"Good King Wenceslas" adapted by The Marsh Family in support of the NHS and fair negotiations on pay
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- Опубліковано 14 гру 2022
- Nobody likes strikes. Nobody likes being on strike. It's a last resort, and it hurts, and it disrupts.
Today in the UK for the first time in its history, the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) triggered the largest strike in its 106-year history, after many years of hardship and underfunding and understaffing in the NHS - lately exacerbated by COVID and then the rising cost of living which has hit low earners particularly hard. It's the nurses' first day on picket lines, but only one of dozens of strikes and union actions planned over the course of the Christmas period in the UK that is set to cause unprecedented disruption, harking back to the sorts of waves of labour unrest in the 1970s. News of that story here: edition.cnn.com/2022/12/15/bu....
We thought carefully about attempting to cover this in a song - as it's obviously a very complicated political, economic, and social matter (which generates a lot of political heat and angst). But a lot of our parenting is about trying to find a reasonable compromise, and to set things up fairly - even accepting that not everyone can always be happy, or equal, or win.
So we figured we had one more festive song in us, and decided to adapt (over Ella's objections, who hates the song, bless her, and ended up with an exposed descant at the end) Good King Wenceslas - which as everybody well knows, is about a tenth-century Bohemian noble who on a whim trudges off with a reluctant (but knowledgable) page in tow to help a peasant in a Christian fashion - presumably a rather bemused peasant who was out looking for firewood but came home with meat, wine, and several oxen. So there was something about the sense of sympathy, and empathy, and cold stamping feet, and neighbourliness, and willingness just to crack on and take some action, that resonated.
This will probably be our last upload before the holiday break - unless Ben has time or energy to dig out some out-takes - so we should also take this chance to wish everyone a wonderful, restful, warm, quiet, Christmas (or other festive) break. See you on the other side, hopefully :)
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Thanks as ever to the people who support our musical antics through Patreon (where you can see extras like out-takes and podcasts): / marshfamilysongs Do join us there, or just leave a tip at our tip jar at: paypal.me/marshfamilysongs.
And if you're finding us because of the song on Twitter, then please have a listen (and a download of the bigger adapted carol project this Christmas), which is our single - out last week - in support of @savethechildrenuk which you can download here: orcd.co/inthebleak
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LYRICS:
STRIKING WHEN THERE’S SNOW ABOUT
IN THE FESTIVE SEASON
TENDS TO PUT SOME NOSES OUT
NEED A DAMN GOOD REASON
MIGHT BE SOME MAD UNION FIGHT
SELFISH, GRASPING, CRUEL
NOT A BLOODY TRAIN IN SIGHT
HAVE THEY SEEN THE COST OF FUEL?!
WITHERED WAGES, ON THEIR KNEES
ALL THE NURSES SNAPPING
PARAMEDICS ILL AT EASE
CAN’T PAY BILLS WITH CLAPPING
12 YEARS OF AUSTERITY
BACKLOG LIKE A MOUNTAIN
FIGHTING FOR A BETTER DEAL
WHY PRETEND IT’S US OR THEM?
NHS IS YOURS AND MINE
THINK WE MIGHT CONSIDER
HOW THE ONES ON PICKET LINES
HELP IT TO DELIVER
BUSES, BORDERS, AIRPORTS, TRAINS
WALKING OUT TOGETHER
TRANSPORT SECTOR’S LABOUR PAINS
WORSE THAN WINTER WEATHER
STRIKE ON STRIKE THE WORKERS VOW
ANGER GROWING STRONGER
FAILING TO RESOLVE THINGS NOW
MEANS THEY’LL GO ON LONGER
STARK THE CHOICES THAT THEY FACE
SHREDDED PUBLIC SECTOR
COLLEAGUES LEAVING, CONTRACTS CHANGED
FLEECED BY THEIR DIRECTORS
IN DISASTERS, WHAT YOU WANT’S
FAIR NEGOTIATION
NOT GAS-LIGHTING GOVERNMENTS
“FIXING” LEGISLATION
THEREFORE, CHRISTMAS STRIKES ENDURE
(EVEN THOUGH DISTRESSING)
SEE - IT’S WHAT A UNION’S FOR:
HELPING NOT OPPRESSING
I LOVE how you sing about the important issues at hand! YOU GUYS ARE GOLD!
