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  • SPECIAL Limited Edition of four letter press Shakespeare greeting cards. When you buy the box, you automatically get a download of all the tracks...

    AND... each card has a unique download code on the back, so when you send it to a friend you are also sending them the free gift of one of our songs.

    This limited run (450) was made on Shakespeare's 450th Birthday (23rd April 2014). Each is secretly numbered on the inside.

    Includes unlimited streaming of Happy 450th Birthday, Shakespeare via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    ships out within 5 days
    edition of 450  43 remaining

      £10 GBP or more 

     

  • Streaming + Download

    Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
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about

This song was inspired by the many wonderful speeches of King Richard II, in William Shakespeare's play, Richard the Second.

lyrics

The crowning of we kings’
The subject of divine things
Righteous by virtue
Bearing majesty too

An Army for my soul
By currency of angels
My looks can kill off
You’re Banished in the breath of

The balm that anoints me
No water in all the sea
Can clean
From me

Here on my head this crown
It is Woven through me to, the ground
Here on my head this crown
And a cloak made of brass around

But is it that we kings
Were made in the crowning?
A pomp of a cushion
For a crown to sit on
We taste grief and eat bread
We have wants, and need friends
A man who just leads on
All of those who kneel on

This balm that protects me
By my own tears has now been
Washed free
From me

Here on my bed this crown
With nettles and flowers round
My kingdom of worms abound
With a cloak made of soil around

I’ve wasted time, time wastes me
Now soil is the king of me
So here on my head this crown
Ever last here, while I go down

Down, down, down down

credits

from Happy 450th Birthday, Shakespeare, released May 2, 2014
Words and music by The Bookshop Band, some lyrics by Wiliam Shakespeare. Recorded at Chelvey Court. Produced and mixed by Ben please. Mastered by Marco Migliari.

Ben Please - vocals, nylon guitar
Beth Porter - violin, cello, vocal
Poppy Pitt - Glockenspeil, vocals

license

all rights reserved

tags

about

The Bookshop Band Bath, UK

The Bookshop Band write songs inspired by books and play them in bookshops. They started as a collaboration between a group of musicians in Bath and their local independent bookshop, Mr B's Emporium. Now they are about to go on tour, sponsored by Vintage Books and Independent Booksellers Week, around other bookshops and lit fests. Catch them if you can. Details at www.thebookshopband.co.uk ... more

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