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Some things stay with you. It doesn't matter how much time has passed, it doesn't matter that the music you listened to when you were 15 now sounds different to your ears. It doesn't matter the water under the bridges. There are things that, as trivial as they may be, stay with you, engraved in letters of fire. Every note, every word. And you discover, half a lifetime later, that they still make you feel emotional and ecstatic like X years ago.
The Levellers in Italy have never really caught much attention. Um, maybe I'm not doing them justice: they have caught some attention, but from a sparse minority. While in England, Germany, and Scandinavia, there are people who tear their clothes for them (although at one time they were labeled as "the most famous unknown band in England"), here they've always been like a very well-kept secret. Too well-kept. And they never took hold, even though unusually they were among the shooting-star bands of the then VideoMusic, where the video for "One Way" played relatively often, catching the interest of some.
The origin of the name is shrouded in mystery. Clearly inspired by the political movement first pro, then anti-Cromwell during the 17th century English revolution, it's not clear whether it's a kind of tribute to the "older brothers" New Model Army (not surprisingly Justin Sullivan, at the beginning, called himself Slade The Leveller) or just a rather random choice. Nevertheless, the Levellers are politically engaged, without a doubt, and for years they have supported political battles mostly related to the traveller and squatter communities, from which the whole band somehow originates.
Their music, with the omnipresent violin leaving an indelible mark, is a kind of combat folk, simultaneously close to the Clash (does English Civil War ring any bells?) and to Billy Bragg. The voices of Mark Chadwick and the new addition Simon Friend alternate and intertwine, one softer and the other more furious. And they navigate between generational anthems ("One Way", "The Riverflow"), more strictly folksy ballads ("The Boatman"), declarations of love to the busker's life ("The Road") and protest songs ("Battle of the Beanfield"). Additionally, in honor of DIY, their covers are handmade, always the work of Jeremy Cunningham, the group's bassist.
"Levelling the Land" is their second album, dated 1991. Sincere, genuine, heartfelt, unpretentious. Filled with youthful enthusiasm and the belief in the possibility of changing things, elements that have inevitably faded over time. They were already active since 1988, although gradually they moved away from the matrix of protest songs in a strict sense towards perhaps a more radio-friendly approach. And they still play and release records and tour. With graying hair, with children, with beer bellies from a thousand brews. And they still make my heart beat. So much.
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
01 One Way (04:08)
There's only one way of life
And that's your own
My father when I was younger
Took me up on to the hill
That looked down on the city smog
Above the factory spill
He said this is where I come
When I want to be free
Well he never was in his lifetime
But these words stuck with me
I ran from all of this
And I climbed that highest hill
And looked down on my life
Beneath the factory spill
I looked down onto my life
As the family disgrace
Then to all my friends on the starting line
Their wages off to chase
And all my friends and all their jobs
And all the bloody waste
CHORUS
I grew up, learned to love and laugh
Circled A's on the underpass
But the noise we thought would never stop
Died a death as the punks grew up
And we choked on our dreams
We wrestled with our fears
Running through the heartless streets
Chasing our ideas
And the problems of the world
Won't be solved by this guitar
And they won't stop coming either
By the life I've had so far
And the bright lights of my home town
Won't be getting any dimmer
Though their calling has receded now
Like some old distant singer
And they don't seem so appealing
To the eyes of this poor sinner
CHORUS
02 The Game (03:28)
The Bar was dark, quiet and still
And nothing could be heard
The dust lay undisturbed
At a table near the back, underneath a fan
Two men shared a joka about the normal folk
The cards are on the table
The winners takes it all
The game is nearly over
One man about to fall
I don't believe in heaven
I don't believe in hell
I don't believe what I'm seeing
This is no game, can't you tell
"I'm calling your bluff" the first man said
"The people went to war, they always wanted more
How could I ever fail to lose
They can't take it any more, they want to end the score"
The second man showed his hand
Some walked barefoot across the land
Many have seen the future
And are doing the best they can
CHORUS
The clock ticked past the final hour
Which of the men had lost? and what was the cost?
The glasses now were empty and gone
To wash away the shame, and take away the pain
One man left the table
The other, head in hands
Paid the bill for the defeated
the only thing left that stands
CHORUS
03 The Boatman (05:56)
The Boatman
If I could choose the life I pleased
Then I would be a boatman
Along the canals and the rivers free
No hasty words are spoken
My only law is the river breeze
Would take me to the open seas
If I could choose the life I pleased
Then I would be a boatman
If I could choose the life I pleased
Then I would be a rover
And if the road was not for me
Then I would choose another
Across the mountains and the valleys deep
I would take these weary feet
If I could choose the life I pleased
Then I would be a rover
But these things are so hard for me
I cannot choose my own destiny
And all the things that I want to see
Are so unclean
I wish I could choose the life I please
But I am not a free man
Others choose my destiny
But my will's never broken
I know someday I will be
Everything that I dreamed I'd be
If I could choose the life I pleased
I would be a boatman.
