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refugee and immigration songs |
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Subject: RE: refugee and immigration songs From: Thompson Date: 03 Aug 18 - 03:45 PM The Mountains of Mourne, though it's fondly satirical. |
Subject: RE: refugee and immigration songs From: GUEST,Jack Warshaw Date: 04 Oct 19 - 08:06 AM Lyrics to my "Migrant Song" here: Also listen at link Followed by "The Exile" - listen at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-wVf-4VWD7Y © Jack Warshaw 2015 Migrant Song A We fled our lands in time of war Time of famine, time of woe Wearied souls and ragged kids On the road, no place to go B We came uplifted to your shores Over land, across the seas Doors and hearts were opened wide Back then you called us refugees We built your cities, roads and railways Worked your factories day and night Healed your sick and worked your fields Taught your kids to read and write B Our tongues were different, names also Left behind the world we knew Settled down and raised our kids Who looked and sounded just like you A Now once again in time of terror We walk and crawl, set sail and drown Doors are closed and faces turned And you call us migrants now B And still we try and still we’re crying Still we die before our time While your leaders blow and bluster Ain’t it all an awful crime A See us now in all the papers In the news and on your screens Parents weeping, children drowning Dressed in T shirts, shoes and jeans B You are blessed and we are broken Ease our troubles, ease our pain For the sake of human kindness Open up your doors again The Exile © Jack Warshaw 2009 and 2018 Farewell to my friends, farewell to my family Across the deep ocean, a stranger I’m bound Don’t know what I’ll find there, how long I’ll be gone Or if some day I’ll see you when I’m back again My parents are gone, my friends are all scattered No place in this country to call my home A new country calls me, adventure awaits me Maybe a new love to call me her own But war knows no border, they come to conscript me Resolved to resist them, I follow my code I join with the angry, I join with the gentle Who march to the ending of this long troubled road There’s many in struggle, there’s many hearts broken There’s many lives taken, but still we march on There’s many alike me, far over the water Working for good times when troubles are gone The bombing is ended, the guns fallen silent My country’s divided, but peace is restored And to my delight I find my true lover And welcome a new life with one I adore But still there’s great dangers- our children must answer Terror and hunger, and life upon Earth Yet each day that dawns brings new hope and wonder Dreaming of freedom, and a time of rebirth So now my song’s ended, I bid you good fortune Sometimes a road ends in the place it begun And if I may offer this compass to guide you To see where you’re goin’- look back where you’re from So take up your place, march on with the many The times they may change but the prize is the same Freedom, good friendship and love never ending No power in creation can put out the flame |
Subject: RE: refugee and immigration songs From: GUEST,JoeG Date: 04 Oct 19 - 09:41 AM My favourite recent song on this issue - extremely moving The Young 'Uns - Dark Water Also an earlier superb response from Nick Hall of the duo Plumhall and the Hall Brothers to those who complain about immigration Nick Hall - How Deep Is This Valley |
Subject: RE: refugee and immigration songs From: GUEST,LynnH Date: 05 Oct 19 - 01:09 PM A consequence of brexshit.I left the disUK many years ago and now I've had to rearrange my citizenship.: Immigrant Song When first unto this country a stranger I came I ne'er gave a thought to how long I'd remain. A few weeks, a few months, maybe even a year. Now the years they've passed so quickly and I find I'm still here! I quickly found work and the language I learned So that I could earn my keep doing the trade that I'd larned. I've seen a few changes, I've made me a home, I've put down some roots, no more reasons to roam. Now the country I come from I can no more call home, I'm a 'Citizen of Nowhere', as such now I'm known. Home is where I live now and intend to remain, Here I feel that I'll belong 'til the end of my days. Text: Lynn Wise, tune: should be obvious from the first line! This was actually 'composed' as my contribution to the local arts. soc. annual members exhibition, theme 'Heimat/Home', 2019. I even sang it there, which surprised everybody there! Feel free to sing it. Just mention my name. Thanks, Lynn |
Subject: RE: refugee and immigration songs From: Jack Campin Date: 05 Oct 19 - 03:38 PM The Coventry Carol is a refugee song (the Holy Family fleeing from Herod). Fairouz's "Nassam alayna al Hawa" has become almost an anthem among Arabic-speaking refugees - it's a song of nostalgia for an unspecified homeland, originally Lebanon. |
