Get all 11 The Crows Of Albion releases available on Bandcamp and save 25%.
Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of BARD COMPANY: We're Revolting!, BARD COMPANY: Northern Powerhouse, CrowLore, BARD COMPANY: 'Raising The Standards', Black & White & Read All Over, Screaming Blue Murder, BARD COMPANY: All Systems Go!, Khartoum - From Obscurity To Oblivion (The Demo Sessions) [DOWNLOAD ONLY], and 3 more.
1. |
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This Machine Kills Fascists
He was the dust bowl troubadour
A Socialist down to the core
Resist the rich protect the poor
This machine Kills Fascists
Dylan, Ochs and Johnny Cash
Seeger, Strummer, Billy Bragg
All of them would raise his flag
This Machine Kills Fascists
CHORUS
He was never a communist
He was simply an activist
He just asked you to raise your fists
This Machine Kills Fascists
[This Machine Kills Fascists]
He plied his trade on Texas streets
Busking to earn some money to eat
Harmonica blues and folk heartbeat
This Machine Kills Fascists
Moved to Cali-forn-i-a
No jobs to work just bills to pay
Writing his songs every day
This Machine Kills Fascists
CHORUS
BREAK
From Oklahoma bound for glory
Telling a true working class story
Rebel heart and outlawry
This Machine Kills Fascists
This Land is Your Land it was said
Kept a roof over his head
He hated Hitler, wished him dead
This Machine Kills Fascists
CHORUS
He left this earth in sixty-seven
Measure well the gifts he’s given
Woody Guthrie sings in heaven
This Machine Kills Fascists
He was never a communist
He was simply an activist
He just asked you to raise your fists
This Machine Kills Fascists [REPEAT X2]
This Machine Kills Fascists [REPEAT X3]
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2. |
Unsung Heroes
03:28
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Unsung heroes
It's a matter now of life or death on our town and city streets
for families living on the poverty line just trying to make ends meet
But, it's a painful choice, when you have no voice
to buy food or pay for heat
So it's times like this we clench a fist
and salute our unsung heroes
It takes a humble landlady to open up her heart
she says she saves one life at a time but she's only playing her part
so she uses her pub, as a community hub
to give homeless folk a fresh start
it's times like this we clench a fist
and salute our unsung heroes
Cos when you ask for help they say go to hell
and find somewhere else to sleep
So it's times like this we clench a fist
and salute our unsung heroes
It takes a justice fighting troubadour to stand up for what is right
He campaigns tirelessly to give those in the dark some light
he travels the land, a guitar in his hand
he will never give up the fight
it's times like this we clench a fist
and salute our unsung heroes
a pastor in a northern town feeds his flock out on the streets
under the lights tears in his eyes to help is what he believes
he delivers food to the neighbourhood
so they get something to eat
So it's times like this we clench a fist
and salute our unsung heroes
Cos when you ask for help they say go to hell
and find somewhere else to sleep
So it's times like this we clench a fist
and salute our unsung heroes
BREAK
It's still a matter of life and death on our town and city streets
for families living on the poverty line just trying to make ends meet
Cos when you ask for help they say go to hell
and find somewhere else to sleep
it's times like this we clench a fist
and salute our unsung heroes
it's times like this we clench a fist
and salute our unsung heroes
it's times like this we clench a fist
and salute our unsung heroes
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3. |
Walls Of Stone
04:13
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Walls Of Stone
They only went out
To have some fun
On a Greenwich Village night
In a Stonewall pub
That was Mafia-run
No stomach for a fight
Banned from all the hetero bars
They danced in their safe haven
But the police and God
And the Moral Squad
Decided it was time to raid ‘em
CHORUS
Whatever your sexuality
You’ll never stand alone
No level of police brutality
Will drive you from your home
We’ll stand with you like walls of stone
We’ll stand with you like walls of stone
As heavy-handed New York cops
Arrested each drag queen
They brought the party to a stop
And labelled them obscene
But up stepped Marsha Johnson
And she kicked up a fuss
She said ‘No pride for some of us,
Without liberty for all of us …’
No pride for some of us
Without liberty for all [REPEAT X4]
CHORUS
BREAK
When all the colours of the rainbow
Shine a light on equal rights
When people are who they want to be
Transparent in plain sight
When homophobes are silenced
And bigotry is last week’s news
You can dance instead of rioting
throwing any shapes you choose
CHORUS [REPEAT X2]
We’ll stand with you like walls of stone
We’ll stand with you like walls of stone
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4. |
The Thunder & The Bombs
03:42
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The Thunder and the Bombs
Turning on the TV screen
a pair of vacant eyes
another child, a war torn land
to numb to even cry
an evil tyrant doesn't care
about damage that they wreak
with no remorse for those lives lost
or terror victims see
CHORUS
Somewhere in the world tonight
there's thunder rolling in
And somewhere in the world tonight
the bombs are falling
As tanks they come a rollin' in
in the underground they hide
another night of fear for all
the sirens haunt the night
Palestine and Syria
The Yemen, now Ukraine
despots look for land to rule
and someone else to blame
And
CHORUS
It won't be in our lifetimes
so we keep our dreams
ah but maybe in our children's lives
the world will see some peace
So we fight for a better world
to put life in children's eyes
to rid their land of foreign troops
and bombers from their skies
so we stand hand in hand
with the victims in their plight
although we cannot change the world
at least we know we tried
And
CHORUS
AND
CHORUS
the bombs are falling
the bombs are falling
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5. |
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The Battle Of Holbeck Moor
The day the Fascists came to Leeds
And faced the Yorkshire grit
Of local folk who travelled there
From every mill and pit
To face them down on Holbeck Moor
and still their twisted tongue.
