Rivers of Blood

European parliamentary elections don’t usually inspire me to put pen to paper, but in the 2014 campaign the stink of overt racism which came wafting across the Channel mingled to a dispiriting degree with the stink of covert racism hovering over the UK.

farage

Rivers of Blood

I heard the man on the news, mother,
I heard the man on the news –
Says Romanian men gonna set up their den of iniquity
Next door to you.

And I read the newspapers too, brothers,
I read the newspapers too –
Saw the redtops report how we gotta deport all them Poles
Or there’s no jobs for you.

Rivers of blood never flowed,
No the rivers of blood never flowed.
Please don’t go down, please don’t go down,
Please don’t go down that old road.

I had a dream in the night, father,
I had a dream in the night –
The masses had voted and one leader gloated,
His Bierkeller Putsch went alright.

I smell the fear in the air, neighbours,
I smell the fear in the air –
Are you losing your land by extending a hand?
An Englishman’s home is his lair.

I put my trust in your hands, children,
I put my trust in your hands –
Can you see through the lies? Is there hope in your eyes
Or compassion or love in the land?

Rivers of blood never flowed,
No the rivers of blood never flowed.
Please don’t go down, please don’t go down,
Please don’t go down that old road.

Click here for a version recorded at home, June 2014

Click here for a version recorded at the Sumac Centre in Nottingham, 25th April 2015

Click here for a version recorded at the Poppy Folk Club in West Bridgford, 11th October 2015

Published by

Paul Carbuncle

“Excellent!”, “Immaculate!”, “Wonderful views!”, “We had to ask for more towels!”. These are just some of the comments made by lovers of folk music who have stayed in bed-and-breakfast accommodation in Paul Carbuncle’s home county of Kent. Now living in Nottingham, Paul has been playing scores of gigs to relatively ruly crowds at pubs and folk clubs in Notts and Derbyshire, on evenings which have been described enthusiastically as “Saturday” and “Wednesday” and sometimes “Friday”. The Midlands magazine “Folk Monthly” labelled him “bourgeoning”, back in the days before spell-check (2015). Since winning the Gate To Southwell Folk Festival Open Mic Competition this summer, Paul has spent much of his spare time sitting next to the telephone ready for stardom to call. When the call finally arrived, at tea-time yesterday, it came as a great joy to learn that he may have been mis-sold Payment Protection Insurance. In a recent interview with a lady who said she was from off of the telly, Paul deftly cleared up once and for all any mystery surrounding his chosen musical genre. “Some call it folk-punk,” he explained, “while others call it punk-folk. Either is acceptable. But over-blend it and you’ll end up with funk or polk, and I’m sure none of us wants that. It’s rather like mixing the grape and the grain... you’ve got to be careful not to end up with muesli.” Paul Carbuncle uses Jim Dunlop 1mm plectrums.

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