The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #45486   Message #672481
Posted By: MikeofNorthumbria
20-Mar-02 - 07:09 AM
Thread Name: Songs for St Georges Day
Subject: RE: Songs for St Georges Day
Try one of Peter Bellamy's settings of Kipling's poetry - like "Oak, Ash and Thorn"

Or "The New St George" (by Richard Thompson, I think?)

Or our very own McGrath of Harlow's "The Ghost of Merry England"

Or the Copper family's "Hard Times of Old England" (A bit of a downer at first, but with an upbeat final verse.)

And here's an experiment I've tried a few times which seems to work. Take the chorus of "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot" (non-UK catters may not know, but this has become the English Rugby supporters' unofficial anthem.) Just dump the original verses ("I looked over Jordan", etc). Instead, to the verse tune of "Swing Low", sing the last eight lines of Blake's "Jerusalem" - in two four-line chunks. "Bring me my chariot of fire!" leads quite logically into the chorus.

Wassail!