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about

In the late 1800s, Essex was home to several communes of radical, often Christian, socialism. The Hadleigh Farm land colony, right next to the ruins of Hadleigh Castle, was established in 1891 by William Booth, the founder of the Salvation Army.

It was set up to help unemployed and destitute men from London, many of whom had alcohol problems, by teaching them a trade (brick making) and how to keep animals. These men could then go out and establish colonies overseas. Booth had written about this vision in a book called "In Darkest England and the Way Out". Living and working at Hadleigh Farm kept many men out of the workhouse, but it was a very hard life that was not open to women, and that required the men to practice Booth's version of Christianity to be part of it.

I wanted to write a song from the point of view of a colonist and try to express his ambivalence about life on the farm, and tell a story about the county of my birth that isn't all that well known.

Ross

lyrics

In darkest England all that we could offer was our hands
And Mr Booth, he said to us we could find salvation on his land
The clay was heavy - turning it would break a giant's spine
But here at least the air was clear, the water running clean and crystalline

We worked till our bodies were aching, purging our souls
We worked to be worthy of Jesus saving us all
West there were skies growing darker as smoke filled the air
In Hadleigh we all wore the armour of labour and prayer

In darkest England as we left the city far behind
We dreamed of distant colonies and thought about the lives that we might find
The clay was heavy, and the wind blew through our barracks in the night
But here at least we slept in peace and safety from the darkness to the light

We worked till our bodies were aching, purging our souls
We worked to be worthy of Jesus saving us all
West there were skies growing darker as smoke filled the air
In Hadleigh we all wore the armour of labour and prayer

credits

from Away from the City, released July 3, 2020
Ross Palmer - vocals, acoustic and electric guitars, bass, drums
Melanie Crew - vocals

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Ross Palmer London, UK

London-based multi-instrumentalist, singer-songwriter, recording engineer and mixer. He plays live as a solo artist, as part of a duo with Melanie Crew and in James McKean and the Blueberry Moon. Formerly he played drums for Sumner, guitar in Carterhaugh and fronted the Fourth Wall. ... more

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