Sunday, May 18, 2008

The World Turned Upside Down



Lots of people have recorded The World Turned Upside Down, written by Leon Rosselson in 1975, but Billy Bragg is still the King. I'm still capable of getting a bit teary over this. Power proves its ruthlessness time and again, but in better times we tend to forget. It's an old story.

The original lyrics from which the modern version was derived appear below. These are by Gerard Winstanley and first appeared in print in 1719.
You noble Diggers all, stand up now, stand up now,
You noble Diggers all, stand up now,
The wast land to maintain, seeing Cavaliers by name
Your digging does maintain, and persons all defame
Stand up now, stand up now.

Your houses they pull down, stand up now, stand up now,
Your houses they pull down, stand up now.
Your houses they pull down to fright your men in town,
But the gentry must come down, and the poor shall wear the crown.
Stand up now, Diggers all.

With spades and hoes and plowes, stand up now, stand up now,
With spades and hoes and plowes stand up now,
Your freedom to uphold, seeing Cavaliers are bold
To kill you if they could, and rights from you to hold.
Stand up now, Diggers all.

Theire self-will is theire law, stand up now, stand up now
Theire self-will is theire law, stand up now.
Since tyranny came in they count it now no sin
To make a gaole a gin, to serve poor men therein.
Stand up now, Diggers all.

The gentrye are all round, stand up now, stand up now,
The gentrye are all round, stand up now.
The gentrye are all round, on each side they are found,
Theire wisdom's so profound, to cheat us of our ground.
Stand up now, stand up now.

The lawyers they conjoyne, stand up now, stand up now,
The lawyers they conjoyne, stand up now,
To arrest you they advise, such fury they devise,
The devill in them lies, and hath blinded both their eyes.
Stand up now, stand up now.

The clergy they come in, stand up now, stand up now,
The clergy they come in, stand up now.
The clergy they come in, and say it is a sin
That we should now begin, our freedom for to win.
Stand up now, Diggers all.

The tithe they yet will have, stand up now,stand up now,
The tithes they yet will have, stand up now.
The tithes they yet will have, and lawyers their fees crave,
And this they say is brave, to make the poor their slave.
Stand up now, Diggers all.

'Gainst lawyers and gainst Priests, stand up now,stand up now,
'Gainst lawyers and gainst Priests stand up now.
For tyrants they are both even flatt against their oath,
To grant us they are loath free meat and drink and cloth.
Stand up now, Diggers all.

The club is all their law, stand up now, stand up now,
The club is all their law, stand up now.
The club is all their law to keep men in awe,
Buth they no vision saw to maintain such a law.
Stand up now, Diggers all.

The Cavaleers are foes, stand up now, stand up now,
The Cavaleers are foes, stand up now;
The Cavaleers are foes, themselves they do disclose
By verses not in prose to please the singing boyes.
Stand up now, Diggers all.

To conquer them by love, come in now, come in now,
To conquer them by love, come in now;
To conquer them by love, as it does you behove,
For he is King above, noe power is like to love,
Glory heere, Diggers all.

I realized yesterday that this song, having three chords, is within my limited guitar playing abilities. I worked it out and later found this lovely cover by some anonymous guy who whose playing can be followed quite clearly. I was excited to see that we'd heard it the same way, bouncing the E and throwing in the grace B at the end. Rock on!

2 comments:

"Uta" Urban said...

You know Billy Bragg? Pints for yew, ya noble digah.

Bruce from Accordion Noir said...

It's interesting to read the original Diggers and Levellers tracts. B. Bragg's playing of this song still sends shivers.

Amuses me that radical anarchists always sing this song about a very spiritual break-away religious cult. Goes to show that not all church-people are bad, or that not all people of faith are church-people?

Kind of the opposite lesson from those who look up to Guy Fawkes (I liked the V for Vandetta comic since it came out, the movie sucked). The Guy was a religious fanatic who might have been worse in power than the people he was trying to blow up. I'll stick with the Diggers, thanks to Leon Rosselson for this song, and Billy for playing it for us.