Of all my songs I think I am most proud of this one! I'm going to write a bit about the origins, some other songwriters may recognise the twisting and turning path that some songs take...
It started life in Derbyshire, round a campfire with a jam in open C tuning that reminded me of Fairport Convention. Later this tune became merged with a comedy poem I wrote in Manchester Museum, I was looking at a collection of old firearms, including a buffalo hunting musket, and wrote a few short lines in which a cowboy boasted about killing Buffalo and the size of his balls. It was loosely inspired by Monty Python's Lumberjack song and I intended to lampoon the cowboy mythology and create a character to laugh at.
However, after some consideration, I realised that wasn't the kind of song I wanted to write, the subject matter was just too horrific and I wanted to reflect that.
The song grew and grew as I researched more and more about the colonisation of the so called 'New World' and I ended up going right back and starting with Columbus and then referencing other figures; Pizarro, Cortez and Coronado. I tried to make this song as historically accurate as possible and spent many hours reading articles and Wikipedia so I could give the song a very journalistic vibe. I wanted to avoid using emotive language, let the facts speak for themselves and allow the listener to feel the emotions themselves.
This song will be on the new album recorded with the band. For anyone interested in how this version was recorded; both the guitar and vocals were recorded through Fender tube amps and each had echo added from Watkins Copicats tape echos (one a Varispeed, the other an IC400). I sang through a Shure bullet mic and put a bass microphone directly onto the floor to pick up the foot tapping (one foot wearing a gorilla slipper, the other a wooden soled shoe tapping next to a tambourine). The video can be watched in HD, I recommend listening through something other than laptop speakers to get the full thud of the gorilla foot!
Thanks for reading!
Here are the lyrics:
Christopher Columbus sailed west for Japan
He had no idea about the mass of land
Which lay between him and his goal
Lucrative spice to line his pockets with gold
He made landfall where he didn't expect
The Arawak were the first that he met
He said 'I need just fifty men
To subjugate and make servants out of them
Send more ships for I have found
Very many islands to claim for the crown
And these people have gold by the pound'
They were born to, they were born to bow down
Encomiendas grouped together
The natives to protect them from the settlers
The churches controlled and collected the tithes
Ingraining the faith, saving the baptised
The land you left never to return
No way you can now son, everything was burned
We are the new masters of your town
And you were born to, you were born to bow down
Cortez made a landing in Mexico
He set fire to his ships so there was nowhere left to go
His men had to fight just to survive
Ally with the Totonac, conquer and divide
They massacred thousand at Cholula
To send a message to Montezuma
We'll grind your great empire into the ground
Because you were born to, you were born to bow down
Francisco Pizarro in 1502 captained thirty ships en route
To the 'New World' with twenty five hundred migrants
For what they were told was their birth right
Rumours came to Panama
Of riches untold and a great empire
So with the backing of the Spanish crown
Pizarro set sail to see what plunder could be found
Times were tough, times were hard
Pizarro and his mercenaries slept under the stars
So very hungry, so nearly starved
He drew a line in the sand to see who would pass
Through the mountains and through starvation
To capture the king and ransom the nation
To spill the heathens blood onto the ground
Take their false idols and melt them down
Take the women where they were found
They were born to, they were born to bow down
Settlers come
Bringing diseases
Smallpox, typhus, influenza and measles
British, French, Dutch, Swedish and Spanish
Arriving on the shores, seeking to banish
The people from their own lands
They'll spit in your eye as soon as shake your hand
They'll burn your villages to the ground
Because you were born to, you were born to bow down
Blackfoot, Lakota, Comanche, Crow
Roamed the plains with the buffalo
Pawnee, Ponca, Ioway, Otoe
Stayed at home growing corn and tobacco
Coronado from Spain arrived on the plain
Five hundred and fifty eight horses to his name
Looking for seven cities made out of gold
Demanding the Zuni submit to the pope
Or with the help of god we'll wage war upon you
Then we'll enslave your women and your children
We'll burn this village into the ground
You were born to, you were born to bow down
