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Contents page........ "Songs".. ....... Songbooks
Songs in "The Green Heart of Harlow" 1992
Only the underlined titles have the words included on this website as yet. Where the word tune appears underlined, clicking on this will give you the tune in musical notation. (Or something approximating to it - I'm not too good with these dots.)
Altogether All Alone
Another Day Gone for Good
Faces of Harlow
Going to the Jumble
Is there anybody there
Paddy John (A Drink and a Song)
I dreamed of Sidmouth
Song for Kitty
The Harlow Country Music Jamboree
The Little Black Box
The Tall Trees
You can never go home
All songs (and Dialogue of the Deaf, which is not a song) copyright Kevin McGrath 1992
Contents page.. "Songs"......... Songbooks ...............Top of page
The Green Heart of Harlow
C................................G...................C...............F
When I first came to Harlow, it was muddy and grey,
..........C;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;F....................C............G
it was work brought me here, I thought "I'll never stay",
...........C .................G ................C .............F
and at times, I could tell you that God only knows
...........C..............F .C ....................G ..............C
how I stuck it in Harlow, where the Stort River flows.
.....................G ...................................F.................C
We've been planted out here , and now, do what we may,
................F................................C.............G
there are plenty of people who'd wish us away,
..................C.....................G......................C.......................F
why they'll sniff and they'll sneer, and they'll look down their nose
................C................F...C .....................G...............C
when the talk turns to Harlow, where the Stort River flows.
.............G..............F..C ..........F................C
For the people in Harlow live close to the ground
..................F..............C...........................G
and there aren't many palaces here to be found,
...............C..............G..................C...............F
and the houses are small, and the gardens are neat,
....................C..............F.C...........G.............C
and there's children in Harlow still play in the street.
..............G......................................F..............C
.....And here on our border we're out on our own,
............G.................F........................................G
.....and if you don't like us, well just leave us alone.
..................C.......................G...................C..............F
.....In our wild woods and gardens you'll find a red rose,
..................C.....................F..C.......................G..............C
.....in the green heart of Harlow, where the Stort River flows.It's a good place to be on a fine sunny day
with the trees all in bloom and the people at play,
as you wander about you will know why you chose
to come here to Harlow, where the Stort River flows.
You see squirrels and skateboards, and horses being led,
in the market there's pigeons, and gulls overhead,
though the traffic might drown out the song of the lark
still there's fish in our river, and sheep in our park.
From the Stort to the Stow to the big motorway
it's a good place to live, we can keep it that way,
I came here to live, and I'll stay here to die,
and there's thousands who see it the same way as I.
.....And here on our border we're out on our own,
.....and if you don't like us, well just leave us alone.
.....In our wild woods and gardens you'll find a red rose,
.....in the green heart of Harlow, where the Stort River flows.So God Bless you, old Freddie, who dreamed up the plan,
and the brickies who came here to build it by hand,
and the thousands of strangers and neighbours who chose
to live here in Harlow, where the Stort River flows.
In good times and bad times, she's treated me fine,
we could do with some changes - but they'll come in time,
we're an odd class of dream, but the dream's still around,
it's a dream will live on when we're all underground.
We're white and we're black, and we're young and we're old,
we're Red White and Blue, and we're Green White and Gold,
and I know in my heart I am glad that I chose
to come here to Harlow, where the Stort River flows.
And I look to the day, it'll come yet, you'll see
when we're out on our own, and from Essex we're free,
then that County of Essex can look down it's nose,
it'll never catch Harlow, where the Stort River flows.
.....And here on our border we're out on our own,
.....and if you'd like to come here, you're welcome to come,
.....In our wild woods and gardens you'll find a red rose,
.....in the green heart of Harlow, where the Stort River flows.January 1992
This was the first new song I wrote after a long time without doing much in the way of singing. We used to have a folk club in Harlow (now we've just the Small Copper session), and a couple of guests (Pete Coe and Tony Kendall I think) set me thinking that Harlow deserved a song of its own, so I wrote this one.
If it seems a bit prickly, there's a reason. Harlow as the first of the New Towns still sticks out as a sore thumb on the edge of Essex, and we don't like it when outsiders run the place down, especially when they are using the facilities we built and paid for. Anyway the song says what I think about it. The last chorus is to show we really quite friendly.
