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02 Aug 06 - 04:30 AM (#1799593) Subject: Songs about the Diggers From: Stu I'm looking for songs about The Diggers, the peaceful, progressive movement lead by Gerald Winstanley in the 1600's in Surrey. In the recent BBC documentary 'Lefities' about squatting a clip was shown of a chap singing a song about the Diggers, but I can't find any reference to it on the BBC web site. Anyone able to help? |
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02 Aug 06 - 04:37 AM (#1799595) Subject: RE: Songs about the Diggers From: Dave Hanson The World Turned Upsidedown by Leon Rosselson. eric |
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02 Aug 06 - 04:37 AM (#1799596) Subject: RE: Songs about the Diggers From: The Borchester Echo That was Pete Cooper doing Leon Rosselson's World Turned Upside Down combined with the Playford tune Maiden Lane. It's on his CD The Savage Hornpipe: http://www.petecooper.com/home.htm |
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02 Aug 06 - 04:45 AM (#1799599) Subject: Lyr Add: THE WORLD TURNED UPSIDE DOWN (Rosselson) From: skipy World Turned Upside Down <<< <<< <<< In 1649 To St George's Hill A ragged band they called the Diggers Come to show the people's will They defied the landlords They defied the law They were the dispossessed Reclaiming what was theirs 'We come in peace' they said 'To dig and sow We come to work the land in common And to make the waste land grow This earth divided We will make whole So it can be A common treasury for all The sin of property We do disdain No one has any right to buy and sell The earth for private gain By theft and murder They took the land Now everywhere the walls Rise up at their command They make the laws To chain us well The clergy dazzle us with heaven Or they damn us into hell We will not worship The God they serve The God of greed who feeds the rich While poor men starve We work, we eat together We need no swords We will not bow to masters Or pay rent to the lords We are free men Though we are poor You Diggers all stand up for glory Stand up now From the men of property The orders came They sent the hired men and troopers To wipe out the Diggers' claim Tear down their cottages Destroy their corn They were dispersed But still the vision lingers on You poor take courage You rich take care This earth was made a common treasury For everyone to share All things in common Al people one We come in peace - The order came to cut them down WORDS & MUSIC – Leon Rosselson © 1981 Leon Rosselson/MCPS Reproduced by kind permission Skipy |
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02 Aug 06 - 04:46 AM (#1799601) Subject: RE: Songs about the Diggers From: The Shambles World Turned Upside Down |
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02 Aug 06 - 04:49 AM (#1799605) Subject: RE: Songs about the Diggers From: Piers Plus this. |
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02 Aug 06 - 05:11 AM (#1799618) Subject: RE: Songs about the Diggers From: Stu Superb! Thanks for the quick response everyone. Keep 'em coming! stigWeard |
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02 Aug 06 - 07:46 AM (#1799685) Subject: RE: Songs about the Diggers From: GUEST,RTim This was supposed to have been written by Winstanley. - Regards Tim Radford Levellers and Diggers - Gerard Winstanley You noble Diggers all, stand up now x 2, You noble Diggers all, stand up now, The waste land to maintain, seeing Cavaliers by name Your digging does maintain, and persons all defame So come you Diggers all, stand up now. Your houses they pull down, stand up now x 2, Your houses they pull down, stand up now. Your houses they pull down to fright your men in town, But the gentry must come down, and the poor shall wear the crown. So come you Diggers all, stand up now. With spades & hoes & plows, stand up now x 2, With spades & hoes & plows stand up now, Your freedom to uphold, seeing Cavaliers are bold To kill you if they could, and rights from you to hold. So come you Diggers all, stand up now. Their self-will is their law, stand up now, x 2 Their self-will is their law, stand up now. Since tyranny came in they count it now no sin To make a gaol a gin, to serve poor men therein. So come you Diggers all, stand up now. The gentry are all round, stand up now, x 2, The gentry are all round, stand up now. The gentry are all round, on each side they are found, Their wisdom's so profound, to cheat us of our ground. So come you Diggers all, stand up now. The lawyers they conjoin, stand up now, x 2, The lawyers they conjoin, stand up now, To arrest you they advise, such fury they devise, The devil in them lies, and hath blinded both their eyes. So come you Diggers all, stand up now. The clergy they come in, stand up now, x 2, The clergy they come in, stand up now. The clergy they come in, and say it is a sin That we should now begin, our freedom for to win. So come you Diggers all, stand up now. 