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1. |
Oh Soho!
01:59
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Rational thought, technological answers
We build want we want
With Science behind us
We built a factory
On the outskirts of the city.
Manufacturing toys
That we sell to the world.
Let’s be industrious,
Let’s be inventive,
Let’s be enlightened.
We built a factory
That is the envy of the world.
Subdivide skills.
Specialisation.
Standardised tools.
Machine operation.
We built a factory
On the outskirts of the city.
Manufacturing toys
That we sell to the world.
Let’s be industrious,
Let’s be inventive,
Let’s be enlightened.
We built a factory
That is the envy of the world.
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2. |
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Matthew Boulton was the son
Of a manufacturer in Birmingham
Who died when he was thirty-one
And left it all to Matthew.
A businessman, an entrepreneur
A lobbyist and toymaker.
Matthew Boulton was at the centre of it all.
Such is strength of Matthew
A Lunartick, through and through
Such is strength of Matthew
Such is strength of Matthew
Such is strength of Matthew
A Lunartick, through and through
Such is strength of Matthew
Matthew marries Mary Robinson
A rich woman and distant cousin
She wasn’t well and died young
And so did their three children.
He married again to her sister,
Which was illegal but he persisted.
He bribed a priest who then assisted,
Money helps you turn a cheek.
Not everyone was impressed.
His brother-in-law was distressed.
But he died as well (how’d you guess?)
And Matthew got the business.
And so it goes, the empire grows,
The money flows and Matthew knows.
His face is on fifty-pound notes,
Such is the strength of Matthew.
Such is strength of Matthew
A Lunartick, through and through
Such is strength of Matthew
Such is strength of Matthew
Such is strength of Matthew
A Lunartick, through and through
Such is strength of Matthew
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3. |
Son Of A Gunmaker
03:10
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Walking around
Facing the ground,
Sam Galton Junior
Was unpopular.
Gunmaker by trade,
But Quaker by faith.
A walking paradox
And he knew it.
Profiteering pacifist
And he knew it.
A weapons grade hypocrite
And he knew it.
In Steelhouse Lane
They would help the campaign
For the British Army against Napoleon.
The guns Sam made
Would help the slave trade
Build up the empire
And make him a rich man.
Build up an empire
From Birmingham.
Build up an empire
With no setting sun.
Build up an empire
On violence, and gunfire and inconsistent morals.
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4. |
Erasmus
01:45
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Erasmus Darwin refused to be physician to the King
He didn’t want to, he was successful, was else did he need?
A respected friend, a clever doctor, a family man.
Amateur inventor, part-time poet, a Lunar Man.
A biologist of great potential
(Laid the groundwork for his grandson’s best work).
Anti-slave trade, enlightened thinker.
Social reformer, never a drinker.
Doctor Darwin, religiously sceptical of religion itself.
Philosophically minded, a great ideas man,
A joker to his friends.
Erasmus! A legend in Litchfield.
Erasmus! Quintessential Lunartick.
Erasmus! Evolutionary icon.
Erasmus! Enlightenment hero.
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5. |
Josiah Loses A Leg
01:47
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A Burslem boy, a potter’s son
He shows great talent ‘til smallpox comes.
A broken knee, a broken dream.
He can’t turn clay on the pedal wheel.
But it only encourages a curious mind -
Others build Josiah’s designs.
And so begins a legacy
Shaped by Josiah’s disability.
Josiah loses a leg and has to see
The doctor cut it off, just below the knee.
With laudanum from lettuce hearts
He watches as his shin departs the rest of his leg,
Josiah loses a leg.
But a wooden leg does not define the man.
Josiah made pottery like no other can.
A marketeer, a salesman, an entrepreneur, a Lunar Man.
He married a cousin and they raised eight kids.
Charles Darwin was a grandson of his.
He developed canals to improve trade
He was an abolitionist for the freedom of slaves.
Josiah! You’re an inspiration.
A pivotal figure in the industrial revolution.
You’re the model of a perfect man.
A potter’s son, a Lunar man.
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6. |
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Why do we have to keep another man down when we always talk of progress?
I see inequality, and slavery, so how is this a success?
Am I not a man and a brother?
None of us are free if we’re not all free.
These cities that we build
With blood that has been spilt.
We trade what cannot be sold
And live by selling souls of slaves.
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7. |
The Perfect Wife
03:00
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(Thomas Day, Thomas Day)
This is the story of Thomas Day
Who was rejected by the women his age.
He made a plan for the perfect wife,
Taking two orphans to France for a while
To train the perfect wife
(To train the perfect wife)
Using Rousseau as his guide
(Using Rousseau as his guide).
He felt Lucretia was an idiot sometimes.
He doubted he would be satisfied.
Sabrina could please him more
With some discipline and help with the chores.
He’d train the perfect wife
(He’d train the perfect wife)
Using Rousseau as his guide
(Using Rousseau as his guide).
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8. |
Horsepower
02:43
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How much work can your horses do?
I’ve made a machine that will double it for you.
