This 'Songs' site contains some of my songs in written form.
Recordings of some songs can also be found on
My Space - Charlotte Peters Rock
Recordings of some songs can also be found on
My Space - Charlotte Peters Rock
Saturday 11 February 2012
Friday 3 February 2012
Zetland - The Lifesaver
chorus
Nine metres long and three metres wide
Ten oars and seventy-eight years
Saving the men who all might have died
But for Zetland
and Redcar's Volunteers
Greathead's design was the best
Better - by far - than the rest
One open lifeboat and brave volunteers
Greathead's design was the best
ch
She had no rudder nor sails
Might have capsized in the gales
One open lifeboat - and brave volunteers
She had no rudder nor sails
ch
Five hundred lives from the sea
Five hundred dying set free
One open lifeboat - and brave volunteers
Five hundred lives from the sea
ch
Valued for two hundred years
One of the best souvenirs
One open lifeboat - and brave volunteers
Valued for two hundred years
Nine metres long and three metres wide
Ten oars and seventy-eight years
Saving the men who all might have died
But for Zetland
and Redcar's Volunteers
C 2002 Charlotte Peters Rock
Nine metres long and three metres wide
Ten oars and seventy-eight years
Saving the men who all might have died
But for Zetland
and Redcar's Volunteers
Greathead's design was the best
Better - by far - than the rest
One open lifeboat and brave volunteers
Greathead's design was the best
ch
She had no rudder nor sails
Might have capsized in the gales
One open lifeboat - and brave volunteers
She had no rudder nor sails
ch
Five hundred lives from the sea
Five hundred dying set free
One open lifeboat - and brave volunteers
Five hundred lives from the sea
ch
Valued for two hundred years
One of the best souvenirs
One open lifeboat - and brave volunteers
Valued for two hundred years
Nine metres long and three metres wide
Ten oars and seventy-eight years
Saving the men who all might have died
But for Zetland
and Redcar's Volunteers
C 2002 Charlotte Peters Rock
Sunday 10 May 2009
The Royal Charter - 1859
Australia - back across the sea
The Royal Charter brought the people home
To Liverpool where they will always be
Remembered well although they didn’t come
One autumn night in 1859
A storm blew up - the worst that century
The Royal Charter wrecked just off the coast
Near Dulas Bay and close to Red Wharf Bay
Joe Rodgers swam to bring a line ashore
He fought the waves and rocks that dreadful day
The Royal Charter wrecked just off the coast
Near Dulas Bay and close to Red Wharf Bay
A bosun’s chair was rigged to save the lives
A human chain was paid out in the sea
The Royal Charter wrecked just off the coast
Near Dulas Bay and close to Red Wharf Bay
Just forty-one were rescued from the ship
Four hundred - near five hundred - died that day
The Royal Charter wrecked just off the coast
Near Dulas Bay and close to Red Wharf Bay
The Moelfre twenty-eight men were so brave
The Rector Steven Roose Hughes broke his heart
Recording all the ones they could not save
For relatives who waited at the port
The Royal Charter - full of lives and gold
In sight of land was wrecked by raging wave
The bodies washed ashore were dead and cold
Along the coast - with no more left to save (rpt)
Moral
Returning home from Goldfields in the south
Don’t sew the weight of gold in hem or seam
Shipwrecked you’ll drown as water fills your mouth
Your ‘rich return’ a thwarted distant dream
C 2002 Charlotte Peters Rock
2009 is the 150th Anniversary of the Royal Charter Storm, when numerous boats and ships were sunk on the night of 26th/26th October 1859. The Royal Charter ran aground on the rocks at Moelfre, on the north coast of Anglesey in North Wales. It was returning to Liverpool from the Goldfields of Australia. The Royal Charter was one of he most modern ships in the world when it was built on Deeside in 1854.
see:
Great Orme site click 'back' to return
The Royal Charter brought the people home
To Liverpool where they will always be
Remembered well although they didn’t come
One autumn night in 1859
A storm blew up - the worst that century
The Royal Charter wrecked just off the coast
Near Dulas Bay and close to Red Wharf Bay
Joe Rodgers swam to bring a line ashore
He fought the waves and rocks that dreadful day
The Royal Charter wrecked just off the coast
Near Dulas Bay and close to Red Wharf Bay
A bosun’s chair was rigged to save the lives
A human chain was paid out in the sea
The Royal Charter wrecked just off the coast
Near Dulas Bay and close to Red Wharf Bay
Just forty-one were rescued from the ship
Four hundred - near five hundred - died that day
The Royal Charter wrecked just off the coast
Near Dulas Bay and close to Red Wharf Bay
The Moelfre twenty-eight men were so brave
The Rector Steven Roose Hughes broke his heart
Recording all the ones they could not save
For relatives who waited at the port
The Royal Charter - full of lives and gold
In sight of land was wrecked by raging wave
The bodies washed ashore were dead and cold
Along the coast - with no more left to save (rpt)
Moral
Returning home from Goldfields in the south
Don’t sew the weight of gold in hem or seam
Shipwrecked you’ll drown as water fills your mouth
Your ‘rich return’ a thwarted distant dream
C 2002 Charlotte Peters Rock
2009 is the 150th Anniversary of the Royal Charter Storm, when numerous boats and ships were sunk on the night of 26th/26th October 1859. The Royal Charter ran aground on the rocks at Moelfre, on the north coast of Anglesey in North Wales. It was returning to Liverpool from the Goldfields of Australia. The Royal Charter was one of he most modern ships in the world when it was built on Deeside in 1854.
