It was a windy day in Gloucestershire so we retreated off the hills and did some light trespassing in a woodland just outside Blockley. We walked until we found a calm enough spot near a very chatty woodpecker and a couple of talkative wrens. We drew our inspiration for this song from an old recording Hamish Henderson made of Katie Rowley. She mentions that she learned it from her mother when she was about 12. It’s a timeless song that would be totally relevant to any conflict in any place or time. We find the words are written with such sincerity that it’s truly heartbreaking. We decided against the miracle-recovery that Katie gives her protagonist in the final verse, instead we borrow a verse from a version in A.L. Lloyd’s ‘Come All Ye Bold Miners’ where we leave him crying on the battlefield as he fondly remembers his homeland.