Thank you Marsh Family for all the entertainment and thought-provoking content you have provided us with over the course of this year!
You have gone from very good to exceptional. Such a talented family. You are all brilliant, thought provoking and we wish you all the very best. 💕
They are an extremely talented family.
Your wonderful performances remind me of the King of “Zipper Songs” Pete Seeger. God bless his soul and your gift to us.
Again, thank you for getting me through the pandemic as a rural doctor in the U. S.
Brilliant. As old nurse in US , approve, think that will be happening here soon. Hear a youngling voice a deepening, so amazing. Love you
As all true craftsmen you all make it look so easy, belying the hours of work and slog devoted to learning your skills so that it appears effortless. Undoubtedly there is natural talent as well!, and a bond between you all borne of love and respect, so rarely seen these days Thank you for all of this it is an honour to be allowed a glimpse into your beautiful, hectic, busy caring lives.
Thank you so much. Every time this situation arose in the past the government was able to deflect the anger onto the strikers. Thanks to people like you maybe the outcome will be positive this once? Glorious singing as ever. Love you all.
It’s great to support the nurses😊. All done in typical Marsh Family fashion, with great singing. All the best for the festive season
Happy Christmas to you all. Over the past three years, your family has been one of the positive elements that lifts my spirits whenever you cross my path. I'm very grateful that you are still continuing. Thank you.
Inasmuch as my paternal grandfather was a shop steward for General Motors in Flint, Michigan back in the thirties, I stand in solidarity with the unions in your country.
Good health and blessings to you from the San Francisco Bay Area in California.
You have done it again. Taking a well-known seasonal song, adding an appropriate modern social story on top. Wonderful harmonies
Excellent as always. My daughter is a paramedic and didn’t want to strike but things can’t go on, she worked 80 hours last week.
Thank you Cheryl. And to your daughter for her service! Was any of those 80 hours spent waiting in an ambulance que outside A & E. The NHS should go back to having convalescent care facilities, for people that are unable to go back to their home for what ever reason, but are well enough to be out of hospital (bed blockers). These could be VERY lightly staffed, even as part of the training schemes and could be set up very quickly & cheaply in mothed balled wards and even portacabin facilities onsite, so that they could use the back up if needed. What happened to the long forgotten Nightingale Hospitals, they set those up quickly enough? It is beyond comprehension, that it would just be accepted that many of the emergency facilities could carry on being blocked in this way. It is not good enough that in a country as wealthy as Britain, people should be left for hours waiting for an ambulance or told to get a taxi.
@@davidcharles8351 thanks for the comment and indeed what did happen to those nightingale hospitals. They would be really useful right now. And yes a lot of her hours were spent ‘stacked’ in queues outside hospitals.
So b****y frustrating!
We all support you.
Absolutely brilliant - and right on the spot, as usual! The Marsh Family is truly a national treasure.
Thank you Marshs! Brilliant adaptation as usual and loved the harmonies. Will happily put up with not being able to get song out of my head for the rest of the day. "Power to the people!"
Brilliant as ever, you have made me smile. Play it loud outside 10 Downing Street.
Merry Christmas to you all.
Excellent. As the daughter of a life-long labour supporter I applaud your 'union' comment.
Great song, guys, lovely harmonies as always. And perfect choice of Wenceslas as a medium for talking about rights of workers. Thanks once again.
From our family in Ohio, U.S.- Thank you so much for your thought-provoking songs! Is it one of you or the whole family collaborating on lyrics? Just brilliant!! Our hearts are with all those suffering there through this winter!
Fantastic- solidarity with the strikers!
Superb, and thank you so much. Again. For being guardians of the country’s moral compass, as well as making the Von Trapp family look like amateurs. Beautifully arranged and sung ❤❤❤
Aww the harmonies were lovely in this, and as ever, very thought provoking! Thank you, as always Marsh family for the joy you provide. Merry Christmas to you all. 🎄 xx
As a German not knowing the song, I enjoyed your version - and the underlying thoughts - a lot. The situation for the nurses in the UK seems to be really bad - that's not something that currently would make the German news. I appreciate getting to know about this from you, at least!
