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about
I wrote this song as part of a commission from Egham Museum near Runnymede to celebate the 800th anniversary of Magna Carta. On visiting Runnymede where Magna Carta was sealed I walked up to the Kennedy Memorial and found out that the land it sits upon is actually now American soil after the UK gave this acre of land to America. I remember feeling very peaceful there and I sat on the hill and wrote this song.
To hear all four songs I wrote for the commission along with accompanying ambient tracks you can visit magnacartathroughsong.bandcamp.com and the whole album is available to buy there.
If you are able, I recommend visiting Runnymede and the Kennedy memorial, and according to different people, November is a great time to go because the scarlet Oak is in full colour and really quite beautiful.
lyrics
'America'
Pass a river, cross a meadow,
through a gate into America
A sense of peace, despite constant planes
On their way to America
Up on the hill, proud and high, Scarlet Oak stands
And shelters words in Portland stone
Kennedy's remembered here,
his name carved clearly in memorium.
And Magna Carta, went across the water
The notion of Liberty founded America
We took our ways and our customs
to the wilds of a new world
What of a native people of America?
And how we claimed in Liberty's name
All those people chained and shipped across the seas
But we believed our beliefs were justified
our actions even sanctified, for centuries.
We had notions of Liberty, definitions of Equality
And didn't stop at America
Explorers found new lands, Magna Carta in one hand
A raised sword in the other
And will we ever learn at all?
History goes in circles and around and around we run
We stumble in the dark
But then we find the sun.
In a time of conflict, they came to reflect
Friends and allies, from America
Our war for Liberty, against the threat of Tyranny
Saw them come to this America
And on nearby English land
now their memorial stands to a far gone distant deed
When darkness threatened light and the allies joined our fight
They came to Runnymede.
A piece of English ground given to our friends
Across the ocean in America
An invitation for contemplation
here in this acre of America
For Freedom and its survival, protection from our rivals
Who do we look to?
Soldiers, teachers, presidents?
Me and You? Me and You? Me and You....
I like singing songs that tell stories and / or make people laugh....
I play all sorts of gigs in all sorts
of places from cabarets and variety nights to festivals and camping trips, school assemblies, libraries, pubs, clubs and queues in the chemist's and have a regular Music Time session in Croydon for very young children www.musictimejenny.co.uk...more
