken in by them.

If you can't find something in this that makes you think - in a good way, just tune out. No, I don't care for all of it, but some lines strike a chord.

Pubs where people sing instead of staring at a screen? Wow. I don't know that central Indiana ever had anything like that, let alone had it and lost it. Now we have bars and restaurants with TV's in each booth. That's not necessarily progress. Good food for thought - this song.

Patriotism is the last refuge to which a scoundrel clings.

secretsauce wrote:

Why limit it to Europeans and Americans? Isn't the entire history of humanity full of the same stories of war and displacing native people?

Anyway, this song is lame, however thought-provoking the subject matter of the lyrics may be.

... he writes from a country founded on imigration, now ye can't get me 'cas I'm part of the union.

I can't personally relate to many of the verses of the song, but I can certain understand the sentiment. And agree with it, wholeheartedly.

ScottishWillie wrote: TerryS wrote:
Scotland is part of the United Kingdom Terry. I have little time for whiners be they English, Scottish or any other nation. My problem is not so much with the song as with the "“nobody understands how tough we have it"” posters on this site. While obviously not as good as Scotland, England is a fantastic country with a high standard of living and nice people. When you look round the world British citizens have little to complain about.

God, that was just awful. Enough to make you ashamed to be English.

papaman wrote: Glad I was not the only one to "hear" that!

A very good song, with an important message. Every time I visit England I can feel the truth to this more and more. Having a desire to keep ones roots and culture alive is not the purview of a select group of down-trodden cultures. Knee-jerk, guilty-conscience, political-correctness is the new mob mentality.

Whiner.

huebdoo wrote:

Why limit it to N. America? ... don't forget the fun the Portuguese, Dutch, Germans, Italians, etc. had in the rest of the world.

We need roots!

And the minister said his vision of hell is 3 folk singers in a pub near Wells.
Well I've got a vision of urban sprawl.
It's pubs where no one ever sings at all.
And everyone stares at a great big screen,
Overpaid soccer stars, prancing teens,
Australian soap, American rap, Estuary English, baseball caps.
And we learn to be ashamed before we walk,
Of the way we look and the way we talk.
Without our stories, or our songs,
How will we know where we come from?
I've lost St George in the Union Jack,
It's my flag too and I want it back!

Seed, bud, flower, fruit,
Never gonna grow without their roots.
Branch, stem, shoots.
We need roots!

Sounds like Billy Joel singing.

Lovely to hear them. Saw them in a barn just outside Gloucester (the original one) where Phil Beer lived at the time. Brilliant evening. Spellbinding performance of The Oak from Beat About the Bush. Could you find space for that?

trekhead wrote:

Yes, as in the band I imagine.

A nice day just got better - MS Project set aside for a couple of minutes.

Thanks Bill

fantastic song!!
i'm a Yank, but i can trace my roots back to Wales, and i get it.

Did he say 'Afro-Celts'?

7 for now.

God what awful shite

jonredfern wrote:

...or Young Dubliners

anniebear wrote:

I don’t get the sense that it’s racist at all.... and anyone having pride in their cultural roots (be it white, black, pink or orange) is a good thing.

I do however think that the English are getting a little Karma slap on the as* for what they did to hundreds of cultures that they affected on the colonial conquests of two hundred plus years.

I don’t know ... I will take baseball caps and rap music any day of residential schools and forcing indigenous people to not speak their language or culture (because it’s not British)

Try finding a first nations person now in North America who can speak the native tongue – Let alone find a first nation person in most of the US

Can’t blame it all on the Brits though... France, Spain & England all had a role that is for sure

meydele wrote:

National Front-ish? Assuming that you have actually heard the song and read the lyrics I'm at a loss how you could come to that interpretation. It seems that every other nation on earth can celebrate their nationality but when the English do it the PC brigade jump on it and call it racism.

It's a rallying call for all of us who despair of our fellow countrymen/women who seem ashamed to celebrate their own culture or are too dumbed down to even know what it is any more. It was written as a reply to comments made by the former Culture Secretary Kim Howells, a prat if ever there was one. It has nothing to do with racism or far-right politics but everything to do with being proud of our roots.

IMO it should be the new national anthem, it says a lot more about the state of the nation than the current dirge. In fact judging by the audience reaction when they play it live for a lot of people it already is. To quote a comment on another message board 'a new manifesto for a nation that's lost it's own culture and needs to claw it back' Spot on!

Rant over.

Don't know why, but this AM this song is sounding disturbingly National Front-ish.