see:
Great Orme site click 'back' to return
MPs and expensive manure
Become a politician
Buy the vote - stick in the pin
Trotters in the trough and snout in swill
Late Lordling with ambition
Taking all the public in
Ruling by corruption greed and skill
And here’s the way to gobble up the truffle
And there’s the way to greedy-grasp the cake
Hope no-one understands – its no mere trifle
This murky long career is on the take
Shout loudly of sedition
Blame the rest and lie to win
Servant of the people – mainly you
Colluding with rendition
Cover-up in lies and spin
Keep your secrets out of public view
And here’s the way to gobble up the truffle
And there’s the way to greedy-grasp the cake
Hope no-one understands – its no mere trifle
This murky long career is on the take
Line up – in competition
Public theft ‘is no great sin’
Change the law to make your theft ‘their will’
Creep silent round suspicion
‘Brass it out’ – take aim – begin
Blame the rest – and get in with your bill
And here’s the way to gobble up the truffle
And there’s the way to greedy-grasp the cake
Hope no-one understands – its no mere trifle
This murky long career is on the take
Expensive recognition
Means you take on the chin
Trough and swill - and elevation too
Ermine-clad ‘patrician’
Still the cash – and still the gin
Now the right to trade your title too
And here’s the way to gobble up the truffle
And there’s the way to greedy-grasp the cake
Hope no-one understands – its no mere trifle
This murky long career is on the take
(Repeat for as long as you can return to office)
© Charlotte Peters Rock
Buy the vote - stick in the pin
Trotters in the trough and snout in swill
Late Lordling with ambition
Taking all the public in
Ruling by corruption greed and skill
And here’s the way to gobble up the truffle
And there’s the way to greedy-grasp the cake
Hope no-one understands – its no mere trifle
This murky long career is on the take
Shout loudly of sedition
Blame the rest and lie to win
Servant of the people – mainly you
Colluding with rendition
Cover-up in lies and spin
Keep your secrets out of public view
And here’s the way to gobble up the truffle
And there’s the way to greedy-grasp the cake
Hope no-one understands – its no mere trifle
This murky long career is on the take
Line up – in competition
Public theft ‘is no great sin’
Change the law to make your theft ‘their will’
Creep silent round suspicion
‘Brass it out’ – take aim – begin
Blame the rest – and get in with your bill
And here’s the way to gobble up the truffle
And there’s the way to greedy-grasp the cake
Hope no-one understands – its no mere trifle
This murky long career is on the take
Expensive recognition
Means you take on the chin
Trough and swill - and elevation too
Ermine-clad ‘patrician’
Still the cash – and still the gin
Now the right to trade your title too
And here’s the way to gobble up the truffle
And there’s the way to greedy-grasp the cake
Hope no-one understands – its no mere trifle
This murky long career is on the take
(Repeat for as long as you can return to office)
© Charlotte Peters Rock
Tuesday 20 November 2007
Wednesday 14 November 2007
Col-Sgt P Humphreys CGC (Conspicuous Gallantry Cross - Bosnia 1995)
Over the top it wasn’t
They never were down in a trench
Their Saxons were out in the open
And there was no place to re-trench
It’s a curious job - this policing
The whole population needs calm
To get on with strange-normal living
You’re there to see they take no harm
ch
Sgt Humphreys was out in Gorazde
Not fighting but keeping things calm
Patrolling around Vitkovici
Just there to see they took no harm
ch
The Bosnian snipers were killing
And stopping the peace and the calm
Three hours he fired straight into Serb guns
To see that their guns did no harm
ch
And that was the 20th of April
Vitkovici relaxed into calm
People got on with their living
And no-one came to any harm
ch
A village just west of Gorazde
Where fire shattered convoys and calm
Sgt Humphreys turned on a great fire shield
To keep the food convoy from harm
ch
Delivering women in labour
To hospital - safely - and calm
Sgt Humphreys - the Fusilier Policeman
Ensured that his men took no harm
ch
In presence of mind and aggression
In spirit and coolness and calm
Conspicuous Gallantry earned him
The Cross for ensuring no harm
Over the top it wasn’t
They never were down in a trench
Their Saxons were out in the open
And there was no place to re-trench
+ repeat last verse and chorus)
2002 © Charlotte Peters Rock
Main site
Poetry site
Song site
Child Poems site
They never were down in a trench
Their Saxons were out in the open
And there was no place to re-trench
It’s a curious job - this policing
The whole population needs calm
To get on with strange-normal living
You’re there to see they take no harm
ch
Sgt Humphreys was out in Gorazde
Not fighting but keeping things calm
Patrolling around Vitkovici
Just there to see they took no harm
ch
The Bosnian snipers were killing
And stopping the peace and the calm
Three hours he fired straight into Serb guns
To see that their guns did no harm
ch
And that was the 20th of April
Vitkovici relaxed into calm
People got on with their living
And no-one came to any harm
ch
A village just west of Gorazde
Where fire shattered convoys and calm
Sgt Humphreys turned on a great fire shield
To keep the food convoy from harm
ch
Delivering women in labour
To hospital - safely - and calm
Sgt Humphreys - the Fusilier Policeman
Ensured that his men took no harm
ch
In presence of mind and aggression
In spirit and coolness and calm
Conspicuous Gallantry earned him
The Cross for ensuring no harm
Over the top it wasn’t
They never were down in a trench
Their Saxons were out in the open
And there was no place to re-trench
+ repeat last verse and chorus)
2002 © Charlotte Peters Rock
Main site
Poetry site
Song site
Child Poems site
PQ-17 to Murmansk - 1942
In 1942 - in June - the merchant ships formed up
Loaded to the gunnels with their planes and guns and tanks
Enough to serve an army - 50,000 in the field
The PQ - 17 formed up in ranks
Fifty-six from Rekyavik - nine columns in the sea
Thirty-five were merchantmen - the rest their guardian fleet
Seven knots - or eight - with planes and u-boats looking on
Crossed QP - 13's returning beat
Air attacks were sinking ships too slow to fast-escape
Tirpitz out of Trondheim - thirty knots along the breeze
