Selar Hill (Huw Pudner)

Subject: Selar Hill
From: GUEST,Huw Pudner
Date: 28 Jun 07 - 04:15 PM

SELAR HILL
by Huw Pudner

I walked a green mountain
Forded a river
Saw a fox running
On sweet Selar Hill
Heard a lark singing
Above the old forest
Then bulldozers roared
And the birdsong was still.

Saw machines breaking
The bones of the mountain
Strip the wild places
Root trunk and branch
They buried the streams
Of crystal clear water
And covered the slopes
In a dust avalanche .

chorus
The sun's going down on the mountain
Another oak tree is down
They've poisoned the sweet,sweet fountain
And the fox has gone to ground

There are legions of lawyers
Somewhere in the city
Making mountains of money
At our expense
They've got banks and court judgements
Hard men with barbed wire
Protecting their profits
But its making no sense


Saw moonlight and starlight
Shine down on the valley
The valley of witches*
And the asthma attack
Heard the cry of a vixen
Somewhere on the mountain
And I tried to follow
Along the old track

This song is about open cast coal mining above Cwmgwrach in the Vale of Neath.The area has one of the highest rates of asthma in Wales and Cwmgwrach is a translation for the Valley of Witches.Local people and eco warriors came together in large numbers to oppose the open cast mining but the mining company has continued to tear out the guts of beatiful Selar Hill.

Subject: RE: Selar Hill
From: alanabit
Date: 29 Jun 07 - 11:46 AM

A sad story and a good lyric. Sadly this happens far too often. I recall a few years ago, when a bunch of hoods (very rich hoods) stole land from the locals around Frankfurt airport. The locals demonstrated for years, but the authorities had the police enforce their "right" to break the law. There have been some victories against the developers, but they are rare cases. To quote one writer, "Money doesn't talk - it swears".

Subject: RE: Selar Hill
From: GUEST,huw
Date: 29 Jun 07 - 06:15 PM

I thought i had posted the above song lyrics to the mudcat song archive ...where did i go wrong? Help!!!!
huw

Subject: RE: Selar Hill
From: Malcolm Douglas
Date: 29 Jun 07 - 06:58 PM

You post a song lyric here, you post it to the Forum. Not the DT. If people could post songs (particularly their own) directly to the DT, it would quickly become unmanageable: the world's biggest vanity publisher. Songs may eventually be 'harvested' for the DT, or they may not. See the site FAQ for full details.

A new song lyric without its music isn't terribly useful. Posting the music would add to its value as a resource. Again, see the FAQ for information on the most effective ways of doing this.

Subject: RE: Selar Hill (Huw Pudner)
From: sian, west wales
Date: 30 Jun 07 - 11:43 AM

Huw Pudner?! Now there's a name I haven't heard in many many years. Can't be two of you, can there? Did you once do some community arts promotion, back in the mid 1980s?

sian

Subject: RE: Selar Hill (Huw Pudner)
From: Skipper Jack
Date: 30 Jun 07 - 03:22 PM

Hello Huw,

Congratulations on the song "Selar Hill"
It has great lyrics.
Do you have the tune to the song?
As skipper of Baggyrinkle we would love to include it in our repertoire.

Regards,

Dave Robinson.

Subject: RE: Selar Hill (Huw Pudner)
From: GUEST,huw
Date: 01 Jul 07 - 09:07 AM

Reply to Sian
Yes ,I am that man! And have always loved traditional music even when I was a volunteer with my local community arts group in my home village near Swansea.

Reply to Dave
Yes I do have a tune which I will get to you directly !
Huw