Incidentally, "Old Freddie" is Sir Freddy Gibberd, the town's Master Planner, who stayed on in the town to live here the rest of his life. Not many people who plan towns would be wise to do this, but Freddie was deservedly very well liked here.
Here is an extra verse I tagged on to the song when I went on a town twinning trip to Havirov in the Czech republic a couple of years ago, as further proof that we're a friendly town.
From Harlow to here is a long weary way,
but I was happy to come, and I'm glad I could stay,
and I hope that some day I will here again,
to meet you once more, and to greet you as friends,
and when you come to Harlow, and be sure that you do,
there's be always a welcome there waiting for you,
our hands are wide open and they'll never close
till you come here to Harlow, where the Stort River flows............ Start of song
Contents page.... "Songs"......... Songbooks ...........Top of page
The Ghost of Merry England
..........C. ............................................................ ..........F....
In the carpark by the public house, on an evening late in June,
..........................C ......................F.........C.....FG
the melodeon is ringing, while the fiddler plays in tune,
......C.......................................................................F .
and in between the dancers, as they leap there in the night,
...........................................C..............G ..................CCC..............
there's the Ghost of Merry England, a-dancing with delight...
................................................................F...................C
....So proud and still so humble, and so comical and kind,
..................F...............C................F..........C .........G
....Such a fine happy dancer you never again will find........ ...........................C.........F...........................,.......F..
....We've been cheated and mistreated, fairly knocked from off our feet,
.....................................................C ....G.................G.......................C
....But there's a Ghost in Merry England, and it's dancing in the street.
And it isn't for the money, though it might be for the beer;
and it isn't for the glory, there's not much of that to share,
and it might be for the friednshipo, but it's mostly for the dance.
And while we've got the dancing, well maybe we've got a chance.
....So proud and still so humble, and so comical and kind,
....such a fine happy dancer you never again will find;
....oh they turned us out, and burned us out, and sold us off for gold,
....but there's a Ghost in Merry England, that can keep us from the cold.
So forget your Old Brittania, and your Union Jack and Crown,
and an Empire built on slavery, Thank God it's tumbled down,
and forget your empty bragging, and forget your foolish pride,
there's a Ghost in Merry England, and it's dancing in the side.
....So proud and still so humble, and so comical and kind,.
....such a fine happy dancer you never again will find;
....Yes they stole the land and hold the land, to turn us into slaves,
....but there's a Ghost in Merry England, that will dance upon their graves.
So proud and still so humble, and so comical and kind,
such a fine happy dancer you never again will find;
We've been cheated and mistreated, fairly knocked from off our
feet,
but there's a Ghost in Merry England, and it's dancing in the
street;
but there's a Ghost in Merry England, that can keep us from the
cold.
and they turned us out, and burned us out, and sold us off for
gold,
but there's a Ghost in Merry England that can keep us from the
cold.
Yes they stole the land and hold the land, to turn us into slaves,
but there's a Ghost in Merry England, that will dance upon their
graves.
June 1992
"We are the Silent People" was how Chesterton put it - except that they were never silent, when it came to music or demanding justice. But they didn't write the History Books.
This is a song about Morris Dancers, in which I see them as an emblem of something in England that is very admirable, and which is totally at odds both with Cool Britannia and most of what is normally seen as "Patriotism". (It's the same kind of thinking that I think lies behind Richard Thompson's "New St George".) It looks towards a day when England will at last be set free from the nightmare of a lingering imperial past. (And the "us" you can understand either as the rural poor of England, from whom the Morris tradition came, or the others in Ireland and elsewhere - all vistims of the same oppressors.)
Top of page............. Start of song
The
Strange Conversation
....C ...
.........F................ G .
............C..
As I was a-walking back home after drinking,
.......F. ........... C............ F.................G
I'd had one or two, I am bound to confess,
..C ............F............... G .... .......C
I sat on the edge of the river, just thinking
...........F.........................C .............G..............C
how it seemed my whole life was all kinds of a mess.
.................F ................C............F .............G
Why the Moon in the Water was looking impatient,
.........F........C.................F................G
why didn't I jump in, and join her and die?
..........F....................C...................G..........C
And I gathered my strength. Then I felt a sensation
.......F..................C....................F................G
that I was being watched, and I didn't know why.