'Gainst lawyers & gainst Priests, stand up now, x 2 'Gainst lawyers & gainst Priests stand up now. For tyrants they are both even flat against their oath, To grant us they are loath free meat and drink and cloth. So come you Diggers all, stand up now. The club is all their law, stand up now, x 2, The club is all their law, stand up now. The club is all their law to keep all men in awe, But they no vision saw to maintain such a law. So come you Diggers all, stand up now. To conquer them by love, come in now, x 2, To conquer them by love, come in now; To conquer them by love, as it does you behove, For he is King above, no power is like to love, So come you Diggers all, stand up now. A SHORT DIGGER HISTORY The Diggers were a group of agrarian communists who flourished in England in 1649-50 and were led by Gerrard Winstanley and William Everard. The Diggers believed that since the English Civil War had been fought against the King and the landowners, and with Charles I executed, land should then be made available to the poor to cultivate. In April 1649 a group of about 20 men assembled at St. George's Hill, Surrey, and began to cultivate the common land. The Diggers' activities alarmed the Commonwealth government and roused the hostility of local landowners, who were rival claimants to the common lands. On 16 April 1649 Henry Sanders sent an alarming letter to the Council of State reporting that several individuals had begun to plant vegetables on St. George's Hill in Surrey. Sanders reported they, the Diggers, had invited "all to come in and help them, and promise them meat, drink, and clothes." and that the Diggers claimed that their number would be several thousand within ten days. "It is feared they have some design in hand." The Council of State sent the letter to Lord Fairfax, lord general of the army, along with a dispatch stating: By the narrative enclosed your Lordship will be informed of what hath been made to this Council of a disorderly and tumultuous sort of people assembling themselves together not far from Oatlands, at a place called St. George's Hill; and although the pretence of their being there by them avowed may seem very ridiculous, yet that conflux of people may be a beginning whence things of a greater and more dangerous consequence may grow. Fairfax was then ordered to disperse the group and prevent a repetition of the event. The Diggers were harassed by legal actions and mob violence, and by the end of March 1650 their members were driven off the St. George's Hill. Despite this setback they continued their work on a nearby heath in Cobham. colony was dispersed. In April the Digger movement collapsed when a Parson Platt, the lord of the manor, and several others destroyed the Diggers' houses, burned their furniture, and scattered their belongings. Platt threatened the Diggers with death if they continued their activity and hired several guards to prevent their return to the heath. Winstanley recorded these events as well as a final defense of the Digger movement. Source: B:Palmer, R, A Ballad History of England, BT Batsford Ltd, 1979 Notes: Roy Palmer's notes follow: Despite the execution of Charles I, the abolition of the House of Lords, and the proclamation of the Republic or Commonwealth in the first half of 1649, there was a groundswell of radical opinion directed against Cromwell and his policies. In the army the Leveller movement culminated in insurrection, which was crushed (May). Among the casualties were three soldiers executed at Burford in Oxfordshire. (These did not include Anthony Sedley, who scratched his name on the font while imprisoned in the church.) Meanwhile, the Diggers were making a more peaceful protest by 'occupying', as we might now put it, St George's Hill on 1 April. This was common land, near Weybridge in Surrey, and the Diggers' intention was to cultivate it by joint labour. Despite harassment by Cromwell's officers and local landlords, the Diggers struggled on until 1651 before their movement faded out. St George's Hill is now a highly select residential area in stockbroker country. Gerard Winstanley's Diggers' Song remained in manuscript until 1894, when it was published by the Camden Society. No tune was indicated, but it is clear from the metre which was meant: a version of the family of tunes later used for Jack Hall, Captain Kidd and Admiral Benbow. Its earliest appearance in print seems to have been 1714, in the version used here. |
