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about

With thanks to The Shakespeare Birthplace Trust.

This seems like a timely moment to release Fatima's Lady Macbeth, which I wrote for a commission from The Shakespeare Birthplace Trust in 2019.
It's about the value of the arts, and in particular a fabulous school play.
Wordless Lullaby is about the intertwining of poetry, music, family and migration.

Both songs are dedicated to Pitsmoor Adventure Playground, Sheffield - and to all who migrate.

Nancy x

lyrics

Summer is come and the Scottish play’s coming to town
The sun may be up but as usual budgets are down
Don’t you know art is a luxury, music will make you a fool?
Things that we always forget to remember at our little school

Well year six are ready they’ve dressed themselves well for the night
And soldiers and witches and spirits they stand in the light
In hand-me-down riches like sails on the sea, like the points of a star
Aflame like a phalanx of brave refugees – which some of them are

And Fatima’s Lady Macbeth is wringing her hands, stalking the stage
Now this is no man’s synecdoche, no master’s castle of sand, this is our age
All have their exits and entrances, all have a dose of her rage, playing their roles
Here at today’s matinée of the perfect free movement of souls

Fatima runs up the corridor, furrows her brow
She has to learn so many lines and she doesn’t see how
She loves how when all others falter her lady has courage of heart
And it turns out that ten years in Yorkshire prepared her quite well for the part

Then Rag'n'Bone’s “Human” blasts out through our little PA
And Hansa – who’s playing our Banquo - has plenty to say
She tells, though her body’s destroyed still her spirit’s beginning to move
And I can’t help but feel that our hero of Stratford would surely approve

Of Fatima’s Lady Macbeth, wringing her hands, stalking the stage
Now this is no man’s synecdoche, no master’s castle of sand, this is our age
All have their exits and entrances, all have a dose of her rage, playing their roles
Here at today’s matinée of the perfect free movement of souls

Now summer is gone and it’s back to the business of school
For acting’s a hobby and music will make you a fool
Save it for something important, your money, your weapons of war
But Fatima’s Lady Macbeth is still stalking the floor

And Fatima’s classmates are sure to remember their lines
As hand-me-down poets, they’ve armed themselves well for these times
They shine like the summer, like sails on the sea, like the points of a star
Aflame like a phalanx of brave refugees, which is just what they are

And Fatima’s Lady Macbeth is wringing her hands, licking her wounds
Now this is no man’s synecdoche, no master’s castle of sand, this is my England
All have their exits and entrances, all have a dose of her rage, playing their roles
Here at today’s matinée of the perfect free movement of souls

credits

from Fatima's Lady Macbeth & Wordless Lullaby, released October 13, 2020
Words and music: Nancy Kerr
Nancy Kerr: Vocals, Guitar

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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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