• Voto:
Certe cose ti rimangono dentro. Non importa quanto tempo sia passato, non importa che la musica che ascoltavi quando avevi 15 anni ora la senti con orecchie diverse. Non importa l'acqua passata sotto i ponti. Ci sono cose che, per quanto magari banali, ti rimangono dentro, incise a lettere di fuoco. Ogni nota, ogni parola. E scopri, mezza vita dopo, che ancora ti fanno emozionare e palpitare come X anni fa.
I Levellers, in Italia, non li ha mai cagati nessuno. Uhm, forse non rendo loro giustizia: sono stati cagati, ma da una sparuta minoranza. Mentre in Inghilterra, in Germania, in Scandinavia c'è gente che si strappa le vesti per loro (sebbene un tempo vennero etichettati come "il gruppo sconosciuto più famoso d'Inghilterra"), qui sono sempre stati alla stregua di un segreto molto ben custodito. Troppo ben custodito. E non hanno attecchito, anche se insolitamente furono tra i gruppi meteora dell'allora VideoMusic, dove il video di "One Way" passava relativamente spesso, destando l'interesse di qualcuno.
L'origine del nome è confusa nell'ombra. Chiaramente ispirato alla corrente politica prima filo, poi anti-cromwelliana durante la rivoluzione inglese del XVII secolo, non è ben certo se sia una specie di tributo ai "fratelli maggiori" New Model Army (non a caso Justin Sullivan, agli esordi, si faceva chiamare Slade The Leveller) oppure una scelta piuttosto casuale. Fatto sta che i Levellers sono politicamente schierati, eccome, e per anni hanno appoggiato battaglie politiche per la maggior parte riguardanti gli ambienti dei travellers e degli squatters, dai cui in un modo o nell'altro l'intera band ha origine.
La loro musica, con l'onnipresente violino a lasciare un'impronta indelebile, è una specie di combat folk, vicino contemporaneamente ai Clash (English Civil War vi dice niente?) e a Billy Bragg. Le voci di Mark Chadwick e del qui nuovo acquisto Simon Friend si alternano e si intrecciano, una più morbida e l'altra più rabbiosa. E si barcamenano tra inni generazionali ("One Way", "The Riverflow"), ballate più strettamente folkeggianti ("The Boatman"), dichiarazioni d'amore alla vita da busker ("The Road") e canzoni di protesta ("Battle of the Beanfield"). Per di più, in onore del DIY, le loro copertine sono fatte in casa, sempre opera di Jeremy Cunningham, bassista del gruppo.
"Levelling the Land" è il loro secondo disco, datato 1991. Sincero, genuino, spassionato, senza pretese. Pervaso in ogni nota da entusiasmo giovanile e dalla convinzione della possibilità di cambiare le cose, elementi scemati inesorabilmente col tempo. Loro erano già attivi dal 1988, anche se pian piano si sono allontanati dalla matrice delle protest songs in senso stretto verso un approccio forse più radio-friendly. E ancora suonano e sfornano dischi e fanno tour. Coi capelli ingrigiti, coi figli, con le buzze di mille birre. E ancora mi fanno battere il cuore. E tanto.
Elenco tracce testi e video
01 One Way (04:08)
There's only one way of life
And that's your own
My father when I was younger
Took me up on to the hill
That looked down on the city smog
Above the factory spill
He said this is where I come
When I want to be free
Well he never was in his lifetime
But these words stuck with me
I ran from all of this
And I climbed that highest hill
And looked down on my life
Beneath the factory spill
I looked down onto my life
As the family disgrace
Then to all my friends on the starting line
Their wages off to chase
And all my friends and all their jobs
And all the bloody waste
CHORUS
I grew up, learned to love and laugh
Circled A's on the underpass
But the noise we thought would never stop
Died a death as the punks grew up
And we choked on our dreams
We wrestled with our fears
Running through the heartless streets
Chasing our ideas
And the problems of the world
Won't be solved by this guitar
And they won't stop coming either
By the life I've had so far
And the bright lights of my home town
Won't be getting any dimmer
Though their calling has receded now
Like some old distant singer
And they don't seem so appealing
To the eyes of this poor sinner
CHORUS
02 The Game (03:28)
The Bar was dark, quiet and still
And nothing could be heard
The dust lay undisturbed
At a table near the back, underneath a fan
Two men shared a joka about the normal folk
The cards are on the table
The winners takes it all
The game is nearly over
One man about to fall
I don't believe in heaven
I don't believe in hell
I don't believe what I'm seeing
This is no game, can't you tell
"I'm calling your bluff" the first man said
"The people went to war, they always wanted more
How could I ever fail to lose
They can't take it any more, they want to end the score"
The second man showed his hand
Some walked barefoot across the land
Many have seen the future
And are doing the best they can
CHORUS
The clock ticked past the final hour
Which of the men had lost? and what was the cost?
The glasses now were empty and gone
To wash away the shame, and take away the pain
One man left the table
The other, head in hands
Paid the bill for the defeated
the only thing left that stands
CHORUS
03 The Boatman (05:56)
The Boatman
If I could choose the life I pleased
Then I would be a boatman
Along the canals and the rivers free
No hasty words are spoken
My only law is the river breeze
Would take me to the open seas
If I could choose the life I pleased
Then I would be a boatman
If I could choose the life I pleased
Then I would be a rover
And if the road was not for me
Then I would choose another
Across the mountains and the valleys deep
I would take these weary feet
If I could choose the life I pleased
Then I would be a rover
But these things are so hard for me
I cannot choose my own destiny
And all the things that I want to see
Are so unclean
I wish I could choose the life I please
But I am not a free man
Others choose my destiny
But my will's never broken
I know someday I will be
Everything that I dreamed I'd be
If I could choose the life I pleased
I would be a boatman.
