The Westgate Run (Re-run) [song version]
The Westgate Run (Re-Run).
“Get the round in John!”
Upon the Merrie Cities oldest street
when twilight creeps across the Yorkshire sky,
traditionally friends and strangers meet
and let the velvet darkness pass them by.
In pictures from a dim and distant past,
as gaslight spilled from heavy shadowed doors,
to neon tinted bars of Friday last
the sound of liquid l...
Tuesday 3rd December 2024 10:44 pm
The Ballad Of Robert Hode (song version]
The Ballad of Robert Hode
In the year of 1332
After the Despenser War
Robert Hode of Wakefield
Become a famed outlaw
He’d been an archer for Lancaster
(who was executed by the king)
And had his lands forfeited
For daring to fight for him
Now you may know him better
By the name of Robin Hood
Who some say came from Nottingham
But I would say you should
...Sunday 1st December 2024 12:47 pm
NEW MUSIC ALBUM: WACHEFELD by THE CROWS OF ALBION
The observant amongst you will no doubt have seen my latest poems being posted as music tracks. That's because I've rewritten a number of poems that I had previouly posted about my home city of Wakefield and added music. I've done this alongside a brilliant guitarisr/instrumentalist, John Kettle, from indie/folk band Merry Hell.
There's a range of music styles on the album - and although the subj...
Monday 25th November 2024 6:36 pm
The Beast Beneath The Beck [song version]
The Beast Beneath The Beck
The beck at Westgate End is full of reeds,
its water is a muddy shade of brown,
confused ducks die within anaemic weeds
as sunken shopping trolleys pull them down.
Sometimes you hear a cold slithering splash,
as though some ancient creature has slid in
to feast upon the centuries of trash.
Who knows what evils are contained within?
It...
Thursday 21st November 2024 10:30 pm
Laila Liqourice [song version]
Laila Liqourish
Well, the black robed friars grew the sweet root
At St Richards and St Johns in Pontefract
And the local folk called the black gold Spanish
After travelling monks who brought it back
It was used as a medicine to cure a wide range
Of ailments of the gut and of the lungs
And the only side effect of treating the diseased
Was the colour of their lips and t...
Sunday 17th November 2024 2:43 pm
Rhubarb, Rhubarb, Rhubarb [song version]
Rhubarb, Rhubarb, Rhubarb
When I was very young it wasn’t very hard
You could find rhubarb in every back yard
A ruby red treasure growing from the ground
Worth its weight in gold and so easily found
Your mother would cook it and put it in a pie
But its very best use – and I tell no lie –
Was to dig it up and treat it like grapes upon the vine
By turning it by magic int...
Monday 11th November 2024 11:36 am
How Did It Get So Late So Soon? [song version]
How Did It Get So Late So Soon?
The man who scared the ghosts away,
The woman who healed wounds with a kiss,
I think of them more nowadays
In sad and troubled times like this.
No longer there to hug the pain
From tired bones and broken hearts,
To shield you from the winter rain
That permeates where old age starts.
Another day of fleeting tasks
From rising su...
Tuesday 5th November 2024 2:36 pm
Down In The Hole (song version)
Down In The Hole
My father said it was this life or the dole –
so sacrifice ambition, heart and soul
if our family was to earn a crust
then I would have to work until I was bust
Years of hardship finally took its toll
I had danced to the tune of Old King Coal
and I was laid off, let into the light
a blessing to escape eternal night
I was sixteen, they thre...
Friday 1st November 2024 10:15 am
Orgreave (Truth & Justice) [song version]
Orgreave (Truth & Justice)
Standing on a picket line in 1984
Orgreave on a summer’s day, we all knew the score
I am just an honest man, I never broke the law
Until the law tried to break me and now I’m not so sure
Orgreave Truth and Justice
Will never go away
The coppers broke the law
So the coppers have to pay
In a court of British law
It’s time we had our ...
