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refugee and immigration songs
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Subject: refugee and immigration songs From: ifor Date: 04 Mar 06 - 02:36 PM I am looking out for songs by and about refugees and immigration in the folk tradition.Deportees by Woody Guthrie is an immense song and there must be others out there.Any thoughts? Ifor |
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Subject: RE: refugee and immigration songs From: John MacKenzie Date: 04 Mar 06 - 02:43 PM Caledonia Dougie McClean Farewell Indiana Andy Mitchell There are many Scots songs of immigration and Irish, it is by way of a national pastime. Giok |
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Subject: RE: refugee and immigration songs From: Purple Foxx Date: 04 Mar 06 - 02:47 PM "Deportees" by Cisco Houston is a personal favourite |
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Subject: RE: refugee and immigration songs From: Purple Foxx Date: 04 Mar 06 - 03:52 PM Last post was not what I intended to post. Am having connection problems I will clarify once sorted |
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Subject: RE: refugee and immigration songs From: Dave (the ancient mariner) Date: 04 Mar 06 - 04:09 PM I always found the song Across The Western Ocean one of the best songs about immigration. Here is a link to the DT version. @displaysong.cfm?SongID=128 |
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Subject: RE: refugee and immigration songs From: GUEST,Ken Brock Date: 04 Mar 06 - 04:17 PM "Gone to America" on Steeleye Span's Sails of Silver is probably trad. origin. |
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Subject: RE: refugee and immigration songs From: Purple Foxx Date: 04 Mar 06 - 04:27 PM Problem now appears resolved. I intended to say that I have a great personal regard for Cisco Houston's version of the Guthrie/Hoffman classic before askinif you had a particular country/period of history in mind? |
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Subject: RE: refugee and immigration songs From: GUEST Date: 04 Mar 06 - 05:38 PM Dear Purple Foxx Yes I have got a particular country and period in mind.I am thinking of now in modern Britain.The film Dirty Pretty Things was a brilliant account of illegal migrant workers living on the margins of Blair's Britain...hounded by the press and the long arm of the govt but needed to do all the filthy and low paid work few others want.Are there any songs in the folk tradition covering this .Just think of the cockle pickers who dies in Morecombe Bay.Where are the songs to remember them in the same way that Woody wrote Deportees? Ifor |
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Subject: RE: refugee and immigration songs From: Scotus Date: 04 Mar 06 - 05:44 PM Guest - you have touched on a very important subject! I will watch this thread with interest. Jack |
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Subject: RE: refugee and immigration songs From: John MacKenzie Date: 04 Mar 06 - 05:48 PM There are songs about the original 'navvies' i.e. navigators, mostly Irish immigrants who woked on the digging of the English canals and were paid a pittance in company money called 'Tommy notes' which could only be redeemed at company run stores. A few 'Bothy Ballads' about farm servants being paid little or no money by greedy farmers, many of them were immigrants. Then there's 'Pity the Poor Immigrant'. Giok |
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Subject: RE: refugee and immigration songs From: Elmer Fudd Date: 05 Mar 06 - 01:30 PM IMMIGRATION MAN by Graham Nash Source: www.guntheranderson.com/v/data/immigrat.htm There I was at the immigration scene Shining and feeling clean, could it be a sin I got stopped by the immigration man He says he doesn't know if he can let me in / D - C - / D9 - Bb - / : {Refrain} Let me in, immigration man Can I cross the line and pray I can stay another day Let me in, immigration man I won't toe your line today I can't see it anyway, hey-y / D - C - / D9 - / Bb - / 1st, 2nd / Bb - D - / There he was with his immigration face Giving me a paper chase, but the sun was coming 'Cause all at once he looked into my space And stamped a number over my face and he sent me running Won't you {Refrain} Here I am with my immigration form It's big enough to keep me warm when a cold wind's coming So go where you will as long as you think you can You'd better watch out, watch out for the man anywhere you're going {As refrain} Come on and let me in, immigration man Can I cross the line and pray Take your fingers from the tray Let me in, irritation man I won't toe your line today I can't see it anyway |
