Song of the Lower Classes (Windborne)

[@maybesusie8599]

Spectacular and heartening, thank you!! 💎💎💎

[@padoob6685]

Wow! Windborne's lyrics are awesome put to song. Their harmonies remind me of Maddie Pryor and Steeleye Span from 40+ years ago.

[@aprilcrocker7567]

Wow! Gorgeous. Gorgeous. Gorgeous. Brilliant lyrics.

[@soschadao]

An artist’s duty, as far as i am concerned, is to reflect the times- nina simone

[@ThatCamel104]

Mississippi, goddamn!

[@parkerbrown-nesbit1747]

Love this! Not too long ago, my husband and I were discussing the state of modern folk protest music. There's no outlet for it where we live (everything is jazz and rock here). So happy to know that the protest song is still alive and well!

[@sandramorey2529]

Check out David Rovics out of Oregon. His protest music is outstanding.

[@hobhamwich]

I have seen this ten times. Why do I still get teary?

[@Body2Bodhran]

Lovely harmonies...a fifth voice is made by four. Felt the same when I heard The Tenebrae Choir Singing Paul Mellor's 'Tender Light'

[@Cacia-c1l]

I am Chinese, they just singing out the true feeling of me!

[@joemorgenstern9846]

I can hear bells, waves, and pirate chatter and laughter.

[@frompapertopeoplepodcast4889]

So great to hear a folkie sound again!

[@Primljosef]

I've got chills and tears in my eyes - what a wonderful performance!

[@metermorphose]

I am absolutely in love with your voices and voicing. Stunning!

[@Fallencomrade182]

There's a lot of elements of "The Foggy Dew" in this

[@ulricus1]

I cannot stop to listen to this song! Great !!!

[@JamesRansonTMW]

I was in the audience for this! That was my first time seeing you guys...gave me chills then, still does now.

[@lsb2623]

MORE IMPORTANT NOW THAN EVER !!!

[@grahampirt2233]

This is an English Chartist song written by Ernest Jones (1819-1869) Few things change!

[@jacobite2353]

Love the Chartists.

[@briankocheraabcdt4628]

It's Medieval in origin. First written down by a monk in a Benedictine abby in Yorkshire England.

[@catherinepestano7799]

​@@briankocheraabcdt4628 ooh link please?

[@margaretheftler9444]

Absolutely beautiful and devastating, thank you! All power to the people ❤️

[@debrachase3131]

Wow! Chilly bumps. Thank-you.

[@tirisu3635]

A song for today!!! Bravo👏👏👏👏

[@lisashirtz7224]

Yes we shall!😊

[@stephenbell1876]

Wow! Bravo.

[@HTube79]

Windborful! Can't wait ... hope your are coming to Lopez Island on time again.

[@ClockWorkJake]

What goes on at Lopez? I used to go there as a child.

[@amandayskamp5930]

Good to hear, today.

[@lesleywise5201]

Stirring and beautiful

[@suew7630]

Wow! Apt for these times. First heard you today. I'll be listening a lot more!

[@peterkmartel]

What great recording.

[@AmaleeWilson]

❤️

[@levanataylor790]

Nice updating of a nineteenth century song. The lyrics of the first three verses are as transmitted, the last three are new. (I have to say I prefer this finale to the original one, which was merely "Justice will be served when we go to Heaven and the tyrants don't!")

[@briankocheraabcdt4628]

Actually it's Medieval in origin, sung by a Goatherd in a Benedictine Abby in Yorkshire England.

[@levanataylor790]

​@@briankocheraabcdt4628Where on earth did you hear that? The words were written by Ernest Jones in 1852, and in the 20th century set to a hymn tune by Martin Cathy.

[@hobhamwich]

@levanataylor790 I think it was him who wrote it down, but maybe not he who created the original. I am still looking into that to verify.

[@MrSmashmasterk]

This is fantastic. So happy to discover you!

[@gljamil]

Freedom!

[@OneWitchyLady]

May justice soon be served upon the tyrants in their towers of gold.

[@benkrov]

@speedfolk Wär das nicht was für euch? :)

[@kcthecowboy]

For all who fardels bear and grunt and sweat over a weary life.

[@sonny01red]

Make a new Bernie song pls

[@caelidhg6261]

Wow.such a powerful song. Send this to Jeff bezos

[@billhsu6349]

遍身罗绮者，不是养蚕人。

[@ryandavis8000]

They Might Be Giants said it best: “The communists have the music”

[@WindborneSingers]

Definitely!