That day a famous battle would be fought
And would be won.
The Leylands had been daubed in paint
Swastikas and the like
But in the pubs and factories
there growled the Yorkshire tyke
so thirty thousand residents
stepped out that fateful day
and faced old Mosley’s blackshirt’s
with a will to make them pay – hey!
The day the Fascists came to Leeds
The days the Fascists ran
From working class resistance
Was the day we proved we can
Turn back the rich and powerful
although oppressed and poor
We learned a hard fought lesson there
On the fields of Holbeck Moor
The corrupt Lord was raised up
On the flat roof of a van
But couldn’t get his words to flow
To hatch his evil plan
As the crowd hurled rocks and cobbles
And many of them sang
The rousing tones of the Red Flag
Many Fascists turned and ran
CHORUS
BREAK
Police protection couldn’t help
The brutes of the far Right
When every man and woman there
Was ready for the fight
John Hodgson raised the biggest cheer
As a well aimed cobble stone
Hit Mosely flush upon his brow
and raised a Nazi moan.
CHORUS [REPEAT X2]
We learned a hard fought lesson there
On the fields of Holbeck Moor [REPEAT X2]
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6. |
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The Women Of Dagenham Ford
Back in 1968
Down at the Dagenham plant
They paid just half the going rate
Till the women made a stand
Fighting for equality
Their hearts filled up with pride
They battled gender poverty
With God and Barbara Castle on their side
CHORUS
They raised their voices
Clenched their fists
And stood up to the board
Our comrades and our sisters
The women of Dagenham Ford
They all believed that one fine day
The women would get equal pay
They refused to be ignored
The women of Dagenham Ford
Sisters on an all-out strike
Their jobs and lives down-graded
They fought to earn a living wage
Till the management misers paid it
The rights of women everywhere
To fight for mother’s Pride
Demanding only their fair share
With God and Mrs Pankhurst on their side
CHORUS
Our sisters must be treasured
And Karl Marx said it best
‘Social progress should be measured
By the position of the female sex’
CHORUS
They refused to be ignored
The women of Dagenham Ford
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7. |
Make A Stand
03:49
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Make a Stand
You sit there in your ivory tower you couldn't give a damn
You sit there on your seat of power saying you understand
You're living in another world you don't know how it feels
Arguing between yourselves when will you get real?
CHORUS
Cos you've no idea what the people fear
or the misery across the land
well we've had enough, it's time to rise up
It's time to make a stand
How can you be so out of touch you haven't got a clue
While desperate folk take their lives they don't know what else to do
Stop selling us down the river and listen to our plea
you've got blood upon your hands it’s plain for all to see
CHORUS
So when will someone listen to us
And what the people need
when will you put others first
Instead of your own greed?
BREAK
We don’t believe the lies you tell we’ve heard them all before
The vision of this land you sell is rotten to the core
It’s time you took it on the chin for the damage you have done
You’re just a bunch of liars nothing gained and nothing won
CHORUS
Yeah you've no idea what the people fear
or the misery across the land
well we've had enough, it's time to rise up
It's time to make a stand
It's time to make a stand
It's time to make a stand
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8. |
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Ruby Went To School Today
In November 1960, Ruby Nell Bridges became the first black pupil to attend William Frantz Elementary School in Louisiana after she passed the entrance test at a time when segregated schooling was declared unconstitutional; in her adult life she became an activist in the US Civil Rights Movement.
