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Origins: Songs from the Chartist movement

06 Mar 07 - 03:25 PM (#1988529)
Subject: Origins: Songs from the Chartist movement
From: Folk Form # 1

The Chartists, I know, had their own songs. Have they survived or have they been lost? If they have survived, are there any recordings of them?

06 Mar 07 - 03:29 PM (#1988536)
Subject: RE: Origins: Songs from the Chartist movement
From: Goose Gander

Anthology of Leicester Chartist Song, Verse and Poetry by Ned Newitt.

06 Mar 07 - 03:33 PM (#1988541)
Subject: RE: Origins: Songs from the Chartist movement
From: Goose Gander

THE SONG OF THE LOW

We're low-we're low-we're very low,
As low as low can be;
The rich are high-for we make them so-
And a miserable lot are we!
And a miserable lot are we! Are we!
And a miserable lot are we!

By Ernest Jones

06 Mar 07 - 03:35 PM (#1988545)
Subject: RE: Origins: Songs from the Chartist movement
From: Alec

http://chartism.com also has some documents.

06 Mar 07 - 05:56 PM (#1988711)
Subject: RE: Origins: Songs from the Chartist movement
From: Geoff the Duck

A useful link.
I recall that when I was in Cardiff around 1980 some of the South Wales folk performers had produced a show based on the story of the Chartists (Or at least the ones based in Blackwood).
It may be possible that some of the South Wales Mudcatters may be able to provide something more informative.
Quack!
GtD.

07 Mar 07 - 02:56 AM (#1989121)
Subject: RE: Origins: Songs from the Chartist movement
From: GUEST

Fragment of - 'With Henry Hunt We'll Go' and a full song -'The Peterloo Massacre' are to be found in Richards, and Stubbs -'The English Folksinger'.
Manchester Central Library have hundreds of Chartist newspapers on microfilm, some of which carried a regular column of poetry and song - I know, I ruined my eyesight going through them.
There are bits and pieces in a collection edited by Edmund and Ruth Frow called 'Radical and Red Poets and Poetry' produced for the Working Class Library in Salford.
The Critics Group did some research on the period; the album 'Waterloo-Peterloo' was the result.
Jim Carroll

07 Mar 07 - 03:43 AM (#1989152)
Subject: RE: Origins: Songs from the Chartist movement
From: stevethesqueeze

Hi from south wales.

The spirit of the Chartists is still alive in the land of song....and protest!! DIC PENDERYN WAS INNOCENT!!

Dawson Smith and the Exiles have recorded and are playing on the circuit an album of songs based on the epic welsh novels of Alexander Cordell. The songs tell of the story of the ordinary working class people at the time of the chartists and the riots that took place at that time. Dawson has included some scraps of original chartist material but has composed the songs as if the events were unfolding today. The album The Cordell Collection features welsh choirs, a brass band as well as the stand alone folk band. All proceeds from the album go the homeless. See www.dawsonsmith.com


Dic Penderyn was one of the leaders, falsely convicted of killing a english solider he was hanged in Cardiff and it was many years before the truth came out that he was innocent.


stevethesqueeze

07 Mar 07 - 05:05 AM (#1989205)
Subject: RE: Origins: Songs from the Chartist movement
From: The Doctor

Roy Palmer's books are a good source. 'A Ballad History of England' has a section entitled 'Chartists at Newport', with the words, at least, of 'The Last Farewell to England of Frost, Williams and Jones', while 'A Touch on the Times' has 'The Chartists are Coming', along with a number of other songs relating to civil unrest of the period.

07 Mar 07 - 06:41 PM (#1990020)
Subject: Lyr Add: CHARTIST HYMN
From: Roughyed

I photocopied this from a broadside in Oldham library. No tune was suggested. It speaks to me even now

CHARTIST HYMN

The feathered songsters of the grove
From bough to bough unfettered rove,
The prowling wolf, the timid hare,
Alike the sweets of Freedom share.

