Empire In Me (feat Angeline Morrison)
from Dark Harvest by Malcolm MacWatt
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Compact Disc (CD) + Digital AlbumUS import. Double spined cover with 3 panel CD tray and lyric booklet. Apologies for postage costs which have risen significantly in the UK where a 1st Class Large Letter stamp on it's own not including the padded envelop now costs a whopping £2.60.
Includes unlimited streaming of Dark Harvest via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.Download available in 16-bit/44.1kHz.ships out within 2 daysPurchasable with gift card£10 GBP or more
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about
I was born in a former British colony although I had my first birthday in Scotland. I found this story about Eliza Junor, the daughter of a Scottish plantation owner whose mother was a slave. She was born in Guyana and raised in Fortrose/Rosemarkie on the Black Isle in Scotland where she is buried. I was blessed to be joined by Cornish folk artist Angeline Morrison whose own ancestry is Carribean/Hebridean so everyone involved with this song has the empire in them.
lyrics
I never saw you with whip in your hand
I never heard you give your commands
Did the 60 poor people you owned show willing? To do your bidding?
I only knew the family man
Hugh Junor, my father, the family man
I never saw you at the slave market
I never saw you as the devil incarnate
What did it feel like to bid for my mother? Did you love her?
I only knew you as my own dear father
CH: Eliza, Eliza Junor’s my name
My father a Scotsman, my mother a slave
Black bodies toil ‘neath the Caribbean sun
I love my father but I hate what he’s done
I was born in Guyana, across the great sea
Baptised in the church at Rosemarkie
In Edinburgh and London I tutored young minds. My life was fine.
Though I wonder if mother would be proud of me
I heard Frederick Douglass speak in the Borders
With such passion to free all his sisters and brothers
To abolish this cruel trade of ill gotten gains. Shackles and chains
I’m living free while my people suffer
So father I ask you when you look at me
Am I flesh of your flesh? Or your property?
Can bondage and love even be reconciled? Explain to your child
As I try to live with the empire in me
A black British woman with the empire in me
I never heard you give your commands
Did the 60 poor people you owned show willing? To do your bidding?
I only knew the family man
Hugh Junor, my father, the family man
I never saw you at the slave market
I never saw you as the devil incarnate
What did it feel like to bid for my mother? Did you love her?
I only knew you as my own dear father
CH: Eliza, Eliza Junor’s my name
My father a Scotsman, my mother a slave
Black bodies toil ‘neath the Caribbean sun
I love my father but I hate what he’s done
I was born in Guyana, across the great sea
Baptised in the church at Rosemarkie
In Edinburgh and London I tutored young minds. My life was fine.
Though I wonder if mother would be proud of me
I heard Frederick Douglass speak in the Borders
With such passion to free all his sisters and brothers
To abolish this cruel trade of ill gotten gains. Shackles and chains
I’m living free while my people suffer
So father I ask you when you look at me
Am I flesh of your flesh? Or your property?
Can bondage and love even be reconciled? Explain to your child
As I try to live with the empire in me
A black British woman with the empire in me
credits
from Dark Harvest,
released January 25, 2024
license
all rights reserved
tags
about
Malcolm MacWatt London, UK
“MacWatt will doubtless be considered among the best of the new breed of folksingers and songwriters, who speak of the past
as a way to perhaps understand it and move forward” Stephen Rapid, Lonesome Highway
“He shines as a singer and he shines as an interpreter of the eternal folk songbook,” Tom Brosseau, The Great American Folk Show, North Dakota
... more
shows
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Apr 2Banbury, UK
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Aug 23Filey, UK
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Sep 12Northampton, UK
discography
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Mar 2025 -
Jan 2025 -
Nov 2024 -
Sep 2024
contact / help
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