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The Lag​’​s Song

from Freeborn Man by Ewan MacColl & Peggy Seeger

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about

Written for a television documentary on prisons, this song had a deeper meaning for Ewan. He looked on his birthplace, Salford, as a kind of prison, a place to escape from. He was beguiled by its familiarity and by keen memories of its social life, but its streets were permeated with the poverty and humiliation of his childhood. He almost feared Salford. To him, the city represented the economic bondage of capitalism that abounds in every industrial city - and prison - in the Western world. The melody is superb. “The Lag’s Song” has the same aura as “Dirty Old Town”.


words and music: Ewan MacColl

lyrics

When I was a young lad, sometimes I’d wonder
What happened to time when it passed -
Then one day I found out that time just lands in prison
And there it is held fast.

When I was a young man, used to go courting
And dream of the moon and the stars -
The moon is still shining, the dreams they are all broken
On these hard iron bars.

Look out of the window, over the roofs there,
And over the wall see the sky -
Just one flying leap and you could make your getaway
... If only you could fly.

The prison is sleeping, the night watch is keeping
Its watch over seven-hundred men -
And behind every cell door a sleeping lag is dreaming:
O, to be free again!

Go write me a letter addressed to my number,
But say you remember my name -
So I’ll be reminded of how the world outside goes
And feel a man again.

Got time on my hands, I’ve got time on my shoulders;
Plenty of time on my mind -
There’s no summer nor winter when once you land inside here,
Just that old prison grind.

credits

from Freeborn Man, released September 20, 1983
Ewan MacColl - vocals
Peggy Seeger - guitar
Neill MacColl - guitar

Produced by Neill MacColl
Engineered by Nick Godwin
Recorded at Pathway Studios, London

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all rights reserved

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Ewan MacColl London, UK

This site is maintained by the MacColl family, aiming to make Ewan's catalogue available to download.
Ewan MacColl is known to most as a songwriter and singer, but he was also of significant influence in the worlds of theatre and radio broadcasting. His art reached huge numbers through the folk clubs, greater numbers through his recordings and untold millions through the radio. ... more

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