Admiral Pound - in London - over-ruled his naval staff
Ordered convoy-scatter to the seas
Merchantmen - with no defence - abandoned to their fate
Fanned to north and east - and south and east - to stay afloat
Aiming in to Russian ports or aiming out to ice
Targets in a duck-shoot - sunk by rote
Empire Byron, Carlton, Daniel Morgan, Honomu
Navarino, Bolton Castle, Paulus Potter sank
Earlston, Pankraft, River Afton, Samuel Chase as well
Zafaron and Fairfield City sank
Peter Kerr and Pan Atlantic and John Witherspoon
Alcoa Ranger, Olopana, Hartlebury too
Aldersdale the oiler, Empire Tide the CAM-ship sank
Hoosier and El Capitan and crew
All the Barents Sea was scattered with their life-boat men
Desperate men with frostbite and with death upon each mind
With no food and baling ocean - aiming in to land
Fearful of the day and what they'd find
Washington and high explosives - deck ablaze - was left
Gun crews in two lifeboats pulled for ten long days - or more
Waving off their would-be-rescue-ship they watched it sink
Rigged their sail and rowed to meet the shore
Ayrshire - armed for battle - herded three ships to the ice
Silver Sword, Ironclad and Troubadour the three she caught
Repainted white they blended in to skirt the Barents Sea
Stealthy - crept across the reach the port
Murmansk closed - Archangel aimed for - crossing the White Sea
Eleven battered ships made landfall - ports and rocks and bays
Stalin's greeting accusation - "Letting down the War"
Stopped the convoys til the Autumn days
Zamalek and Rathlin - Bellingham and Northern Gem
Ocean Freedom, Azerbaijan, made the port at last
Ben Harrison and Silver Sword, Ironclad and Troubadour
Winston Salem the last ship that passed
PQ - 17 a gallant group of ships and men
Paid the price for bad decisions - leaving them as prey
Took the deaths and took the blame for all their grand success
They helped to win the war in their own way
Latterly all men were honoured for their convoy-run
Gauntlet-run for years across the German ships and planes
When Murmansk - that Hero city - told what they had done
Honoured them for Soviet battle gains
(rpt each last line)
2001 © Charlotte Peters Rock
Main site
Poetry site
Song site
Child Poems site
Forgotten People
The storage rooms of Liverpool
The terraces and high rise places
Stock the people found alone in death
They're picked up two or three a month
From terraces and high rise places
Forgotten people found alone in death
And no one here knows who they are
The terraces and high rise places
Hide the people found alone in death
No paper proof nor relative
In terraces and high rise places
Forgotten people found alone in death
A batchelor A widower
In terraces and high rise places
Still the people found alone in death
And sometimes awkward spinsters lie
In terraces and high rise places
Forgotten people found alone in death
Now spare a though for awkward ones
In terraces and high rise places
They're the people found alone in death
They're picked up two or three a month
From terraces and high rise places
Forgotten people found alone in death
2003 © Charlotte Peters Rock
Main site
Poetry site
Song site
Child Poems site
The terraces and high rise places
Stock the people found alone in death
They're picked up two or three a month
From terraces and high rise places
Forgotten people found alone in death
And no one here knows who they are
The terraces and high rise places
Hide the people found alone in death
No paper proof nor relative
In terraces and high rise places
Forgotten people found alone in death
A batchelor A widower
In terraces and high rise places
Still the people found alone in death
And sometimes awkward spinsters lie
In terraces and high rise places
Forgotten people found alone in death
Now spare a though for awkward ones
In terraces and high rise places
They're the people found alone in death
They're picked up two or three a month
From terraces and high rise places
Forgotten people found alone in death
2003 © Charlotte Peters Rock
Main site
Poetry site
Song site
Child Poems site
The Gander
And the boys chase the gander
Out of time and far from home
And the boys chase the gander
In the green field (rpt)
They go to school in some strange land
And learn to speak the language
The language of the schoolyard
Rough-and-tumble
They go back to the old folks home
And watch the television
And sometimes it shows battles
Bombs and bloodshed
ch
At week-ends they are taken out
To Camelot and swimming
Where everyone is laughing
And not fleeing
They wonder when they'll go back home
They saw on television
That now have stopped the battles
Bombs and bloodshed
ch
They hear their parents talk at night
They know they must go back soon
Men with guns once made them walk
For their safety
And sometimes they have nightmares now
They watch the television
And play like boys from battles
Bombs and bloodshed
And the boys chase the gander
Out of time and far from home
And the boys chase the gander
In the green field (rpt x 3)
2003 © Charlotte Peters Rock
Main site
Poetry site
Song site
Child Poems site
Out of time and far from home
And the boys chase the gander
In the green field (rpt)
They go to school in some strange land
And learn to speak the language
The language of the schoolyard
Rough-and-tumble
They go back to the old folks home
And watch the television
And sometimes it shows battles
Bombs and bloodshed
ch
At week-ends they are taken out
To Camelot and swimming
Where everyone is laughing
And not fleeing
They wonder when they'll go back home
They saw on television
That now have stopped the battles
Bombs and bloodshed
ch
They hear their parents talk at night
They know they must go back soon
Men with guns once made them walk
For their safety
And sometimes they have nightmares now
They watch the television
And play like boys from battles
Bombs and bloodshed
And the boys chase the gander
Out of time and far from home
And the boys chase the gander
In the green field (rpt x 3)
2003 © Charlotte Peters Rock
Main site
Poetry site
Song site
Child Poems site
Survivor of The Wells Lifeboat Disaster - (when the lifeboat, Eliza Adams, was upset)
12th October 1880
Captain Thomas Kew - he wrote a letter
"Dear Friend, Eliza Adams was upset
Of thirteen men - just two of us were rescued
Will Bell died - but Tom Kew has not gone yet
Twenty-eight young orphans and ten widows
Were left to mourn the loss of those brave men
So now I tell you - Nothing marks their passing