Great singing, as usual, and in perfect harmonies - based on your song, I cannot really tell why Ella dislikes the (unknown to me) original...
Right. You've got the job. You are the new cabinet. Honest, upfront and singing from the same hymn sheet. 😘😍
That is superb!! Excellent singing and harmonies, with plenty of nods to the words of the original carol. I hope those who _really_ need to hear this message do so and take it to heart. Well done, Marsh Family, and thank you for all you do to brighten our days.
Have a wonderful Christmas! 🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄
Being blessed with four gorgeous children who can actually sing is quite a happening! Thanks for sharing them and these wonderful parodies. Such a joy to hear and see! 😍😍
My husband and I were both nurses and we were told 'you'll always have a job but you'll never be able to afford a mortgage!!' Eventually my husband left nursing to work for Royal Mail because at least he got paid for the overtime he did. Working for Royal Mail the pay was better because of. 'statutory' overtime, but it was still hard.
There are millions of people like us doing the difficult jobs. Nurses and PO workers are fairly well off compared to so many but that only means we have some income as opposed to no income. It's definitely not enough income.
We are all part of the infrastructure that keeps everything working. The infrastructure that the powers that be neglect so badly. Without us everything would fail and the people at the top don't seem to recognise this. I have never liked the idea of nurses striking.... BUT THEY SHOULDN'T NEED TO!
I have a 3 hour rant, which I won't use here, about the need to struggle for fair treatment. I would wish to remind the powers that be that privilege equals responsibility and that 'noblesse oblige' really means 'looking after your people'.
Ignoring that brought about the French Revolution. So STRIKE, people, STRIKE. And if I die from lack of nursing staff, or any other deficiency, DO NOT FEEL GUILTY!! Accept it instead as my offering towards a better society. It is NOT YOUR FAULT. It is the fault of those who choose to indulge themselves, but should know better
Protest comes in many forms. Thank you Marsh Family for YOUR form of protest. And it's effective and fun. I love your singing and I've also learned from it. So, thank you all.
Great song, great lyrics, please keep at it. Glad someone is voicing it for the working people in the country. Thank you :)
Brilliant, just brilliant. Merry Christmas to the Marsh family.
Absolutely fantastic and spot on. Another gem from. The Marsh family
Thank you! That is brilliant, whichever one of you wrote the lyrics, take bow. And thank you all for the great performance. I hope your family have the best Christmas you can.
Thank you for this, Marsh Family! My husband and I were on the picket line last week and have been working over Christmas in the unsafe conditions that we were striking to try and improve. Thank you for realising that this is about more than money, it's about patient safety and the future of the NHS.
Please know that your support is very much appreciated and your musicianship is beautiful. I hope that you have all had a lovely Christmas together x
We support you all the way. You do an amazing job.
0:05 thank you for this rendition. Good to know that us nurses have public support ❤❤❤
You absolutely do. 💙
@@petervharrishat would you suggest instead? If you have a better idea, please tell us!
@@petervharris They have been forced towards the last resort - striking. This demonising of the people who are the fabric of public services feels like we're back in the 19th century. It is not a race to the bottom. Let's see some of this levelling up the government is promising.
@@petervharris it is the only way to do it.
@@petervharris Nurses are already quitting in droves. For many, the choice is not between striking and not striking. It is between fighting for sane working conditions (striking unless you have a better suggestion) and quitting the profession entirely.
So, which would you rather?
Love your talented Family! Merry Christmas all
Fantastic lyrics and harmonies, as usual! My father and uncles were Union men in the steel and coal mining industries in the USA. Much better than Texas, where I now live - a "right to work" state, which means they can basically get rid of you whenever they want to. I'm glad for your songs during this season - makes us appreciate what little or much we have. Hope you all have good holidays, singing yourselves through these times and keeping all of our spirits up.
I worked for the NHS for 25 years, and I'm proud to have been on the picket line for the last nurses strike, which if my memory serves me right was in February 1987.
I'm overseas now, doing the exact same nursing job but for more than double the money.