Saturday 26th October 2024 2:36 pm
Spinning Jenny [song version]
Spinning Jenny
When times were hard old Reg Malone
Sent his daughters out to work
And they all went out diligently
Not being ones to shirk
Maria went to Hagenbach’s
And helped to bake the bread
While Jenny went to Albion Mills
To weave the worsted thread
She worked the uncombed worsted yarn
As swift and skilled as any
And those who knew her said of her
...Tuesday 22nd October 2024 12:21 pm
The Blue Lady [song version]
The Blue Lady
This is the tale of Mary Bolles who lived at Heath Old Hall
And died there in 1662 and was buried ‘neath the soil.
But still her spirit walked Heath Grove the story has been writ
Until conjured down into a hole that’s still called Bolles Pit.
The spell was not so powerful to keep her there for long
And soon the tales were told of the sound of her plaintive song
...Thursday 17th October 2024 12:45 pm
The Weeping Angel [song version]
The Weeping Angel
She passed this way and tended to our pain,
administered our wounds and eased our fears
telling us that we would be home again.
stayed by our beds and whispered in our ears,
She was gentle, but never weak or frail,
Remember Nellie Spindler from Wakefield
the only woman killed at Passchendaele
An angel weeps for her in Flanders Field
Once...
Friday 11th October 2024 3:38 pm
Dreadnought [song version]
Dreadnought
We crossed the Chantry Bridge
As the Calder boiled beneath
And a drifting, chilling mist
Hung heavy on the heath
We came from far and wide
Marching all together
To gather at Belle Vue
Despite the dank, inclement weather
There were grandfathers and fathers
There were mothers, daughters, sons
Hand in hand in heavy coats
As bitter cold caresse...
Sunday 6th October 2024 1:30 pm
Cuttings [song version]
Cuttings
Here we go 'round the mulberry bush,
The mulberry bush, the mulberry bush.
Here we go 'round the mulberry bush,
On a cold and frosty morning morning.
They took a sprig from Hatfeild Hall
And planted it in Wakefield Gaol
A Mulberry bush grew on the spot
Its humble origins forgot
And there female prisoners exercised at night
Beneath the pale Yorkshire...
Thursday 3rd October 2024 12:17 pm
Marketplace [Song Version]
Marketplace
This space is like a ghost town
Trestle tables row on row
Echoing with the hustle bustle
Vendors cries of long ago
I hold my mother’s hand
And listen to them shout
‘apples sixpence a pound
Come on get your money out!’
I went back there when I was home
All that was left were wooden frames
And rotting boards of each seller’s plot
The faint le...
Tuesday 1st October 2024 10:34 am
Wachefeld [song version]
Wachefeld
Let’s start at the beginning
In a land of ice and snow
Where a brave band of armoured warriors
Set sail with sword and bow
To forge a new life far way
And settle in a land
Where the gods had promised riches
For each and every man
We sailed the mighty North Sea
And by the grace of Odin’s beard
Landed safe in England
Where our kinsmen were ri...
Saturday 28th September 2024 11:45 am
The Merrie City Serenade [song version]
The Merrie City Serenade
Behind the market hall, riding the Ark
Hand in hand lovers strolling through the park
Carving their initials deep in the bark
on this Merrie City Serenade
Old men and teenagers sitting in The Chance
Ian and Peter refusing to dance
Across the mighty Rafters dance floor expanse
to the Merry City Serenade
On Cannonball hill beneath a ...
Tuesday 24th September 2024 10:53 am
Citizens
Citizens
The Bakers, the Millers, the watchmakers.
The clerics, the priests and the reeves.
The plougher of fields and the sower of seeds.
The bankers, the scoundrels, the thieves.
The farmers, the tailors, the shopkeepers.
The woman who sits home and weaves.
The godless, the hypocrites and sinners.
The bishop who prays and believes.
The innkeepers, drunks and ...
Tuesday 2nd April 2024 9:37 am
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