For those who are into protest songs, and want to hear earlier protest songs sung via acapella (some with a little music accompaniment), then I can recommend “English Rebel Songs 1381-1984”. For those who are Chumbawamba fans, I can recommend this album. But for those who are expecting rock or pop songs from Chumbawamba, this album is not for you.
Click here to purchase Chumbawamba – English Rebel Songs 1381-1984 on Amazon
BAND: Chumbawamba
ALBUM: English Rebel Songs 1381-1984
DURATION: 13 Songs (32 Minutes)
ORIGINAL RELEASE: 1988
RE-RELEASE: 2003
1 “The Cutty Wren” 1:55
2 “The Diggers’ Song” 2:31
3 “Colliers’ March” 2:28
4 “The Triumph of General Ludd” 3:02
5 “Chartist Anthem” 1:34
6 “The Bad Squire” 3:54
7 “Song on the Times” 2:35
8 “Smashing of the Van” 2:09
9 “The World Turned Upside Down” 1:25
10 “Poverty Knock” 3:14
11 “Idris Strike Song” 2:49 1911
12 “Hanging on the Old Barbed Wire” 2:02
13 “Coal Not Dole” 2:00
The band Chumbawamba may be known for hit songs such as their 1997 hit “Tubthumping”, “Amnesia”, “Timebomb” and “Top of the World (Ole, Ole, Ole)” to name a few.
But Chumbawamba is a band much different than what most people think they are.
When the band was formed back in 1982 in Burnley in Lancashire, England, the members were Allan “Boff” Whalley, Danbert Nobacon, Dunstan Bruce, Alice Nutter and Lou Watts (and have gone through various members throughout the years).
They were known as an anarchist Punk band and they were known to be a group that featured songs taking on politicians, corruption, social inequality and more.
While the band was no doubt wanting to have their own identity and not be compared with other bands, it starts off with the name and according to Boff, the name came from the band overhearing North African drummers in Paris singing “chum chum ba wailan” and the band felt that having a name that doesn’t mean anything and open-ended, “Chumbawama” was “snappier off the tongue”.
In fact, if you were to follow their music, you would see their music evolve from punk rock, to pop music incorporating techno music and rave culture and eventually focusing on folk music.
The band had its fair share of controversy through their existence of making music from 1982-2012.
Aside from their questionable signing with EMI in 1997 (as the band sung against the company and criticized them in their earlier songs), the band has had its following because they were the rebels of the music industry, they weren’t so much into the money and even turned down lucrative deals and made music that they wanted to make, not caring if they were top hits or not. They wanted to get their message out to the masses and
So, for those who want upbeat music like “Tubthumping” will want to focus on their album “Tubthumper” (or even their albums “Anarchy” and “Swingin’ with Raymond”) but for those who want to immerse themselves with the music and their lyrics, will want to check out their albums because this band was truly rare in the fact that they created music that they wanted and not dictated so much by music producers.
And while many of their fans feel wished that Chumbawamba was still around, especially what is happening with today’s society, the members of the group continue to be involved in music, as writers or filmmakers.
While I personally enjoy the earlier works of Chumbawamba, an album that was released back in 1988 was so different from any music they had created at the time.
In 1988, the album “English Rebel Songs 1381-1914” were traditional English protest songs that would focus on choral and a cappella music and harmony within their vocals.
In 2003, the song was re-recorded with more tracks and some light instrumentation and the album was re-titled “English Rebel Songs 1381-1984”.
According to the band, “Now, fifteen years later, we felt we’d learned enough about our voices to try again, updating and rearranging the songs against a backdrop of US/British warmongering. The songs were discovered in songbooks and in folk clubs and on cassette tapes, chopped and changed and bludgeoned into shape with utmost respect for the original tunes”.
Also, the primary people involved with this re-recording are Lou Watts, Harry Hamer, Danbert Nobacon, Jude Abbott, Boff Whalley, Neil Ferguson and Simon “Commonknowledge” Lanzon. Surprisingly, Alice Nutter and Dunstan Bruce were not involved in the re-recording.
But being a person from America, I’m not familiar with any of the songs featured on the album but I am interested in protest songs and learning about the history of these protest songs. While I typically have a disdain of purchasing albums that are only half an hour long, I am used to punk bands having short albums and I’m also drawn to albums that make me think.