The Lion with majestic mane,
scours freely o'er the desert plain;
Search nature through her works we find
'Tis man alone enslaves his kind.

But this is not high heaven's decree
It wills that all should happy be,-
Birds, beasts, sun, moon, earth, sea & air,
All, all the glorious truth declare,

God ne'er ordained such useless things
As silly queens, or tyrant kings
A nation trembling at their nod
Can never be the will of God.

Then let us from our slumbers wake,
Our manacles assunder (sic) break,
Nor rest till we our Charter gain,
And all our long lost rights obtain.

O'CONNOR still our cause sustains,
Still struggles to remove our chains.
Come aid him in the glorious cause,
Of Equal Rights and Equal Laws.

Our Charter gained, we will rejoice,
And with one loud spontaneous voice,
Swell the glad sound from sea to sea
Our country and her sons are free.

07 Mar 07 - 07:11 PM (#1990034)
Subject: Lyr Add: HAIL, NOBLE O'CONNOR
From: Roughyed

Here is another from the same source. The suggested tune is "Nature's Gay Day". What really impresses me is the confidence and sense of power. Exhilerating.

HAIL, NOBLE O'CONNOR

Britannia's sons, arise! Arise!
All your interests blend in one;
Nobly face your enemies,
Hurl injustice from its throne.
Freedom's banners now unfold,
Each determines to be free,
Imitate your sires of old
The contest is for Liberty

Hail, noble O'CONNOR our Chieftain we greet thee,
The foe to the tyrant, the friend to the slave,
The bold sons of toil in thousands will meet thee, And honour thy name as a Patriot brave.
We'll flock to thy standard, in voices of thunder,
Proclaim to the world that we yet will be free;
And tear from the tyrants their ill-gotten plunder,
Mid shouts of O'CONNOR and sweet Liberty

Now a mighty phalanx form
With the brave O'CONNOR join,
Firmly meet the impending storm,
For the Charter all combine.
Britain's sons with courage fight,
Each determined to be free,
Put the factions both to flight
The contest is for Liberty

Hark! 'tis the voice of a nation awaking,
And every effort to crush it is vain,
The Charter's the watch-word while tyrants are quaking,
The millions are bent upon breaking their chain;
Our banners are waving, each hurricane braving,
No danger can daunt us – we yet will be free,
The trumpet is sounding, each heart is rebounding
The Charter, O'CONNOR and sweet Liberty.

Britons, will ye still submit
To either whig or tory power?
Will ye cringe beneath their feet,
Or kneel their favours to implore?
No; let every Briton cry,
We determine to be free,
Or struggling for our Charter die,
The contest is for liberty.

All hail, glorious Patriot, hail noble O'CONNOR,
Soon will Hibernia join in the song,
And Cambria's bards tune their harps to thine honour,
While Scotia's deep glens the echoes prolong.
Swell, swell the loud chorus, long live our defender,
May tyrants fall prostrate and the millions be free;
The Charter's our motto – our cry "No Surrender"
Nine cheers for O'CONNOR and sweet Liberty.

22 Sep 11 - 07:01 PM (#3227401)
Subject: RE: Origins: Songs from the Chartist movement
From: Matthew Edwards

Chartist Hymn Book - Lecture

I've just been sent the information that Dr Mike Saunders from the University of Manchester will be giving a lecture at the People's History Museum, Manchester (England) on Saturday Sept 22 2011 from 2-3.30pm on Chartist Song and Poetry. The lecture will discuss the recently discovered National Chartist Hymn Book, and there will be a performance of some of the hymns by the Calderdale choir, Corista. The lecture is free, but you need to book a place by phone or email to attend; see the People's History Museum website for contact details and more information.

Unfortunately it is too short notice for me to go, but it does look really interesting. I found a copy of the original Chartist Hymn Book online at the Calderdale history site, and there are some very powerful songs there.

