We learned this song in a fireside night off the Ridgeway path.
Performing it requires wild gesture and shook fist. It can cause alarm in well-lit town centres.
Written in 1649 by Gerrard Winstanley, spokesman of the Diggers, this is an actively political song. It seeks to motivate and empower the Diggers' movement, to win recognition for their cause.
The Diggers were active during Oliver Cromwell’s Protectorate. They were people unwilling to pay taxes, demaded buy the state for civil warfare. So they squatted and farmed wastelands, building little jewel communities, probably singing a lot.
This song was written to unite their efforts, so they might remain an upstanding force for change.
Hear Winstanley's written word:
"The power of enclosing land and owning property was brought into the creation by your ancestors by the sword; which first did murder their fellow creatures, men, and after plunder or steal away their land, and left this land successively to you, their children. And therefore, though you did not kill or thieve, yet you hold that cursed thing in your hand by the power of the sword; and so you justify the wicked deeds of your fathers, and that sin of your fathers shall be visited upon the head of you and your children to the third and fourth generation, and longer too, till your bloody and thieving power be rooted out of the land."
But priests and landlords did not like their presumption. Social structures weren't meant to have opt-out clauses. So wave after wave of militia were sent to pull down the Diggers' houses, to uproot their crops, and to smash them down. The Diggers were notoriously non-violent, and in the face of focussed physical attack they lasted a mere two years before being forced to disperse.
It's Winstanley again:
"in the beginning of time God made the earth. Not one word was spoken at the beginning that one branch of mankind should rule over another, but selfish imaginations did set up one man to teach and rule over another."
Though their farming communities disappeared, this song, seed of their dream, lives on, and is sung globally to celebrate the pioneering peace of rational co-operative society.
Winstanley himself is said to have died as a corn merchant, vexed by delays in obtaining an inheritance he thought he was owed.
“When Adam delved and Eve span,
who was then the gentleman?”
lyrics
You noble diggers all, stand up now, stand up now,
You noble diggers all, stand up now,
The wasteland to maintain, seeing cavaliers by name,
You’re digging does maintain, and persons all defame,
Stand up now, stand up now.
Your house they pull down, stand up now, stand up now,
Your houses they pull down, stand up now,
your houses they pull down, to fright your men in town,
but the gentry must come down, and the poor shall wera the crown,
stand up now, diggers all.
With spades and hoes and ploughs, stand up now, stand up now,
With spades and hoes and ploughs, stand up now.
Your freedom to uphold, seeing cavaliers are bold,
To kill you if they could, and rights from you to hold,
Stand up now, diggers all.
The gentry are all round, stand up now, stand up now,
The gentry are all round, stand up now,
The gentry are all round, on each side they are found,
Their wisdom so profound, to cheat us of our ground,
Stand up now, stand up now.
The lawyers they conjoin, stand up now, stand up now,
The lawyers they conjoin stand up now,
To arrest you they advise, such fury they devise,
The Devil’s in them lies, and hath blinded both their eyes,
Stand up now, stand up now.
The club is all their law, stand up now, stand up now,
The club is all their law, stand up now,
The club is all their law, to keep poor men in awe,
That they a vision saw, to bind us to their law,
Stand up now, diggers all.
supported by 7 fans who also own “The Diggers' Song”
this is one of the most beautiful collections of music I've heard in a very long time. every song draws your attention - don't plan on doing anything else while you listen. more please 🙏 kimmcb
supported by 6 fans who also own “The Diggers' Song”
I usually haaaate autotune voices, but done this way it's brilliant. When enough craftsmanship is used. Hard to pick a favourite from this great album. One of my favourites of the year! soundofperpetualastonishment
supported by 5 fans who also own “The Diggers' Song”
Nick, grand tunes! What are you thinking of calling your next record? Best wishes, Jos
PS. You should tell that John Dipper to reform ‘Os with you. He doesn’t seem to have anything else to do. J K Parsons
