£10.00
Description
England Green & England Grey – Hatsongs Hat007 2014
Track List and Reg’s track notes:
1. What Would William Morris Say
The B sections of this song quote from William Morris’s ‘The Message of the March Wind’
2. Tony Benn’s Tribute to Emily Davison
Tony Benn secretly erected a plaque to the Suffragette Emily Davison on the broom cupboard where she hid on the eve of the national Census in 1911
TONY BENN’S TRIBUTE TO EMILY DAVISON
“In this broom cupboard Emily Wilding Davison hid herself, during the night of the 1911 census. She was a brave suffragette campaigning for votes for women at a time when parliament denied them that right. In this way she was able to record her address on the night of that census as being ‘The House of Commons’,making her claim to the same political rights as men. Emily Wilding Davison died in June 1913 from injuries sustained when she threw herself under the king’s horse at The Derby to draw attention to the injustice suffered by women. By such means was democracy won for the people of Britain” Tony Benn MP
3. England Green & England Grey I wrote this song to perform at Sidmouth Parish Church where I was invited to perform by the church committee during Sidmouth Folk Week. “..Reg painted with his words the disastrous direction we are going in as a country. He expressed so vividly the precious values and ideals that a civilised society should be holding on to.”Charlie Werner. “I’m particularly delighted with the title track which manages to say so much in a subtle and non-preachy way.” Mike Harding
4. River Rail & Road
5. They Changed Her Mind. This song is about the reopening of a mental asylum which had remained locked since the early 1960’s. When they opened it they found suitcases containing the effects and details of many inmates. The overwhelming impression I got was that many of these people should never have been locked away in the first place. “Under the surface sweetness of many of Reg’s songs there are a lot of tough stories which reflect on our history in a unique way.” Peter Grieg – Cecil Sharp House
6. Counting My Footsteps To You I have played several concerts for sufferers of various forms of Dementia and their carers. This is about the tragic nature of that disease.
7. Sing To Me A Working Week
8. Sailor Go Down
9. Lovesick Johnny
10.The Band Played Sweet Marie This is about the discovery of the violin given by Maria Robinson to her then fiancé, Wallace Hartley, the bandleader of TheTitanic. Having written this song I was invited to meet with the violin before it was sold. It was a special moment.
11. I’ll Be There To Love You
12. The Ballad Of Flora Sandes Flora was the only English woman to engage in active combat during The Great War. This is her story.