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Subject: RE: refugee and immigration songs From: Purple Foxx Date: 05 Mar 06 - 01:46 PM Great stuff Elmer. Have been on the look out but sadly nothing as yet. |
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Subject: Lyr Add: PASTURES OF PLENTY (Woody Guthrie) From: Bob the Postman Date: 05 Mar 06 - 09:27 PM Guthrie's Pastures Of Plenty is an excellent song on this subject. It uses the same tune as the Appalachian murder ballad Pretty Polly. PASTURES OF PLENTY (Woody Guthrie) It's a mighty hard row that my poor hands have hoed My poor feet have traveled a hot dusty road Out of your Dust Bowl and Westward we rolled And your deserts were hot and your mountains were cold I worked in your orchards of peaches and prunes I slept on the ground in the light of the moon On the edge of the city, you'll see us and then We come with the dust and we go with the wind California, Arizona, I harvest your crops Well its North up to Oregon to gather your hops Dig the beets from your ground, cut the grapes from your vine To set on your table your light sparkling wine Green pastures of plenty from dry desert ground From the Grand Coulee Dam where the waters run down Every state in the Union us migrants have been We'll work in this fight and we'll fight till we win It's always we rambled, that river and I All along your green valley, I will work till I die My land I'll defend with my life if need be Cause my pastures of plenty must always be free Copyright Ludlow Music, Inc. |
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Subject: RE: refugee and immigration songs From: GUEST,J C Date: 06 Mar 06 - 04:39 AM Rambler From Clare, Tunnel Tigers, New Rocks of Bawn, Farewell To Ireland - MacColl Hello Friend - Peggy Seeger Exploration - Gordon McCulloch to name a few |
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Subject: RE: refugee and immigration songs From: yrlancslad Date: 06 Mar 06 - 03:04 PM Not about illegal immigrants but about an English emmigration to Australia and the difficulties of returning "home", I think "The Exile", by the late Alan Burbidge is a great song although when I sing it I change the last verse a little,specifically the two lines beginning, "And it gives you such a fright....." to "And the streets are full of drunkards, the litter lies in heaps,And the lager louts and Thatchers lot have put the land to sack". I got the song from Alans widow at Whitby Week a couple of years ago when I was looking for songs a little different from the usual Irish and Scottish songsfor an immigration gig.Ive lost her address but you can get the Alan Burbidge Song Book from Tom Brown, Daylight Press,Trafalger House,Castle Sheet, Coombe Martin, North Devon,EX340JD |
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Subject: RE: refugee and immigration songs From: rich-joy Date: 06 Mar 06 - 08:30 PM not the English situation specifically, but being modern Australia, definitely related : " REFUGEE This song took a while to eventuate. I was compelled to write it out of disgust at our current government's hypocrisy and racist attitudes towards people's who have suffered so much in their own homelands and have travelled across our northern waters in unseaworthy boats in the hope for a new future for themselves and their families. The fact that Australia sends troops to Afghanistan and Iraq because the local citizens need help and protection and we imprison their refugee's who come from there is utter hypocrisy. John Howard and his liberal party counterparts should be forever condemned for using the plight of these people's lives to further their own political ends. The lies about queue jumping and children overboard, the imprisonment of children and the torture many of these refugee's have been subjected to, deserve condemnation - for now, and into the future. I come from the land of the desert Where the mountains reach into the sky Where snow caps god's towers of beauty Religion and guns ruled my life A life of simplicity and sharing Three children, a wife, family I've been beaten, plundered and brutalised I am a refugee Now with decades of war my hopes faded And with a yearning to live and be free I packaged my life and my culture With a bag full of sad memories I've been exiled away from my homeland I've been feeding advantage and greed I have ventured 'cross nature's vast oceans I am a refugee Now a light shines down from a tower Curled wire defines all my dreams And a man with a baton and a spray pack Maintains all those hostilities As I sit in this camp in the desert With no mountains, water and trees My spirit is broken and shattered I am a refugee As I sit in this camp in the desert Curled wire defines all my dreams My life is dissected and traded I am a refugee And my hopes blow away 'cross the desert Like an aborigine Noel Gardner copyright Corrugated Music " found at Noel's website : http://www.noelgardner.com/lyrics/refugee.html Cheers! R-J |