Subject: RE: refugee and immigration songs From: GeoffLawes Date: 26 Sep 20 - 03:52 AM The Young’uns "Dark Water" Night was dark, the night was long We swam in the sea On my lips was a song, “Dark water, carry me” We couldn’t pay the smuggler’s fare Nor fly above the sea We had to swim to make it there Dark water, carry me “Tie your float around your chest,” My friend said to me, “And tie your shoes around your neck” Dark water, carry me And off we swam, and the sea was calm And how we smiled with glee For our smiles kept us warm Dark water, carry me I turned and swam on my back And the stars fell on me And I’ve not felt peace like that The stars would sing, “Dark water, carry me” Dark water, carry me Dark water, carry me But soon the winds came wild and high And then ravens, they came to see: Two fresh corpses drifting by Dark water, carry me “But we will reach the northern side,” My friend promised me “We will not die in this black tide Dark water, carry me!” I saw a light and I saw a cry Felt two arms holding me And I’ve not felt joy like that Pulled from the sea Dark water, carry me Dark water, carry me Dark water, carry me But in my dreams, it’s not the same For I become the sea A million voices sing my name Dark water carries me |
Subject: RE: refugee and immigration songs From: Joe G Date: 26 Sep 20 - 05:02 AM Dark Water is a wonderful and very moving song, Geoff |
Subject: RE: refugee and immigration songs From: GUEST,henryp Date: 26 Sep 20 - 12:51 PM Overnight by Robb Johnson Sung here magnificently by Maggie Holland Overnight |
Subject: RE: refugee and immigration songs From: GeoffLawes Date: 04 Nov 20 - 07:09 AM "Dark Water"The Young’uns Listen and weep, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DsfHwiSLnk8 |
Subject: RE: refugee and immigration songs From: Elmore Date: 04 Nov 20 - 07:03 PM "California Snow" by Tom Russell. |
Subject: RE: refugee and immigration songs From: GeoffLawes Date: 05 Nov 20 - 04:02 AM Tom Russell - "California Snow" Blue Clicky https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GzJNDxmAuFE |
Subject: RE: refugee and immigration songs From: GUEST,Tom Patterson Date: 05 Nov 20 - 04:12 AM The Windrush We sat out on that evening, our thoughts drawn to the dawn The Windrush would be leaving bound for England come the morn Through a haze of smoke and rum he trawled his memory Told some long forgotten tales, smiled then said to me You'll be all right there, you'll be all right there You know there's jobs to fill, they need your skill You'll be all right there And so we left Jamaica, said farewell to our roots We came ashore at Tilbury in our hats and Sunday suits Driven by a vision of pavements lined with gold Freedom, wealth and plenty, the dream that we'd been sold As winter came a-creeping, I found myself alone I missed the Caribbean sun, my family, friends back home We had to beg from room to room, no coloureds wanted here The mighty Empire I'd admired had given birth to fear Can anyone imagine how I felt inside The anger and frustration that I forced myself to hide I worked for just a pittance, compared to other folks Forced to sit and listen to endless racist jokes The days have turned to decades since I came across the sea I'm told my city soon will have a black majority Multiracial to its core but a slave of history Privilege and poverty remain for all to see Tom Patterson Folksinger on Youtube |
Subject: RE: refugee and immigration songs From: oldhippie Date: 05 Nov 20 - 08:45 AM Americans are most all immigrants. HOW FAR WE HAVE COME When our fathers came to this golden land There was nothing but forests and rivers and sand And a few million Indians running around Now look what we’ve made of the little they found There’s cities of silver that shine in the night Churches of splendor and halls of delight And only an echo of Indian drums Who can deny how far we have come The slave ships they came with the whip and the rack And a million black people with scars on their back Picked cotton, drew water, and slept in the cold With a bible for comfort they were happy and cold The laws they were passed, slavery went Our lives integrated at least six percent In the sharecroppers shack and the big city slum Who can deny how far we have come The immigrants came from the green Irish shore From Poland and Russia, ten million and more Germany, Italy, all the world round To settle our ghettos and immigrant towns Their brains and their bodies they put to the wheel To build our great factories and towers of steel To march to our battles and carry our guns Who can deny how far we have come Now all through the Andes, they’ve heard of our name On the factory wall, in the palace of shame They drink Coca Cola and the times that they spend Goes straight to the pockets of our businessmen To pay for our Fords, and our split level homes Our Hi-Fis and records and six percent loans Our profits protected with dictators guns Who can deny how far we have come In Asia and Africa, they’re learning too How free enterprise can do wonders for you South Africas prisons are bursting with men Barbed wire keeps the Vietnamese in Where elections are daydreams that never get far American weapons are there standing guard We’re ready to fight for the lands that we run Who can deny how far we have come Our fears they are many though they’re seldom saved They’re black and they’re yellow and they’re brown and they’re red They see through the legend, they smell the decay They’re learning to fight the American way And we in our armchairs are quick to condemn Our bankbooks are falling, our profits might end The breaking of change is our funeral hum Who can deny how far we have come When our fathers came to this golden land There was nothing but forests and rivers and sand And a few million Indians running around Now look what we’ve made of the little they found There’s cities of silver that shine in the night Churches of splendor and halls of delight And only an echo of Indian drums Who can deny how far we have come |
