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about

PEAT is on the face of it a description of the detrimental effect of decades of pollution from northern industrial cities on the peat bogs of the Derbyshire Peak District. Until recent rescue conservation, the Derbyshire peat bogs were more acidic than lemons. But it is also about people who suffer from long term debilitating physical illnesses that you can’t see.

lyrics

PEAT

The peaks and hollows of the blanket bog
Stratified above the High Peak rock
A source of fuel, a source of warmth
A source of solace, dusk to dawn
Those without a turbary
Risked ‘offence against the vert’
Those who paid for cutting rights
Found sunshine in the dirt.

But a century and fifty one
Of smog that churned from chimney stacks
In Northern towns of blackened stone
Choking under acrid fumes
That carried on the open breeze,
To fall as sulphurous rain
That bled into the blanket bogs
As it settled on the high terrain.

What is seen is understood
Is there for all to view
To feast their eyes and feed their ears
To bless their very souls
But what of eyes that fail to see
Of ears that fail to hear
What of hands that fail to touch
And the voice that fails to tell?

And so the scene seems not to change
Yet the land is starved of breath
As ecosystems run to fail
As soil breaks down and water fouls,
The fight for life intensifies
With every shower of rain,
And the suffering that lies beneath
Is out of sight and out of mind

Chorus

credits

from Moorscape - Album, track released April 4, 2016
JOHN REED: Cittern, Acoustic Guitar, Vocals
HEYGAMAL: Production

© Lyrics and music to all songs copyright John Reed 2016. All Rights Reserved

All recordings © and ℗ ND4PRM 2016

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John Reed Manchester, UK

John is a Blackpool born singer-songwriter from Manchester whose songs cover themes of social injustice, environment, politics, and life

In 2020, John joined producer Ali Karim and Jo Beth Young in releasing "The Peasants' Revolt" (as NIGHTSONG) in December 2020.

His new album in collaboration with Ali Karim "Breathe" will be released on 1st October 2021. Look out for the full album YouTube! ... more

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