I didn’t want to paint a picture of pre-war England as too idyllic; I’m sure life in a small village like this was pretty tough. So this is a tough song. I hope it is realistic. I like the little sister’s head bobbing up and down among the uncut corn as she brings lunch.
Jools has brilliantly set it to a very lively folk-song kind of rhythm which works really well, stops it being too melancholy, and provides a lovely contrast to the tender nostalgia of Long Ago.
SONG TWO: LONG AGO: WORK
NARRATOR
Life at the mill was hard. But the pay was enough. And us lads were all together. We still managed to have a bit of a laugh here and there.
ALL BOYS
The sky is dark.
The dawn is sharpening the wind
My feet are clumsy; stiff with sleep.
I am so tired.
Inside the mill
We shiver out of coats and scarves
We start our work; our fingers yawn.
We are so tired.
Will I be here
Pushing this handle in the gloom
Will I be here
Through all the summer days to come?
The sky is dark.
The dawn is sharpening the wind
My feet are clumsy; stiff with sleep.
I am so tired.
NARRATOR
At least the girls were outside, in the sunshine. But their work was unrelenting too. Especially that summer – so long, so hot..
ALL GIRLS
The sun is up.
My back is bending in the heat
My fingers pull the stubborn husks.
I am so tired.
I stretch my arms.
Across the field my sister bobs
The pasty warm inside her hand.
We are so tired.
We work until we cannot see the corn
We work until our hands are torn
The sun is up.
My back is bending in the heat
My fingers pull the stubborn husks.
I am so tired.
Boys and girls
The day’s work never seems to end
We are so tired.
NARRATOR
We thought that things would go on like this for ever.. that nothing would ever change.. that there would be no more to our world.. no wide horizons.. no surprises. We might get married.. have kids.. buy a cottage one day.. But always here, in the same village.
We were happy enough with that, but..
It’s hard, when you’re young, not to want a bit of change. A bit of adventure…
But then it came.
It wasn’t what we thought that it would be.
SONG ONE: (reprise) LONG AGO
BOYS AND GIRLS
I can remember how it was
The day we heard.
When we heard that change was coming
Coming right here to the village
Come to take us and to break us
Long ago.
