Up in the morning at five, it's a wonder that we stay alive
To greet the cold morning it sets me a-yawning
and off on the dreary old drive
Oh dear I'm gonna be late, the gaffer is standing at the gate
His hands in his pockets, our wage he'll dock it
and we'll have to buy grub on the slate.
And it's poverty poverty knock, my loom it is saying it all day
poverty poverty knock, and the gaffer's too skinny to pay us
poverty poverty knock, always one eye on the clock
I know I can guttle when I hear my shuttle
go poverty poverty knock, poverty poverty knock
*We have to wet our own yarn, by dipping it in yonder tarn
It gets our threads soggy and makes me feel groggy
and there's rats in the dirty old barn*
Sometimes a shuttle flies out, gives some poor woman a clout
She lies there bleeding but nobody's heeding
oh who's going to carry her out?
ch.
The tuner should come fix my loom, but he just sits there on his bum
He's always too busy, a-courting our Lizzie
and I just can't get him to come
Oh Lizzie's so easily led, I reckon he's had her to bed
She used to be skinny now look at her pinny
it's just about time they were wed
ch.
And oh how my poor head it rings, I should have woven three strings
The threads they keep breaking, my poor head is aching
oh god how I wish I had wings.
ch.
This song depicting life working looms in the early 1900s comes from the singing of Tom Daniel. According to sources, it is't fully known whether it was written by Daniel or pieced together from different songs around him but Pete Coe says that:
"The story he (Daniel) apparently told was that he'd remembered bits of the song from his early years. However, the song bears striking resemblance to many of the poems that he did write. The collector of the song, Tony Green, reckons he wrote it too. I'm told there's no surviving relatives to claim royalties so as it's been designated a 'traditional' song for so long, that's how it's usually referred to"
This version of the song was collected by Green in 1965 but it has also appeared in "Songs of the Ridings" (2001) which is a collection of songs from around Yorkshire, put together "over the years" by Mary and Nigel Hudleston. There are no date for any of the songs included and this may provide a different history to Poverty Knock:
"I would imagine that the collecting began sometime during the 1950s. For the main part this scarcely matters, but occasionally it is important. For example, there is a good version of the song. 'Poverty, Poverty Knock' (p. 27), sung by an 'unknown singer' from Leeds. If this version predates 1965, when Tony Green collected the song from the Batley weaver Tom Daniel, then this is a considerably important find. If, however, the version was collected post-1965, then it may well be that the Hudleston's version stems directly, or indirectly, from Tom Daniel's version which soon became popular in the local folk clubs." Folk Music Journal 2004.
I personally would be inclined to guess that it was Daniel's interpretation of the songs he heard, borrowing words and melodies to create a song he was happy with.
Another interesting point about the song is the first section of the second verse (highlighted in the humble shift-8). This verse always has me slightly bothered because the rhyme of "soggy " and "groggy" just feels a bit clumsy when singing; this has also been mentioned to me by others hearing the song and from closer inspection into the history, there is another example of possible mismatched facts. The wetting of yarn in "yonder tarn" is really a misnomer, a tarn being a mountain or glacial lake, this is probably for the sake of rhyming but in either case, threads were stored in a steaming room to loosen them, not dipped... and where the barn came from is anyone guess!
Still, it is the song that is most important; the way it's sung and what the words tell us. Wherever the original came from, it unlocks a feeling and reveals the social hierarchy that people lived in during this time; the poor girl Lizzie who is coerced by the tuner, one can only imagine the (lack of) choices and chances that someone in that position would have and alongside that the narrator's dreams of escaping the life that has caught them mixed with their indifference at the seemingly normal sight of a woman injured and bleeding on the floor is heart-wrenching due to its futility.
What I find odd is that the song was originally an upbeat hearty tune which poked fun at those above the weavers, the words "poverty poverty knock" (with a couple of thumps on the table after) represented the rhythm of the loom as it worked... rather schadenfreude I feel.
However my take on it was much more inspired by Jim Moray's haunting arrangement which brings these tensions to the forefront of the song. As I have discussed in an earlier post, Moray has a way of looking into the core of a song and pulling out the sentiments that lie in the words that really appeals to me and no more so than on this occasion.
Here are the two versions, Jim Moray's (I hope the quality doesn't affect your enjoyment) and Chumbawumba's... you heard me:
Whichever you prefer, this is still a remarkable song and one that hopefully will stay with us all for a long time to come.