And Wells will never see their like again
The bodies found still lie there in the churchyard
No monument commemorates their life
The whole town and their children need a solace
Each widow must be proud she was a wife
And I'm the one who's left alive to tell you
The one who left the sea - and still has breath
We need a monument to all these brave men
Whose bravery resulted in their death"
The photograph beside the old memorial
Shows Tom - a big old man who had his way
He raised the money for a new memorial
To honour them It still stands there today
Captain Thomas Kew - he wrote a letter
"Dear Friend, Eliza Adams was upset
Of thirteen men - just two of us were rescued
Will Bell died - but Tom Kew has not gone yet"
2002 © Charlotte Peters Rock
Main site
Poetry site
Song site
Child Poems site
12th October 1880
Captain Thomas Kew - he wrote a letter
"Dear Friend, Eliza Adams was upset
Of thirteen men - just two of us were rescued
Will Bell died - but Tom Kew has not gone yet
Twenty-eight young orphans and ten widows
Were left to mourn the loss of those brave men
So now I tell you - Nothing marks their passing
And Wells will never see their like again
The bodies found still lie there in the churchyard
No monument commemorates their life
The whole town and their children need a solace
Each widow must be proud she was a wife
And I'm the one who's left alive to tell you
The one who left the sea - and still has breath
We need a monument to all these brave men
Whose bravery resulted in their death"
The photograph beside the old memorial
Shows Tom - a big old man who had his way
He raised the money for a new memorial
To honour them It still stands there today
Captain Thomas Kew - he wrote a letter
"Dear Friend, Eliza Adams was upset
Of thirteen men - just two of us were rescued
Will Bell died - but Tom Kew has not gone yet"
2002 © Charlotte Peters Rock
Main site
Poetry site
Song site
Child Poems site
Lancashire's Pits - C1910
A thousand men a year were killed
I Lankisha
I Lankisha
A thousand men a year were killed
I Lankisha
Pretoria killt three undred men
An more an more in 1910
Pretoria kilt three undred men
I Lankisha
ch
Westhoughton's tremour moved the ground
An pit wives trembled at the sound
Westhoughton's tremour moved the ground
I Lankisha
ch
The Winter Solstice - shortest day
Became Westhoughton's longest day
The Winter Solstice - shortest day
I Lankisha
ch
The fust wun owt wuz fifteen years
Shawled wimin's eyes wur filled wi tears
The fust wun owt wuz fifteen years
I Lankisha
ch
The last wuz brought in March to ground
An wimin's grief wuz spread around
The last wuz brought in March to ground
I Lankisha
ch
Wun man fower suns wun wuman lost
Wen yew burn coal jus count the cost
Wun man fower suns wun wuman lost
I Lankisha
A thousand men a year were killed
I Lankisha
I Lankisha
A thousand men a year were killed
I Lankisha
2000 © Charlotte Peters Rock
Main site
Poetry site
Song site
Child Poems site
I Lankisha
I Lankisha
A thousand men a year were killed
I Lankisha
Pretoria killt three undred men
An more an more in 1910
Pretoria kilt three undred men
I Lankisha
ch
Westhoughton's tremour moved the ground
An pit wives trembled at the sound
Westhoughton's tremour moved the ground
I Lankisha
ch
The Winter Solstice - shortest day
Became Westhoughton's longest day
The Winter Solstice - shortest day
I Lankisha
ch
The fust wun owt wuz fifteen years
Shawled wimin's eyes wur filled wi tears
The fust wun owt wuz fifteen years
I Lankisha
ch
The last wuz brought in March to ground
An wimin's grief wuz spread around
The last wuz brought in March to ground
I Lankisha
ch
Wun man fower suns wun wuman lost
Wen yew burn coal jus count the cost
Wun man fower suns wun wuman lost
I Lankisha
A thousand men a year were killed
I Lankisha
I Lankisha
A thousand men a year were killed
I Lankisha
2000 © Charlotte Peters Rock
Main site
Poetry site
Song site
Child Poems site
Ritalin Johnnie
He was a bright lad little Johnnie
And he ran around the room
His head was always full of ideas
He was a bright lad little Johnnie
And he ran around the room
Now Johnnie doesn't run any more
Johnnie used to play his games alone
He counted toes and gurgled at the moon
He bounced around his dinner
And he set the world alight
He woke up every morning far too soon
ch
Johnnie used to run to feed the ducks
He ran into the water and he stood
He dribbled water all around
And made the puddles splash
Our Johnnie wasn't good at being good
ch
Johnnie didn't learn to share his toys
His trucks were rammed into the cupboard door
He always got excited when
The postman came to call
Now Johnnie doesn't see him any more
ch
Johnnie's doctor drugged him into calm
And no one else would dare to say him nay
'Professionals know what they do'
And teachers don't complain
When Johnnie's life is swept out of the way
ch
It's time to learn to cope with children's need
For life and dreams and flying in their head
They're singular and need to grow
In every way they can
Without their 'self' they might as well be dead.
He was a bright lad little Johnnie
And he ran around the room
His head was always full of ideas
He was a bright lad little Johnnie
And he ran around the room
Now Johnnie doesn't run any more
2002 © Charlotte Peters Rock
Main site
Poetry site
Song site
Child Poems site
And he ran around the room
His head was always full of ideas
He was a bright lad little Johnnie
And he ran around the room
Now Johnnie doesn't run any more
Johnnie used to play his games alone
He counted toes and gurgled at the moon
He bounced around his dinner
And he set the world alight
He woke up every morning far too soon
ch
Johnnie used to run to feed the ducks
He ran into the water and he stood
He dribbled water all around
And made the puddles splash
Our Johnnie wasn't good at being good
ch
Johnnie didn't learn to share his toys
His trucks were rammed into the cupboard door
He always got excited when
The postman came to call
Now Johnnie doesn't see him any more
ch
Johnnie's doctor drugged him into calm
And no one else would dare to say him nay
'Professionals know what they do'
And teachers don't complain
When Johnnie's life is swept out of the way
ch
It's time to learn to cope with children's need
For life and dreams and flying in their head
They're singular and need to grow
In every way they can
Without their 'self' they might as well be dead.
