Witch of Woodplumpton

from Calendar Volume I by Granfalloon

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about

Written in 2014:
"As you can see from the topic I took a fairly literal interpretation of this suggestion. The suggestion actually came from Jean Genie and Jonny Haze who came to see me play in Peckham earlier this year.

Just as it was time for me to decided this week's topic he said to me, apropos of nothing, that I should write a song about Meg Shelton, the Witch of Woodplumpton. I don't believe in fate but the idea certainly presented itself at an opportune moment.

Both verses take in altercations that Shelton was supposed to have had with different farmers. The second of which involved her landlord who bet her she couldn't beat his dogs in a race while she was in rabbit-form (supposedly a favoured form of hers). She was said to have insisted that the landlord did not release a large fierce black dog that he owned though, as it was too dangerous. The landlord, of course, set his black dog after Meg and it bit into her hind leg, so the story goes.

Her story contain many examples of men trying to explain independent women with ghost tales and violence.

lyrics

Shape changer, milk stealer
A thief with a jug disguised as a goose
Half skipping, milk dripping
Down from the animal's bill

That farmer cooked your goose
That goose it kicked the bucket
That bucket was no goose
The stories we tell to keep you girls in place

From Lilith of Eden to Joan of Arc
We've been burning and burying you from the start
You have to dig your way out of your own grave
You have to dig your way out of your own grave

You hobble down the cobbled
Streets - the children they catcall at you
You're a hag, you're a crone, you're a witch
You're a bit of a rich source of blame to be claimed

You lost your cottage on a bet
From Wesham raced to Catforth
That Black Dog bit your Rabbit's unlucky foot?
The race has always been rigged

From Lilith of Eden to Joan of Arc
We've been burning and burying you from the start
You have to dig your way out of your own grave
You have to dig your way out of your own grave

From Lilith of Eden to Joan of Arc
We've been burning and burying you from the start
You have to dig your way out of your own grave

From Lilith of Eden to Joan of Arc
We've been burning and burying you from the start
You have to dig your way out of your own grave
You have to dig your way out of your own grave
You have to dig your way out of your own grave

credits

from Calendar Volume I, released September 30, 2022

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about

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Granfalloon Manchester, UK

Manchester based composer and recordist. Lo-fi. Folk. Psych. Songs. Unusually long neck for a man my height.

Contact: info@granfalloonmusic.com

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