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about

Swampy was a real live eco warrior of the 1990s who with others tried to save tracts of woodland condemned to destruction to make way for the Newbury bypass in Berkshire, southern England. This is a fictional account of factual events. Not knowing his family of origin that bit is made up but the rest of it happened.
The tree in the picture has its roots clamped to the wall like an octopus around its prey. You can cut down trees. but trees will grow again through tarmac. Nature trumps all man's endeavours.

lyrics

Some call me Major Miner some call me Caliban
Others call me Swampy my given name is Dan
Raised in the shires of England attended school in a town
enshrined by hills and valleys known as the Chiltern Downs
Head Teacher blew his whistle loud, music teacher played the flute
My classmates got themselves in line as he marched in his suit
But I was all for climbing trees and roaming far and wide
and bathing in the chalk trout streams throughout the country side
I bore his disappointment I bore their sobs and tears
I left school without honours and with my class mates jeers

I was made for others things to cultivate the land
dig and sow and harrow earth plant forests with my hands
So when I saw those diggers come to rip that land apart
I watched with horror in my eyes a dagger in my heart
I entwined trees and holed the earth and said you shall not pass
cut down the haunt of finches for roads that will not last
They sent in police to clear us out they dragged us from the trees
but I dug deeper underground where badgers take their ease
For one long week I stayed below avoiding all their traps
They had the land in their control they didn't have the maps

I emerged a famed protester fawned on by all the press
who tempted me with bribery to become a TV guest
But as I'd shunned the daylight by hiding underground
I would not bask in the limelight and sell those Wessex Downs
I traded fame for privacy and headed west to Wales
Looked for anonymity and avoided all their jails
Now years have passed since that protest I've children of my own
I think sometimes of Wessex Downs that ground I made my home
We didn't stop that road being built where traffic queues for free
where finches flew to other woods twelve cars for every tree

It takes a lot to make things change but I was sure what's right
and I was young and full of hope and youth will always fight
In Wessex and in Devon and in protests at Heathrow
we fought to save country being sentenced to death row
My children all are growing up I work in forestry
I'm a surgeon of the arbours and I'm still planting trees.

credits

from The Tales Of Grimmer Pardon, released January 1, 2023

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Paul Gerard Dalton image

Paul Gerard Dalton London, UK

Singer songwriter, poet, lyricist, anecdotalist, with Irish, Scots and north of England roots. Lives in west London. Recent published poetry 2024, Fielding Memories: Poems and Other Recalls.

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