He was a bright lad little Johnnie
And he ran around the room
His head was always full of ideas
He was a bright lad little Johnnie
And he ran around the room
Now Johnnie doesn't run any more
2002 © Charlotte Peters Rock
Main site
Poetry site
Song site
Child Poems site
Our Bloody Language
Ah the Gaels all call it Derry
but we English won't play fair
An it's in our bloody language that it's altered
An it's in our bloody language that it's altered
Now we English had an Empire
It's jsut Ulster now that's left
An their city's Londonderry in our language
An it's in our bloody language that it's altered
When the Vikings came to Derry
Their long seige was hard to fight
Then their second city flourished
Call it Derry
An it's in our bloody language that it's altered
An Sir Henry Dowcra gave it
To the London City men
As the Ulster-fat plantation Pride of Derry
An it's in our bloody language that it's altered
Yes we stole their name of Derry
And imposed our London ways
We destroyed their Ulster Kingdom Captured Derry
An it's in our bloody language that it's altered
Ay our ethnic-clean plantation
Dispossessed their Gaelic Earls
Threw their native people groundwards Out of Derry
An it's in our bloody language that it's altered
We moved in our English settlers
And our settling Scots as well
To remove all trace of Derry out of Derry
An it's in our bloody language that it's altered
Ah the Gaels all call it Derry
It's as old as Longhand Lugh
And we English march across it with our language
An it's in our bloody language that it's altered
Well we English lost our Empire
It's just Ulster now that's left
An it's in our bloody language that it's altered
An it's in our bloody language that it's altered
An it's in our bloody language that it's altered
1998 © Charlotte Peters Rock
Main site
Poetry site
Song site
Child Poems site
but we English won't play fair
An it's in our bloody language that it's altered
An it's in our bloody language that it's altered
Now we English had an Empire
It's jsut Ulster now that's left
An their city's Londonderry in our language
An it's in our bloody language that it's altered
When the Vikings came to Derry
Their long seige was hard to fight
Then their second city flourished
Call it Derry
An it's in our bloody language that it's altered
An Sir Henry Dowcra gave it
To the London City men
As the Ulster-fat plantation Pride of Derry
An it's in our bloody language that it's altered
Yes we stole their name of Derry
And imposed our London ways
We destroyed their Ulster Kingdom Captured Derry
An it's in our bloody language that it's altered
Ay our ethnic-clean plantation
Dispossessed their Gaelic Earls
Threw their native people groundwards Out of Derry
An it's in our bloody language that it's altered
We moved in our English settlers
And our settling Scots as well
To remove all trace of Derry out of Derry
An it's in our bloody language that it's altered
Ah the Gaels all call it Derry
It's as old as Longhand Lugh
And we English march across it with our language
An it's in our bloody language that it's altered
Well we English lost our Empire
It's just Ulster now that's left
An it's in our bloody language that it's altered
An it's in our bloody language that it's altered
An it's in our bloody language that it's altered
1998 © Charlotte Peters Rock
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RMS Leinster - October 1918
When the greatest war was over
When the battle drums were worn
When capitulation rumbled
Then the dreadful deed was done
Out of Kingstown on the Irish Sea
Carrying the Royal Mail
Came the Leinster - ship of liberty
But her liberty was frail
Bright and early one October day
Nineteen-eighteen - steaming well
Passed the Ulster on her inward way
Just before the first blow fell
With no escort steamed the Leinster on
Filled to cross to Holyhead
Seven hundred souls and seventy-one
Troops and people - on she sped
ch
One torpedo struck her starboard aft
Struck the mail and killed the men
Leinster listed as her fragile craft
Lifeboats lowered down and then
People struggled to escape from her
She sank fast and violent
As the next torpedo finished her
Taking people - down she went
SOS her sister Ulster cried
SOS she's sinking fast
Seal and Mallard steamed up to her side
Desperate people breathed their last
ch
Leinster sank as little ships arrived
Helga - Sprightly joined to save
Two hundred people and fifty-six survived
Taken - battered - from the wave
Don't forget the Leinster and her crew
Don't forget the fusiliers
Captain Birch and Lizzie Healy too
Purser Rowlands and the years
Years of peace beyond the greatest war
Years of grief for Leinster's loss
For the loved ones who had gone before
For the ones who tried to cross
ch
2003 © Charlotte Peters Rock
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When the battle drums were worn
When capitulation rumbled
Then the dreadful deed was done
Out of Kingstown on the Irish Sea
Carrying the Royal Mail
Came the Leinster - ship of liberty
But her liberty was frail
Bright and early one October day
Nineteen-eighteen - steaming well
Passed the Ulster on her inward way
Just before the first blow fell
With no escort steamed the Leinster on
Filled to cross to Holyhead
Seven hundred souls and seventy-one
Troops and people - on she sped
ch
One torpedo struck her starboard aft
Struck the mail and killed the men
Leinster listed as her fragile craft
Lifeboats lowered down and then
People struggled to escape from her
She sank fast and violent
As the next torpedo finished her
Taking people - down she went
SOS her sister Ulster cried
SOS she's sinking fast
Seal and Mallard steamed up to her side
Desperate people breathed their last
ch
Leinster sank as little ships arrived
Helga - Sprightly joined to save
Two hundred people and fifty-six survived
Taken - battered - from the wave
Don't forget the Leinster and her crew
Don't forget the fusiliers
Captain Birch and Lizzie Healy too
Purser Rowlands and the years
Years of peace beyond the greatest war
Years of grief for Leinster's loss
For the loved ones who had gone before
For the ones who tried to cross
ch
2003 © Charlotte Peters Rock
