'Roots' by Steve Knightley

Now it's been twenty-five years or more
I've roamed this land from shore to shore
From Tyne to Tamar, Severn to Thames
From Moor to Vale from Peak to Fen
Played in cafes and pubs and bars
I've stood in the street with my old guitar
But I'd be richer than all the rest
If I had a pound for each request
For "Duelling Banjos", "American Pie"
It's enough to make you cry
"Rule Britannia" or "Swing low",
Are they the only songs the English know?



"After the speeches when the cake's been cut
The disco's over and the bar is shut
Funeral, wedding, birthday, wake
What can we sing until the morning breaks?
But Indian, Asian, Afro-Celt
It's in the blood, below the belt
Singing and dancing all night long
What have they got right that we've got wrong.

Seed, bud, flower, fruit
Never gonna grow without their roots
Branch, stem, roots
They need roots.

Haul away boys let them go
Out in the wind and the rain and snow
We've lost more than we'll ever know
On the rocky shores of England

And the Minister says his vision of hell
Is three folk singers in a pub near Wells
Well I've got a vision of urban sprawl
Pubs where no one ever sings at all
And everyone is staring at a TV screen
Overpaid soccer stars, prancing teens
Australian soap, American rap
Estury English, Baseball cap

We learn to be ashamed before we walk
Of the way we look and the way we talk
Without our stories or our songs
How will we know where we came from?
I've lost St. George in the Union Jack
It's my flag too and I want it back

Seed, bud, flower, fruit
Never gonna grow without their roots
Branch, stem, roots
They need roots

And haul away boys let them go
Out in the wind and the rain and snow
We've lost more than we'll ever know
On the rocky shores of England"



Those words are nothing to do with the far right, they are not anti-immigration either. But, they will be twisted and used in that context to once more criticise Show Of Hands, by those who have worked so very hard on messageboards in many places, to rubbish them at every opportunity. They have failed over and over again in their bizarre mission, but this won't stop them of course, as can be seen from above.

There is nothing wrong in being proud of your country, your heritage, your roots or your music, no matter where you come from, what shade of the skin spectrum you are on, or where you may be currently living.