Ding Dong Dollar - Shake The Chains
Our LCM featured artists today are the great 'Shake The Chains' Folk project whose self titled debut album was our 'album of the month' in August. It was organised by the multi-award winning Greg Russell and features a host of excellent UK folk musicians including Nancy Kerr, Hannah Martin, Findlay Napier and Tim Yates. To give you a flavour our LCM #TrackOfTheDay is a live cover of a protest song called 'Ding Dong Dollar' led by the always excellent Findlay Napier. Feel free to join in on the chorus :)
The famous Glasgow Song Guild protest song 'Ding Dong Dollar' first released in 1962 still resonates today over 50 years later. Originally written In protest to an American nuclear submarine that sailed into the Holy Loch in the early 1960's. It became the anthem of the Scottish Anti-Polaris movement of the 60's and beyond. Drawing from the rich Celtic bard traditions and combining folk and popular melodies with biting lyrics, the Anti-Polaris Singers were not only informative but played an important role in sustaining the demonstrators’ morale. Nothing really has changed in that time, the UK government has just swapped Polaris for Trident now leased from the American government, which is even more destructive. With the full ensemble in full voice led by Finday, this is a very powerful and thought-provoking version of the classic. With the very sage thought of 'You can't spend a dollar when your dead!'