''The Land'' is a

protest song A protest song is a song that is associated with a movement for social change and hence part of the broader category of ''topical'' songs (or songs connected to current events). It may be folk, classical, or commercial in genre. Among social mov ...

, traditionally sung by the

Georgist Georgism, also called in modern times Geoism, and known historically as the single tax movement, is an economic ideology holding that, although people should own the value they produce themselves, the economic rent derived from Land (economics), ...

movement in pursuit and promotion of

land value tax A land value tax (LVT) is a levy on the value of land (economics), land without regard to buildings, personal property and other land improvement, improvements. It is also known as a location value tax, a point valuation tax, a site valuation ta ...

ation. Its first appearance is from a

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...

Georgist publication, ''The Single Tax'', in 1887 as ''The Land Song''. Until the late 1970s it was sung at the end of each year's

Liberal Assembly The Liberal Party Assembly was the annual party conference of the British Liberal Party before its merger with the Social Democratic Party in 1988 to form the Liberal Democrats; the name is still used by the continuity Liberal Party created as ...

and was the

party anthem Many political parties and other political movements have adopted a song or anthem to represent their beliefs and principles. This party song or party anthem is often sung or performed at party conferences. Algeria * National Liberation Front � ...

of the

Liberal Party The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left. __TOC__ Active liberal parties This is a li ...

, until that party merged with the SDP to form the Liberal Democrats. To this day it remains the ''de facto'' anthem of the Liberal Democrats, and is sung as the first song of the Liberal Democrats'

Glee Club A glee club in the United States is a musical group or choir group, historically of male voices but also of female or mixed voices, which traditionally specializes in the singing of short songs by trios or quartets. In the late 19th century it w ...

, at the twice-per-year Liberal Democrat Conference, and is the party anthem of the continuity Liberal Party. During the chorus, the phrase 'ballot in our hand' is accompanied by the collective waving of any paper to hand (usually a '' Liberator'' song book) by the audience.

Michael Foot Michael Mackintosh Foot (23 July 19133 March 2010) was a British Labour Party politician who served as Labour Leader from 1980 to 1983. Foot began his career as a journalist on ''Tribune'' and the ''Evening Standard''. He co-wrote the 1940 p ...

, leader of the Labour Party from 1980 to 1983, recalled to the

BBC World Service The BBC World Service is an international broadcaster owned and operated by the BBC, with funding from the British Government through the Foreign Secretary's office. It is the world's largest external broadcaster in terms of reception a ...

how he heard and learned the song while growing up in a Liberal household in the

west of England West of England is a combined authority area in South West England. It is made up of the Bristol, South Gloucestershire, and Bath and North East Somerset unitary authorities. The combined authority is led by the Mayor of the West of England Dan ...

. Foot said it was the best political song he had heard, imbued with the democratic spirit and designed to put fear in the hearts of the landlords. The song became a Liberal radical anthem in the aftermath of

David Lloyd George David Lloyd George, 1st Earl Lloyd-George of Dwyfor, (17 January 1863 – 26 March 1945) was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1916 to 1922. He was a Liberal Party (United Kingdom), Liberal Party politician from Wales, known for lea ...

's "

People's Budget The 1909/1910 People's Budget was a proposal of the Liberal government that introduced unprecedented taxes on the lands and incomes of Britain's wealthy to fund new social welfare programmes. It passed the House of Commons in 1909 but was blo ...

" of 1909 which proposed a tax on land. During the two general elections of the following year, "The Land Song" became the governing Liberals' campaign song. Sheet music was published and a 78rpm disc of the song was released. A recording made at a Glee Club around 1990 has been deposited at the Janey Buchan Political Song Collection in

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popu ...

. Michael Foot's comments about the song, and snippets of the song itself, featured in a series on political song broadcast on '' The World Today'' on the BBC World Service — the entire series is now held by the

British Library Sound Archive The British Library Sound Archive, formerly the British Institute of Recorded Sound; also known as the National Sound Archive (NSA), in London, England is among the largest collections of recorded sound in the world, including music, spoken word a ...

Lyrics

The lyrics have changed slightly over the years. Three versions are included here. The first is from its original 1887 Chicago publication; the second is from a recording issued for the 1910 UK general elections; the third is from the ''Liberator'' song book. (To the tune of " Marching Through Georgia".)

References

External links

A detailed account of the history of The Land Song, including audio of renditions from 1910 on

The Liberator songbook version

{{DEFAULTSORT:Land (Song) British anthems Political party songs Liberal Party (UK) Georgism 1887 songs

Lyrics

See also

References

External links