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Subject: RE: refugee and immigration songs From: GUEST Date: 07 Mar 06 - 11:11 AM Here's a tougher question. List all the Irish songs which AREN'T about immigration! |
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Subject: RE: refugee and immigration songs From: Dan Schatz Date: 07 Mar 06 - 04:33 PM I once performed a program for a local library on Songs of the Irish Emigration - as you can imagine, I had no difficulty filling up a 45 minute set. "The Green Shores of Fogo," "By the Hush," "Kilkelley," and "The State of Arkansas" are just a few that spring to mind. I also led a Getaway workshop on Immigrants and Emigrants, which took it beyond the Irish. One song that I love is Tish Hinojosa's "Donde Voy" ("Where Do I Go"). If you have the ability to sing in Spanish, that's one I highly recommend. Indeed, much of her work deals with immigration issues, especially on her "Homeland" album. Si Kahn has also written beautiful songs on the subject - particularly relating to his own Jewish heritage and his grandfather's escape from Russia. His "Crossing the Border" is haunting. Then, of course, there are all the songs about the involuntary immigrants to the Americas - the slaves. "the Flying Cloud" is one of the most powerful broadside ballads I know, and more recently Cindy Kallet has created a tear-jerking story with her "Juliana" (which she sings with "Shallow Brown"). Good luck! Dan Schatz |
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Subject: RE: refugee and immigration songs From: GUEST,Ken Brock Date: 07 Mar 06 - 04:37 PM Page 53 of the Frank/Anne Warner "Traditional American Folk Songs" has "Plains of Baltimore", about emigration from Ireland. |
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Subject: RE: refugee and immigration songs From: stallion Date: 07 Mar 06 - 05:20 PM I particularly liked Jan Christensens "The Ghost Of Ellis island", we heard him sing it at a South Street Chanty sing (NYC), it's a great song, I don't know if he has recorded it yet. I think Pete Seeger sang it when the Ellis island refurb. was opened. |
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Subject: RE: refugee and immigration songs From: number 6 Date: 07 Mar 06 - 07:19 PM Paddy's Lament and Acadian Driftwood (just had to post an exerpt from this song) Fifteen under zero when the day became a threat My clothes were wet and I was drenched to the bone Been out ice fishing, too much repetition Make a man wanna leave the only home he's known Sailing out of the gulf headin' for saint pierre Nothin' to declare All we had was gone Broke down along the coast But what hurt the most When the people there said You better keep movin' on Everlasting summer filled with ill-content This government had us walkin' in chains This isn't my turf This ain't my season Can't think of one good reason to remain I've worked in the sugar fields up from new orleans It was ever green up until the floods You could call it an omen Points ya where you're goin' Set my compass north I got winter in my blood Acadian driftwood Gypsy tail wind They call my home the land of snow Canadian cold front movin' in What a way to ride Ah, what a way to go sIx |
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Subject: RE: refugee and immigration songs From: Maryrrf Date: 07 Mar 06 - 08:32 PM I seem to recall a Mudcatter posting lyrics he had written about the immigrants in Britain who were drowned gathering cockles, but can't remember who it was. Mudcatter InObu has written many songs about the (recent) immigrant experience in the US including Amadou Diallo. |
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Subject: RE: refugee and immigration songs From: goodbar Date: 07 Mar 06 - 08:44 PM 'thousands are sailing' by the pogues |
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Subject: RE: refugee and immigration songs From: Seamus Kennedy Date: 08 Mar 06 - 01:15 AM Immigrant Eyes, by Guy Clark. Great Song. Seamus |
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Subject: RE: refugee and immigration songs From: Bert Date: 08 Mar 06 - 02:05 AM Can't think of many immigrant songs, Filli-me-oor-i-ay or Paddy works on the Railway is about all I can think of offhand. Now for emigrant songs there's Noreen Bawn and Dear Old Shannon Shore and probaly loads more if I were to think about it. |