............F...........C..................G.................C
And I then overheard such a strange conversation -
.........F.................C.....................F....C.G....C
the Moon in the Water, and the Moon in the Sky.
..d7..e7..F..G..C
Said the Moon in the Water to the
Moon in the Cloud,
"Now I wish I was up there, with you in the sky.
You sail by so tranquil, so pale and so proud now,
and noone can touch you, and you there so high.
While down in this wide world I tremble and shiover,
and wait for this waster, who wants to resign
to shatter my peace when he jumps in this river,
just because he is drunk, and his world is unkind.
He'd scatter my beauty, and lose life forever -
and people will say it was I turned his mind."
Said the Moon in the Sky to the
Moon in the Water
"You've got it entirely the wrong way about.
I'm set here to drift in this elegant quarter,
with never a bird, nor a breeze, nor a trout.
The world and its worries goes on far below me.
They've happened before, and they'll happen again,
and nothing can touch me, and noone can know me,
while I drift far above all this meaningless pain.
And when this fool drowns in your beauty, there'll only
be one fewer reason for me to complain."
Well I said to the Moon in the Sky
and the Water
"Now hold hard a minute, you're going much too fast.
I hadn't determined upon this self slaughter.
It was only a notion that happened to pass.
And now I've decided I'd much sooner wander
on home to my bed, and forget the idea.
For now I consider, of life I'm much fonder,
and the thoughts that you heard, they were mostly the beer.
But you've given me something on which I will ponder -
and I hope still to trouble you for many a year."
This is as odd a song as I have ever written. It just popped out back in 1992 fairly soon after I started singing and writing songs again after a very long break. Perhaps it's something to do with there being a pub called The Half Moon in High Wych near The Rising Sun where we have sessions sometimes. And if I walk home from High Wych, as I have on rare occasions, my route would lie along the bank of the Stort for part of the way.
Top of page............. Start of song
The
Harlow Country Music Jamboree
....D... A
Now every year in the month of June
.....................................................F. ... ..D
the whole town used to echo to a country tune.
................A
And the crowd turned up in cowboy hats
...................................F........D
and picnic chairs, and plastic hats.
................G
And the Blue and the Grey, you'd find them both recruiting
..........D...........................F..... .. ..D
for a Civil kind of War - "No gunshooting!"
.........................A
You'd find the broken soldier from an ancient war,
........................................F...........D
the sick and tired and the rich and poor,
.........A
the black and white and the young and old,
..........................................F.........D
the barroom floozy, with a heart of gold.
..................... G
And we were all together till the sun went down,
.................F...........................A.........D
when the Wild West came to Harlow Town.
........ ..... .G
....At the Harlow
Country Music Jamboree,
................D
....it was good for
everybody, it was good for you and me,
..................G
....and the people used to
come from miles around
.........D
....to listen to the music
and to sit down on the ground,
.........................A
....And
we were all together till the sun went down,
.....................F...........................A.........D
....when
the Wild West came to Harlow Town.
You'd see a Civil War general, with a Tesco's
trolley,
or a tough gunfighter, with a little pink brolly,
or a mountainy man, with a ginger cat
just a-sitting on his head for a Davy Crockett hat,
at the Harlow Country Music Jamboree,
the Harlow Country Music Jamboree.
....Yes
the Harlow Country Music Jamboree...
And we'd lay around, and hear sad songs
about life being hard, and things going wrong,
and love and hate, and saying goodbye,
and hanging on when you don't know why,
and the songs aren't cool or smart I know,
but when they reach in deep then they don't let go.
And there was room for the people with unusual ways
who walk around in a kind of daze,
and the dancing fools, and the blind and dumb -
hell, there was room for everyone in the world to come.
And we were all together till the sun went down,
when the Wild West came to Harlow Town.
....Yes
the Harlow Country Music Jamboree...
But if you went down to the park today,
you don't hear any kind of music play,
for that was then and this is now,
and the Council don't like country music anyhow.
And if they had a concert now they'd make you pay -
- Hell, I hear they want to take the people's park away.
But we were all together till the sun went down,
when the Wild West came to Harlow Town.
....To the Harlow Country
Music Jamboree,
....it was good for
everybody, it was good for you and me,
....and the people used to
come from miles around to
....to listen to the music
and to sit down on the ground,
....and we
were all together till the sun went down,
....when
the Wild West came to Harlow Town.