[@briankocheraabcdt4628]

​@@WindborneSingersActually, the song is of Medieval origin, long before the Communist political movement ever existed. "The first documented song in the English language came from the mouth of an illiterate cow herder. More than 1,300 years ago the Venerable Bede, a medieval scholar known as the “father of English history,” wrote down the words sung by Caedmon, who tended animals at a Benedictine monastery in North Yorkshire." - The Wall Street Journal " The History of Song Is All About Outsiders" by Ted Gioia

[@levanataylor790]

We-ell, state communism has a notably dismal record for good music, Shostakovich notwithstanding. It's popular socialist movements that keep producing great protest songs. Forgive me for quibbling over terminology!

[@ThatCamel104]

@@levanataylor790 Don't you sit there and tell me that the Soviets didn't come up with excellent music.

[@johnmkwii9393]

This was good but they completely went off of the original version to avoid mentioning religion

[@WindborneSingers]

Earnest Jones didn’t mention religion in the original poem. You may be thinking about Ian Robb or Martin Carthy, who added words in the 20th century. none of us are Christian so those words don’t resonate, but also we want to place the responsibility for salvation in the hands of real people, not divine intervention.

[@johnmkwii9393]

@@WindborneSingers The entire movement this poem was based off of was known as chartism. It was an appeal to the parliament from the lower classes to implement a charter that would give all Britons voting power as well as increased legislative power and equality almost exactly in the vein of America. This movement appealed a lot to religion (see Hymm of Celebration) as non-church of england protestantism was very popular among the low classes. These people firmly believed God was on their side, and they were correct. Anyways i wrote that nerdy paragraph to show you how the entire movement had strong Christian roots. Therefore by eliminating the last stanza of the poem, which had apocalyptic language of trumpets (so yes religion is not specifically mentioned, but its certainly still a theme), you are being unfaithful to the Chartist movement.

[@WindborneSingers]

@@johnmkwii9393 if you look at either of our two books, you will find we are very familiar with the chartists and Jones. Jones’s last verse was “We’re low we’re low we are so low Yet when the trumpets ring The thrust of a poor man’s arm will go Through the heart of the proudest king We’re low we’re low our place we know Only the rank and file We’re not too low to kill the foe Too low to touch the spoil” A revolutionary for sure. A friend of Marx and Engels as well. The verse I believe you were thinking of was either Bob Davenports from the 1960s: We're low we're low 'till that happy day When we're called to a heaven on high When the freedom we never had in our lives Will be there on the day we die If you see no worth suffering hell on earth For the promise of a heaven above Why not join the fight that one day we might See a heaven down here below Or perhaps Shelley Posen, writing on Ian Robb’s version (we are friends with both of them): We are so low, but soon we know We’ll see that day arise When every man borne high and low His dream may realize While skin and bone must rot below And none can death defy The rich man’s robes to dust will go And the poor man’s soul will fly Either way, we do no disservice to Jones- the trumpet reference you mention was very much a human trumpet as clearly shown by the revolutionary nature of the rest of the verse and song. Jones and the chartists criticized the church, as you can find easily find record of, and while they did form their own churches, these were of the radical bent. They called for the complete separation of church and state and the need to make material change on earth, not wait for heavenly salvation. Jones would approve of the verse I’d say!

[@johnmkwii9393]

@@WindborneSingers Yes that is all fine and dandy, but as I mentioned Chartism was a very Christian movement (brought on partially by the prosecuted puritans and evangeleists), so I think preforming the song in a way that disregards those roots is a touch disrespectful. Basically my issue is that you are preforming this as some humanist revolutionary communist rise of the lower class to eliminate the rich and create a social commune. Which is what the communists wanted, but not the chartists. In reality this was a movement seeking equality, *free* capitalism, and voting rights (versus the lasseiez faire opression they were facing). The singing was excellent, i dont want to take away from that as well, so very well done.

[@WindborneSingers]

@@johnmkwii9393 you said we changed the song to avoid religion. There is literally no reference to religion, or a god of any denomination in the original text. It is confusing how you think that that is in any way disrespecting the original song. You seem to think that because there were strongly christian chartists we should insert modernly composed lyrics about heaven. No, the original song ended with a verse about killing the rulers. We changed that to be less specifically violent and to focus on a more general sort of liberation, but since the song includes nothing about religion at any point, it is just your desire for the newly composed christian lyrics that informs your opinion. We aren’t christian and have no desire to insert modern Christian lyrics into a text that never included them 🤷‍♂️

[@tracyanadale1147]

Imagine being one of the two bell ends to downvote this.

[@jenethwurdack588]

The song ,...coal miners in it?