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SS Waratah
Out from Australia steamed SS Waratah
Cross the Pacific her stack belching smoke
Two hundred souls and eleven aboard her
Passenger travellers and sea-faring folk
Below Madagascar she steamed into Durban
SS Waratah of Blue Anchor Line
Over her smoke trail the gulls - in abandon
flew calling of jetsam at sea - mighty fine
Her captain one Josiah Ilberry shuddered
He said she was tender not stiff in the seas
When the waves hit her her stem-to-stern shuddered
She struggled to right herself struggled to please
The ship was in port for supply and more fuel
And people admiringly said she was grand
They had no fore-knowledge of how she would struggle
Where Argulies Current swept round Durban land
The Clan Macintyre - near the Bashee Coast - saw her
Bound out for Capetown then Britain she was
When the storm hit her it sank her and beat her
She fell down a hole in the ocean because
When the waves roar down the Mozambique Channel
Sixty-six foot waves rage right overhead
Sunk in the troughs are the holes in the ocean
SS Waratah lies all her souls dead
SS Waratah for Britain would never
pass where the Zora mouth pours to the sea
Think of her sailors and passengers ever
Lost to the Black Hole - sunk under the sea
2000 © Charlotte Peters Rock
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Cross the Pacific her stack belching smoke
Two hundred souls and eleven aboard her
Passenger travellers and sea-faring folk
Below Madagascar she steamed into Durban
SS Waratah of Blue Anchor Line
Over her smoke trail the gulls - in abandon
flew calling of jetsam at sea - mighty fine
Her captain one Josiah Ilberry shuddered
He said she was tender not stiff in the seas
When the waves hit her her stem-to-stern shuddered
She struggled to right herself struggled to please
The ship was in port for supply and more fuel
And people admiringly said she was grand
They had no fore-knowledge of how she would struggle
Where Argulies Current swept round Durban land
The Clan Macintyre - near the Bashee Coast - saw her
Bound out for Capetown then Britain she was
When the storm hit her it sank her and beat her
She fell down a hole in the ocean because
When the waves roar down the Mozambique Channel
Sixty-six foot waves rage right overhead
Sunk in the troughs are the holes in the ocean
SS Waratah lies all her souls dead
SS Waratah for Britain would never
pass where the Zora mouth pours to the sea
Think of her sailors and passengers ever
Lost to the Black Hole - sunk under the sea
2000 © Charlotte Peters Rock
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Salacious Urban Fish
'Salacious urban fish'
is a tasty little dish
made mostly out of wishes to the contrary
swum mainly in despair
and slutty underwear
collecting lies and scaring out the century
But Oh the fish
expected life was good
Yes the fish
connected to the universe (rpt)
'Salacious urban fish'is a tasty little dish
made mostly out of wishes to the contrary
spreading mythic cashfrom credit driven stache
Acquiring fashion clashing dull accessory
ch
'Salacious urban fish'is a tasty little dish
made mostly out of wishes to the contrary
mortgage pinned and tied
in freedom piscicide
out spent and underfunded his philosophy
ch
'Salacious urban fish'
is a tasty little dish
made mostly out of wishes to the contrary
culturally aware
self-serving and unfair
to any friendship other than a pleasantry
ch
'Salacious urban fish'
is a tasty little dish
made mostly out of wishes to the contrary
in silences he died
no fishes by his side
nor any who appliedfor his anatomy
ch
'Salacious urban fish'
is a tasty little dish
made mostly out of wishes to the contrary
Apply a curry sauce
its too late for remorse
eat up this fish descendent of the peasantry
But Oh the fish
expected life was good
Yes the fish
connected to the universe (rpt)
2006 © Charlotte Peters Rock
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is a tasty little dish
made mostly out of wishes to the contrary
swum mainly in despair
and slutty underwear
collecting lies and scaring out the century
But Oh the fish
expected life was good
Yes the fish
connected to the universe (rpt)
'Salacious urban fish'is a tasty little dish
made mostly out of wishes to the contrary
spreading mythic cashfrom credit driven stache
Acquiring fashion clashing dull accessory
ch
'Salacious urban fish'is a tasty little dish
made mostly out of wishes to the contrary
mortgage pinned and tied
in freedom piscicide
out spent and underfunded his philosophy
ch
'Salacious urban fish'
is a tasty little dish
made mostly out of wishes to the contrary
culturally aware
self-serving and unfair
to any friendship other than a pleasantry
ch
'Salacious urban fish'
is a tasty little dish
made mostly out of wishes to the contrary
in silences he died
no fishes by his side
nor any who appliedfor his anatomy
ch
'Salacious urban fish'
is a tasty little dish
made mostly out of wishes to the contrary
Apply a curry sauce
its too late for remorse
eat up this fish descendent of the peasantry
But Oh the fish
expected life was good
Yes the fish
connected to the universe (rpt)
2006 © Charlotte Peters Rock
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The High Arctic
Our ships are locked high in the Arctic
Our ships are locked high in the ice
Our ships are locked high in the Arctic
Now let me give you some advice
Don't sail the High Arctic for pleasure my lads
Don't come where the polar bear play
Don't sail the High Arctic for pleasure my lads
You'll wish you had all stayed away
Ye freeze to death earning your pay
Tall towers of ice in the Arctic
sweep spirally south in the flow
Tall towers of ice in the Arctic
and silent ice-death down below
ch
We worked through the ice on long warp-lines
We sawed through the ice-tongues to pass
We worked through the ice on long warp-lines
and ached for the southern green grass
ch
The snow blinds our eyes in its brightness
and wind-freeze takes all warmth away
The snow blinds our eyes in its brightness
There's no hope of pulling away
ch
With tack running low in the galley
the hunting men haven't returned
With tack running low in the galley
