Union Songs

The Chartist Mother's Song

A Song by George Binns©1840
Tune-"The Rose Of Allendale"

- [play]

Yon starry light, that rules the night,
In yonder distant sky;
It sheds its bright and bonnie light
On thee, my Chartist Boy.
In silent flight o'er hills at night
It took its silver way
It never ask'd who wander'd past
But lit my Chartist Boy.

Chorus
But lit my Chartist Boy
But lit my Chartist Boy
It never ask'd who wander'd past
But lit my Chartist Boy.

For all yon king-a gilded thing,
Robs poverty of joy,
It shines as free and bright on thee
My honest Chartist Boy.
Then, on! away! be blithe and gay,
And climb the mountain high;
And take the vow of freemen now,
My gallant Chartist Boy.

Chorus
My gallant Chartist Boy.
My gallant Chartist Boy.
And take the vow of freemen now,
My gallant Chartist Boy.

Away! away! no longer stay;
For freedom live or die!
The heart that's true shall have its due-
Away, my Chartist Boy.
Away, my brave, forsake thy grave,
Forget each slavish tie,
And raise a light on England's night;
Be free, my Chartist Boy.

Chorus
Be free, my Chartist Boy.
Be free, my Chartist Boy.
And raise a light on England's night;
Be free, my Chartist Boy.

Be free-be free! and let them see
Who Heaven's law defy;
Their Baal shrine shall ne'er be thine,
My own, my Chartist Boy.
Thy father's gone; then, on, my son!
My heart will beat with joy,
To see the foe in death laid low
By thee, my Chartist Boy

Chorus
By thee, my Chartist Boy
By thee, my Chartist Boy
To see the foe in death laid low
By thee, my Chartist Boy

Notes

This song by George Binns (1815-1847) was published in The Northern Liberator 29 February 1840. Binns was a Chartist agitator, born and raised in Sunderland in Northern England, as a Chartist lecturer and preacher he was active in Sunderland and the Durham coalfield.. With James Williams he ran a bookshop in Sunderlad - a centre of Chartist organising. They were imprisoned for sedition in 1840. Binns was exiled to New Zealand after his release in 1842

This version is sung by Gemma Bagnall, accompanied by Fred Mallinson and Chris Handley.

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union songs..........a selection by mark gregory