Subject: RE: refugee and immigration songs From: GeoffLawes Date: 22 Nov 20 - 05:03 AM There was excellent discussion of a variety of immigration / emigration songs on Michael Morpurgo's Folk Journeys programme 4,"Paddy's Green Shamrock Shore",on BBC Radio 4, Mon 9 Nov 2020 which you can access here https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000p6fn It includes Muireann Nic Amhlaoibh Paddy's Green Shamrock Shore De DannanRambling Irishman Paul Brady Paddy's Green Shamrock Shore Lothlorien Paddy's Green Shamrock Shore Fine Friday When First I Came To Caledonia Waterson:Carthy When First I Came To Caledonia The Watersons The Broom of Cowdenknowes Martin Simpson Home Again Boo Hewerdine The Man That I Am Chris While and Julie Matthews Small Cases Full Of Big Dreams Chris While and Julie Matthews Pinjarra Dreams Aidan Moffat & Becky Unthank The Suitcase Martin Green feat. Adam Holmes & Becky Unthank Laws of Motion Chris While, Julie Matthews, Georgina Boyes, Jim Boyes, Nancy Kerr, Muireann Nic Amhlaoibh & Rosie Hood Bread and Roses |
Subject: RE: refugee and immigration songs From: GeoffLawes Date: 27 Jan 21 - 08:11 AM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dr9tso_DPxU&feature=share&fbclid=IwAR0OtEzKGW7_bRHVMXKK0zkqupvAMC1k0_Q2AQX3NvXCU0lfnkykWqqqUYA |
Subject: RE: refugee and immigration songs From: GeoffLawes Date: 11 Jun 24 - 07:27 PM The link given above no longer works but I hope this will DARK WATER by The Young'uns https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iCE_UhHz7eo |
Subject: RE: refugee and immigration songs From: Stilly River Sage Date: 11 Jun 24 - 08:24 PM I'm surprised to run search on the page and find no mention of Mexico, Mexican, or bracero. Part of the reason the bracero program came into being had to do with immigration - people were able to come work then go back to Mexico during and after the WWII years (but many farmers ripped off employees). After that program ended migrant workers came and went for years, but they ended up staying (without papers) because it became too difficult to cross back and forth at the border. They choose to stay for the income from picking up and down the west coast (or the east). Bracero by Phil Ochs. I Pity the Poor Immigrant sung by Joan Baez (by Bob Dylan) As we know, songs morph over time, and while many English speakers know of the Cruel Mother (who took her penknife, keen and sharp. . . ) there is a Mexican song called La Llorona about a Weeping Woman that has a similar theme. In 2015-16 when Syrian exiles tried to reach European countries an encampment formed in Calais as some of them tried to get to the UK. A group of musicians in the camp got together to share and practice and eventually were recorded for a fundraiser, sold as "The Calais Sessions". La Llorona was one of the songs they chose for the story of her sad wandering and it became a sort of anthem of the time. It is a beautiful song. (I will also note that anything that uses the term "wetback" is probably not a lovely or charming song about immigration or refugees.) |
Subject: RE: refugee and immigration songs From: GeoffLawes Date: 12 Jun 24 - 06:47 PM Link to post “SONGS FOR WORLD REFUGEE DAY" in Mudcat thread Any June Songs? |
Subject: RE: refugee and immigration songs From: GUEST Date: 14 Jun 24 - 04:41 PM Nancy Kerr and the Sweet Visitor Band: Where Jacarandas Grow |
Subject: RE: refugee and immigration songs From: Bearheart Date: 04 Jul 24 - 08:39 AM GeoffLawes, Thank you for posting "The Heart is True" by Peta Webb. So moving. I must learn it. I wish there was a way to get the recording but I'm sure it has not been reissued. A great loss. But at least we have the youtube video. Another reason I must come to this site more often. I found the words on Mainly Norfolk: https://mainlynorfolk.info/folk/songs/ourshipisready.html Peta Webb sings Our Ship is Ready Our ship is ready to bear away Come, comrades, o’er the stormy sea. Her snow-white wings, they are unfurled And soon she’ll swim in a watery world. Chorus (after each verse): Ah, do not forget, love; do not grieve, For the heart is true and can’t deceive. My heart and hand with you I’ll leave; Fare thee well truelove and remember me. Farewell to thee, my precious pearl, It’s my lovely dark-haired, blue-eyed girl. And when I’m on the stormy sea; When you think on Ireland, remember me. Farewell to Dublin’s hills and braes, To Killarney’s lakes and silvery seas. There’s many a bright, long, summer’s day When we passed those hours of joy away. Oh, Erin, dear, it grieves my heart To think that I so soon must part. And friends so ever-dear and kind In sorrow I must leave behind. |
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