May 7th 1999 (amended version)
We used to have free music in the Town Park in Harlow pretty well every summer weekend. It was a bit like living in Chigley (you know, Chigley, Camberwick Green, Trumpton, BBC childrern's programmes) A bit different now. First the Tory Cuts. Then New Labour falling into enthusiastic line.
I wrote this back in 1992, but I've changed it around a bit, and the tune I use has changed as well. At least, the chords I put for it in the chapbook version of Green Heart of Harlow don't fit any more, so I've put chords here that fit the way I'd sing it today.
Top of page............. Start of song
Paddy John
C F C
There's old ones and young ones that live on the street,
G
and some of them fill you with shame.
C F C
I'll tell you about one perhaps you might meet
G C
by and by, Paddy John is the name.
F C
Paddy John came from Ireland, from a place called Knocklong,
G
But he'd been on the street now for so very long.
C
He could tell you a story, or sing you a song,
G C
a drink or a song all the same.
F C
He'd say, "My name s Paddy John, and I'm pretty far gone,
G
And I've got no money to spend,
C F
But I'm still keeping on, with a drink and a song,
G C
A drink and a song and a friend."Now the spot where you'd find him was round and about
He'd never stop long in one place.
He had so many layers, you'd swear he was stout
at least till you looked in his face.
And he moved around town, on a kind of a beat,
The Strand, the Embankment, Victoria Street,
And Paddy had never admitted defeat,
no he'd simply dropped out of the race.
He'd say "I know it's not right, stopping out every night,
and I know where it leads in the end,
and that's not so bright, but I hides it from sight
with a drink and a song and a friendEvery once in while he'd talk about home,
Till you'd swear you were back there once more.
About sweet County Limerick, where once he had roamed
as a lad, to join up in the war.
And he'd talk about fighting in the'd-Day attack,
then of years in the factory, till they give him the sack,
then drifting around for the'drink and the craic,
and he never went home any more.
He'd say "Sometimes I long to be where I belong,
But sure that is a long ways from here.
So boys, when I'm gone, have a drink and a song,
A drink and a song, and a prayer.It was by the Cathedral I last saw him there,
We met as he shuffled along,
And we shared a last drink as we sat in the square,
We both knew he wouldn't be long.
Then around to The Passage he went, to be fed,
And he fell, and the nuns found him some kind of bed
But a couple of days, and old Paddy was dead.
It's goodbye to old Paddy John.
So now he is gone, and he's where he belongs,
And I know they ll be treating him fair,
so for old Paddy John, here's a drink and a song,
a drink and a song, and a prayer.Here's to you Paddy John, sure you helped us along,
And you always were true, to the end,
Sure with old Paddy John, you'd not go far wrong
For a drink, and a song, and a friend.written 1992, put on the website 30th October 1999
"The Passage" is a place round the side of Westminster Cathedral where people who are "sleeping rough can get some help.
Top of page............. Start of song
Poison in Jest
C F C G C
Now there's a funny way of talking called "Politically Correct" -
F C D G
Silly fools who think that words have some kind of effect.
F C G C
Now that's surely not a notion that's entitled to respect -
F C D G
So I'd like to poke a little fun at this strange dialect.
F C G D
For when I meet some oddity I like to speak direct.
F C G C
No, I never mess around with being "Politically Correct".
F C G C
So I speak to them direct, that's what they must expect -
F C G C
No I never mess around with being "Politically Correct."F C
So I say "Good Morning, Mr Nigger!",
G C
or "How goes it, you old Yid?"
G C
The answers that I get, I find surprising.
F C
And I like seeing tins marked "Cripples",
G C D G
or "For Little Spastic Kids" - I think euphemisims are so patronising! F C G C
So I speak to them direct, that's what they must expect -
F C G C
No I never mess around with being "Politically Correct."So, perhaps you are a Poofter, or a Gippo with a van,
or perhaps you are a Mongol or a Moron -
or perhaps you come from Essex, Essex Girl or Essex Man,
and perhaps your name is Tracy, Wayne or Sharon
Well, I'll speak to you direct, that's what you must expect -
No I never mess around with being "Politically Correct."
If I'll call you what I choose, what's that got to do with you?
It's not my problem if the words appall you.
It's how I always speak when I'm talking to a freak,
and it doesn't really matter what I call you.
