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  • Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album

    Little Dish Records no. LiDiCD 004

    Strictly limited edition of 1000 copies of 12-track CD. Songs by Leon Rosselson performed by Nancy Kerr, includes sleeve notes in accompanying digipak and booklet with photography by James Fagan and illustration/design by Lizzy Doe.

    Includes unlimited streaming of The Poor Shall Wear the Crown: Songs by Leon Rosselson via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    ships out within 10 days
    edition of 1000 
    Purchasable with gift card

      £12 GBP or more 

     

  • Streaming + Download

    Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    Purchasable with gift card

      £1 GBP  or more

     

  • Buy the Full Digital Album

about

Leon’s work over many decades as a songwriter of rare skill and insight represents probably the most significant influence on me as a composer, outside my family. Without his layered, evergreen re-telling of Aesop’s moral nature-fable and its dancing tune, for example, it’s unlikely that my songs Queen of Waters or Dark Honey would sound the way they do.

lyrics

The ant and the grasshopper, everyone knows how the story goes,
How the ant was diligent, never spent
Anything lightly, he laboured wisely,
And gathered his store for tomorrow.

As for the grasshopper, glad of the summer sunshine,
Light as the wind on the broken water,
His song he gave to the summer days,
Singing, “Where the dance leads I'll follow.”

Then came a hard winter, nothing grew, and the cold wind blew,
But the ant was safe and sound, underground.
Carefully counting his pile around him,
Dividing his time until tomorrow.

As for the grasshopper, blown by the north wind's fury,
Hungering for the easy summer,
Comes to the ant and says, “My brother, give me bread,
Now's the dance that I must follow.”

“Why did you waste the summer, summers don't last forever,
You're just an idle beggar, you must pay the price, sacrifice.
You would not heed me, you took life easy -
Take the punishment that follows.”

Now see the grasshopper reel like a dry leaf falling,
Weaving a dance that will last forever,
Back goes the ant to his nest to work, to feed, to rest,
For him there will always be tomorrow.

credits

from The Poor Shall Wear the Crown: Songs by Leon Rosselson, released December 26, 2021
Nancy Kerr: vocal and guitar.

license

all rights reserved

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about

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Nancy Kerr Sheffield, UK

Folk Singer of the Year BBC Folk Awards 2015

"Outstanding chamber folk" (The Guardian) "Folk's Poet Laureate" (FRUK) "One of the UK’s foremost composers of modern folk and social commentary songs” (Royal Shakespeare Company).

Photo credits: James Fagan, Elly Lucas
Album design: Lizzy Doe ... more

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