Song of the Lower Classes (Windborne)

Windborne Live at the Cutler Majestic Theatre with Christmas Celtic Sojourn, 2017 Footage courtesy of WGBH Boston -- • • IG/TikTok: @WindborneSingers • Spotify: -- SONG OF THE LOWER CLASSES Text: Ernest Jones (verses 1-3), Bob Davenport (verse 4), Windborne (verses 5-6) Melody by Ian Robb, harmonies by Windborne We plough and sow, we are so low, that we delve in the dirty clay, ‘Til we bless the plain with golden grain and the vale with the fragrant hay. Our place we know we are so low, down at the landlord’s feet. We’re not too low the bread to grow but too low the bread to eat. We’re low, we’re low, we are so low yet from our fingers glide The silken flow and the robes that glow round the limbs of the sons of pride. And what we get and what we give we know and we know our share: We’re not too low the cloth to weave but too low the cloth to wear. Down down we go, we are so low, to the hell of the deep-sunk mine, But we gather the proudest gems that glow when the crown of the despot shines. Whenever he lacks upon our backs fresh loads he deigns to lay. We’re far too low to vote the tax but not too low to pay. We’re low, we’re low as to war we go to fight some foreign country That was yesterday our greatest friend but today’s our enemy. “God bless our boys!” the papers scream, “Praise them!” the churchmen cry. When the war is won and home we come, who cares if we live or die? We’re low, so low, into boats we go to flee war in our home country, And we’ll try to make a better life when we land across the sea. But it’s “Send them back!” the press cries out, “Back to where they came!” We’re far too low to feed and clothe but not too low to blame. We are so low but soon we know that the low folk will arise, And the tyrants in their tow’rs of gold shall hear the people’s cries! No more shall they hold us in thrall; their lies we will not heed. But every heart shall hear the call, and the people will be free! -- This song is a timeless anthem for the lower classes: a living breathing resistance to injustice. Its messages today are as impactful and revolutionary as they were when Ernest Jones spent two years in solitary confinement in the for publicly expressing them in the 1840s. In January of 2017, Windborne took a video of our last verse in front of Trump Tower, and over a million people saw it on Facebook and YouTube (). It was the response to this video that took our group from touring a few weeks out of every year to a full time occupation.