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Subject: RE: refugee and immigration songs From: GUEST,Faith Date: 23 Sep 16 - 09:25 PM The most powerful one is one I have known since the 60s, I think was a Julie Felix song of WH Auden's poem, sometimes known as Refugee blues. I have been looking for the version I sang, but cannot find it atm. It is really powerful, written just before WW2 about the plight of Jews in Europe. Each verse has 3 lines, and the tune covers 2 verses, with the second one being higher, and plaintive. The version I knew changed Auden's words a little to give it more rhythm. I particularly liked this verse - "Walked into the forest, there were birds upon the trees, They had no politicians so they sang at their ease, They weren't the human race, my dear, they weren't the human race." I have sung it recently acappella to two young audiences, who were very moved! |
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Subject: LYR ADD - Refugee Blues by WH Auden From: Sandra in Sydney Date: 24 Sep 16 - 03:09 AM Refugee Blues by WH Auden CONTENTS Introduction the first world war the 1930s the second world war crimes against humanity Refugee Blues Bread and a Pension GO Dispossessed GO After the War GO the nuclear age other wars responsibility women's voices Refugee Blues by W H Auden Say this city has ten million souls, Some are living in mansions, some are living in holes: Yet there's no place for us, my dear, yet there's no place for us. Once we had a country and we thought it fair, Look in the atlas and you'll find it there: We cannot go there now, my dear, we cannot go there now. In the village churchyard there grows an old yew, Every spring it blossoms anew; Old passports can't do that, my dear, old passports can't do that. The consul banged the table and said: 'If you've got no passport, you're officially dead'; But we are still alive, my dear, but we are still alive. Went to a committee; they offered me a chair; Asked me politely to return next year: But where shall we go today, my dear, but where shall we go today? Came to a public meeting; the speaker got up and said: 'If we let them in, they will steal our daily bread'; He was talking of you and me, my dear, he was talking of you and me. Thought I heard the thunder rumbling in the sky; It was Hitler over Europe, saying: 'They must die'; We were in his mind, my dear, we were in his mind. Saw a poodle in a jacket fastened with a pin, Saw a door opened and a cat let in: But they weren't German Jews, my dear, but they weren't German Jews. Went down the harbour and stood upon the quay, Saw the fish swimming as if they were free: Only ten feet away, my dear, only ten feet away. Walked through a wood, saw the birds in the trees; They had no politicians and sang at their ease: They weren't the human race, my dear, they weren't the human race. Dreamed I saw a building with a thousand floors, A thousand windows and a thousand doors; Not one of them was ours, my dear, not one of them was ours. Stood on a great plain in the falling snow; Ten thousand soldiers marched to and fro: Looking for you and me, my dear, looking for you and me. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Refugee Blues From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia "Refugee Blues" is a poem by W. H. Auden, written in 1939, one of a number of poems Auden wrote in the mid- to late-1930s in blues and other popular metres, for example the meter he used in his love poem "Calypso," written around the same time. The poem dramatizes the condition of Jewish refugees from Nazi Germany in the years before World War II, especially the indifference and antagonism they faced when seeking asylum in the democracies of the period.[1] In some later editions of Auden's poetry, the poem is not identified by name but is the first of ten poems grouped together in "Ten Songs," which also includes the above-mentioned "Calypso." |