Matthew

23 Sep 11 - 04:03 AM (#3227572)
Subject: RE: Origins: Songs from the Chartist movement
From: Mick Pearce (MCP)

There are some in the Bodleian Broadside Collection. A search for chartism against Index 3: Subjectss produces:

Gutta percha Mouse
The Chartists are coming
Lines, by a Chartist
The Chartist's flare-up on Witsun-Monday
Frost, Williams, and Jones's farewell to Engl[and]
The kingdoms complaint or Birds with the golden eggs
The Chartist song
The cotton spinners' farewell
Conversations on the present times
Peggy Potts' speech to the poor folks, at Sunderland election


(Herga Kitty and I used to sing a version of Frost, Jones and Williams that I adapted from the version in Palmer's Ballad History of England).


Mick

23 Sep 11 - 07:21 AM (#3227633)
Subject: RE: Origins: Songs from the Chartist movement
From: GUEST,Square The Circle

The original south wales group called the Chartists have reformed and will be taking the show out on the road in November 2011, near the date (4 Nov 1839). They are now called Lauford and can be contacted at lauford.co.uk

23 Sep 11 - 10:02 AM (#3227714)
Subject: RE: Origins: Songs from the Chartist movement
From: GUEST,Derek Schofield

Matthew got the date slightly wrong ... it's Saturday 24 September.
Derek

23 Sep 11 - 02:15 PM (#3227855)
Subject: RE: Origins: Songs from the Chartist movement
From: Matthew Edwards

Thanks Derek! Sorry about the wrong date. If anybody does manage to attend I hope they'll put up a brief report here.

Matthew

24 Sep 11 - 03:47 AM (#3228195)
Subject: RE: Origins: Songs from the Chartist movement
From: Matthew Edwards

Apart from giving the wrong date, I also got the name of the lecturer wrong! He is Dr Mike Sanders, author of a The Poetry of Chartism which will be published in January 2012.

Matthew

08 Nov 11 - 09:07 PM (#3253228)
Subject: RE: Origins: Songs from the Chartist movement
From: GUEST,Joan Taylor

Hi i am a singer with Corista. The gig went well do visit our web site and listen to us.

Joan

09 Nov 11 - 03:36 AM (#3253307)
Subject: RE: Origins: Songs from the Chartist movement
From: Phil Edwards

Ernest Jones's Song of the Lower Classes was one of the first songs I ever sang in public. I didn't know about the chorus (which Goose Gander quotes above) so I repeated the last line of each verse with a different melody.

Ebenezer Elliott deserves a mention here, if only because his People's Anthem was used in Godspell. (You remember Godspell. No? Never mind.)

09 Nov 11 - 04:31 AM (#3253326)
Subject: RE: Origins: Songs from the Chartist movement
From: GUEST, Sminky

Works by Jones, Elliott and many more on this site (scroll down for full list of authors). Poems, books and music a-plenty.

09 Nov 11 - 05:48 AM (#3253359)
Subject: RE: Origins: Songs from the Chartist movement
From: GUEST,Square The Circle

Lauford will be performing the Chartists set at Newport Folk Club Thursday 10th November 2011.

09 Nov 11 - 09:06 AM (#3253485)
Subject: RE: Origins: Songs from the Chartist movement
From: Jack Campin

One place to look for Chartist material is the early Temperance movement - it was started by the Chartists in the 1840s, and it was a couple of decades before the Christians jumped on the bandwagon. The Chartists saw drink as a tool of the bosses, who both profited from the sale of booze and used alcoholism to dull political consciousness. Their songs are quite explicit about it.

09 Nov 11 - 10:13 AM (#3253539)
Subject: RE: Origins: Songs from the Chartist movement
From: GUEST,Don Wise

"Chartist Anthem" has also been recorded by Chumbawumba: English Rebel Songs 1381-1984.