04 Liberty Song (04:28)
There's one too many, two too many holes
Getting bigger in the garden wall
And the people looking in are getting busy, they're getting bad
They're trying to suss it all
They're trying to get to me, to take my liberty
Got to go go, get out of here, away-way, you don't want me here
Got to go go, get out of here, go home
I said this means nothing to me
They way we were is the way I wanna be
This means nothing to me
The way we were is the way I wanna be
They're sending in the elite, complete with guns
To advertise the way to go
Faxing through the fax to make it clear
That they're the ones who know
They're trying to get to me, to take my liberty
Got to go go, get out of here, away-way, you don't want me here
Got to go go, get out of here, go home
I said this means nothing to me
They way we were is the way I wanna be
This means nothing to me
The way we were is the way I wanna be
05 Far From Home (03:47)
It's warm by the river, the weir keeps us cleen
The woodsmoke and cigarettes are all that we need
Marking the dirt with twigs and simple words spoke
Kicking the dust so we can just
Dance the dance that plays with fire
Play guitar and play inspired
You said you would leave not ever
Underneath the sky forever
It's cool by the sea when the pavement is hot
We take a walk down there to see what we've got
An old man collecting fifty beautiful words
Cleaning the beach so that he can teach us to
CHORUS
It's cool by the pane glass on the high street we played
But there's always a penny in the music we made
So far from home, with no means of return
Burning the bridge, so we always
CHORUS
We're so far from home
No need to return
There's so much that we have though
And so much we have learned
06 Sell Out (04:16)
The year is 1991, it seems that freedom's dead and gone
The power of the rich is held by few
Keep the young ones paralized, educated by your lies
Keep the old ones happy with the news
Tell the singer not to singthis song
Tell the poet that she's wrong
And in the courts you'll win the case with lines
Cos you sold them down the river-o
Do I belong to some ancient race
I like to walk in ancient places
These are the things that I can understand
I don't believe in your modern way
Don't care about the things you say
Your policies have failed the test of time
Cos you sold them down the river-o
Now in a land not far away, there's men in prison because they say
The colour of your skin is not a question
Did you rally to their side?
No, you sat back and let them die
I don't know how you get to sleep at night
CHORUS
Your money market goes round and round
The pound goes up, the dollar goes down
Another South American forest cut down
You need the power for your new towns
Cos you get scared when the night comes down
Won't you tell me where it is that we are bound?
CHORUS
Your money market goes round and round
The pound goes up, the dollar goes down
You need the power for your new towns
Cos you get scared when the night comes down
Won't you tell me where it is that we are bound
CHORUS
08 The Road (04:00)
Well its headlights, and white lights, and Black Tar Rivers
They're dragging me around this country as it withers
The billboards, signposts, standing in the way
Tell of the state of the nations, that we find today
And we play and we play and we play
To every day, every day
To every day
And in the front rooms of old towns far from the city
With beaten up guitars and hearts full of pity
The people gather round singing songs from everywhere
They're torn from the nation, left without a care
CHORUS
And we'll rid the bloody world for a moment in a word
And we'll rid the bloody world cos
The words that you heard when you were young will always stay
The one's that always stay make the world go away
Warm night, clear sky, European town
Outside the bars singing their hearts out to a crowd
With open boots, violin, banjo and a voice
The exiled buskers are happy with their choice
CHORUS
09 The Riverflow (03:02)
I met you in '82, over a crate of beer and not a few
I cracked a can and so did you, we're gonna change the world
The ghetto kings of downside town – the estates and parks of our hallowed ground
Doing anything that we found, and on the river flowed
You'd take a drink from the Rev. Jimmy Jones
You'd cross the street on the path the gunman roams
Thrown aside and left to waste, that was you – you knew your place
Wander round, get off your face, and on the river flowed
''CHORUS:''
On and on the riverflow – we the undertow
On and on the riverflow – we the undertow
I don't know how you made it through all the smoke and brew you do
It sure has left its mark on you, but you're still with us today
Life goes on and round we go and words can kill these things I know
Sometimes you cut me deeply so, but on the river flows
You'd set the table for the barber Sweeney Todd
You'd clip the wings of any rising god
But man can't live on hope alone, it can be cut, all that is grown
Broke your spirit but not your bones, and on the the river flows
''CHORUS''
You're working now – forced to the race
I know it left a bitter taste
But the rising tide has covered your face
Nothing you can do
But I still remember the day you said
That river flowing through my head
Would take me far or leave me dead
And all you said was true
10 Battle of the Beanfield (03:41)
I thought i heard someone calling me
i've seen the pictures on TV
and i made up my mind that i'd go and see
with my own eyes
It didn't take too long to hitch a ride
with a guy going south to start a new life
past the place where my friend died
two years ago
Down the 303 at the end of the road
flashing lights - exclusion zones
and it made me think it's not just the stones
that they're guarding
Hey hey, can't you see
there's nothing here that you could call free
they're getting their kicks
laughing at you and me
As the sun rose on the beanfield
they came like wolf on the fold
and no they didn't give a warning
they took their bloody toll
I see a pregnant woman
lying in blood of her own
i see her children crying
as the police tore apart her home
And no they didn't need a reason
it's what your votes condone
it seems they were committing treason
by trying to live on the road
CHORUS
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