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Subject: RE: refugee and immigration songs From: Jim Carroll Date: 24 Sep 16 - 03:12 AM HELLO FRIEND Words & music by PEGGY SEEGER 1 Hello friend, I see you're a stranger - where do you come from? Hello friend, something in your face reminds me of the sun - But the northern light is thin against the darkness of your skin, Hello, friend; I'm glad that you could come. 2 When you talk, I hear the echo of the places you have been, When you walk, colours all around you fluttering in the wind – When I listen to your song, I feel you really do belong; Am I the stranger, the one who's just come in? 3 I think I know what made you come here, but what makes you want to stay? Will you go if the weather and the welcome seem too cold and grey? Do you feel you'll never find all the warmth you left behind? Never mind – I hope you want to stay. 4 Did you find new friends to help you? Can you earn a living here? Do you mind the smoke and grime around you and the warning loud and clear? Or did your troubles just begin with the colour of your skin? Never mind -I'm glad to see you here! 5 Did you come to climb a mountain and end up in a hole? Have you won the right to join our people signing on the dole? Can you be happy here amid suspicion and the fear, Or will you run, and never more return? 6 Hello friend, all of us are strangers in this green and pleasant land, Once again - battle ranks are forming and we need a brother's hand; Yours' the fear and ours the shame, but our goal is just the same, In the end this will be our native land. Jim Carroll |
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Subject: RE: refugee and immigration songs From: Tattie Bogle Date: 24 Sep 16 - 05:38 AM Steven Clark's song "Coming Home". And the Proclaimers' song "Scotland's Story". Will post links and/or lyrics later if they are not already in the DT. |
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Subject: RE: refugee and immigration songs From: Felipa Date: 24 Sep 16 - 07:19 AM Oleanna (in the Digital Tradition on Mudcat) When First Unto This Country (two versions in DT) The Ghosts of Ellis Island(Jan P. Christensen) By the Hush (Paddy's Lamentation) Kilkelly ((Peter Jones) John Chinaman My Joe(J.W. Conner - I didnt know of this song before; it is filed as "immigration" in DT) Bisan (Arabic, in recent discussion thread started by Joe Offer) An Phailistín (Treasa Ní Cheanabháin) several Dust Bowl songs, esp.by Woody Guthrie - refugees in their own country http://www.songlines.co.uk/world-music-news/2016/01/songs-of-the-syrian-refugees/ page includes English language lyrics of "The Camel Shepherd", and soundcloud link to that song. also English language verse of "Saed" by Fatima Al Hariri. And the article is worth reading. "All of our songs are about the longing and the nostalgia to our country. Every single one of us has lost someone, or someone they know has been arrested." - Mohamad Isa Almaziodi (Vocalist) http://www.refugeemusicproject.com/ (not so much different from older Irish songs!) |
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Subject: RE: refugee and immigration songs From: GeoffLawes Date: 24 Sep 16 - 09:28 AM LAMPADUSA by Ewan McLennan |
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Subject: RE: refugee and immigration songs From: GeoffLawes Date: 24 Sep 16 - 09:45 AM From Ewan's website: Ewan had this to say about the single: " For years I've sung traditional songs of emigration, thinking them some of the most powerful ballads I've ever come across. These songs – whether Scottish, Irish or English – tell the tales of times when life was so hard people were forced to leave their homes and families in search of a better place, a tolerable place. Very often the protagonist mourns the separation from the land of her birth and longs one day to return. The songs invariably deal with the subject of emigration with a deep sympathy and compassion. It is with these songs still ringing in my ears that I've watched the migrant crisis unfold and intensify. Huge numbers of people have been landing precariously on the shores of Southern Europe. In the most part they have been escaping conditions in their home countries that have become perilous and unbearable. With all this in mind I thought I would try and write a simple song that described the plight and the journey of a migrant today, hopefully with some of the sympathy and compassion of our own tales. Here is the song I wrote, 'Lampedusa'. I am releasing this track in conjunction with Doctors Without Borders, an incredible organisation rescuing migrants stranded in the Mediterranean. All the money raised from the download of this track will go to them. Order the single via Bandcamp here: ewanmclennan.bandcamp.com http://www.msf.org.uk/ www.ewanmclennan.co.uk |
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Subject: RE: refugee and immigration songs From: McGrath of Harlow Date: 24 Sep 16 - 09:13 PM Actually most of the songs tend to be about emigration rather than immigration. It's the same thing, but looked at from an opposite direction. The direction that tends to be ignored by the natives. |
