Sheffield Sessions songs for strong women - author

Subject: Sheffield Sessions songs for strong wome
From: GUEST,Gazza2
Date: 15 Jun 24 - 10:31 AM

Heard some great songs at the Sheffield Sessions at Easter 2024.At the songs for strong women I heard one which had the refrain " This is the land of smoke and fire that Victoria made" and another with the refrain " Still we persisted like the women at Versailles ". If anyone knows who sang them or indeed who wrote them I'd love to hear them again!

Subject: RE: Sheffield Sessions songs for strong women - author
From: GUEST,Marilla
Date: 15 Jun 24 - 04:16 PM

Hi Gazza,

The second one is "Les Tricateuses" or "We Persisted" written by Jenny Reid of Sheffield. Currently recorded on Rosie Hood's latest album, and soon to be released on Marilla Homes's new album.

The first one I know from Bob & Gill Berry's album Bittersweet.

Chorus is:
This is the land of smoke and of fire,
This is the land of freeman and slave
Smokestack and mill rising higher and higher
This is the land that Victoria made

Can't remember the name of it off the top of my head, will have a look when I get home :)

Subject: RE: Sheffield Sessions songs for strong women - author
From: GUEST,RA
Date: 15 Jun 24 - 04:23 PM

England's Glory seems to be the title. There's an audio clip on the linked website too.

Subject: RE: Sheffield Sessions songs for strong women - author
From: Reinhard
Date: 15 Jun 24 - 04:32 PM

"England's Glory" by John Prosser.

It's on John Prosser and Paul Vile's 2016 album "The Girl Always Wins" and as Marilla said, on Bob & Gill Berry's 2006 album "Bittersweet".
But both sing in the chorus "This is the age ...", not "This is the land ...".

Subject: RE: Sheffield Sessions songs for strong women - author
From: Reinhard
Date: 15 Jun 24 - 04:39 PM

Sorry, John Prosser and Paul Vile's *2018* album according to their Bandcamp page.

Subject: RE: Sheffield Sessions songs for strong women - author
From: GUEST,Gazza2
Date: 16 Jun 24 - 02:05 PM

Thank you RA and Reinhard. I'll try to get hold of those albums. And thank you Marilla .. I'm fairly sure you co-ran the excellent session I went to. I'm also trying to track down a couple who sat in the corner seat at that session and sang a song dedicated to their daughter and another song "Selly Oak"? Both excellent songs!!

Subject: RE: Sheffield Sessions songs for strong women - author
From: GUEST,Marilla
Date: 18 Jun 24 - 01:00 PM

Hi Gazza,

Yes, I did co-host that session. Glad you enjoyed it!

The couple will have been Jaki Booth and Andy Parsons. They run a few sessions round Sheffield, and will be found most Saturday afternoons at Fagans.

Thanks to the others for the better info on England's Glory! :)

Subject: RE: Sheffield Sessions songs for strong women - author
From: FreddyHeadey
Date: 18 Jun 24 - 01:43 PM

Andy Parsons singing Sally’s Oak
,,, a fable about how Selly Oak got its name. How does one song draw together Sally, Malala and all the brilliant women of Birmingham?
https://brimmin.wordpress.com/2022/04/11/sallys-oak-an-homage-to-strong-brummie-women/

---

Wikipedia
The supposed tradition that the original oak was associated with a witch named Sarah or Sally is without foundation, and is likely to have arisen as a means of explaining what may have been a variant and local pronunciation of the name as 'Sally' Oak.
Indeed, the name is actually recorded as Sally Oak on a canal map produced by John Snape in 1789.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Selly_Oak#The_'Oak'_tree


,,, &
Selly Oak is recorded in the Domesday Book as Escelie.
The name Selly is derived from variants of "scelf-lei" or shelf-meadow, that is, pasture land on a shelf or terrace of land, probably the glacial deposits formed after the creation and later dispersal of Lake Harrison during the Quaternary period.
Another source for the name comes from the Old English 'sele' meaning a building, or a hall.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Selly_Oak#Toponymy

Subject: RE: Sheffield Sessions songs for strong women - author
From: GUEST,Gazza2
Date: 20 Jun 24 - 10:46 AM

Thank you Marilla and Freddy Headey! Just trying to sort out some chords for England's Glory and my summer will be complete!!