The RCN is not the most robust union and has historically just been too polite to do anything significant. I hope this will change.
I won't be home for Christmas, it was always going to be risky flying home for just two days, but now the border control and railway strikes have ruled it out altogether. And that's OK, they gotta do what they gotta do. I've been stuck overseas for the last two Christmases because of covid, so a third won't be a problem. I have a dodgy illegal connection to watch the BBC so I will settle down after work to watch Call the Midwife and then Mrs Brown like everyone at home.
Happy Christmas Marsh family, and thank you for another year of topical lyrics and excellent singing!
Merry Christmas to you and yours. 🎄🎄🎄
My mum was a doctor in the NHS and my dad was a dentist
Thanks for your service and for helping the cause.
Thanks for all your wonderful work.
I really hope the PM and Cabinet have got you on speed dial. Marsh family for Parliament! Thank you and happy Christmas. Clare (Melbourne, Australia)
Aw that was lovely! Very good pace. Very valuable message. Thanks, Marsh family.
A very happy Christmas to the Marsh family. Awesome song and harmonics as usual, all power to you. Bless you regardless of religion.
What a family !!! Solid... Congratulations Mum and Dad 🙌
Another brilliant rendition of an old classic. Well written, sung and so true! Happy Chtistmas to all of you and thank you for the music!🎄🎅❤
Great lyrics and wonderful harmonies. I hope Sunak sees this. You deserve your own TV show.
Once again you brilliant bunch of people! Genius lyrics, beautiful singing with wonderful harmonies and descants sung by your youngest daughters. I’m so impressed also slightly ironically, with your work ethic! I’m not expecting another before Christmas, unless you do a ‘12 Days of Christmas’. I wish you a Good Yule for Wednesday, a Merry Christmas for Sunday and a Very Happy New Year and continuing inspiration for 2023. Love you guys, your wannabe Nanna xxxx
Great song - important message. I love how with just a few words (and sometimes with a single word) you manage to harpoon the government's actions - "gaslighting" rather than negotiating in good faith. They take us for fools. Songs like this say, "we see right through you" and the rags that peddle your divisive hatred.
Awesome Marsh family! Have a great Christmas and thanks for everything this year!!
Thank you from a nurse. Xx
Thank you for your timely perspective. Well stated and harmonized 🎵🎵🎵
You all have lovely voices and manage to get messages across in song better than any political party ever can keep up the good Happy Christmas to you all
Merry Christmas Marsh family and thanks for your brilliant work 🌲🎁🌲👏🏼
Brilliantly done as always Marsh Family! I always thank you for what you do, but I really mean it. I wish you all a very merry Christmas and happy New Year, and look forward to seeing what you do in 2023
Excellent. You are a great family and appreciate you tackling such important issues
Spot on! I just spent 4 hours in A&E in Ashford today (New Year's Day) and felt luckier than others in the waiting room who needed isolation (as I did) but Covid patients had the isolation room because the Covid section was no longer - Gov says Covid is not a problem any more. Two people in the waiting room were in chairs all night because there were no beds. All the staff were amazing, empathetic, busy, but not too rushed to make sure everyone was attended to. 12 years of austerity! How many folks have not seen 01 01 2023 because of cutbacks?
Brilliant! Now if only you could start on our Australian politics! Lots of material there!!!
Well done again. Just thinking of striking in winter, much less during the holidays.
Thanks for the recap of the real song-I only know the first verse.
Have a wonderful Christmas and New Year, and thank you for all the incredible songs, those that are funny, those that are are addressing a serious issue and still are funny, and those that express grief and loss.
I think you need to go on Britain's Got Talent with all those beautiful harmonies. And as a Nurse & Midwife in Australia, with a doctor daughter & son-in-law, I really reasonate with the message in your song. Thanks for the background of the original song. Interesting :) So much for my ridiculous strict Catholic upbringing. I have to say, my all time favourite song of yours is still the one where the kids were little :)
I actually got a great laugh out of this version and these words! I love how you were still able to recycle some of the original words and make it sound like the original but also add some funny and accurate lyrics to it. The original song you based this off of is actually my favorite traditional Christmas song.