20 Sep 12 - 09:58 PM (#3408029)
Subject: RE: Origins: Songs from the Chartist movement
From: mark gregory

The first comprehensive collection of Chartist songs and poems was a Russian study published in 1956 (The commentary is all in Russian while the songs poems and literary writing is in English)

Y. V. Kovalev. An Anthology of Chartist Literature. Moscow: Foreign Languages Pub. House, 1956.

More recently there are:

Mike Sanders. The Poetry of Chartism: Aesthetics, Politics, History. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2009.

Ned Newitt, The Anthology of Leicester Chartist Song, Poetry & Verse. Leicester: Leicester Pioneer, 2006.

Ulrike Schwab. The Poetry of the Chartist Movement: A Literary and Historical Study. Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic, 1993.

Peter Scheckner. An Anthology of Chartist Poetry: Poetry of the British Working Class, 1830s-1850s. Rutherford : Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, 1989.

Many hundred's were published in the life of Chartist newspaper The Northern Star which became for a time the most widely read newspaper in Britain. At one stage the paper was receiving so much verse that the Editor wrote "Please stop sending any more poetry"

06 Jun 13 - 11:29 AM (#3523455)
Subject: Lyr Add: THE CHARTISTS ARE COMING
From: Jim Dixon

From A History of British Socialism, Volume 2 by Max Beer (New York: Harcourt, Brace and Howe, 1921), page 170:

[A broadside can be seen in the Bodleian collection, Firth c.14(184).]

THE CHARTISTS ARE COMING.
Tune—"The Bailiff Is Coming."

1. What a row and a rumpus there is I declare!
Tens of thousands are flocking from everywhere.
To petition the parliament onward they steer.
The Chartists are coming, oh dear, oh dear,
To demand equal justice, their freedom and right.
Pump-handles and broom-sticks, lawk, how they can fight!
The nation, they say, is overwhelmed with grief—
A peck loaf for twopence and four pounds of beef!

Chorus.—Hurrah for old England and liberty sweet,
The land that we live in and plenty to eat!
We shall ever remember this wonderful day.
See, the Chartists are coming; get out of the way!

2. Such a number together was never yet seen.
Hurrah for the Charter and God save the Queen!
And when that Charter Old England has got,
We'll have stunning good beer at three-halfpence a pot,
A loaf for a penny, a pig for a crown,
And gunpowder tea at five farthings a pound.
Instead of red herrings we'll live on fat geese,
And lots of young women at twopence apiece.

3. The bakers and grocers, hark how they do laugh,
With dustmen and coal-heavers armed with a staff!
Five thousand old women, oh, how they do sing,
With frying-pans, fenders, and big rolling-pins!
There's Russell, and Bobby, old Nosey and Hume,
With pistol, bayonet, musket and broom.
Load away, fire away, chatter and jaw,
Shoot at a donkey and knock down a crow.

4. See the lads of Old Erin for liberty crow,
Repeal of the Union and Erin-go-bragh!
Peace and contentment, then none we can blame.
Plenty of labour, and paid for the same;
Some are rolling in riches and luxury too,
While millions are starving, with nothing to do.
Through the nation prosperity soon will be seen.
Hurrah for the Charter and God save the Queen!

5. Such constables there are in London, now mark,
Tailor and shoemaker, labourer and clerk,
Gaslightman, pickpocket, fireman too,
Greengrocer, hatter, pork-butcher and Jew;
Lollipop merchants and masons a lot,
And the covey that hollers 'Baked taters all hot.'
They are sworn to protect us and keep well the peace,
To frighten the Chartists and help the police.

06 Jun 13 - 12:46 PM (#3523495)
Subject: Lyr Add: THE KINGDOM'S COMPLAINT
From: Jim Dixon

This broadside can be seen at the Bodleian collection (Harding B 11(1998) or at National Library of Scotland

THE KINGDOM'S COMPLAINT
Or, BIRDS WITH THE GOLDEN EGGS

Tune,—"Nancy Dawson."

