Here is the short version

THE FOLK MUSICIAN'S LAMENT (Tune: The Old German Musicianer)

Chorus: Minister Jowell and Minister Howells:
Your names rhyme with "bowels": "How apt!", I must say.
You're changing the law to stop folkies from playing,
Even without any amps or PA.


I'm a folk singing man and I'm here broken hearted:
They're changing the law so that we cannot play.
Folk music and dance might both cause disturbance,
And ain't even safe, so the government say.

Now they're great and they're good are our masters in gov'ment,
Making all kinds of laws for to keep us from sin,
So they've always licensed a public performance,
And pubs that will sell you beer whisky or gin.

But over the decades the law had got muddled:
Kim Howells he vowed he would make it all plain.
Un amplified folk with just one person playing, [and]
Night clubs for thousands are licensed the same.

And a folk dance on May day is just like a disco,
It's all for the sake of our safety you see.
Wires and stages and crowded dark spaces
Demand regulation or might be noisy.

All of these things must be treated as equals,
And licensed the same, by every town hall;
Authorities setting out costly "conditions"
To make each performance quite safe for us all.

So exemptions for folkies are out of the question
But OK for things that Kim Howells don't mind:
Big screen TVs, and all sorts of juke box
And concerts in churches no matter what kind.

Richard Bridge, 2003