it seems all our boats have been burned
ch
I'll think of my Maudie forever
And how will my little ones be
I'll think of my Maudie forever
I wonder if she'll think of me
ch
The ships are two coffins half-buried
Dead sailors are froze to the decks
The ships are two coffins half-buried
Two High Arctic frozen ship wrecks
ch
You'll find us one year in these ice-tombs
one year when a sharp thaw sets in
You'll find us one year in these ice-tombs
The frozen ship wreck and its kin
(ch + last line of chorus is sung three timesthe last time ending on a long drawn out fr-ee-ee-ee-ee-ee-eeze)
1999 © Charlotte Peters Rock
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Child Poems site
Our ships are locked high in the ice
Our ships are locked high in the Arctic
Now let me give you some advice
Don't sail the High Arctic for pleasure my lads
Don't come where the polar bear play
Don't sail the High Arctic for pleasure my lads
You'll wish you had all stayed away
Ye freeze to death earning your pay
Tall towers of ice in the Arctic
sweep spirally south in the flow
Tall towers of ice in the Arctic
and silent ice-death down below
ch
We worked through the ice on long warp-lines
We sawed through the ice-tongues to pass
We worked through the ice on long warp-lines
and ached for the southern green grass
ch
The snow blinds our eyes in its brightness
and wind-freeze takes all warmth away
The snow blinds our eyes in its brightness
There's no hope of pulling away
ch
With tack running low in the galley
the hunting men haven't returned
With tack running low in the galley
it seems all our boats have been burned
ch
I'll think of my Maudie forever
And how will my little ones be
I'll think of my Maudie forever
I wonder if she'll think of me
ch
The ships are two coffins half-buried
Dead sailors are froze to the decks
The ships are two coffins half-buried
Two High Arctic frozen ship wrecks
ch
You'll find us one year in these ice-tombs
one year when a sharp thaw sets in
You'll find us one year in these ice-tombs
The frozen ship wreck and its kin
(ch + last line of chorus is sung three timesthe last time ending on a long drawn out fr-ee-ee-ee-ee-ee-eeze)
1999 © Charlotte Peters Rock
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Tales of Alfie
Wen Alfie went te war the sed
Wid manage in the end
Te kip uz an ur childer fed
Wi wat wi ad te spend
An wi wur naicely off the sed
Wi jus ome faires te tend
But fires settled tuw a dullish red
My Alfie marched away te war
An nivver wonce luked back
Ah dunt know wot the tuke im for
Ees useless that's a fac
But Monty came an Monty sawer
An Monty felt the lack
Of opeless buggers id beind the duwer
So Afie wen tuw Egypt's land
Protectin yew an me
Ee sailed the sea an saw the sand
An let the Germans be
Ee played the trumpet in the band
An sat beneath a tree
An sent a letter sayin laife wuz grand
Then Alfie wen tuw Italy
An moaned abowt the sun
Ee add iz tea at alf past three
An nivver saw a gun
Ee wrote complainin bitterly
That laife wuz not much fun
An came ome lukin sort a soldierly
Since then eez worn iz onour
On iz ribbons in a row
Ee maight a bin a gonner
But - a man - ee ad te gow
Eez quaite the Prima Donna
Wen iz ead it settles low
Az drink teks ovver each tale iz a winner
My Alfie's nivver been a won
Te gi the truth a chance
Ee tells the bar iz latest con
Ee sez ee fought in France
An wen iz beer iz nearly gone
Eez in thur wi a chance
Wi all the tales of all the wars eez wun
Ah wudnt gi im up fur nowt
Ai ad five years a peace
An all mi kids live roun about
An wun of umz iz neice
Ee knowz she iz wiout a doubt
But watched iz traibe increase
My Alfie didn't wonce complain nur shout (rpt verse)
2004 © Charlotte Peters Rock
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Wid manage in the end
Te kip uz an ur childer fed
Wi wat wi ad te spend
An wi wur naicely off the sed
Wi jus ome faires te tend
But fires settled tuw a dullish red
My Alfie marched away te war
An nivver wonce luked back
Ah dunt know wot the tuke im for
Ees useless that's a fac
But Monty came an Monty sawer
An Monty felt the lack
Of opeless buggers id beind the duwer
So Afie wen tuw Egypt's land
Protectin yew an me
Ee sailed the sea an saw the sand
An let the Germans be
Ee played the trumpet in the band
An sat beneath a tree
An sent a letter sayin laife wuz grand
Then Alfie wen tuw Italy
An moaned abowt the sun
Ee add iz tea at alf past three
An nivver saw a gun
Ee wrote complainin bitterly
That laife wuz not much fun
An came ome lukin sort a soldierly
Since then eez worn iz onour
On iz ribbons in a row
Ee maight a bin a gonner
But - a man - ee ad te gow
Eez quaite the Prima Donna
Wen iz ead it settles low
Az drink teks ovver each tale iz a winner
My Alfie's nivver been a won
Te gi the truth a chance
Ee tells the bar iz latest con
Ee sez ee fought in France
An wen iz beer iz nearly gone
Eez in thur wi a chance
Wi all the tales of all the wars eez wun
Ah wudnt gi im up fur nowt
Ai ad five years a peace
An all mi kids live roun about
An wun of umz iz neice
Ee knowz she iz wiout a doubt
But watched iz traibe increase
My Alfie didn't wonce complain nur shout (rpt verse)
2004 © Charlotte Peters Rock
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Waltzing with William
I looked to the sky where my William had flown
I sighed because William had gone
Flown out in the night as I wandered alone
To wait until William had won
The drone of the engines I counted them down
Relief in the grey light of dawn
And there was my William his great duty done
Home safe in my arms as my own
Then I was waltzing with William
Waltzing the long night away
Waltzing the fear out with William
Until that terrible day
I looked to the sky where my William had flown
I sighed because William had gone
Flown out in the night as I wandered alone
To wait until William had won
The drone of the engines The crash of a plane
And grief in the grey light of dawn
And there lay my William his great duty done
Lost out of my arms as my own
No more I'd go waltzing with William
Waltzing the long night away
Waltzing the fear out with William
After that terrible day
I looked at the uniform he had outgrown
