We wanted to share with you this work-in-progress video of our newest arrangement, which we’ve just started putting onstage as an encore. It’s based on a piece from northern England called Fourpence A Day, which talks about starvation wages and the dismal working conditions in the coal pits, with verses like:
“My father was a miner and lived down in the town
Twas hard work and poverty that always kept him down
He aimed for me to go to school, but brass he could not pay
So I had to go to the washing rake for four pence a day”
We fell in love with a version of the melody by a group called Cross ‘o the Hands, and have had it on our “wish list” of songs to arrange for a long time, but we always knew we wanted to do something different with it. We had brainstormed a lot of ideas of themes for a re-write of the lyrics, but nothing really got the creative juices going.
Then, a few weeks ago, Jeremy and Lauren were having breakfast when Jeremy (who is always humming something) came out with the phrase “it’s very hard to work for just .4 cents a play” and within a hour, they had drafted a full narrative about starvation wages in a different industry, one a little more modern and closer to our lives. 🙂 We look forward to performing it for you live sometime soon, but for now, enjoy this sneak preview!
My father was a folk musician, he used to sell LPs
Cassette tapes in the 1980s, and later on: CDs
I told him I’d take up his trade, but he looked at me to say: It’s very hard to work for just .4 cents a play
(Chorus) .4 cents a play my friends
Just .4 cents a play
It’s very hard to work for just .4 cents a play
He said back in the good old days the lines would all be long
As people queued to buy cds, they formed a joyous throng
But now the music’s all online
For discs they will not pay
My darling child, the times have changed-That’s how it is today
For now they put the CDs down and with a curious eye
They ask the dreaded question then: are you on Spotify??
And with a sigh we answer yes, but this we’d rather say:
It’s very hard to work for just .4 cents a play
(Chorus)
At the cafe just down the street they roast a tasty bean
I order up a cappuccino, it costs a thousand streams
And if I want to pay my rent,
I’m very sad to say: it costs a quarter million streams at .4 cents a play
(Chorus)
I have not come to tell you all that Spotify is bad
In fact I sometimes stream some music while hanging out with dad
But if I love an artist’s songs, for their cd I’ll pay
Cuz I know how hard it is to work for .4 cents a play
.4 cents a play my friends
Just .4 cents a play
Cuz I know how hard it is to work for .4 cents a play
.4 cents a play my friends
Just .4 cents a play
So support live music because its worth more than .4 cents a play