Thank you all and Happy Christmas!
Hahahaaahaa❤you're always on point🤩, aren't you?! Greetings from Sweden🤗
Damn! Pardon my French, but when you folks nail it, it doesn't move.
Well done Marsh Family. Anger growing stronger is exactly right.Have a lovely Christmas xx
I am so sorry you are going through this.
Thank you all. Merry and peaceful Christmas, dear family. Sorry Ella, this is my favourite festive song, you're a good sport, sending love.
Absolutely brilliant and so on point as always. 👏👏👏
In solidarity from Canada
Beautifully sung, well written, you have my gratitude in your support. Thank you x
This is your best and in many ways most important song yet. Thank you. ❤
What a treat! Thank you for your wonderful videos and songs.
Loved it! Christmas greetings from Iowa!
Brilliant, Bravo the Marsh Family.
Happy Christmas too your family
Thank you.
Awesome, as always... Stunning harmonies! And hitting the nail right on the head, again!
Beautiful. Love from an NHS HCA (and a musician too;lovely harmonies!).
Thank you so much for doing this for us! We love you. ❤
Wonderful…what a magnificent family
Thank you for your support of our NHS 💙fantastic lyrics 🥰
Well done (yet again) top class singing and brilliant lyrics ! What more could we ask for to cheer us all up !!! Wishing the Marshes a great Christmas and Happy New Year !!! Xxxx BRAVO!!!
Brilliant Marsh Family, you’ve hit the nail on the head again 👍🏻
Wishing you a very happy Christmas and looking forward to what you do in 2023 ❤️
Thanks for all your efforts this year🙂
How very true. In 1996 I left my civil service job of 25k to become a Psychiatric Nurse. My pay? 12k. In 1999 we had the massive restructuring and I was on 19k. Since then it has been zero wage rise or under inflation wage rise. Ah but you say, I remember when Nurses got 6%. Yes over 3 years and more pay restructuring. I left this career on Retiring in January. The Trust I worked for was and is massively understaffed with the remaining working extra hours for zero money or time off in lieu. We are back to 1996 again. Yes, a lot of other industries are too but it is time to stop. People I have worked with have left the job for one closer to home as they can't afford the petrol with fuel, mortgage and cost of living increases. Not that long ago we were heroes and people were clapping on their doorsteps whilst the NHS and other essential workers carried on. The time has come to psy a fair wage, a living wage, a wage that NHS employees need to survive.
My favourites ! The Marsh Family - great as ever !
Brilliant ❤️🏴
Brilliant as always.
Christmas wishes from rural central Victoria Australia. Hope the situation eases soon
Thank you for the beautiful music
Bloody true, well done. Merry Christmas to all Union members. Keep up the good fight.
Amazing the Marsh family of six sounds like such a huge choir!!
Brilliant as always. So good to know that not only do you sing like angels but your hearts are definitely in the right place.
What can I add that hasn`t already been said! Brilliant once again from the Marsh family. Such a talented bunch. Best wishes to you all for Christmas and the New Year.
Have to say I enjoyed this one, well done to you all, you's sang Beautifully together on this one. Keep up the good work you's do with your singing. Happy Christmas to you all, enjoy and have a good one.
Thank you and every blessing this Christmas to everyone. BLESS you Marsh Family xx
Lovely to see support for the nurses etc. Such an entertaining way of doing it too. I continue to be impressed 🙂
This was excellent, as usual! Beautifully done.
Bravo to you all.Beautifully sung and as ever, the lyrics (Ben?) exactly on point. Always picks me up to watch your output.
Thanking you most kindly
Awesome guys, thank you ! Such beautiful voices and so much talent. Happy holidays to you all xx
👏 from an American. Brilliant. This song certainly could be used for much of the exact same issues in my country.
Well done and we’ll said, it’s a pity they don’t play this on the evening news.
Merry Christmas to this wonderful family. I truly enjoy your beautiful harmonies and your impression of society. 🎄❤️
Fabulous!! Thank you
such beautiful harmonies. You are getting better and better all the time. Season's Greetings from across the pond in Canada. :)
amazing as always good on ya
Well done guys! Another brilliant adaption!