I cried because William had gone
Flown out in the night as I wandered alone
To wait until William had won
I picked up his tunic with sleeves hanging down
And stood in the grey light of dawn
I hugged William's tunic its great duty done
Now held in my own arms alone
Then I was waltzing with William
Waltzing the long night away
Waltzing the fear out with William
Until that terrible day
2003 © Charlotte Peters Rock
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I sighed because William had gone
Flown out in the night as I wandered alone
To wait until William had won
The drone of the engines I counted them down
Relief in the grey light of dawn
And there was my William his great duty done
Home safe in my arms as my own
Then I was waltzing with William
Waltzing the long night away
Waltzing the fear out with William
Until that terrible day
I looked to the sky where my William had flown
I sighed because William had gone
Flown out in the night as I wandered alone
To wait until William had won
The drone of the engines The crash of a plane
And grief in the grey light of dawn
And there lay my William his great duty done
Lost out of my arms as my own
No more I'd go waltzing with William
Waltzing the long night away
Waltzing the fear out with William
After that terrible day
I looked at the uniform he had outgrown
I cried because William had gone
Flown out in the night as I wandered alone
To wait until William had won
I picked up his tunic with sleeves hanging down
And stood in the grey light of dawn
I hugged William's tunic its great duty done
Now held in my own arms alone
Then I was waltzing with William
Waltzing the long night away
Waltzing the fear out with William
Until that terrible day
2003 © Charlotte Peters Rock
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Alcock and Brown
John William Alcock and Arthur Whitten-Brown
in nineteen-nineteen made a flight of renown
They flew Vickers Vimy from Newfoundland’s field
and landed in Galway their victory sealed
In sixteen short hours of thick fog and ice
These daring young fliers discarded advice
Brown - on the wing - scraped the height gauges clean
They flew up-side-down in their fog-bound machine
But Alcock saved both from a watery end
by great flying skill and great effort to send
two brave pioneers~ and their aircraft to fame
Atlantic sea crossed all ahead of the game
When Lindberg crossed later than Alcock and Brown
he landed in France and said - as he came down
The way was made clear by this Alcock and Brown
Now planes and not airships will cross with renown
When you fly the sky don’t forget who they were
They showed how the fly the Atlantic the pair
who flew more by instinct than certainty then
were British and proud and the finest of men
John William Alcock and Arthur Whitten-Brown
in nineteen-nineteen made a flight of renown
They flew Vickers Vimy from Newfoundland’s field
and landed in Galway their victory sealed
1999 © Charlotte Peters Rock
Main site
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Child Poems site
in nineteen-nineteen made a flight of renown
They flew Vickers Vimy from Newfoundland’s field
and landed in Galway their victory sealed
In sixteen short hours of thick fog and ice
These daring young fliers discarded advice
Brown - on the wing - scraped the height gauges clean
They flew up-side-down in their fog-bound machine
But Alcock saved both from a watery end
by great flying skill and great effort to send
two brave pioneers~ and their aircraft to fame
Atlantic sea crossed all ahead of the game
When Lindberg crossed later than Alcock and Brown
he landed in France and said - as he came down
The way was made clear by this Alcock and Brown
Now planes and not airships will cross with renown
When you fly the sky don’t forget who they were
They showed how the fly the Atlantic the pair
who flew more by instinct than certainty then
were British and proud and the finest of men
John William Alcock and Arthur Whitten-Brown
in nineteen-nineteen made a flight of renown
They flew Vickers Vimy from Newfoundland’s field
and landed in Galway their victory sealed
1999 © Charlotte Peters Rock
Main site
Poetry site
Song site
Child Poems site
Cranage Airmen - Defenders of Peace
They flew over Liverpool
In clouds of smoke
And flowers of flame
They flew over Liverpool
To keep us safe
They played the game
But it was no game at all
Their lives floating high
Dying to save us all
They fell from the sky
ch
They came from across the earth
To win the world war
Showing what they were worth
Returning no more
ch
In Liverpool people saw
In gratitude there
Those men in their ariel war
To lift their despair
ch
But sixty years on who knows
Remembers their game
Their airfield is gone - who goes
To think of their name
ch
Those boys are all dead or old
Defences are down
Yet still all their gift was gold
Their bravery shown
ch
From Byley remember still
Young men in their prime
Winning by force of will
Remember their time
They flew over Liverpool
In clouds of smoke
And flowers of flame
They flew over Liverpool
To keep us safe
They played the game
2002 © Charlotte Peters Rock
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In clouds of smoke
And flowers of flame
They flew over Liverpool
To keep us safe
They played the game
But it was no game at all
Their lives floating high
Dying to save us all
They fell from the sky
ch
They came from across the earth
To win the world war
Showing what they were worth
Returning no more
ch
In Liverpool people saw
In gratitude there
Those men in their ariel war
To lift their despair
ch
But sixty years on who knows
Remembers their game
Their airfield is gone - who goes
To think of their name
ch
Those boys are all dead or old
Defences are down
Yet still all their gift was gold
Their bravery shown
ch
From Byley remember still
Young men in their prime
Winning by force of will
Remember their time
They flew over Liverpool
In clouds of smoke
And flowers of flame
They flew over Liverpool
To keep us safe
They played the game
2002 © Charlotte Peters Rock
Main site
Poetry site
Song site
Child Poems site
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