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Jon Boden - Beating the Bounds

from From the Mourning of the World by Various Uncivilised Artists

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    From the Mourning of the World is a unique compilation album brought to you by the Dark Mountain Project, the global network of artists, musicians and writers who are crafting new stories for a civilisation in trouble.

    Featuring: an exclusive alternate version of Caesar recorded specially for the album by BBC Radio 2’s Folk Singer of the Year 2011, Chris Wood; BBC Radio 2’s Folk Singer of the Year 2010 Jon Boden; celebrated artists such as Chris T-T and Bethia Beadman (whose track is a duet with REM’s Mike Mills); this is a beautiful compilation of the wild and uncivilised music associated with the Dark Mountain Project.

    Through our IndieGogo crowdfunding page we managed to raise just under £3000 of the £5000 we need to create this beautiful album on vinyl. If you order a copy you will receive the download immediately but the vinyl might be a few months behind. We have a number of fundraising gigs planned as well as selling copies through this bandcamp page so you should have your copy by the end of the summer.

    Thank you for supporting our first venture into creating an album!
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    Includes unlimited streaming of From the Mourning of the World via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.     ... more
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lyrics

Dressed up in our Sunday best
Canon Davis leads the rest
Like last year and the year before
Who remembers what it’s for?

But the solemn march proceeds
Over pavements over-grown with weeds
And everybody’s Sunday best
Has seen better days to say the least
The mayor’s robes are torn and creased
And Abraham Brown is whistling Britannia

Pleasantries are much the same
So many years so little change
And no one thinks to question why
And no one looks you in the eye

Past the long neglected cars
Rusting in suburban yards
Wearing ceremonial frowns
Round the village up and down
Bless the people, beat the bounds
While Abraham Brown is whistling Britannia

Pause a while by Nine Elms Reach
For Ahab Smith to make his speech
Fuel the hatred, stoke the fear
Same as he does every year

But then a different voice descends (from)
From a rusted old Mercedes Benz
A ragged girl of 21
Sits laughing in the winter sun
And we’re the figures of her fun
And Abraham Brown is whistling Britannia

Sat behind the broken wheel
Soft-top gone nothing left to steal
Broken shades upon her eyes
Oblivious to cloudy skies

Laughing at her own regrets
Smoking homemade cigarettes
One man’s parade is another’s farce
The emperor’s clothes revealed at last
Our innocence like Eve’s has passed
And Abraham Brown is whistling Britannia

The pride of man is a brutal thing
And fragile as an insect’s wing
The bubble burst, the march resumed
Half muttered outrage salves the wound

But as we leave I turn to see
The scourge of our society
Enthroned in her audacity
The wielder of cruel mockery
I think she maybe smiled at me
While Abraham Brown was whistling Britannia

credits

from From the Mourning of the World, released June 10, 2013

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The Dark Mountain Project is a network of writers, artists and thinkers in search of new stories for troubled times. We promote and curate writing, art, music and culture rooted in place, time and nature.

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