The history and politics of the English protest song

2004

Jerusalem Revisited

Tune: Original
Lyrics: Coope Boyes & Simpson
Composer: Coope Boyes & Simpson

Sampling Blake, this a capella group re-present the poet’s pastoral idyll as a burning house on a ‘doomed estate’, a ‘homeland for the homeless’, scarred by crime and brutal policing. With the ideal of Jerusalem overcome by greed, dark satanic banking mills threaten to loom for eternity. A hopeful closing note, however – and quotation of Parry’s 1916 tune – proposes bringing back ‘the voice of burning gold’ and collaborating, with ceaseless mental strife, to make Earth, not England, the promised land.

Cause: Anti-capitalist | Anti-militarist | Environmentalist
Theme: Overview/England | Political Process
Addressed to: Activists | English
Target of Protest: Elected Representatives | Bosses
Proposal/Solution: Organisation