Ploughing at Night

by Talis Kimberley

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about

Inspired by the first episode of the BBC series 'Wartime Farm', and indeed written the night of the first UK broadcast... I found the segment on night ploughing oddly moving, especially since food security is something we're going to need to think about again, if we aren't already. It's a departure from my green/political 'Songs of Common Ground' collection here, into historical territory... I'm looking forward to the rest of the series, to see whether it spawns any other songs!

lyrics

PLOUGHING AT NIGHT

Couldn’t have done this with horses
But the new petrol tractor won’t mind
Hold fast your lantern and light me a path, Jack -
Keep the plough steady behind
We’ve blacked out the doors and the windows
We’re aware of the Ministry’s powers
And we rose with the dawn and we’re still going strong
Though our working day’s seventeen hours:

So we’re ploughing at night, it’s our part in the fight
Doing our bit for our country and king
Ploughing at night, under Moon and lantern-light
To raise the food that the ships used to bring

Couldn’t have done this with horses
But the last of them went years ago
There’s not enough beasts in all England to pull all the
Ploughs where we need things to grow
When two thirds of the food England’s eating
Comes from farmland beyond England’s shores
Then working for seventeen hours a day’s our
Response to the fact we’re at war:

And we’re ploughing at night, it’s our land and our right
Doing our bit for our country and king
Ploughing at night, under Moon and lantern-light
To raise the food that the ships used to bring

Couldn’t have done this with horses
Horses need sleep after all
But farmers, we just need the land that we work
And you know that we’ll work till we fall
So our countrymen will not go hungry
So our children and neighbours are fed
When the grain from America doesn’t arrive
And the trade links with Canada no longer thrive
You need something home-grown if you’re going to survive
So we’re working for your daily bread: we’re

Ploughing at night, it’s our part in the fight
Doing our bit for our country and king
Ploughing at night, under Moon and lantern-light
To raise the food that the ships used to bring

Ploughing at night, it’s our land and our right
Doing our bit for our country and king
Ploughing at night, under Moon and lantern-light
To raise the food that the ships used to bring

And we couldn’t have done this with horses...

credits

released September 12, 2012
Words & music by & © Talis Kimberley 6th September 2012

The blond Ovation, in the studio, with the hand-held Tascam, and Chantelle holding my laptop as I'd rewritten the lyric since the last printout... thank you, Chantelle! :-)

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about

Talis Kimberley UK

"I'm a songwriter and singer; my songs are spun from folklore and history, stirred well with a hazel wand and served with cake. I'll sing you ravens and bones and the story behind the story, I'll sing you bread and apples, ghosts and knitting, and bring you home with a pocketful of feathers and hope"

Voice / guitar / English concertina

Festivals, folk clubs, libraries, museums, & protests... ... more

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