Yes, I'll speak to you direct, that's what you must expect -
No I never mess around with being "Politically Correct."C F
And if anybody says that I offends,
G C
why then I just assume an
F
injured look - my poor little friends,
G C
you must have lost your sense of humour.
F
And a sense of fun, when all is done,
G C
it never should desert you.
F
And sticks and stones can break your bones -
G C
but words can really hurt you.
So, I'll speak to you direct, that's what you must expect -
For I never mess around with being "Politically Correct."
C
Now some might call it courtesy,
F G
or politeness or respect -
C G C
But I prefer to call it "being Politically Correct".(Written 1992, on the website 7th May 2000)
"Political Correctness" is a terrible label for what should be elementary politeness - not using names that people feel as insults, and which are in fact used as insults. I suspect the term itself was made up by people trying to mock the whole idea that names matter sometimes. (As for the silly neologisms like "follically challenged" for people who are bald - I reckon these these are normally jokes, which have sometimes been adopted by careerists with ulterior motives.)<P>
But names do matter.They don't just hurt, they can at times mean the difference between life and death. Labels like "nigger", "yid", "subnormal", or even "foetus".
Top of page............. Start of song
Singing in the Pub
.........a
Well, I went down to the pub tonight
......E
and I was feeling right,
and I was feeling happy -
..............................v..........va
I'm going to sing my song tonight.
......F..........vC..........G............C
I'll sing my song, I'll sing my song.
........F
And I was feeling happy -
....................G.....vv....C.....E..a
I'm going to sing my song tonight.
But when I got up in the pub tonight
I never stood there in the light.
No, I went up to the bar instead,
I never sang my song tonight.
But when I came out of the pub tonight
I felt a little sad inside.
And I was feeling sad because
I never sang my song tonight.
But when I went back to the pub again
I said, "I'll do it right.
Tonight's the night I'm going to sing my song,
I'm going to sing my song tonight".
And I stood up in the pub tonight,
and I stood there in the light.
And I started shaky, but I ended strong -
and I sang my song tonight.
And when I came out of the pub tonight,
the moon was shining bright,
and I was feeling happy.
I sang my song tonight.
And when I go back to the pub again
I might sing a song or two -
but I know I'll join the chorus,
and the singer might be you.
And we'll sing our songs,
yes, we'll sing our songs.
And I will join the chorus,
and the singer might be you.I wrote this back in 1992, soon after I started singing and paying in public after a long time out of it. I'd try to nerve myself to take a floor spot in acklub or whatever, and chicken out. And yet I knew from years of playing and singing that I was as good as most. (Put on website 30th September 2000)
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Dialogue of the Deaf
"So far as criticism is concerned, we don't resent that, unless it is absolutely biased - as it usually is." That's from Prime Minister Vorster of South Africa 1966-78, and President 1978-79. Resigned after financial and political scandals.Here's something - not a song, and I wouldn't say it's a poem either - I wrote about my employers when I was a Social Worker, and about how they treated criticism from outside (or inside, to be fair). (Put on website 30th September 2000.)
Everyone makes mistakes sometimes
We know that, though we do our best,
we are fallible.
You appear to believe
that we believe we never make mistakes.
This is so absurd
that you must be either fools or liars.
It is clear that you see us as our enemies,
and that we cannot trust you.
Therefore we must give you
no ammunition that you can use against us.
So we must at no time
admit to making any mistakes.
Everyone makes mistakes sometimes.
You never admit to making any mistakes.
This is so absurd
that you must be either fools or liars.
It is clear that you see us as your enemies,
and we cannot trust you.
Therefore we must give you
no opportunity to get away with any mistakes.
So we must at no time
admit that anything you do is right.
You criticise everything we do.
Apparently in your eyes,
we can do nothing right.
This is so absurd
that you must be either fools or liars.
It is clear that you see us as your enemies,
and we cannot trust you.
So we will not listen to any of your criticisms.You never listen to our criticisms.
You appear to think that you never make mistakes.
This is so absurd
that you must be either fools or liars.
It is clear that you see us as your enemies,
and we cannot trust you.
If we letup, you will never admit
that you make mistakes.
Until you do that,
we will find fault with everything you do.BR>Top of page............. Start of "dialogue"
All songs copyright Kevin McGrath 1992