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Subject: RE: refugee and immigration songs From: Hrothgar Date: 25 Sep 16 - 03:54 AM Eric Bogle's "Shelter" |
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Subject: RE: refugee and immigration songs From: GeoffLawes Date: 25 Sep 16 - 05:55 PM Only For Three Months By Na Mara LIsten to it Here |
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Subject: RE: refugee and immigration songs From: Tattie Bogle Date: 25 Sep 16 - 07:02 PM As promised: here is Steven Clark's song "Coming Home". It won the Songwriting competition at Girvan Traditional Music Festival back in the first half of the 2000s: one of the judges was Ian Bruce who went on to record it as "Coming Hame", and the McCalmans also recorded it. It is sung by just about every community singing group and session singer in Scotland now, as well as being approved for use in Scottish secondary schools - see link below, where you can also hear Steven singing it. Coming Home COMING HOME Steven Clark 1. Put a light in the window, Your brother's coming home, Set a meal on the table, Your brother's coming home, He'll be tired and weary after all these years alone, He's coming home, your brother's coming home. 2. Take the chain from the door, Your sister's coming home, Open wide your arms, Your sister's coming home, Don't leave her standing there after all the pain she's known, She's coming home, your sister's coming home. Chorus Coming home to a place they've never been, Coming home to a land they've never seen, Coming home to a family they have never known, All Jock Tamson's bairns ...are coming home. 3. He's been angry and afraid, Your father's coming home, He's been hounded and betrayed, Your father's coming home, And with every act of kindness a seed of hope is sown He's coming home, your father's coming home. 4. Bring her in from the cold, Your mother's coming home, Sit her down by the fire, Your mother's coming home, Make her warm, make her welcome before the chance is gone, She's coming home, your mother's coming home. Chorus Coming home, etc 5.From Iraq and Zimbabwe, Your family's coming home, And from Turkey and Somalia, Your family's coming home, Seeking rest and refuge they have never known They're coming home, your family's coming home. Chorus Coming home, etc Rep last line – All Jock Tamson's bairns.....are coming home. |
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Subject: RE: refugee and immigration songs From: Tattie Bogle Date: 25 Sep 16 - 07:16 PM And here now is The Proclaimers' song, "Scotland's Story" - alos recorded by the McCalmans and others. SCOTLAND'S STORY The Proclaimers Michael McGrory from west Donegal You came to Glasgow with nothing at all You fought the landlord then the Africa Corps When you came to Glasgow with nothing at all Abraham Caplan from Vilnius you came You were heading for New York, but Leith's where you've stayed You built a great business which benefits all Since you came to this land with nothing at all In Scotland's story I read that they came The Gael and the Pict, the Angle and Dane But so did the Irishman, Jew and Ukraine They're all Scotland's story and they're all worth the same Joseph Di Angelo dreams of the days When Italian kids in the Grassmarket played We burned out his shop when the boys went to war But auld Joe's a big man and he forgave all In Scotland's story I'm told that they came The Gael and the Pict, the Angle and Dane But where's all the Chinese and Indian names? They're in my land's story and they're all worth the same Christina McKay, I learned of your name How you travelled south from Delny one day You raised a whole family in one room they say And the X on the line stands in place of your name So in the old story I'll bet that I came From Gael and Pict and Angle and Dane And a poor migrant girl who could not write her name It's a common old story, but it's mine just the same All through the story the immigrants came The Gael and the Pict, the Angle and Dane From Pakistan, England and from the Ukraine We're all Scotland's story and we're all worth the same Your Scotland's story is worth just the same. And the video link: Scotland's Story |
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Subject: RE: refugee and immigration songs From: GUEST,DeanofRochester Date: 26 Sep 16 - 02:42 AM Amazed no-one has mentioned Liberty's Sweet Shore by John Doyle yet |
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Subject: RE: refugee and immigration songs From: Tattie Bogle Date: 26 Sep 16 - 05:37 PM Or Isle of Hope, Isle of Tears? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=10Pb2ia28QM |
