The song ‘A River Is A Snake’, composed by the folk singer and songwriter Sharron Kraus starting from the stories told during the two events ‘There is Something in the Water’ and ‘Think Water’, organised in the Bevills Leam catchment as part of ‘The Reasons’, is now available online. The song was recorded by James Street and Dean Honer.
Watch the video here (you can find the lyrics below):
Listen to the song here:
A RIVER IS A SNAKE
Sharron Kraus
If you fly low over the Fens
A strange sight comes into view
A checkerboard of fields, green and brown
With channels of water blue
CHORUS
A river is a snake, winding through the land
But straight are these channels we’ve dug by hand
A river is alive, flowing as it will
But we control these channels, make the water flow uphill
The fields you see are fertile and rich
They yield fine crops of potatoes and grain
The peaty earth was once submerged
But the wetlands we did drain
We pushed back the sea, brought in the plough
We claimed this drowned land for our own
The rivers we diverted, ditches we cut
But the land is only loaned
The silvery Nene was straightened and tamed
Its water running into drain and leam
First windmill sails pumped the water up
Then engines powered by steam
Now there are rules and regulations, sluices and locks
To show the water where to go
It’s measured and directed, pumped and abstracted
Allowed to rise, or kept low
When here were wetlands, rivers and lakes
The Fens were home to fish and fowl
There was fishing and eeling, skating on the mere
Recreation and a living for all
Now although the land is put to good use
And the fenland harvests provide for us all
There are changes in the wind, and the rich black soil erodes
Our plans need an overhaul
How will we preserve the Fens and all its creatures?
How will we grow enough food for everyone?
What must we do to find common ground
Between fenland, farm and town?
With the wetlands shrunk, many species lost
And human population continuing to grow
There are problems to solve, many things to learn
What the future holds, who can know?
But just as our ancestors shaped the land
Carved channels out, made the water flow uphill
The uphill struggles that we face
Can be overcome if we’ve a will