The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #19019   Message #4019258
Posted By: GUEST,Windborne
14-Nov-19 - 11:18 PM
Thread Name: Lyr Add: Song of the Lower Classes
Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Song of the Lower Classes
Hi all, Windborne here--thanks for mentioning our version of Song of the Lower Classes! (from our 2017 album Song on the Times) https://windborne.bandcamp.com/track/song-of-the-lower-classes

In our version we sing three of the original verses by Ernest Jones, a verse by Bob Davenport (about war), and the final two verses written by us. The verse about refugees and immigrants was in response to the Syrian refugee crisis in 2016, and the final verse referencing "tyrants in their tow'rs of gold" gained a lot of attention when we sang it outside a particularly shiny gold tower on Fifth Ave in NYC in Jan 2017 (tinyurl.com/SOTLC). Our verses are below:

We’re low, so low, into boats we go to flee war in our home country,
And we’ll try to make a better life when we land across the sea.
But it’s “Send them back!” the press cries out,
“Back to where they came!”
We’re far too low to feed and clothe but not too low to blame.

We are so low but soon we know that the low folk will arise,
And the tyrants in their tow’rs of gold shall hear the people’s cries!
No more shall they hold us in thrall; their lies we will not heed.
But every heart shall hear the call, and the people will be free!

We're not sure who Andrew Crockett is (who was mentioned above), but he definitely didn't write that final verse :)