04 Liberty Song (04:28)
There's one too many, two too many holes
Getting bigger in the garden wall
And the people looking in are getting busy, they're getting bad
They're trying to suss it all
They're trying to get to me, to take my liberty
Got to go go, get out of here, away-way, you don't want me here
Got to go go, get out of here, go home
I said this means nothing to me
They way we were is the way I wanna be
This means nothing to me
The way we were is the way I wanna be
They're sending in the elite, complete with guns
To advertise the way to go
Faxing through the fax to make it clear
That they're the ones who know
They're trying to get to me, to take my liberty
Got to go go, get out of here, away-way, you don't want me here
Got to go go, get out of here, go home
I said this means nothing to me
They way we were is the way I wanna be
This means nothing to me
The way we were is the way I wanna be
05 Far From Home (03:47)
It's warm by the river, the weir keeps us cleen
The woodsmoke and cigarettes are all that we need
Marking the dirt with twigs and simple words spoke
Kicking the dust so we can just
Dance the dance that plays with fire
Play guitar and play inspired
You said you would leave not ever
Underneath the sky forever
It's cool by the sea when the pavement is hot
We take a walk down there to see what we've got
An old man collecting fifty beautiful words
Cleaning the beach so that he can teach us to
CHORUS
It's cool by the pane glass on the high street we played
But there's always a penny in the music we made
So far from home, with no means of return
Burning the bridge, so we always
CHORUS
We're so far from home
No need to return
There's so much that we have though
And so much we have learned
06 Sell Out (04:16)
The year is 1991, it seems that freedom's dead and gone
The power of the rich is held by few
Keep the young ones paralized, educated by your lies
Keep the old ones happy with the news
Tell the singer not to singthis song
Tell the poet that she's wrong
And in the courts you'll win the case with lines
Cos you sold them down the river-o
Do I belong to some ancient race
I like to walk in ancient places
These are the things that I can understand
I don't believe in your modern way
Don't care about the things you say
Your policies have failed the test of time
Cos you sold them down the river-o
Now in a land not far away, there's men in prison because they say
The colour of your skin is not a question
Did you rally to their side?
No, you sat back and let them die
I don't know how you get to sleep at night
CHORUS
Your money market goes round and round
The pound goes up, the dollar goes down
Another South American forest cut down
You need the power for your new towns
Cos you get scared when the night comes down
Won't you tell me where it is that we are bound?
CHORUS
Your money market goes round and round
The pound goes up, the dollar goes down
You need the power for your new towns
Cos you get scared when the night comes down
Won't you tell me where it is that we are bound
CHORUS
08 The Road (04:00)
Well its headlights, and white lights, and Black Tar Rivers
They're dragging me around this country as it withers
The billboards, signposts, standing in the way
Tell of the state of the nations, that we find today
And we play and we play and we play
To every day, every day
To every day
And in the front rooms of old towns far from the city
With beaten up guitars and hearts full of pity
The people gather round singing songs from everywhere
They're torn from the nation, left without a care
CHORUS
And we'll rid the bloody world for a moment in a word
And we'll rid the bloody world cos
The words that you heard when you were young will always stay
The one's that always stay make the world go away
Warm night, clear sky, European town
Outside the bars singing their hearts out to a crowd
With open boots, violin, banjo and a voice
The exiled buskers are happy with their choice
CHORUS
09 The Riverflow (03:02)
I met you in '82, over a crate of beer and not a few
I cracked a can and so did you, we're gonna change the world
The ghetto kings of downside town – the estates and parks of our hallowed ground
Doing anything that we found, and on the river flowed
You'd take a drink from the Rev. Jimmy Jones
You'd cross the street on the path the gunman roams
Thrown aside and left to waste, that was you – you knew your place
Wander round, get off your face, and on the river flowed
''CHORUS:''
On and on the riverflow – we the undertow
On and on the riverflow – we the undertow
I don't know how you made it through all the smoke and brew you do
It sure has left its mark on you, but you're still with us today
Life goes on and round we go and words can kill these things I know
Sometimes you cut me deeply so, but on the river flows
You'd set the table for the barber Sweeney Todd
You'd clip the wings of any rising god
But man can't live on hope alone, it can be cut, all that is grown
Broke your spirit but not your bones, and on the the river flows
''CHORUS''
You're working now – forced to the race
I know it left a bitter taste
But the rising tide has covered your face
Nothing you can do
But I still remember the day you said
That river flowing through my head
Would take me far or leave me dead
And all you said was true
10 Battle of the Beanfield (03:41)
I thought i heard someone calling me
i've seen the pictures on TV
and i made up my mind that i'd go and see
with my own eyes
It didn't take too long to hitch a ride
with a guy going south to start a new life
past the place where my friend died
two years ago
Down the 303 at the end of the road
flashing lights - exclusion zones
and it made me think it's not just the stones
that they're guarding
Hey hey, can't you see
there's nothing here that you could call free
they're getting their kicks
laughing at you and me
As the sun rose on the beanfield
they came like wolf on the fold
and no they didn't give a warning
they took their bloody toll
I see a pregnant woman
lying in blood of her own
i see her children crying
as the police tore apart her home
And no they didn't need a reason
it's what your votes condone
it seems they were committing treason
by trying to live on the road
CHORUS
Carico i commenti... con calma
