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Tunneller's Hymn

from Tunnellers by Nancy Kerr

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about

This internationalist hymn pays tribute to the tunneller’s tenaciousness: from the industry’s Victorian heritage, to a future that sees humans strengthen their global connections - to the benefit of all.

lyrics

When fortunes are uncertain
And we are growing old
We need the art of a sturdy heart
To keep us from the cold

We search for resolution
In heroes far and wide
And seek in love the courage of
The tunneller and the tide

For neither shall surrender
Or ever be denied
Let all revere in voices clear
The tunneller and the tide

Since pasture turned to piston
And shipworm turned to shield
The miner’s cheer and the engineer
Have caused our rocks to yield

From Tideway to the Medway
From Blackwall up to Clyde
Though sirens sing they’ll not give in
The tunneller and the tide

For neither shall surrender
Or ever be denied
Let all revere in voices clear
The tunneller and the tide

Great kingdoms break their borders
With lagan, steel and tether
Since hopes arise in a miner’s eyes
To clasp all hands together

Britannia takes our galleons
And lays them side by side
Though nations fall they shall not stall
The tunneller and the tide

For neither shall surrender
Or ever be denied
Let all revere in voices clear
The tunneller and the tide

You miners of all nations
Who strived at our behest
We call each friend for to commend
Your hearts in peace to rest

Let stumbles not deter us
And distance not divide:
We’ll rise above with the courage of
The tunneller and the tide

For neither shall surrender
Or ever be denied
Let all revere in voices clear
The tunneller and the tide

For neither shall surrender
Or ever be denied
Let all revere in voices clear
The tunneller and the tide

Words and music © Nancy Kerr 2021

credits

from Tunnellers, released April 15, 2021
Nancy Kerr: Voice, Violin, Viola
Matt Quinn: Voice, Concertina
Tom A Wright and James Fagan: Voices

Produced and Engineered by Tom A Wright at Powered Flight Music, Sheffield
Photography: James Fagan

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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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