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The Church And The Crown

from Dark Harvest by Malcolm MacWatt

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about

Living in SE London I regularly walked up Wat Tyler Road to Blackheath Common where the radical preacher John Ball gave a sermon during the Peasants’ Revolt of 1381, the most significant uprising this country has had and one which the establishment has long downplayed. What originally started out as an angry protest song ended up taking a more resigned tone as Tyler, Ball and the others who gave their lives for a more equal society, would see little has changed for the poor in the 21st Century.

lyrics

The church and the crown, the church and the crown
With sceptre and scripture they keep a man down
They tether my soul with godfear and gibbet
They tell me to keep my poor eyes on the ground

One day I was walking on Blackheath’s green pasture
I heard the words of the preacher John Ball
He told me that kings were no richer or better
In the eyes of the Lord than a peasant in thrall

To a poor man like me his words were like manna
They gave me the strength to lift up my eyes
And clearly I saw how the poor and weak suffer
While the nobles and bishops grow fat on their lies

And just for a moment, one glorious moment
The poor and the workers rise up like a wave
But the church and the crown with brute force and cunning
Harness us back to the yoke once again

Maybe one day there’ll be streets named for Tyler
Or a fine school for children that bears John Ball’s name
But money and greed have a power compelling
I fear the poor will be treated the same

credits

from Dark Harvest, released January 25, 2024

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Malcolm MacWatt London, UK

“MacWatt will doubtless be considered among the best of the new breed of folksingers and songwriters, who speak of the past as a way to perhaps understand it and move forward” Stephen Rapid, Lonesome Highway

“He shines as a singer and he shines as an interpreter of the eternal folk songbook,” Tom Brosseau, The Great American Folk Show, North Dakota
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