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Subject: RE: refugee and immigration songs From: bubblyrat Date: 27 Sep 16 - 04:53 AM Welcome !Welcome! Emigrante, to my country ,welcome home ; Welcome ! Welcome ! emigrante , To the country that I love I am proud, I am proud, I am proud of my forefathers, And I sing about their courage ; They came across the sea , to a land they did not know, The same way you do, my friends So welcome! Welcome ! (etc . that is all I can remember ,sadly , but I think it is a song by Buffy Sainte Marie , if memory serves correct). |
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Subject: RE: refugee and immigration songs From: bradfordian Date: 27 Sep 16 - 01:51 PM Alun Parry's "I want Rosa to stay" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mJQ4Gj1Cafg |
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Subject: RE: refugee and immigration songs From: Thompson Date: 30 Jul 18 - 04:48 AM A stór mo chroí, when you're far away From the house that you'll soon be leaving Sure it's many a time by night and by day That your heart will be sorely grieving For the stranger's land may be bright and fair And rich in its treasures golden But you'll pine, I know, for the long ago And the heart that is never olden. A stór mo chroí, in the stranger's land There's plenty of wealth, and of wailing Though gems adorn the great and grand There are faces with hunger pailing The road may be weary, and hard to tread And the lights of the city blind you Oh turn, a stór, to Erin's green shore And the ones you have left behind you. A stór mo chroí, when the evening's mist On mountain and meadow is falling Oh turn, a stór, from the throng and list And maybe you'll hear me calling For the sound of a voice that you'll surely miss For somebody's speedy returning A rún, a rún, won't you come back soon To the ones who truly love you? |
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Subject: RE: refugee and immigration songs From: Nigel Parsons Date: 30 Jul 18 - 07:41 AM When I first came to this land, I was not a wealthy man. |
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Subject: RE: refugee and immigration songs From: Elmore Date: 30 Jul 18 - 09:55 AM Lady of the Harbor by Joe Jencks. |
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Subject: RE: refugee and immigration songs From: Iains Date: 30 Jul 18 - 10:42 AM Flight of Earls even Fields of Athenry |
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Subject: RE: refugee and immigration songs From: GUEST,henryp Date: 30 Jul 18 - 11:04 AM Subject: RE: refugee and immigration songs From: Maryrrf Date: 07 Mar 06 - 08:32 PM I seem to recall a Mudcatter posting lyrics he had written about the immigrants in Britain who were drowned gathering cockles, but can't remember who it was. Mudcatter InObu has written many songs about the (recent) immigrant experience in the US including Amadou Diallo. There are certainly two songs about the cockle pickers; On Morecambe Bay Written by Kevin Littlewood of Southport and recorded by Christy Moore Out beyond the street lamps where the calliopes roar Past the wrack and samphire, beyond the shore I’ve seen them walking through the tide as rain cuts through the spray Chinese cockle-pickers on the sands of Morecambe Bay Morecambe Bay Written by Maggie Holland as she passed by the sands on the train, to the tune of Moreton Bay |
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Subject: RE: refugee and immigration songs From: GUEST,Gerry Date: 31 Jul 18 - 06:19 AM There was mention above of Auden's Refugee Blues. Ted Slovik put a tune to it and put it up at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=krubUqbYslc |
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Subject: RE: refugee and immigration songs From: GeoffLawes Date: 03 Aug 18 - 04:55 AM Click Link for Gerry's YouTube of Refugee Blues |
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Subject: RE: refugee and immigration songs From: GeoffLawes Date: 03 Aug 18 - 09:36 AM Refugee Migrant Song - Jack Warshaw |