1. Has there not been a sad to-do,
In England, Ireland, and Scotland too?
The facts are these—I'll tell you true,
    It was all about the charter.
It frightened those, I do declare,
Who does the letter'd garter wear,
And get their thousands very year,
To displease a loyal people.

CHORUS: Attend to the wants of poor John Bull,
And find the poor man work to do,
That they may get their belly full,
And that will please the people.

2. When a child I was this lesson taught:
With others not to find a fault,
Unless the remedy I had brought,
    To show I did not judge ill;
But the people want a loaf of bread,
Not pop-guns, no, nor pill of lead,
Nor truncheons broke upon their head,
For that won't please the people

3. Now I will make it plain, you see,
How rich and poor might both agree,
And live in perfect unity,
    And keep England from all ills.
The working class must comfort share,
And feed upon old England's fare,
As they have done in former years,
And that will please the people.

4. Now a lot of expensive birds are here,
With lots of gold eggs every year,
And from their nest a few might spare,
    To save the British people.
These birds they dwell at splendid seats,
While the poor are wandering through the streets
With scarcely any food to eat—
Now that don't please the people.

5. The first is a German bird you'll hear,
With 30 thousand gold eggs a year,
And surely he a few might spare,
    To benefit the people;
And his mate, the bird that he likes best,
With 60 thousand she is blest—
That's a pretty tidy feathered nest,
And that don't please the people.

6. The next a blackbird will be shown,
Who at Canterbury is well known.
He has a tidy lot too of his own,
    For looking after the steeples,
And as he talks of charity,
With others of his cloth, do you see,
Let them help the poor from out of their fee
And that will please the people.

7. The next bird I bring in my song,
Is female birds, who comes it strong,
Who to the pension list belong,
    What an insult to the people!
They have heaps of gold eggs every one,
For services that others have done,
But they take care of number one,
While starving are the people.

8. But it is different with the poor,
When they can labour hard no more,
They go to a house with grated door,
    That is built for common people.
Where if they die not in the streets,
They end there days, what a treat.
With scarcely any grub to eat,
Sure that can't please the people.

[LAST CHORUS] And now good folks my song is done
And I hope that I've offended none.
Let us hope the good times they will come,
To bless the loyal people.

06 Jun 13 - 02:28 PM (#3523536)
Subject: Lyr Add: CONVERSATIONS ON THE PRESENT TIMES
From: Jim Dixon

From the Bodleian collection, Johnson Ballads 1287:


CONVERSATIONS ON THE PRESENT TIMES.
Tune.---"Grandfather's Days."

Good folks of every station, come listen to my rhymes.
'Twill introduce a lesson on those agitating times.
There is nothing but confusion, whatever you may be.
Whether Tory, Whig, or Radical, 'tis all alike, you see.

CHORUS: And they're all conversing about the present times.

Pray what may you think of the Tory or the Whigs?
Why, I think through the country, they have played some pretty rigs,
And like a set of rogues and fools, John Bull they have been puffing,
And after all their promising, they're daily doing nothing.
    And they're all conversing, &c.

Conservatives and sham Radicals, what might you think of them?
Why, like the others, promise fair, but it is for their own ends.
They'll promise to unite with you like birds of every feather,
But like the blind who lead the blind, fall in the ditch together.
    And they're all conversing, &c.

What may you think a true Radical should be?
To eradicate all evil, throughout our country.
Let union be our motto, and freedom our delight,
But never flinch a single inch, till we obtain our right.
    And they're all conversing, &c.

What may you think of O Dan's treasury bill?
Why, I think we soon shall find it out, if he can have his will.
Rural police with Orangemen from Ireland there will be
To bludgeon all the working classes down to slavery.
    And they're all conversing, &c.

What may you think of the poor laws, alas!
Why, I think it is a mortal sin, that such a bill did pass!
Whether Tory, Whig, or Radical, whoever he may be,
That advocates those curséd laws, I would hang him on a tree.
    And they're all conversing, &c.

