Singing

Martin Offiah

Oh a-blogging we will go

In sun and rain and snow

We'll hammer down the blogposts

Then watch our weblogs grow.

In olden days, many jobs had associated work songs. Sailors on ships had accompanying ditties that assisted with the hauling in of ropes or the raising of sails:-

Pull for the shore sailor, pull for the shore.

Heed not the rolling waves, but bend to the oar, 

Safe in the lifeboat sailor, cling to self no more, 

Leave the poor stranded wreck and pull for the shore.

There were songs that agricultural workers sang as they laboured in the fields:-

Twas early one morning at the break of the day

The cocks were all crowing and the farmer did say,

'Come rise my good fellows, come rise with good-will.

Your horses want something their bellies to fill'

There were also songs that coal miners sang as they worked down the pit or made their way there:

Me Father always used to say

Pit work's more than hewing

You've got to coax the coal along 

And not be riving and chewing

Frequently, the work songs echoed the rhythms of the work involved and this was never more true than in the songs that emerged from the enslavement years in America. One of the more famous songs was the spiritual anthem "Swing Low Sweet Chariot" written in fact by a freedman of the Choktaw nation.

Now back in the nineteen eighties and into the nineties, the England rugby league team had a brilliant wingman called Martin Offiah. He is of African heritage and his surname is pronounced "of fire". At a rugby union sevens match in 1987, a witty supporter innocently linked Martin Offiah with the film "Chariots of Fire" (1981) which focuses on competitive running. The supporter began singing and a couple of friends joined in.

Fast forward twenty years and that song - "Swing Low Sweet Chariot" - became the unofficial anthem of England rugby union supporters. To hear it sung lustily from the stands by thousands of voices is a moving experience.

And now - almost incredibly to me - there are politically correct voices who wish to blot out this rugby anthem because of its apparent "links" with slavery. Eh? The song is never sung mockingly or with conscious disrespect or any racist notions. It is just a damned good tune and to veto it would seem to me to be an ignorant and ill-considered thing to do. I applaud the pulling down of statues that honour slave traders but scorn those who would seek to discourage rugby supporters from singing "Swing Low Sweet Chariot".

When interviewed recently, Martin Offiah himself said, "I wouldn’t support the banning of such a song" and admitted that he was proud to be associated with it.

Swing low, sweet chariot

Coming for to carry me home

Swing low, sweet chariot

Coming for to carry me home