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Poor Nottingham! ... It has indeed recieved bad press for many years ... Some say, that it's not the gun running city that it is made out to be. However, if we go back to medieval times, folk in these parts used to sing of a mean, mixed up place called 'Nottamun Town'. Bob Dylan heard the song in a bar in the States, robbed the melody and wrote 'Masters of War' ... Then he had to pay off Jean Ritchie who had collected the song and was performing it at the time on a Dulcimer deep in the Appalachians.

There are many theories about the song's meaning. One suggests that it comments on the English Civil War, which ran from 1642 to 1651. There is definitely the notion of armies in motion and marching reflected in the tune & the verses. Another suggesta that it is the literal description of a town that has gone mad ... due to ergot poisoning (ergot is the mold that attacks rye, and is a principal ingredient in LSD), perhaps a pre-curser of the drugs culture we have now.

A third theory holds that the song is actually a remnant of an ancient 'mummers play' in which the actors would reverse their clothes, then walk and talk backwards, which would possibly explain the many contradictory symbols in the lyrics.

Whatever the case, I decided to bring the song back home to Nottingham, or as Jake Bugg describes it - 'Trouble Town' ... Which is where some suggest it belongs ... ENJOY!

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released September 29, 2012
Traditional English song collected by Jean Ritchie (USA)

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Misk Hills Mountain Rambler III Nottingham, UK

An absurdist 'Skiffle Poet' with a banjolele and a washboard . . . Bagthorpe's only 'Skiffle/Folk' protest singer . . . Adversely influenced by Ivor Cutler, Tom Waits and Johnny Dowd . . . chain sawing his way through the madness of life . . . this is NOT X-factor . . . Don't ask for a cover unless you want one thats 100 years old! There are songs about tractors, hangings, the Devil, We ... more

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