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02 Aug 06 - 09:50 AM (#1799747) Subject: RE: Songs about the Diggers From: Effsee You may also be intersted in an album called "Free-born John" by Rev Hammer. This from the Cooking Vinyl website:- "Later that year Rev started work on the Freeborn John album. It was an ambitious project which took over fifteen months to record. It tells a musical story of John Lilburne, England's first radical and unsung hero of the English Civil War. The album includes Rev as John Lilburne, Rory McLeod as Vox Populi, Eddi Reader as Mary Overton and many more (including Maddy Prior, The Levellers, Justin Sullivan, Rory McLeod and Phil Johnstone, producer, songwriter and musician with The Robert Plant Band)." |
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02 Aug 06 - 09:55 AM (#1799749) Subject: RE: Songs about the Diggers From: skipy Bob the builder? Skipy |
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02 Aug 06 - 10:58 AM (#1799793) Subject: RE: Songs about the Diggers From: GUEST When these clay-bodies are in grave, and children stand in place, This shews we stood for truth and peace, and freedom in our daies; And true born sons we shall appear of England that's our mother, No Priests nor Lawyers wiles t'imbrace, their slavery wee'l discover. Jerrard Winstanly Printed in; A watch word to the city of london and the army. Printed for Giles Calvert at the sign of the black spread eagle, at the west end of Pauls 1649 |
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02 Aug 06 - 01:22 PM (#1799906) Subject: RE: Songs about the Diggers From: Herga Kitty Tim Radford The version of the Gerard Winstanley song I got from Mick Pearce (MCP), and used to sing with him, had "Your diggings do disdain" in the first verse. Makes more sense, I think? Kitty |
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27 Sep 08 - 12:12 PM (#2451634) Subject: RE: Songs about the Diggers From: davidkiddnet X:61Dig T:The Diggers' Song A:St.Georges Hill, Weybridge, Surrey, England C:Lyrics by Gerrard Winstanley 1649 D:Leon Rosselson 1979 D:album "If I knew Who the Enemy Was" H:see www.diggers.org/english_diggers.htm N:tune derived from Captain Kidd Z:www.davidkidd.net/11music.htm Q:1/4=150 M:4/4 L:1/8 K:Em z4 z2 (DE) |E2 E2 E2 D2 |B,4 B,2 D2 |E4 E2 B2 |A6 E2 |E2 E2 E2 D2 |B,4 B,2 D2 |E8- | E4 z2 (FG) |G2 G2 G2 B2 |d6 B2 |(GA) A2 A3 B |A6 G2 |G2 G2 G2 A2 |G6 (E^F) |^F2 F2 F2 G2 | ^F4 B,2 D2 |E4 E D3 |E6 z2 |] |
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27 Sep 08 - 11:46 PM (#2451945) Subject: RE: Songs about the Diggers From: Mark Clark Folks interested in the Diggers may also wish to recall the Diggers of Haight-Ashburry in San Francisco, CA, who took their name from the original Diggers. Peter Coyote mentions them in is book Sleeping Where I Fall. - Mark |
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28 Sep 08 - 01:28 AM (#2451959) Subject: RE: Songs about the Diggers From: Joe Offer Here in the Sierra foothills above Sacramento (California), we have "digger pines," a light green pine tree with a branch structure like that of a deciduous tree. they are now called "grey pines" because "digger" was a derogatory term used during the Gold Rush to refer to the local native Americans. You'll see several mentions of "diggers" in John A. Stone's Put's Original California Songster (1854), but none in his Put's Golden Songster (1856). -Joe- |
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28 Sep 08 - 06:23 PM (#2452380) Subject: RE: Songs about the Diggers From: Rowan My first thought, on seeing the thread title, was that the thread concerned songs about Oz soldiers. Where the generic term for the British soldier is "Tommy" and that for the US soldier is "G.I. Joe", the generic term for the Australian soldier since WWI has been "Digger". I've known Leon Rosselson's song and now relish a better appreciation of its background. Cheers, Rowan |
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28 Sep 08 - 10:28 PM (#2452485) Subject: RE: Songs about the Diggers From: Rt Revd Sir jOhn from Hull Billy Bragg does a good version of this. |
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28 Sep 08 - 11:02 PM (#2452498) Subject: RE: Songs about the Diggers From: Art Thieme ...my personal favorite version of Rosselson's song is the one done by Terry Leonino and Greg Attzner---a.k.a. MAGPIE. Art Thieme |
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29 Sep 08 - 09:52 AM (#2452796) Subject: RE: Songs about the Diggers From: fretless Also performed memorably by the band Clandestine on their 1999 CD, To Anybody at All. |
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29 Sep 08 - 10:19 AM (#2452818) Subject: RE: Songs about the Diggers From: Hamish It's ironic that St George's Hill is, today, a very posh and exclusive part of Weybridge. Huge and ostentacious houses. Recent residents include John Lennon, Dick Emery, Cliff Richard, Ringo Starr... ...current residents include Claude Makalele (Chelsea footballer) and Theo Paphetis (Dragon's Den entrepreneur). In a 2007 survey, most roads in the estate showed an average house sale price of over £3,000,000 in the previous 12 months. (Thank you, Wikipedia!) -- Hamish |