What may you think of the Marcus Murder book?
Why, I think the men who framed it, should be drowned in a brook;
And if such daring infidels we could but bring to light,
We would give them to the women for to drown them in the night.
    And they're all conversing, &c.

What may you think of brave Joseph Rayner Stephens?
Why, I think he is persecuted by many knavish heathens;
And those who would not do their best to vindicate his cause
Deserves to work like slavish Turks bound down by tyrant's laws.
    And they're all conversing, &c.

What may you think of the sermons which he has wrote?
Why, I think he gives all hypocrites a choking in the throat.
He has rubbed up all the milliners, and shopkeepers' pretty fare,
And if the cap does them fit well, they surely may it wear.
    And they're all conversing, &c.

Now Tories, Whigs, and Radicals, my verses I will end
With a toast to honest Stephens, and all who him befriend.
Multiplication to their blessings, division among their foes,
Reduction of our enemies, wherever they may go,
    Then we'll all converse about the present time.

Toast.--May the sun never shine on the palace of a tyrant,
             Or ever set on the cottage of a slave.

By W. Whitby Mariner.

02 Dec 17 - 10:03 AM (#3891844)
Subject: RE: Origins: Songs from the Chartist movement
From: GeoffLawes

Does anyone know when "The Chartist Mother's Song" was set to the tune of "The Rose of Alandale "? Was it when it was written in the 19th Century or is the setting more recent?

Listen Here

08 May 19 - 10:05 AM (#3991431)
Subject: RE: Origins: Songs from the Chartist movement
From: GUEST

There is a poem by Fergus O'Connor, written while he was in York jail, about the Chartists. The thing I noticed is that the rhythm and the first line are the same as the Irish song, Barry's Column, by , I think, Dominic Behan. The O'Connor poem can be sung to the 'Barry's Column' tune.

08 May 19 - 10:33 AM (#3991437)
Subject: RE: Origins: Songs from the Chartist movement
From: Jack Campin

Good selection here:

https://www.chartistcollins.com/chartist-poems-and-songs.html

02 Feb 21 - 08:23 PM (#4091185)
Subject: RE: Origins: Songs from the Chartist movement
From: GUEST,Philip Wainwright

Liberty is Near! CD - Garth Hewitt Sings Hymns from the Chartist Hymn Book

Available on Amazon.co.uk

03 Feb 21 - 12:54 AM (#4091199)
Subject: RE: Origins: Songs from the Chartist movement
From: GUEST,henryp

The Voice of the People

‘Tis the voice of the people, I hear it on high
It peals o’er the mountains, it soars to the sky
Through wide fields of heather it wings its swift flight
Like thunders of heaven arrayed in their might

It rushes still on like the torrent’s loud roar
And bears on its surges the wrongs of the poor
Its shock like the earthquake shall fill with dismay
The hearts of the tyrants and sweep them away

This poem was published in The Northern Star and Leeds General Advertiser, 4 December, 1841. This was a Chartist newspaper published between 1837 and 1852, and best known for advancing the reform issues articulated by proprietor Feargus O’Connor.

I've added two more verses to make a longer song for performance.
   
2. Haughty lords who claim title to moorland and hill
You work men like machines in deep mine and dark mill
Renounce all your riches to us they belong
Your power and position will fall to our song

Chorus; It rushes still on...
   
3. The wild beasts of the field and the birds of the air
Were put on this earth for all people to share
If we take a hare now, you say we’ve done wrong
Give back all our commons, pay heed to our song

Chorus; It rushes still on...

03 Feb 21 - 07:20 PM (#4091351)
Subject: RE: Origins: Songs from the Chartist movement
From: Thomas Stern

CD Liberty Is Near - Garth Hewitt
https://www.manchester.ac.uk/discover/news/article/?id=10786

Available at Amazon UK, mp3 at Amazon US
CD may be found on secondary market sites.
Thomas.