2 songs for 21 October

Subject: 2 songs for 21 October
From: GUEST,Bradfordian
Date: 20 Oct 15 - 07:20 PM

Firstly, A song comparing two obscene events in 1966 --- the Aberfan slag heap disaster,(2016 will be the 50th anniversary) and the continuing murderous devastation in Vietnam.

GREY OCTOBER (1966) (C.Parker/Critics Group/P.Seeger) --originally posted by "Stewie"

Grey October in Glamorgan
High pitheaps where the houses stand
Fog in the valley, backshift ending
Children awaken in Aberfan

Warm October in Thi Binh Province
Huts of bamboo and rattan
Sun comes up - repair gangs stop
And children waken in Thuy Dan

Pithead hooter sounds from Merthyr
Load the coal in the waiting trams
Shoot the slag down the high pitheap
While children eat in Aberfan

Ox carts rattle down Thi Binh Highway
Work begins on the broken land
Night's work ended, the roadway's mended
Children eat in Thuy Dan

Dai Dan Evans grabs his satchel
Michael Jones his bread and jam
Five to nine and the school bell ringing
Time for school in Aberfan

School bell ringing, children running
Down by the river and across the dam
Hot sun burning, time for learning
Time for school in Thuy Dan

Lessons started in Pantglas Junior
Through the fog a black wave ran
Under the weight of the man-made mountain
Children die in Aberfan

Lessons start in the Thi Binh schoolhouse
And another day began
Bombers fly in the morning sky
And children die in Thuy Dan

Tears are shed for Glamorgan children
And the world mourns Aberfan
But who will weep for the murdered children
Under the rubble of Thuy Dan?

Grey October in Glamorgan
Warm October in Vietnam
Where children die while we stand by
And shake the killer by the hand

Source: lyric sheet accompanying Ewan MacColl and Peggy Seeger 'The Angry Muse' Argo LP ZDA 83 [1968].

Note to song: 'This song was created by 16 people. The idea for it was conceived by Charles Parker, a BBC producer. Over a period of 6 weeks the song was shaped and re-shaped by members of the Critics Group and the tune was set to it by Peggy Seeger'.
--Stewie.

This second song marks Trafalgar day when Horatio Nelson defeated the French and Spanish fleets off the coast of spain in 1805

TAKING NELSON HOME Ian Palmer
He came on board in a brandy cask, we're taking Nelson home
Sailors bending to their tasks; we're taking Nelson home
Billy Ruffians, homeward bound, take him to his burial ground
Taking Nelson home, we're taking Nelson home

We stowed him down in the hold below, we're taking Nelson home
We're outward bound and we'll roll and go; we're taking Nelson home
Billy Ruffians, homeward bound, take him to his burial ground
Taking Nelson home, we're taking Nelson home

North by west we sailed away, we're taking Nelson home
Nelson's blood is the drink I crave; we're taking Nelson home
Billy Ruffians, homeward bound, take him to his burial ground
Taking Nelson home, we're taking Nelson home

Our harbour lights we saw at last, we're taking Nelson home
Our standard's flying at half mast; we're taking Nelson home
Billy Ruffians, homeward bound, take him to his burial ground
Taking Nelson home, we're taking Nelson home

We carry him ashore in his brandy cask, we're taking Nelson home
On England's shore he'll rest at last; we're taking Nelson home
Billy Ruffians, homeward bound, take him to his burial ground
Taking Nelson home, we're taking Nelson home
Billy Ruffians, homeward bound, take him to his burial ground
Taking Nelson home, we're taking Nelson home.

(updated from my post in the thread "Taking Nelson Home")

I do not, alas, have a song for "Back to the Future Day – October 21 2015" the date that Marty McFly and Dr Emmett "Doc" Brown chose to travel forward in time from 1985 in the hit sequel Back To The Future II. Hmm, Just as well!

Bradfordian

Subject: RE: 2 songs for 21 October
From: GUEST,bradfordian
Date: 19 Oct 16 - 07:19 PM

That time of year again. How time flies!

Subject: RE: 2 songs for 21 October
From: GUEST,Bradfordian
Date: 21 Oct 19 - 10:26 AM

Refresh

Subject: RE: 2 songs for 21 October
From: GUEST,mg
Date: 21 Oct 19 - 05:18 PM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZKgPa7wsM5g

Subject: RE: 2 songs for 21 October
From: GUEST,Observer
Date: 22 Oct 19 - 09:39 AM

TAKING NELSON HOME Ian Palmer
He came on board in a brandy cask, we're taking Nelson home
Sailors bending to their tasks; we're taking Nelson home
Billy Ruffians, homeward bound, take him to his burial ground
Taking Nelson home, we're taking Nelson home

Don't really understand the reference to HMS Bellerophon taking Nelson to his burial ground. Nelson's body was brought back to England by HMS Victory. With no bowsprit, and no mizzen mast and serious damage to main and fore mast tops the dockyard at Gibraltar was not capable of repairing such damage. HMS Victory sailed in company with two badly damaged 74s HMS Bellerophon and HMS Belleisle leaving Gibraltar on the 4th November 1805. It took the three damaged ships a month, a passage they would normally make in one week, On entering the Channel the two 74s parted company with HMS Victory off Plymouth, their home port, for repair at Cawsands. HMS Victory continued up channel to her own home port of Chatham, where Nelson's body was taken from the ship and taken up to Greenwich prior to his burial in the crypt of St.Pauls Cathedral in London.

Mike O'Connor's song "Carrying Nelson Home" hits the mark much better