And in the case of Chumbawamba’s “English Rebel Songs 1381-1984”, my curiosity towards these songs is what captivated me when I first discovered this album.
The first song “The Cutty Wren” is estimated to be created around 1381 and was said to be written by the Peasant’s Revolt but the words refer to an earlier ritual pre-Christian origin.
This was a major uprising in which the Bubonic Plague (Black Death) and the Hundred Years War with France would lead to socio-economic and political tensions. The royal official, John Bampton, in Essex attempted to collect unpaid poll taxes and many local artisans and village officials, protested and sought for a reduction of taxation and an end to Serfdom (a status of being slaves that many peasants were under feudalism).
“The Diggers’ Song” is a 17th century song written by Gerrard Winstanley, leader of the Diggers. The Diggers were a group of religious and political dissidents in England and were associated with agrarian socialism. And started to cultivate common land during a time when harvests were bad and food prices were high.
The Diggers were also trying to separate themselves from the Levellers, a political movement during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms who were committed to popular sovereignty, extended suffrage, equality before the law and religious tolerance. They were also opposed to common ownership, except in case of mutual agreement of the property owners.
“Collier’s March” was created in 1782 and was written by John Freeth, as a march of workers in Birmingham protested the price of bread. Freeth was part of the Midlands Enlightenment, a scientific, economic, political, cultural and legal manifestation of the Age of Enlightenment (an intellectual and philosophical movement that dominated Europe during the 17th and 18th centuries and those with the pursuit of knowledge obtained by means of reason and the evidence of the senses).
“The Triumph of General Ludd” refers to the Luddite Rebellion. The Luddites were a secret oath-based organization of English textile workers in the 19th century who formed a radical faction to destroy textile machinery. The group protested against manufacturers who used machines fraudulently and in a deceitful manner to get around standard labour practices. In other words, protesting machinery/technology which would replace people who spent time learning the skills for the industry. A song quite relevant even in modern times.
“Chartist Anthem” is a song written by Ben Boucher in 1847 referring to the People’s Charter drawn up by Chartists (a working-class movement for political reform in the UK) in 1838 demanding universal suffrage.
The sixth track, “The Bad Squire” is a poem written by Charles Kingsley in 1847 in defense of poachers (illegal hunting or capturing of wild animals). During this era, poachers (who were seen as the poor) would try to hunt for food, but game-loving landowners would often clash as they looked at poachers as thieves (stealing game from their land).
The seventh track is titled “Song on the Times” from 1840 about the repeal of the Corn Laws (tariffs and other trade restrictions on imported food and corn enforced in the UK). The tariffs were to keep corn prices high to favor domestic producers. And even if people were starving, the government would block the import of what they deemed “cheap corn” and making it too expensive to import it.
The eighth track “Smashing of the Van” is a song from 1867 about the Manchester Martyrs who were publicly hanged in Manchester for shooting a policeman while trying to rescue two Irish republicans (aka Fenians, an organization dedicated to ending British rule in Ireland) from jail. Ireland was angered by the executions and annual commemorations are held throughout Ireland and many monuments were built in many Irish towns.
The ninth track “The World Turned Upside Down” was a 1647 song which is derived from a Diggers pamphlet.
The tenth track “Poverty Knock” is a song from the 1890s sung by factory workers.
The eleventh track is “Idris Strike Song” in 1911 about a strike at the Idris Soft Drink factory in Wales. According to historians, the term of “Master Willie” is William idris, owner of the Idris lemonade factory. Little Sister Anne is Annie Lowin, a union activist (and a widow and mother of two children) in the factory who was fired for being late and allegedly abusing the time keeper. Lowin fought for women’s rights and was the President of the local branch of the National Federation of Women Workers. When she was fired, many protested.
The 12th track “Hanging on the Old Barbed Wire” was sung by soldiers during World War I about incompetent leaders sending many young soldiers to their deaths.
The final track is “Coal Not Dole”, written by Kay Sutcliffe and Mat Fox in 1984 about the UK Miners’ Strike (1984-1985).
For those who are into protest songs, and want to hear earlier protest songs sung via acapella (some with a little music accompaniment), then I can recommend “English Rebel Songs 1381-1984”. For those who are Chumbawamba fans, I can recommend this album. But for those who are expecting rock or pop songs from Chumbawamba, this album is not for you.
Click here to purchase Chumbawamba – English Rebel Songs 1381-1984 on Amazon
