When I moved to Ilkley - epicentre of wargaming in the lower Wharfe valley - a few weeks ago it was my intention to get out on to the moor for some walking. So, I carefully chose the coldest day so far and off I went.
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| Your bloggist is the chap twenty yards behind everyone else |
'As I went walking I saw a sign there
And on the sign it said "No Trespassing."
But on the other side it didn't say nothing,
That side was made for you and me.
This land is your land, this land is my land'
And on the sign it said "No Trespassing."
But on the other side it didn't say nothing,
That side was made for you and me.
This land is your land, this land is my land'
My compliments on your red jacket - it will make it much easier for the helicopter to spot you.
ReplyDeleteIntrigued by the song quote. As I understand it, Guthrie's (sort of) protest song varied over the years, as he developed new hobbyhorses and as he came under critical pressure to remove some bits. There are various recorded versions by the man himself (I am not an expert), but then, of course it fell into the tree-hugging, weekend-socialist grasp of Pete Seeger and his chums - Seeger a man who is praised for saving much of America's folk heritage, but who saved it in a cheapened form and for his own purposes - ground his own axes, lined his own coffers etc. I'm (gently) interested in where this verse is taken from - in this form, I think WG recorded it once in 1944, but he himself said that the lyrics changed every time.
I got it from a random site on the web and didn’t check which version it was. In any event I cut it to just the bit I was looking for. The original intention was to juxtapose it with a picture I had taken from the top of Ilkley Moor of RAF Menwith Hill which, as everyone knows, is actually a US listening base. In a punchy, hard-hitting and yet humourous way I was going to compare Guthrie’s vision of free access to the land with the security agencies’ vision of free access to all our correspondence. But I didn’t.
DeleteIf you had, it would certainly have been punchy, hard-hitting and humorous - I can see that. It makes me wonder what the US are listening to - if they get to eavesdrop on the yummies then maybe it serves them all right.
DeleteGraham, interesting demographic. Are you on your bloody phone, again?
ReplyDeleteQuite so. Me, Epictetus the Stoic? Here? At a Neolithic stone circle? Surrounded by the yummy mummies of Ilkley? With my reputation? Has no-one thought of the consequences?
DeleteActually the conversation over lunch (Sunday roast at the Cow & Calf; very good, but you’ll need to book) was entirely on what my elder daughter would refer to as ‘first world problems’: one’s personal fitness trainer, how Queen Ethelburga’s has gone downhill since they let all those foreigners in and so on. The yummies are, I think, safe from me and I from them.
And I was using my phone to take a photo of the Twelve Apostles.