They segregate to educate
To teach their children how to hate
To close their minds and close the gates
Use entrance tests to seal their fate
To build brick walls in southern states
And keep intruders in their place
All their hearts were filled with hate
Yet still they sang Amazing Grace
CHORUS
And they screamed and cursed
And they booed and hissed
And they spat at her
And they shook their fists
A baying herd of supremacists
They shamed the USA
But Ruby went to school today
Ruby went to school
You can be any colour you like
To join our school, as long as you’re white
It’s in your genes, you won’t be bright
You’ll never learn to read and write
But Ruby Nell she took a stance
She passed the test at William Frantz
Demanded that she earned her chance
led racist folk a merry dance
CHORUS
BREAK
A tiny coffin, black doll inside
They threatened poison to the child
But Ruby Nell walked on with pride
With federal marshals by her side
dad lost his job at the local store
Refused to serve them any more
The school saw all white kids withdraw
But Ruby Nell walked through that door
CHORUS [REPEAT x2]
Yes Ruby went to school today
Ruby went to school
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9. |
Screaming Blue Murder
03:02
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Screaming Blue Murder
I’m screaming Blue Murder
at the state of the nation
and how we blame our ills
on Muslims and immigration -
talking about people
as though they’re an infestation.
I’m screaming Blue Murder.
I’m screaming Blue Murder
at the Banker’s greed
and the people on the street
who we can’t seem to feed -
the way that we trample
on sexuality and creed.
I’m screaming Blue Murder.
I’m screaming Blue Murder
at the disheartening mess
of the education system,
transport and the NHS -
how we’re going to get out of it
is anybody’s guess.
I’m screaming Blue Murder.
I’m screaming Blue Murder
at the neo-Fascist’s rise,
about how we’re indoctrinated
by Tory newspaper lies
and the way we look away
when an industry dies.
I’m screaming Blue Murder.
I’m screaming Blue Murder
that the rich are getting more
while zero hour contracts
are hammering the poor
and the way we still find money
to support another war
I’m screaming Blue Murder.
I’m screaming Blue Murder
at intolerance and hate,
the way you can’t criticise
a Persecution State
without being dragged into
anti semitic debate.
I’m screaming Blue Murder.
I’m screaming Blue Murder
for all of the bluster and fuss
caused by unsupported facts
on the side of a bus -
how just one third of the country
somehow speak for all of us.
I’m screaming Blue Murder.
I’m screaming Blue Murder
at what this government’s done
to the weak and vulnerable,
to the poor man and his son -
and as they stand accused
with their smoking gun
I’m screaming Blue Murder
My heart is on the left
and my blood is red.
Austerity doesn’t work,
it has to be said.
Our ethics and our values
are morally dead.
I’m screaming Blue Murder
I’m screaming Blue Murder
I’m screaming Blue Murder
I’m screaming Blue Murder
I’m screaming Blue Murder
I’m screaming Blue Murder
I’m screaming Blue Murder
I’m screaming Blue Murder
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10. |
Worker's Song
04:00
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Worker's Song
Yeh, this one's for the workers who toil night and day
By hand and by brain to earn your pay
Who for centuries long past for no more than your bread
Have bled for your countries and counted your dead
In the factories and mills, in the shipyards and mines
We've often been told to keep up with the times
For our skills are not needed, they've streamlined the job
And with sliderule and stopwatch our pride they have robbed
CHORUS
We're the first ones to starve, we're the first ones to die
The first ones in line for that pie-in-the-sky
And we're always the last when the cream is shared out
For the worker is working when the fat cat's about
And when the sky darkens and the prospect is war
Who's given a gun and then pushed to the fore
And expected to die for the land of our birth
Though we've never owned one lousy handful of earth?
CHORUS
BREAK
We're the first ones to starve, we're the first ones to die
The first ones in line for that pie-in-the-sky
And we're always the last when the cream is shared out
For the worker is working when the fat cat's about
CHORUS
And all of these things the worker has done
From tilling the fields to carrying the gun
We've been yoked to the plough since time first began
And always expected to carry the can
CHORUS [REPEAT X2]
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11. |
Be More Bard!
04:07
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Be More Bard
We are Bard Company
The wrinkliest boy band
Ever to grace a stage
In this green and pleasant land
We’re coming to your town
Our words are like a shard
Don’t be a Fascist
Be more Bard
CHORUS
We’re not posh or smarmy
We’re northern and barmy
Come and join the Bard Army
And BE MORE BARD!
Rocky likes heavy metal he likes to play it loud
He’s also a socialist working class and proud
His music’s like his politics in your face and hard
Don’t be a Racist
Be More Bard
CHORUS
Punky wants to tell you that punk’ not dead
He doesn’t like the colour blue cos his blood runs red
He supports the vulnerable and the socially scarred
Don’t be Elitist
Be more Bard
CHORUS
Bolshie makes a stand against the tory elite
He dances to the sound of that socialist beat
Holds the government to account is always on his guard
Don’t be a Tory
Be more Bard
CHORUS
BREAK
Yes we’re here to tell you
This is our calling card
We’re a Northern Powerhouse
Our heads are never bowed
ROCKY, BOLSHIE, PUNKY
Respect to our crowd
Come on everybody
And BE MORE BARD!
CHORUS (REPEAT X2]
Hey Ho Let’s go! - Hell Yeah! - Power To The People
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