Robert Calvert of Hawkwind fame has an outstanding song about Ned Ludd on his criminally underappreciated album Freq.
It’s possible the reason the album is obscure is its uncompromising pro-labour (with a small “l”) stance, with songs and field recordings from the British coal strikes of the day interspersed.
I haven’t heard this album in many years, and yet each song jumps right into my ear just from the title, from “Ned Ludd” to “The Cool Courage Of The Bomb Squad Officers” to the heartbreaking, “All The Machines Are Quiet”:
The winter’s coming
We need new shoes.
I’m selling the car,
I’m paying my dues.
The union bosses
Tell us five more weeks — five more weeks -
Five more weeks
And now
There’s nothing
I can do
I spend my days in dreams
And join the endless queue,
So far from the machines,
All the machines are quiet.
I could scream
All the machines are quiet.
Hope you see this: Medium is acting up today. :-/
Write me if you don’t get this letter and I’ll send you another one.