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Subject: RE: refugee and immigration songs From: GUEST,Guest Date: 03 Aug 18 - 10:12 AM From earlier post by Kevin Littlewood, author of "On Morecombe Bay" ... Here's the song; good luck with it. ON MORECAMBE BAY (I play this with a dropped 6th string. The switch from the A minor chord to the A major chord is something which I do in the song, but if it is too fiddly, you can just stay on the A minor I guess. Anything to keep it simple!) Verse 1. Dm Out beyond the street lamp's empire Am Amaj And the calliope's roar, Dm Beyond the thrift, the wrack, the samphire, Am A maj Where the sea betrays the shore, Dm I have seen them in the tide's wake, Gm As the rain cuts through the spray, Dm Figures on the edge of daybreak Am A maj Walking out on Morecambe Bay chorus Dm For the tide's the very devil, Gm It can run you out of breath, Dm It can race you on the level, Am Amaj It can chase you to your death, Dm Yes the tide's the very devil Gm And the devil has his day Dm Am Amaj Dm On the weary cockle grounds of Morecambe Bay 2. Here's the very life to die for, Here's a life not as it seems, Sleeping on a foreign floor Five to a room no space for dreams. Tempted by the urge to travel, Strangers in a stranger land, Now they dig in sand and gravel, Plastic bags gripped in their hands. chorus For the tide's the very devil, It can run you out of breath, It can race you on the level, It can chase you to your death, Yes the tide's the very devil And the devil has his day On the weary cockle grounds of Morecambe Bay 3. Letters home with money orders See how much we earned today; Tales of crossing Europe's borders, So we came to Morecambe Bay; This is where the cockles sleep In their beds so soft and sound; This is where our watch we keep On these weary cockle grounds chorus For the devil's in the tide's flood He'll be weighing down your shoes He'll be churning up the sea's mud This is one race he won't lose Yes the tide's the very devil And the devil has his day On the weary cockle grounds of Morecambe Bay 4. I have met them in the markets, Brushed their arms in grocery queues, I should have grabbed them by the jacket, Should have told them what I knew; Told them what my mother told me As we paddled in the waves Never try and race the tide Across the sands of Morecambe Bay chorus For the devil's in the tide's flood He'll be weighing down your shoes He'll be churning up the sea's mud This is one race he won't lose Yes the tide's the very devil And the devil has his day On the weary cockle grounds of Morecambe Bay 5. Now I see them in the distance Laid out in the dawn's hard light, Helpless in the sea's persistence, Twenty-three drowned in one night. Up above in skies so clear Their phone calls half the world had crossed 'Between the rivers Kent and Keer We have raced the tide and lost.' chorus For the tide's the very devil, It can run you out of breath, It can race you on the level, It can chase you to your death, Yes the tide's the very devil And the devil has his day On the weary cockle grounds of Morecambe Bay 6. In Fujian, Xelang, Baihu, Where they mourn their next of kin, Where the men with snake tattoos, Rack up the debts and call them in; Parents stand, their arms flung wide As their children drive away, Heading out to race the tide Across some foreign bay. chorus For the tide's the very devil, It can run you out of breath, It can race you on the level, It can chase you to your death, Yes the tide's the very devil And the devil has his day On the weary cockle grounds of Morecambe Bay |
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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. |
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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 |
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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 |
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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 |
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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. |
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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 |
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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 |
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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 |
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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 |
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Subject: RE: refugee and immigration songs From: Elmore Date: 04 Nov 20 - 07:03 PM "California Snow" by Tom Russell. |
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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 |
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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 |
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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 |
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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 |
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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 |
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