An engine of unique design,
Custom built from a patent of mine.
I’ll only take a payment
From the savings you’d be making.
You’ll save on resources by replacing all your horses.
Matthew Boulton’s business partner.
Rotary motion, a separate condenser.
We build a foundry on the edge of the city
Building engines that we sell to the world.
Defend your patents,
Protect your ideas,
Copy your drawings
To challenge your peers.
James Watt; the worrier, the chemist,
The dear friend, the engineer, the scientist,
The genius, the Lunar Man.
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9. |
By Moonlight
02:36
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Let’s all meet on Sunday
And stayover in Lichfield town.
Matthew has something to show us,
So Erasmus has invited us around.
We can travel safely back by moonlight.
Like the Lunarticks that we’ve become.
Let’s meet to share all our ideas,
And challenge one another just for fun.
We can get a drink at the Kings Head Inn
On New Street, where the Assay Office was.
Meet with Joseph Priestley on Monday
And see his phlogiston experiments up close.
Then we should visit Soho House
The factory will be in full flow.
See our ideas in action
And see James’s new designs as well.
We can travel safely back by moonlight.
Like the Lunarticks that we’ve become.
Let’s meet to share all our ideas,
And challenge one another just for fun.
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10. |
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We owe it all to William Small
The most likeable amongst us
A talented communicator
Some would say the glue between us all.
Raise a toast to William Small
He died too young, but achieved so much
His absence leaves us with a hole.
Remember when he came to Birmingham
From the Americas, where he insisted that the climate made him ill.
With a letter of recommendation
Benjamin Franklin had penned to vouch of his behalf.
We owe it all to William Small
A dear friend and doctor
A Socratic teacher, an enlightened inspiration to us all.
Raise a toast to William Small
He’s died too young, an unfulfilled potential
Yet a resume to shame us all.
Someone has sent him a parcel
From Virginia, three cases of madeira and a note.
It’s addressed from an old student, Thomas Jefferson.
Someone needs to tell him that William has died.
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11. |
Foxglove
01:54
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Doctor Withering’s peace of mind
Was disturbed when he happened to find
Erasmus Darwin plagiarised his own work.
An account of foxglove
And some of its medical uses
With remarks on dropsy and some other diseases.
An account of foxglove
And some of its medical uses
With remarks on dropsy and some other diseases.
The College of Physicians had already received
A paper on pulmonary disease
And the use of foxglove of dropsies.
Erasmus! You plagiarist!
You’re not a scientist or a gentleman.
I had written on foxglove
And some of its medical uses
With remarks on dropsy and some other diseases.
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12. |
My Dear Keir
03:16
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James Keir was fondest of Hilltop, West Bromwich
And he settled there.
Chemistry, geology and sometimes biology,
He didn’t care.
Because a science unfolds the mysteries we’re told
But we know aren’t true.
An inquisitive man, does what he can
To understand it all.
Question what you think you know.
Question what you think you know.
Boulton and Watt knew James Keir was smart
And approached him to run Soho whilst they were away.
And after this time, he manufactured alkali
And built a soap factory, on Soap Factory Road in Tipton.
And when Priestly arrived, Keir’s chemistry revived
And he published paper after paper.
And fire after fire, Keir never lost desire
Though he did lose good work,
He did lose some good work.
Be strong, and carry on.
Be strong, and carry on.
Be strong, and carry on.
Be strong, and carry on.
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13. |
Swan Of Litchfield
03:32
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History’s been kind to the men of this time
But less kind to Anna, the Swan of Litchfield.
An independent woman, a carer to parents, poet and scientist
And so fond of Honora, her sister, possible lover
But definite muse.
Anna Seward; the Swan of Litchfield.
Known in her time for poems and rhymes
A fanatic writer of letters, biographies, scientific papers and elegies.
She held her own against men of the town
And often conflicted which each of the Lunarticks
And the Litchfield Botanical Society.
Anna Seward; the Swan of Litchfield.
Anna Seward; the Swan of Litchfield.
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14. |
Flight Of The Dissenters
04:36
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James Keir sent an invitation to commemorate the French Revolution
And when some came, some others protested
A riot broke out, and Birmingham was tested.
Joseph Priestley’s house burnt down
He gathered his family and escaped the town.
Sam Galton Jr saved his house
With alcohol to bribe the crowd.
As the riot destroyed the city
The law stood by in a small committee
Did nothing, helped no-one, watched it burn.
Birmingham was mortally divided,
Some industrialists finally decided
To leave the city and all that it provided and never return.
So the mob was searching for
Those who had tried to change the law
To remove the Church from the State like the French had done.
For what role should religion play
In deciding whose laws we should obey?
And why should your faith decide you place in society?
Birmingham was mortally divided,
Some industrialists finally decided
To leave the city and all that it provided and never return.
Birmingham was mortally divided,
Some industrialists finally decided
To leave the city and all that it provided and never return.
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gingerjamesfair Bournemouth, UK
Just happy to be making and sharing.
gingerjamesfair recommends:
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